Valley City Farmers Market has come to an end for 2010

Last week was sadly our last week to sell at Valley City. Since it is getting colder out now all of our warm weather crops are now coming to an end. I have been picking the last of many things the past couple of days, before we get a frost and everything comes to an end.

Soon now it will be time to start my planing for next year. Although I have not started to pick out the actual varieties, I have started to think about what I would like to grown and what I probably will not be growing next year.

I will be growing most of the same cherry tomato varieties that I did this year and will probably try some new varieties also. I also plan to try many new varieties of larger slicing tomatoes. I will be growing the Striped Cavern Stuffing Tomato again and may even grow another variety of stuffing tomato such as a yellow stuffer.

As far as peppers go I will probably grow most of the same varieties as I this year plus some new ones.

I should also have a lot of beans next year since I am planning on planting almost one entire garden area with beans to add some nitrogen to the soil.

Of course I will be growing all my different colored carrots, plus I plan to have other different varieties available also.

This year we have lots of acorn and butternut squash, but next year I will be trying a bunch of different varieties of winter squash, many different colors, sizes and shapes.

These are just some of my plans for next year. When I have decided what varieties of everything I am going to grow, I will be sure to post it here and update my list on the website. I also have lots and lots of pictures and information to add to my website, and will probably start doing that very soon. I just have not had the time to update my website during the summer, but will have a lot more time during the winter (winter, that word made me cringe).

Farmers Market Season Ending

It looks like this Saturday is going to be the last market day of this year. If the weather permits I am hoping to set up our roadside stand after the market. I am also hoping to set up the roadside stand on Saturdays once Valley City Farmers Market is over. I will be sure to post here when I plan to have the stand set up so check back before stopping by. Also once the market is over I will continue to update the availability list to the right (and on our website), so if there is anything that you would be interested in, you can send me an email or give me a call, and you can pick up your produce on days other than when we have our roadside stand set up.

Since the growing season is going to be slowing down soon, planning for next year will be beginning very soon. So let us know if there is something you would like to see us grow next year. We love growing new and unusual things, and are always open to suggestions.

So let us know what you would like us to grow next year.

Farmers Market Pictures

Ok so I just realized that it has been a long time since my last blog post. It has been kind of busy lately. So I just thought that I would post some pictures from Saturdays farmers market in Valley City.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes

A bunch of round zucchini and some other things.

Since we had so much left after market we decided to set up our roadside stand.

Farmers Market Pictures

This Saturday was our third market of the year (at Valley City Farmers Market) and I finally got some pictures from the market to post, and here they are:

Bagged Salad Mixes (Just Lettuce Mix, Spicy Salad Mix, Lettuce and Greens Salad Mix, and Ark of Taste Lettuce Mix)

The Just Lettuce Mix contains only lettuce. This week the lettuce mixes included: Royal Red, Red Sails, Black Seeded Simpson, Grandpa Admire's, Speckled, Tennis Ball, Mascara, and Bronze Arrowhead Lettuce.

Spicy Salad Mix includes lettuce and mustard greens.

Lettuce and Greens Mix includes, lettuce such as: Black Seeded Simpson and Red Sails
Greens such as: Bulls Blood Beet Greens, Swiss Chard, Red Russian Kale, Dinosaur Kale,
and some others

Ark of Taste Lettuce Mix is a mix of four different varieties of lettuce that are on the Ark of Taste List. They are Grandpa Admire's Lettuce, Speckled Lettuce, Tennis Ball Lettuce, and Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce.

I will be posting again soon with more information and pictures of the different varieties of lettuce that we had available this Saturday.

Mustard Greens and a Bunch of Collards (in the middle)

This was our third week that we have had mustard greens available. We have five very different varieties available. The bunches are put together at market so you can choose which varieties you want or you can get a bunch with a mix of all the different varieties. We also had a salad mix available this week with mustard greens in it, this mix was our Spicy Salad Mix, "Spicy" because of the spicy taste of the mustard greens. The mustard greens add a very good flavor to the salad.

