One Woman Farm

Greenhouse Project

2012-02-22T22:29:00.002-05:00

The greenhouse construction continues and what favorable weather we have had this winter for this project. Ordinarily these types of projects get stalled out during the winter with snow fall and arctic blasts - not this winter. This greenhouse was once erected in the mountains near New York in St. Marys PA. Three years ago was when I first purchased it, tore it down, and brought it back to Pittsburgh for the future. The hoops were originally a single piece of steel but were cut in half for transport. In order to reconstruct the hoops and reinforce the areas of attachment, I ordered cut pieces of Schedule 40 steel from a fencing company, drilled them out, and incorporated them to lend some additional structural integrity to the house. Also a rust killer was sprayed on the hoops where the protective galvanized coating was worn through and rust was showing so that it would not prematurely wear out the poly.

Base boards, hip boards, and upper purlin were attached to the hoops connecting each separate hoop together. Next we measured the length of pipe we would need for the cross braces .

More pipe was ordered from a different fence company, cut, bent flat at both ends in a vise, and drilled for bolts. Wayne and Andy manned the two endwall framing tasks and door construction and did an absolutely fabulous job.

When the window of weather to attach the poly presented itself we had to jump on it, although it was not an ideal sunny and calm day. Rain was forecasted after 2 pm and everyday for the following four days, but we were hit with snow at 11 am whilst trying to frantically finish attaching the poly with wiggle wire - a thumb busting metal spring that fits snuggly inside a channel to secure plastic without tearing holes in it. If you wish to remove the plastic simply remove the wiggle wire and find an intact piece of poly at your disposal. Ta-da! It was an extraordinary task to complete in a short window of time and had the slightest thing have gone awry, we would have run into very difficult weather .

Also, had the guys not been such agile primates capable of climbing with a heavy load of plastic and resisting the weight wanting to pull them down to Earth, getting the plastic over the top of the house quickly would have been a much meaner feat. This girl does not go vertical. It is Chula who is the mountain goat. Not I.

Andy and Wayne's externship with OWF has concluded and culminated with the completion of the greenhouse and what a mark they left on the farm! Many thanks to them for their exceptional hard work and good luck! Talk with you and see you soon.

Out with the old in with the new.

2012-01-31T21:26:00.000-05:00

Time for the new greenhouse to go up and what peculiar weather we are experiencing. Great for construction although alarming mild for January. With the help of Andy and Wayne, the fantastical Bidwell extern extraordinaires, the new house is steadily going up. The structure is one that I disassembled from a nursery in St. Mary's PA three years ago and thus has required a little bit of re-vamping and McGivering - sanding, rust killer, re-drilling and a lot of custom attachment rigging- it will prove to be a solid plant starting structure particulary once the wood burner is installed, tables built, and plastic secured. Before I know it, it will be peppers, onions, and parsley on the list of things to seed again. Soon, very soon.

In addition to tearing down and disassembling the old greenhouse and starting work on the new, the three of us have been busily working on repairing fence at the farm, taking down trees, organizing work spaces, and splitting fire wood. The list is ever growing and there is hardly a shortage of winter tasks that need attention.

OWF Vegetable Variety

2011-12-01T13:29:00.008-05:00

Late Spring CSA Vegetables

Lettuces, Carrots, Kale, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Chinese Cabbage, OWF salad mix, Broccoli Raab, Radishes, Beets, Salad Turnips, Peas, Kohlrabi, Pac Choi, Garlic Scapes, Arugula, Pea Greens.

Summer CSA Vegetables

Carrots, Beans, Broccoli, Cabbage, Beets, Slicing Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers, Hot Peppers, Tomatillos, Parsley, Onions, Eggplant, Lettuce, Basil, Beans, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Cucumber, Chinese Napa Cabbage, Pac Choi, Fennel, Radishes, Leeks.

Fall CSA Vegetables

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Beets, Carrots, Cabbage, Spinach, Arugula, Cilantro, Mesclun, Kale, Collard Greens, Swiss Chard, Onions, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Kohlrabi, Salad Turnips, Winter Squash, Leeks, Arugula, Garlic.

OWF 2nd Annual Harvest Dinner Parties

2011-11-13T18:18:00.011-05:00

Below are a few of the fotos from the 2nd Annual OWF Harvest Dinner Parties at Toast! Kitchen and Winebar. They were, yet again, two nights to remember and a hell of a way to close out the season! A big thank you to Toast and all of the Illustrious OWFers who attended.

