And so the clock keeps ticking...

     It is the middle of December, the snow has begun to drift, and the sections of commercial farm land surrounding my home are looking like barren wastelands of white.  Here I sit thinking about what I am going to do for my garden next spring.  There is a lot to do between now and then.  There are things like creating information cards for tomatoes and writing promotional information for the market stand which get put off all summer because there is always something else to be done.

     I have already spent hours deciding which tomatoes, leeks, onions, peppers, and more that I would like to grow this season.  I will leave which varieties a surprise for later.  Sure I could just go to the local department store in spring and grab a packet off the shelf of your ordinary tomatoes, but anyone can do that.  I am hoping to make a difference in a way.  To open people’s eyes to what nature has given us.  In our minds when we think of a tomato, we see a bright red firm skinned fruit.  It has no blemishes or cracks.  It has no lobes or character at all.  You can buy those ‘perfect’, unripe, bland fruit at your local supermarket.  There is a whole world of tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables, out there other than the hybrids in the store.  Take a little time to visit www.tomatofest.com and you will see what I mean.  They have hundreds of varieties.  They are all different shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and tastes.  I wish I could try them all.  …. And I don’t like eating raw tomatoes…  It is this diversity that makes me marvel at nature and makes me shake my head in disappointment when others take no notice.  I sold several types of tomatoes last season and of course the pretty tomatoes sold the best to the average consumer, but the people that kept coming back were the ones that tried the other tomatoes.  The ones like the Black Krim, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, and Brandywines.

     I have also started laying out the gardens to make sure I have space for everything.  I am limiting the size of the gardens based on the amount of work involved to maintain them – weeding, pruning, trellising, and picking are all important.  I also plan to increase the number of bee hives I tend to this season, so I have to add a little more time for them.  One more factor affecting my work load this season is going to be my involvement in the market management.  There is a good chance that I may have to carry a fair amount more of the responsibility – all without the help I had from Alicia. 

     There is a long road in front of me at this point that all deserves attention.  It is not too early to start by any means.  It won’t be long until the time comes to plant seedlings and start pulling weeds.  The holidays are getting close and there will be plenty of distractions with all of the other things I am involved in like the fire department and the ambulance service.  I have a lot of ideas to bring that will take a lot of time on a work load of a single individual.  On the other hand, I think the market management will be best handled by a good group of market member.  There is a lot of good energy in the vendors and volunteer that can be nurtured into a productive organization.  If we would have a few individuals with one-fifth the passion that I have had recently, we could make almost anything come together.

     For now, I will keep working on materials for the market stand, choosing plant varieties, looking for recipes, and creating a network of people to make it all happen.

Making horseradish

     Tonight, I made some horseradish sauce for the first time.  It was very easy.  I had dug up the tops of the plants making sure to leave some good roots in the ground so it will start again next year.  I waited until the frost had sufficiently froze the tops which took a couple cold nights.  Horseradish is a tough plant. 

    It grow very well.  Many articles that I read said it is best to wait a year before harvesting much, if any.  I planted my roots from Jung in the spring and this fall had some nice big plants.  Three of the five actually took but it was plenty.  I put a couple of the extra pieces of root in the row where it didn't take this year so next year I should have it filled in.

     Okay, back to making the horseradish.  Like I said it is very easy.  Wash it well, peel it, stick it in the blender or a food processor and chop it up.  Let it set for a few minutes.  The longer it sets the hotter it should be, that is before adding the vinegar and water.  You can find recipes online but the one I found used two to three cups of horseradish, one half cup of both vinegar and water.  Blend it all together and put it in jars.  Now what gets easier than that?

     Be careful working with it.  It can be very intense.  When I was peeling the roots, I had no problems but as soon as I began to blend it my eyes would burn when the lid was opened.

     I did not try any yet.  I plan to make some ham sandwiches with it tomorrow.  I will see if I can give a few jars away at work, since one jar will likely last me a while.  I made about half of the roots into sauce.  The rest I put in plastic bags and put in the freezer to make at a later date.  Over time, the sauce will loose its flavor.