Mixed Kale Bunches and Swiss Chard Bunches

Kale bunches include three different varieties: Red Russian Kale, Dinosaur Kale, and Dwarf Blue Scotch Curled Kale. Swiss Chard bunches are made up of many mixed varieties and colors. Not only are the swiss chard beautiful but they are also very, very tender and tasty.

First Valley City Farmers Market of the Year

The first market of the year at Valley City will be on Saturday June 5th.

I was hoping the market would start early this year, but did not expect it to start till around the middle of the month, so I am not exactly as prepared as I would like to be. I am not sure exactly what we will have available for the first market.

For sure we should have the following things ready in time for June 5th:

~Mustard Greens- many different colors and varieties to be sold in bunches
-we many also sell a variety of mixed baby greens to be used in salads
~Radishes
~Scallions
~Lettuce mixes- hopefully our lettuce will be ready in time for the first market, right now they are very slow growing, I believe it is because it has been so cold outside
~We should also have some plants available- will post what kinds closer to market time
~I also hope to have some type of bread available- most likely a berry bread

Hopefully I will have some other things available also.

The market season is finally almost here! I knew the first market was getting close when I picked some mustard greens for dinner yesterday.

Vegetable Varieties 2010

Artichokes
~Green Globe (1st time growing artichokes so I am not sure how it will go.) (Green variety)

Beans
~Chinese Red Noodle Yard Long (Red yard long beans) (keep their red color when cooked, best when cooked as in stir fry rather than boiled)
~Blue Lake (Regular green variety)
~Rattlesnake (Green with red stripes)
~Purple Podded (Purple variety) (change to green when cooked, acts as a timer for when they are done being cooked)
~Dragon Tongue (Yellow with purple stripes)

Broccoli
~Broccoli Raab
~Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli (kind of like the broccoli raab (small) but purple)
~Windsor Broccoli (Regular green variety) (is suppose to be very heat tolerant)

Cabbage
~Red Acre (red variety)
~(Cone shaped variety)

Cauliflower
~Purple of Sicily (Purple variety)
~Cheddar (Yellow variety) ~Possibly a common white variety

Carrots
~Dragon (Purple variety)
~White Satin (White/Light yellow variety)
~Amarillo (Yellow variety)
~Tendersweet (Common orange variety)

Celery

~Zwolsche Krul (Stem Celery) (Thinner that regular celery, with a stronger taste, will be sold in bunches)

~Red Stem Celery (Common celery with red stems)

~Also a common green variety

Corn
~We will be growing the same variety of bi-color sweet corn as we did last year
~We will also be trying a new white sweet corn variety (will only be growing a small amount since it will be the first time trying this variety)

Cucumbers
~Mexican Sour Gherkin Cucumber (very, very tiny cute little cucumbers that I will be using for in salad mixes)

Eggplant
~Blush (Long white with
~Black Champion (Long purple)
~Thai Green (Long green)
~Lao Green Stripe and Lao Purple Stripe (Tiny round eggplant)
~Mix of four different varieties

Greens
~For bunches: Red Russian Kale, Dinosaur Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard (many colors), and a mix of 4 or 5 Mustard Greens
~There are so many other different kinds of greens we plan to grow, some spicy for salad mixes others to be sold as a bunch

Herbs
~We have plans add a whole new section for all of our herbs. Hopefully we will have a very large selection of herbs available to be sold in bunches. We will also be selling all the different kinds of basils we had available last year plus some new exciting varieties. At some point I will post a list of all the different kinds of herbs we plan to sell with descriptions.

Kohlrabi
~Early White Vienna (Common green variety)
~Early Purple Vienna (Purple variety)

Leeks
~Licolyn Leeks (Used for baby leeks, ready to pull early)
~I will also be growing a couple of regular common leek varieties

Lettuce
~I have many different kinds of lettuce seeds, I probably will not be able to plant them all at one time, but I can tell you one thing, I should have a very good selection available

Okra
~I think I over did it when it came to ordering okra. I may have ordered more varieties than I should have. We will see how many I get to plant come spring, all of them would be nice :)
~Eagle Pass Okra (A green and red fat variety)
~Pitre's Short Bush Red Cowhorn Okra (A skinnier longer green and red variety)
~Burmese Okra (Green variety)
~Cow Horn Okra (Green variety)
~Red Burgundy Okra (Red variety)
~Milsap White Okra (White variety)