Next year we will get some fotos of the food!

Jen Shew Farm Fotos

2011-06-11T14:03:00.001-04:00

Fotos - give it a click!

OWF Affair with Allis Chalmers G Continues

2011-05-27T19:17:00.009-04:00

Toolbar with mounted shanks. Clamps. The custom toolbar, clamps, and cultivating shanks I developed...work! Tada. It is beyond gratifying to create a tool that actually works and not just in theory, but in application! When you have considered everything in planning for it and then physically welding the metal together to create something that does a fab-o job and makes life easier. I need to name it and I will admit that I am not talented in this department. Any suggestions? Cultivated kohlrabi, lettuce, broccoli. Swiss chard, beets, Napa cabbages.

The Great Migration

2011-05-14T09:01:00.009-04:00

The chickens are finally here nearly a month overdue on account of the huge amount of wet weather we experienced early in Spring. Liz, the illustrious 2011 OWF apprentice, and I packed up the truck with chicken crates loaned to me by Harvest Valley Farms and two trips to Washington County later, the girls are enjoying life on the range in the Egg Chateau. This year there are two flocks - the flock from last year that was overwintered and a new flock start last October as mail order peeps from Moyers chicks in Eastern PA. Welcome home. Get to work.

Critical Mass Transplantation

2011-05-04T08:26:00.004-04:00

Kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, napa cabbage, pak choi, head cabbage, swiss chard, broccoli, fennel and more have been tucked in, finally. Anyone who works outside - farmers, landscapers, heavy equipment operators - all have had their fill of the excess water falling from the sky this Spring. On Saturday April 30th a short window of sun and breeze hung around long enough for me to field prep, form beds, and start transplanting. The rain that was not supposed to begin until mid-afternoon Sunday actually began after pouring my coffee at 4:40 am to my dismay but nevertheless the critical mass transplantation continued into the light rain at OWF. When it began to pour in the afternoon I finally had to call it quits. Liz, the 2011 OWF illustrious apprentice and warrior, joined in for the event with her huband Joe and peanut Mae. Merry Spring to one and all from the Dr. Seuss crab apple tree.

OWF affair with Allis Chalmers G

2011-03-24T08:08:00.021-04:00

In December of 2010, my friend John and I drove to Grove City Ohio to look at this little nugget. The owner George Schulz, an Allis collector, aficionado, and quite a gentle man passed the nugget forward to OWF along with an original never been used Planet Jr. seeder with tags still safely tucked inside the hoppers attesting to their authenticity and never been usedness.

The unit was built by Planet Jr. Co. specifically for the G model and its first use in its 60 years of life on Earth will be at OWF. Momentous. Bought it and brought it back to John's shop - a wonderful little place with nearly all the tools this farmtress' heart desires (read: covets). Not to mention an actual space in which to work.

Aside from general gas engine maintenance and taking all the moving parts apart to lube up and put back together, a lot of fine tuning and adjustment making was in order after 60 years of life and use. Enter John. All of the fine tuning on the nugget was John's bag which he passed down to me through instruction. Thank gusta for friends. But what is this tractor for? Why so tiny? Where did the rest of it go? Is that it? The tractor is used to mechanically plant seed in the field and to later return and cultivate crops. Looking very forward to getting it out in the field. There is a reason why fleeces are not marketed as flame retardant. Because they're not.

Peru and Sacha Inchi farmers

2011-02-04T19:10:00.055-05:00

Piranha meets the end of its life cycle. Fried. Give us a kiss. Yucca, a typical Amazonian's staple food, in processed form, a farina, that will be stored and consumed during the subsequent months.

Marco Hernandez is the man involved behind the scenes in the United States who has made tremendous efforts to the organization of the Fair Trade Sacha Inchi group. The Sacha Inchi plant growing in the alturas or "higher" areas of the amazon riverbanks. High in Omega 3s and a legume, the farmers of San Jorge are cultivating this cash crop in order to develop a product for the fair trade export project.

Manuela giving me the tour of her family's chacras or fields. In these chacras pineapple, yucca, local fruits, platano, and sometimes maiz are grown. Sacha Inchi is a great companion to these subsistence crops in that it fixes nitrogen at the roots of the legume which can be utilized by the nearby crops. Sacha Inchi is an income opportunity for the farmers of San Jorge that can be cultivated along side common their subsistence crops.

