2019 Spring CCF Newsletter
Hope the winter wasn't too long for everyone. Fortunately, as spring has sprung, so has Cobble Creek Farm!
Our garlic was the first outdoor vegetable to show its face. So far the garlic is healthy and already 12 inches tall! Woohoo!! This garlic is our first ever regenerated vegetable, meaning that it was harvested last spring and then stored for fall planting. We hope to practice more sustainable regeneration and seed extractions at CCF this growing season and in the future.
Last Wednesday we made the first plantings in THE GROUND! Two of our three greenhouses are filled with various Lettuce, Spinach, and Chard seeds. Additionally, we lots of onions, basil plants, parsley, celery, eggplant, winter squashes, pumpkins, tomatoes (and more!) in plastic "flats" inside our new greenhouse. All of these plants will get a jumpstart in the greenhouse before they are planted in the outdoor gardens. We are all getting very excited for what the new growing season holds!
Last Monday we planted our FIRST onions into the ground. Additionally, we are working on transplanting different crops into larger containers to allow for more expansive growth. Eventually these plants will be transferred to the gardens and/or one of the Greenhouses!
Our new greenhouse was recently finished being installed. This marked the end of a long and laborious project that began last August when we first began leveling ground. Jump ahead, the plastic is now in place over the hoop frames, and we have already begun to transition the indoor seedlings onto shelves inside the greenhouse. This will be the seedlings home until they are pulled outside to "harden off" before being planted in the outdoor gardens.
If you haven't seen our new piglets, they are very very cute. We have 8 Duroc/Yorkshire little guys in our barn now. Recently picked up from a farm in Whitehall, these piglets have made a smooth transition to CCF, are beginning to eat a lot and grow quickly! This litter of piglets is very tame and playful.
Additionally, we have 18 new hens and one rooster! We are expecting this new batch of hens to start laying eggs late June. This year we have a new type laying hen that looks more like a black chicken, almost resembling the look of a pigeon. This chicken is called Black Star laying hen.
If anyone has any interest in more EGGS, we currently have a ton of them now. Just shoot us an email @ paul@cobblecreek.farm, or swing by 564 Bird Pond Rd. (North Creek) to purchase and pick up eggs. They will be in a cooler on the porch. Customers can help themselves to purchase.
Last summer we increased and changed the growing fields for our crops. We have three new gardens at our new farm location (407 Hardscrabble Rd). These new gardens proved very productive last year, and we are looking to increase the size of these gardens for the upcoming growing season for more growing space. This year we are moving our veggie distribution site to the home base of Cobble Creek Farm on Hardscrabble Road. This decision was made to bring shareholders closer to the farm and to allow them to see the animals, and everything else we have going on. We are currently working on beautifying our garage with new indoor siding and ceiling, as the garage will serve as the center for veggie distribution!
In other news, this year we are trying out beekeeping! Our new Italian Honey Bees will be arriving in late May. We are excited to experience honey making as well as natural pollination of the gardens!
Also, we are looking to purchase some "meat birds" later this spring. These birds are specifically bred for meat, and only take a month until they are hit "market weight." They grow very quickly and are not as active as the chickens that we have at CCF now. However, their meat tastes great. Stay tuned for more updates/opportunities to buy these birds!
Lastly, we are very excited to announce that even though we are still a bit over a month away from the first distribution, we already have as many shareholders signed up as we had for a total last season! If you are interested, we do have a few slots left! Let us know as soon as possible.
Keep an eye out for more blog, Instagram and Facebook CCF updates. We hope everyone is having a nice spring and we are excited to see you all this summer!
Thanks for reading,
CCF :)
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