Parsnip
~Hamburg Rooted Parsley

Peas
~Golden Sweet Snow Pea (Yellow sweet snow pea)
~I will be growing a normal green variety also to go along with the yellow peas

Peppers
~Bianca Bell Peppers (Yellow variety)
~Islander Bell Pepper (Purple variety)
~Purple Beauty Bell Pepper (Purple variety)
~Chocolate Beauty Bell Pepper (Green maturing to chocolate variety)
~Gourmet Bell Pepper (Green maturing to orange variety)
~King of the North Bell Pepper (Green maturing to red variety)
~Alma Paprika Pepper (Yellow maturing to red sweet/mild paprika pepper, small round bell variety)
~Feher Ozon Paprika Pepper (Yellow maturing to orange sweet paprika pepper, long variety)
~Shishito Pepper (Green sweet/mild Japanese pepper)
~Jimmy Nardello Italian Pepper (Long skinny green to red, looks like a cayenne but without the heat)
~Sweet Banana Pepper (Long yellow sweet pepper)
~(Green sweet pepper, same kind we had last year)
~Red Ruffled Sweet Pepper (Round ruffled look, green to red)

Pumpkins
~I do not think we will be selling any pumpkins this year for market but we will be growing some to be used for baking (pies, breads, etc.)

Radish
~French Breakfast (sold last year, long white and red variety)
~Shunkyo Semi-Long Specialty Radish (long red variety)
~Easter Egg Radishes (Small round, mix of beautiful colors)
~Saxa2 (very quick to mature red variety, (18days))
~Crimson Giant (very large red variety)
~Rat Tail Radish (excited about this one, it is actually the seed pod that is edible, does not actually form underground)

Shallots
~Will be growing some shallots this year for the first time, will be a common variety

Summer Squash
~Common green zucchini variety
~Bush Baby Zucchini (Small striped variety)
~Magda Zucchini (Similar size and shape to Bush Baby but with light green color)
~Green Patty Pan Squash
~Bennings Green Tint Scallop/Patty Pan Squash

Tomatoes
~IsIs Candy Cherry Tomato (red, yellow striped cherry)
~Black Cherry Tomato (Purple cherry)
~Dr. Carolyn Cherry Tomato (Yellow cherry)
~White Current Tomato (Smaller yellow cherry)
~Sungold Cherry Tomato (Orange cherry)
~Aunt Ruby's German Cherry (Green cherry)
~Pearly Pink Cherry Tomato(Pink cherry)
~Mr. Stripey (Yellow, red, orange striped slicing tomato)
~Black Prince Tomato (Purple slicing variety)
~Cherokee Purple Tomato (Purple slicing variety)
~Amish Paste Tomato (Red paste)
~Opalka Tomato (Red paste)
~Wapsipinicon Peach Tomato (Fuzzy like a peach, yellow cherry)
~Yellow and Red Pear Tomato (Cherry sized, pear shaped)
~Japanese Black Trifele Tomato (Purple and shaped like a bosc pear, will be sold mixed with yellow and red pear)
~Striped Cavern (Red, yellow striped stuffing tomato)
~Reisetomate Tomato (Is like a bunch of red cherry tomatoes fused together, that pull apart easily)
~I will be growing a red cherry tomato as well just not sure which one yet I have a few different kinds that I can grow.
~I also have a couple of other striped tomatoes that are slightly larger than a cherry tomato but I am not sure if I am going to have the room for them, will have to wait and see.

Turnip
~Common variety

I think that is everything, hopefully I did not miss anything.

Once I get the website done this list will be there also, plus I plan to have pictures of the vegetables we have already grown and when the season begins I will take pictures of the new varieties and add them also.

Planting inside will begin this weekend, I probably should have already started, but come on do you really expect, me, to be right on schedule? As long as I start planting things this weekend I will not be to late, just not early.