Removing the outer shells of the Sacha Inchi for toasting and further processing with the ladies of San Jorge. The end product is a delicious Sacha Inchi brittle, made with reduced sugar can juice, cinnamon, and salt, for fair trade sale inside the United States.

Conservationists Miraldo and Manuel at the Yuy Mara Ey Lodge are members of the nearby Yarina community. An incredible place to stay and learn about the community's forest and wildlife conservation efforts and programs within the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. I have never seen a compost pile with so many mosquitoes.

Jairo and the Ultimate Jungle Man Oscar at Jairo's camu camu chacra in his restinga, or fields that are periodically flooded by the river below. Camu camu is a very popular, flavorful, and nutritious fruit grown in the Amazon. My personal fav.

2010-11-30T08:19:00.017-05:00

One Woman Farm Harvest Dinner at Toast! Kitchen and Winebar

The One Woman Farm Harvest Dinners on November 17th and 18th at Toast Kitchen! and Winebar were wildly successful. The extraordinarily delicious food perfectly complimented the company and all was right in the world for two glorious evenings. Chef Chet Garland arranged One Woman Farm's vegetables and eggs into sensational and surprising courses that left the invited professing an undying devotion to often under utilized ingredients like sweet turnips, swiss chard, and arugula. It was most difficult to return to normal life after such pampering and gustatory equilibrium. Many thanks to Toast! and the illustrious OWFers who attended the events. Looking forward to next year!

Fall field fotos.

2010-10-03T18:17:00.019-04:00

Oats, austrian peas, hairy vetch combo. Next year's solanaceous fields and recently dug sweet potato field. I love you, Buttercrunch. Fall Brassica Field. Cauliflor!

September field greens photos.

2010-09-29T20:28:00.012-04:00

Final arugula and lettuce mix crop. Lettuce, radicchio, escarole, napa cabbage. Sweet turnips, arugula, baby kale. Two tent farmers market setup. Woot woot!

Late September tomatoes.

2010-09-08T19:41:00.007-04:00

Thank gusta for friends and friend photographresses. Photos compliments of Sushi Baby AKA Shew Baby

August 16 East Liberty Farmers Market

2010-08-21T19:30:00.008-04:00

Fotografia compliments of Stubby.

Fotografia

2010-08-07T13:20:00.006-04:00

July 2 Garlic

2010-07-03T10:09:00.006-04:00

Friday morning and afternoon was spent yanking garlic plants out of the earth alongside the fabulous Karen and Curls. Garlic was graded in the field and bunches of 20 were made to hang from the barn rafters for the following month or two of curing. The largest heads were segregated and will be cured seperately and saved for this year's garlic seed. Three truck loads later and all of the garlic was moved out of the field.

First OWF CSA pickup

2010-06-18T21:36:00.003-04:00

No pictures per usual but had lots of wonderful help with week. Allow me to foam at the mouth. Karen, oh the wonderful Karen, a new OWFer has decided to become my twice a week work companion, a tremendous addition to the farm. Together we planted an entire field of little onion and leek seedlings beneath very cloudy and cool skies. This year, there will be fresh onions and leeks til the very end of the season with a possibility of wintering some of them over for the following Spring. I also accidentally ran over some garlic while dumping off straw bales in the upper tomato field. I yanked the driveby victims and my goodness are they looking splendid! I simply cannot wait for fresh garlic. Curls A.K.A. Adam Wick came out on his muchly deserved gov't Friday off of work to spread straw mulch in the tomato and pepper field with me. If that isn't masochism/friendship/love I don't know what is. And to think it was nearly a year ago that he stopped at my stand in Oakland for the first time to talk food with me. Little did he know that the following year he'd be sweating his guts out by my side equipped with a girl's headband in an attempt to control, well, the curls on a 80+ degree day in June. Of course this is the same guy who actually showed up in the back hills of a Fayette Co. chicken killing operation to help process my flock. One pair of ruined boots later and he still comes around. The 2 tomato fields have been thoroughly mulched with straw and the plants tied up. Let the living tomato wall begin. The first CSA pickup at the farm has come and gone smoothly and this week's contents were as follows: Spinach, arugula, lettuce, sugar snap peas, radishes, garlic scapes!

Tomatoes, Jitomate, Chinana unite.

2010-06-13T10:09:00.006-04:00

Workshare Mark, last year's devoted farmers market customer accompanied by Katy and their unborn half-beet, has become a bona fide workshare OWFer and toiled with me at the farm, getting on top of the cultivation rounds while I pounded in this year's tomato stakes. Next step is to lay the straw mulch and begin tying them up. This year the planting has been split into two fields, a much more satisfying and manageable plan. One huge tomato field with one picker is one big feat. Two fields is twice as nice. Manageable pieces.

