Strawberry Hill Farm, Forever

Hi everyone, Happy Thursday!

By the time you read this I will have been to hear Deepak Chopra give a lecture.  I will report back on what I thought  of it on Friday, but I anticipate it will be a soothing talk!  I am a Deepak fan and am enjoying meditating because of him.

I am still thinking about food!  I think I am always thinking about food!

Some of you are fortunate to have farmers markets that you can shop at year round and some of them are open daily.  While we are lucky to have one, our farmers market is only open on Saturday mornings.  In the summer it is often impossible to get to, whether because we are away or have company or whatever. 

There is a local store here that only sells locally grown produce and products, but it can be hit and miss as to what is available when and if you miss it, well it could be a few more days until the next produce is back.

This year, I am alleviating the middleman and going directly to the farm.  A wonderful farm upriver from us, Strawberry Hill Farm, will deliver weekly fruit and vegetable boxes from early June to November.  I am so excited by this!  You take whatever is coming out of the ground that week and exchanges are possible if you want.  They are now letting people sign up for seasonal subscriptions to their farm boxes, which also helps them know that they have a steady stream of income.

It is run by a small family, with help from local employees.  Don't they look like the kind of people you would want to buy vegetables from?














I am really passionate about supporting local small farms.  They are the ones that are doing the heavy lifting in the fight against mcfarming.  We are fortunate to live in a small place without these huge farming conglomerates and I want to support them so that they can not only stay in business, but thrive!

I do grow some vegetables in the summer and plan to expand the amount this year.  I have tons of herbs and I could live on my sorrel and my basil all summer long.  Don't mention my insidious mint, although they are good in the mojitos...

This farm box will ensure that we have a ready supply of good healthy food.

I am already starting to plan my garden.  I am going to train cucumbers and zucchini up my fence this summer - have any of you ever done that?  All advice is appreciated.  I am not a huge zucchini fan, but I am a huge zucchini flower fan and so will need lots!  And since I will have time this summer, I want to really make my garden even better than it already is!

I am aiming for this:



Source: gardenworldimages.com

I can only plan my garden now, because I will only be able to start cleaning it up in the next week as it looked like this on the weekend...

I also have a lot of dividing of plants to do.  I need more hostas, so I will divide some I already have.  I also need to read up on when to cut back my grape vines.  I am pretty sure it is soon, but I am not positive. 

I am also going to talk Barry into making me another couple of palsets for veggies like this:



Source: here

 Oh and i want to plant Dahlias - do any of you plants dahlias?  Any advice on that!

I am also filling up my hummingbird feeders tomorrow.  Typically, they arrive Mothers Day weekend, but last year, I had a straggler in early October, so I want to make sure I am ready for them!

How about you - are you starting to plan for your gardens?  Any special delights this year?  Also - if you want to take a look and read more about Strawberry Hill farm, by all means do so here.  It makes me very happy to see small farms thrive and I understand from my friend who got produce from them last year that they almost have enough "subscriptions" for this summer.  A weeks worth of vegetables for a family of four is $157 per month.  You can't beat that!

Happy Garden dreaming and have a safe day out there!  And remember: some of us weeders are willing to come visit you in July if there is wine and a nice meal....