We’re In The Ground!
We got through a couple freezing nights and the long term forecast looked favorable to start planting out our early season crops yesterday! In total we planted 12 x 200' beds full of chard, kale, bok choy, cabbage, napa cabbage, fennel, lettuce, salad mix, and beets. It's off to the races now as we plant out the rest of the early spring successions. We'll be transplanting weekly for a couple months as we progress through the seasons.
We were also able to get the plant stand setup and free up more benches for the ever growing number of trays in need of heated space. This week we're potting up tomatoes to go into the stand for memorial day. It'll be around 2,100 pots, so it usually takes more than a day including the prep work filling all the pots. One day we'll look into a flat filler. I think this season we'll fill some 10,000 pots and trays between the fields and the stand. The stand has grown in the past few years and we have added capacity with the new greenhouse, and at a certain point adding some mechanized assistance would help us save time. We keep a small crew at the farm, just Joe, Rachel and I are here full time, so we look for efficiencies anywhere we can find them.
Speaking of the new greenhouse, I found these two photos taken about three weeks apart showing the transformation in the tunnel over the spring. It went from empty to brimming with plants in just a few weeks time. Joe started using stilts to prune and trellis tomatoes last year and he was able to put em to use adding irrigation in the hanging baskets.
Farm to Table Dinner
We are hosting two more farm to table dinners on the farm this season, one for the spring palate and one for fall. Chef Arianne of Rindge will be cooking again. The menu prominently features produce from our farm, as well as local protein from neighboring farms. There is something special about eating a meal prepared and served in the very same spot it was grown, and we had a great time last fall doing it. There will be an eventbrite and online ordering setup for the event (currently experiencing some technical difficulties getting them to verify my phone number) but for folks that want to avoind processing fees, you can email me direct jack@dogdaysnh.com to reserve seats. Details below:
Spring Farm to Table
Saturday, June 29th 4:00pm - 9:00pm
$125 per ticket
Four courses accompanied by live music and preceded with a tour of the farm as we gear up for the summer harvest season.
Menu
Starters
Rhubarb chutney tartletts with Parmesan espoma
Beet Basil and olive bread with herb dipping oil
Radish butter toast topped with black garlic molasses
Golden beet carpaccio and sesame crunch
First Course
Roasted carrot ginger soup with pepitas and microgreens
Second Course
Sweet pea gnocchi with tarragon pea cream
Third Course
Spring vegetables with mint and housemate halloumi
Grilled chicken or mushrooms with spring onion chimichurri
Final Course
Strawberry tiramisu or Strawberry rhubarb almond tart (gf, vegan)
Menu Subject to Change
The Plant Stand is Open!
We've got a great selection of cool season annuals and bedding plants in the stand at the moment.
In the stand now:
Flowers
Pansies
Petunias
Snapdragons
Veggies
Broccoli
Lettuce
Brussel Sprouts
Chard
Kale
Bok Choy
Celery
Onions
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Beets
Herbs
Thyme
Lavender
Oregano
Farm Store is Open!
In the farm store this week we will have:
Radishes
Turnips
Chard
Cilantro
Spinach
Kale (on Friday)
Lettuce Mix (Fri)
Spicy Salad Mix (Fri)
Head Lettuce (Fri)
Find Us at the Market!
The Keene market has started up for the season! The other two will start up in June!
You can find our produce at:
Cheshire Medical Center in the Cafeteria
Thursdays 10am - 2pm
June through November
Jaffrey Farmers Market
Fridays 3pm - 6pm
June through October
Keene Farmers Market
Saturdays 9am - 1pm
April through October
2024 CSA SHARES
Close to Sold Out! Sign Up Today!
Join us for another great growing season in 2024! Our summer CSA will run from June to September, and fall shares will finish out the year from October to November.
We're getting close to capacity for our summer CSA shares. If you want to sign up, I recommend doing so ASAP!
Pickup on the farm is market style on Wednesdays from 3:30pm-7:00pm. Delivered baskets are pre packed and delivered on Wednesdays by 7:00pm.
Spring Shares Week 9
Got another great week of CSA shares for y'all this week! We're between a few beds so a little less variety than last week, but with bigger bags of greens like spinach and lettuce mix. Plus we've got carrots in shares again and bok shoy making its first appearance in the CSA. Unfortunately also it's last until summer CSA. For some reason the bed started to go to seed on us, so we picked it all now for shares before it flowered.
Spring Week 9
▪Bok Choy
▪Carrots
▪Lettuce Mix
▪Microgreens
▪Spicy Salad Mix
▪Spinach
Workshare With Us!
Want to help out on the farm and get a free basket of veggies each week? The workshare progarm is th perfect spot for you!
Our workshares trade a day a week on the farm in exchange for a CSA basket with eggs and bread included! We also do half days if folks would prefer a half CSA share. Although it is a lot of weeding workshares get to experience all the differenet aspects of the farm from planting, to harvest, to trellising, and more! We love having new folks on the farm and meeting our neighbors. Many of our workshares have even been coming back for years at this point!
If you're interested, send me an email at jack@dogdaysnh.com and I will get you more details!
Help Make our Produce More Accessible!
Dog Days Farm tries its best to serve all members of our community, and our members often do the same! Many of you have already contributed to the Share Care Fund, which we use to offset the cost of CSA shares that we donate, provide at a lower cost through the Monadnock Farmshare Program, and draw from when members are unable to finish paying for their share due to emergency.
The Fitzwilliam District Nursing Association (our local food pantry) buys CSA shares from us each year and the farm matches the amount of shares they purchase. We also work with the Jaffrey and Rindge Food Pantries to provide fresh produce during their pickup days.
I am extending the match offer to any member that would like to purchase a share for any of these organizations, the FDNA, Jaffrey Food Pantry, or Rindge Food Pantry. A half CSA share would be matched to make a full CSA share donated to one of the pantries, and a full CSA share would become two shares to the pantries.
If you would like to donate a CSA share to any of these local organizations, please send me an email jack@dogdaysnh.com and let me know the size share you would like to donate and to which pantry. We have long standing relationships with each one of them, and every summer we get to hear how happy their patrons are to see farm fresh produce as part of their weekly pickup!