The sugar snap peas are sprinting into summer and are a delight to walk past at the entry/exit of the fields. Thanks, Ben, for putting up the trellises! Maybe if you'd get your heiney out to the farm you could bask in your accomplishment, but then again you don't read this anyway. If you are in the area, come and see me at the East Liberty Farmers Market Monday afternoon! After one appearance at this market, I am most definitely hooked. It is where the farm is supposed to be on Mondays - among wonderful people who relish good food.

Transplantation

2010-05-28T20:21:00.003-04:00

The tomatoes and peppers were tansplanted in the field today with the help of Rockstar Ben and Workshare Danielle. I started the marathon at 7:30 and then the tag team jumped in and after a few hours 2,000 plantitas were nestled in for the long haul. Rockstar Ben helped roll out, connect, and lay drip tape from last year's spool, cutting out damaged sections and inserting extenders when needed. The holding tanks up on the hill were let loose and soon after little gravity fed puddles formed at the base of the each little tomato plant down below. team work. It is a beautiful thing. That and gravity. No way was I touching technology with these hands today, although it would have been nice to visually document the day. I need a photographer. Any takers?

Night Night Pak Choi

2010-05-17T15:07:00.010-04:00

A mass planting of brassicas were tucked in last night right before Monday's saturating rain. Brassicas like arugula, pak choi, and napa cabbage are among the preferred dining options of wee flea beetles that can decimate an entire planting of little transplants during hot dry weather. It is best to preempt their munching habit by keeping the plants covered in the spring months if at all possible. Managing this Spring's flea beetle generation has been particularly challenging due to the 80 degree days we experienced in early April. They have received an early and strong start to the season making the row cover an indispensable investment at the farm. 'Night 'night little pak choi. Don't let the flea beetles bite.

Denise the twilight pea green picker.

OWF receives Federal Grant for High Tunnel Research

2010-05-04T20:10:00.003-04:00

The official document from the United States Department of Agriculture (eek) obligating federal money to OWF (woot!) to erect a seasonal high tunnel in order to conduct crop research arrived in today's mail. Until this point, I considered it nearly an impossibility of any money coming through. Case in point of having zero expectations and being very pleasantly surprised working out. I call it protecting your 8 man or quarterback if you are so inclined. One of the first things I did when I landed in Pittburgh to undertake OWF was contact my regional NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) office to introduce myself and OWF. A conservation plan was implemented on the farm, a lot of paperwork was generated, applications completed, phone calls after phone calls, paper work, paperwork, paperwork, and...viola!? OWF receives letter in mail about money. Thank you, Mr. President. I do believe I will research further the movable high tunnel route. Put it on the list!

Meet Ben: OWF Extern

2010-04-29T19:58:00.009-04:00

OWF has an extern named Ben, a horticulture student from the Bidwell Training Institute in Pittsburgh. But what does this mean for OWF? It means that double the amount of work is being accomplished in the greenhouse and at the farm on a daily basis! It means for a solid month I can put off screaming in all directions around the farm with only Chula Dog to entertain my exclamations. Thus far, the help I have had at the farm is limited to that of a work share or two, the occasional help from dear ol' dad when wits end is within sight, and the once in a very blue moon help from a friend. Now, I have help for a full month of full days of work! I didn't think I would get my hands on an extern this year; it has proved to be an instance where persistence and daily phone calls for weeks to program directors paid off! What a fortunate farmtress I am.

In poultry news, the chickens were moved today. I am happy to report not a single casualty and a rather smooth first transition via tractor to the fresh green stuff. I am starting to see little eggs here and there, my proof that the girls are on their way to large brown egg production.

Migration to OWF

2010-04-17T20:19:00.013-04:00

Saturday morning, after Friday's strong thunderstorms and dangerously gusty winds had made their way through Pennsylvania, I drove with Chula Dog to my beloved chicken lady in Washington. Today was a much cooler day than the previous and far more conducive to chicken transport. All in all it was a day very unlike last year's chicken migration to OWF which could be described as hot as hell and included getting stuck in traffic in the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Talk about chicken sensory overload. This time around, I chose to leave my family in the comfort of home (honestly, I think they would have politely passed on my invitation) and spared myself and them the trauma and anxiety of having to reassure them every step and squawk of the way while snatching, catching, crating, loading, and unloading that yes, the chickens really are fine please stop worrying and no, I don't think they are into breast feeding , but thank you regardless.