What's Available- Saturday October 17th

There are only two more markets left! We have not gone to market for the past couple of weeks. But we will be attending tomorrow's market! I had planned on baking a lot, but so far have not made as much as I had hoped to. I did not get any pies made so far, and since it is so late, I do not believe I will have time to do so. Hopefully next week I will get a lot more made. It is sooo hard to believe the end of this years market is almost here. Any how here is a list of the what we plan to have available. I wish it was bigger, but for this year it will just have to do. Next year our list should be a lot larger at this time of the year.

• Collards
• Red Russian Kale
• Leeks
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Golden Delicious Apples
• Red Delicious Apples
• Jona Gold Apples
• Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Apple Streusel Bread
  

Pumpkin Picking Time!

My mom showing off some of our pumpkins.

She thinks she is allowed to drive the tractor, but she isn't.

Sadly I do not think we are going to be selling any of our pumpkins, we just don't really have enough. We will probably keep them, and have lots of pumpkins to carve for Halloween. But we do have a bunch of pie pumpkins that I will be using to make pumpkin breads and pies. I will probably start baking my pumpkin breads and pies for Valley City Farmers Market, not this Saturday but the following Saturday.

We tried lots of different kinds of pumpkins this year, like white pumpkins, blue pumpkins (we only got one of these, not sure why we didn't get anymore, I know the plants came up ok, oh well), and Knucklehead Pumpkins which did really well for us we got more of these than anything else. The only thing that was disappointing about the knuckleheads is, they are suppose to have a lot of bumps on them, and most did not have as many as I had expected, they were still pretty neat though.

I wish we would have thinned out the plants a little or would not have planted them so close together. I think we would have ended up with a lot more pumpkins if we would have done so, oh well, next year.

Our Plans for Fall

Sadly were not able to get any of our fall greens and lettuces planted, but there is a reason for that. We are planning on building a hoop house in the location where we plant our greens. Yes we had to sacrifice planting our fall crops but it will all be worth it in the long run. We will not only be able to start our greens earlier, but it will also protect our crops from bugs. Which should make it possible to grow things that were either impossible to grow (pak choi and mustard greens) or very hard to grow (arugula, beets, radishes, and a lot of other greens) before.

I am very excited about our plans and can not wait to get started with them.

We are still hoping to sell at the Valley City Farmers Market, hopefully till the end. The following is what we plan to have available after a frost stops us from harvesting anymore warm weather crops.

• Pumpkin Pie
• Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Apple Bread
• Apple Pie
• Pecan Pie
• Collards
• Kale
• Leeks
• Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Corn Stalks
• and possibly some other things

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This year has been a really big challenge, the temperature for much of the season has been much cooler than normal. Making it difficult for crops such as eggplant, okra and caused most crops to be harvested much later in the season than normal.

We have also had issues with bugs that we never had before. We have always had trouble with flea beetles but this year was the worst yet, posing a problem for eggplant, radishes and our spicy greens. We also had major problems with beets and spinach which was something we never had a problem with before, leaf minors. In the past we were always able to pull beets with beautiful tops with hardly any problems, but this year was very different.

Another problem that we had this year was with rodents. Never before have we had our bean plants just cut off from the ground by rodents. The monsters also whipped out our beets overnight.

Considering how difficult of a year it was I am also very grateful for what we were able to harvest and the support of all our wonderful customers. Even though the year is not yet over, I can feel it coming to an end, since many of our warm weather crops are ending and the weather is getting cooler. So I just wanted to say thanks, to everyone.

Cherry tomatoes and pear picking

Pictures of our table at last weeks market at Valley City.

It is pear picking time! Here at BAFarm this is how we pick our pears, no ladder required. Believe it or not I am actually afraid of heights.

Below are three of the heirloom cherry tomatoes that we currently have available in our heirloom cherry tomato mix.

IsIs Candy Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

Black Cherry Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

Dr. Carolyn Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

Valley City Farmers Market Pictures

Some Pictures of our table at Valley City Farmers Market

The Valley City Farmers Market is located in the parking lot of Liverpool Township Depot, 6615 Center Road. Pictures below are of the train which is parked at Valley City Museum, and after that is a picture of the museum, which the market is located at.

Over all view of Valley City Farmers Market.