One season down

     After a lot of hard work, from planting seedlings and building bees boxes to picking and distributing hundreds of pounds of vegetables and gallons of honey, one season has passed.  It was not always easy.  In fact, it was almost never easy.  There was a lot to learn and even more to do.  Alicia and I did a lot of planning and really had no idea what to do or where to start.  How does one just know what everyone wants at a farmer’s market?  And how does one even get that far?

     There are many challenges to consider when starting to market produce or any type of goods to the public.  How much do you need?  Will they buy it?  How much will they pay?  How do we make them notice what we have over someone else?  Then one must consider how much he can sanely manage to care for?  There is planning for what and where to grow, how to control weeds, how to care for (trellis, prune, etc.) the plants, picking and packaging the finished product, and how to pay for it all.  It is easy to throw your hands up and let it all go, but if one does his best, he can make it all happen.

     I had ambitions of planting an acre of corn, two hundred tomato plants of 20 varieties, hundreds of feet of vines for beans, peas, and cucumbers but let’s be realistic.  There is only so much time in a day.  The commercial farmers make it look easy.  They have huge tractors with every type of equipment that has been developed over a hundred years, plus the use of several types of chemicals to make it all just work.  Most of us are not that fortunate starting out.

     There is definitely a sense of achievement to be found when looking back at a season of growing completed; especially when everything was done without the aid of all of the modern conveniences of chemicals and heavy equipment.  Controlling weeds was probably our biggest challenge.  It seemed as though the task was never ending but through it all there was much gained in relationships, knowledge of nature, and confidence in self from being a part of the Twin Towns Gardeners’ Market.

    To grow for a market one must first consider the time that he has to devote to the project.  I spent 20 to 40 hours per week working at all of the tasks on top of working a full time job.  Each phase has its challenges.  As one phase ends another is typically beginning, such as the transition between planting and maintaining the garden.  When planting, you must have place to for everything which even when mapped out ahead of time tends to morph into a new form.  As soon as some of the items have been transitioned from either a seed packet or a window sill to the garden, the plants already in the ground will need to be weeded to keep the roots from getting too deep.  When everything is in the ground one will have to start to trellis and prune what is growing.  Then, of course, there are more weeds to pull or hoe.  There are always more weeds.

     While hoeing one realizes that he needs to make boxes to sell the produce and then there is a table, a sign, a cash box….  It just keeps going.  And guess what so do you. 

How things got started...

     One season has passed since I started the putting my skills and curiosity to work for the community.  My desire to grow things and to be part of a community has taken the twist into reality through Jake and Arielle's creation of the Twin Towns Gardeners' Market.

    In 2007, I bought a small 6 acre farm near Wyndmere, ND with visions of growing fruit and vegetables like my family did as I was growing up in central MN.  My visions at the time were with the intent to grow for my own family not exactly to grow for the public, but it is funny how life can turn in a new direction at a moments notice.

     When I started a garden of my own in 2007, I picked a twenty foot square plot of my lawn were I planted potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, onions, some greens, and a few other things.  I had to peel the sod off and till the ground with a shovel because that was the extent of the tools I had.  Needless to say there were a several blisters formed and many gallons of water consumed before the initial step was complete.  I planted the seeds and plants as my parents and grandparents had showed me when I was growing up.  The season ended with plenty of goods to eat.  The next season, I used the same plot, again with success other than more weeds than I cared to ever see.  I was graced with a bounty of potatoes and ripe tomatoes, but something was missing. 

     When I was growing up, we had many fruit trees and grapes.  Between my parents dairy farm and my grandparents place next to ours, we had a selection of about 10 apple varieties, chokecherries, plums, and currants.  Every year I would learn more about the trees and how they grew - I was hooked. In 2009, I took a stab at it.  I planted four varieties of apples, a couple peach trees, some pears, cherries, and plums.  To top it off, I planted three varieties of grapes in a small trellis system I made. 

     By now, I had an inkling of starting a small farmer's market stand.  Where else would all of my fruit go?  It was more than one person can eat or even give away in a small town.  Another year went by some trees made it to the next season and others did not.  I planted some varieties of trees that were a stretch for the area and probably didn't give them the attention they needed.  By this time, I had been introduced to the idea of starting a market in Wahpeton with Jake and Arielle.  And so it all began....