Tonight the chickens are enjoying their first evening in their movable abode, albeit a cold one, and adjusting to their new surroundings. They are at about 20 weeks of age and should be laying in about a month. I am very pleased to have them on the farm acclimating to life outdoors on pasture before starting into brown egg production. Now that the most eventful day of their limited chicken lives is behind them, they can step out on their best egg laying foot.

Compost Tuesday

2010-04-14T08:25:00.015-04:00

The beds into which the leek seedlings started in January and February will be transplanted were spread with compost yesterday. Denise pictured left, dubbed the compost slanging warrior (*please note the St. Vals reference - woot woot!), trooped along with me all afternoon pitchforking the good stuff. There is one thing that can never be taken away from a parochial school kid - the bond unknowingly made with 28 other kids through nine years of participating in Catholic schooling inside its very small Catholic classrooms. Whether you like each other is irrelevant. I think it is the collective survival and passage that creates a permanent mark and forges an unbreakable bond between 28 souls, to each other, share the same thing - 9 whole formative years of the same 28 kids and the holy ghost. The school's doors were forever closed last year. I am too young for this.

Scroll forward to OWF. Some rain finally arrived yesterday after weeks of dryness and anticipation of wetness. Everything took a big drink and could still use a lot more.

20 tons 2 days

2010-04-02T21:57:00.003-04:00

Over the past two days twenty tons of high magnesium agricultural lime trucked in from western OH was spread over the farm and the two back hills that will be put into vegetable production next year. A most benevolent landscaping company owner right down the road from OWF generously offered me their bobcat so that I could drive it down the road to the farm and load the lime into the 5 ton spreader I rented from another very nice man out in Burgettstown and spread it on the fields. It is interesting how sometimes, when you set out to do something, people in your community can identify with it; these are the very people who choose to help in the way that they are able. I am a fortunate individual to have met such genuine people since starting OWF last year. See? This is all you have to do. Set out to do something a little bit crazy, unusual, and gender backward and the good ones out there will show up on the road to say, "Yeah, I can help with that." I needed a loader. Talked to my neighbor. Bam. Lime loaded. Here is to being a good neighbor. The one thing I could have used was a photographer to capture these two past momentous days - the tractor and the spreader deftly scaling the two back hills puffing diesel exhaust and spewing damp lime. Believe me, it was much sexier than how it sounds. But what's the point of documentation when I forgot my bunny ears.

March Seedlings

2010-03-28T12:51:00.017-04:00

Rainy Sundays in March are often spent on the inside of a poly building where deafening raindrops pitter and patter chasing away all external distraction. The onions and leeks planted in January are becoming stronger as the days roll along. Peppers, eggplant, and perennial flowers have all germinated on an electric mat and will soon be potted into larger cell trays to let their root systems stretch. An automatic watering system complete with timer and misters has been installed in preparation for the frequent water needs of plants and seedlings in the hot months of summer. It is nice to have it even in these cooler months, because on a sunny day it can really heat up inside even with the doors fully open and there is no great frustration than coming back from the farm to find pepper seedlings singed beyond all repair. Can bunny ears be worn year round? I see no reason why not. Happy spring.

Garlic shoots

2010-03-24T16:35:00.005-04:00

The 40 lbs. of garlic I planted in October last year is peeking up out of the thick straw mulch I laid post-planting. It is, now, officially spring. How do I know? The garlic is a good indicator and Chula Dog is bouncing about on the farm feasting on the buffet of many winter months of animal droppings at every opportunity. Nothing says spring like emerging garlic and winter deer droppings that for reasons unknown to me become irresistible in warm weather. I'll pass on this one.

Intro to International

2010-03-19T20:20:00.012-04:00

The 1967 International 656 tractor I purchased a few weeks passed received its first real action today. In an effort to take advantage of the nearly 7o degree day, she who has yet to be named and I were spreading amendments using a rotary spreader I purchased last year in anticipation of a tractor and we even went so far as to break a little ground and prepared the pea beds for planting. In the picture below you can see one of the tillers I used last year, a 1970s Sears Roebuck. It was very uncomfortable to try and sit on and nearly impossible to steer while seated. I feel contented to sit down on horsepower with an actual seat and steering wheel once more and my forearms are quite enjoying this nearly forgotten sensation.