Stock up the pantry at the last Bayview Market of the year!

Well this is it folks.  The last main season farmer's market of the year!  (Not to forget, there are 4 Bayview Holiday Markets - indoors no less - Willowood will be attending starting Saturday, Nov. 26th).
Nonetheless, this is the last chance to come shop an outdoor market and be overwhelmed by our amazing loads of food!  Once again, we have two vehicles packed to the brim with fresh from the fields goodies (note for 2012 - MUST BUY DELIVERY TRUCK!...).
And as the season spasmodically winds down (still on the "to do" list -  fields to turn over and plant to cover crop, a 3/4s acre of garlic to plant, a greenhouse to cover with plastic and winter greens left to be planted...), I've been reflecting a lot on the past growing season.  It's been a good one.

Dad discing the to-be potato field in the spring

* February, March and April started out with us raring to go.  Lots of plans made, seeds started.  Experimental first-year winter greens planted in the greenhouse.  Cool weather kept things growing slow, slow, slow but we kept plugging away.
* May is usually a month of rapid exploding growth.  But this past May was markedly cold and amazingly wet.  We received in one day in May the entire amount of rain we normally get for the whole month.  Fields flooded (a very unusual occurrence on our sandy-loam ground).  At least two (maybe three) whole days spent sump-pumping water off the flooded garlic field.  Lost our first bif rotation of mesclun, arugula, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli to saturates fields.
* June - Slowly warming up and drying out.  Desperately worked to get in the time critical crops - dry beans and winter squash.  New plantings of greens.
* July and August - the insanity kicks in.  Lots of crops to harvest AND to plant.  Garlic!  Bugs and assorted diseases try to gain a foothold.  We fit back with flower-based bug sprays and lots of compost tea!  Long days, little sleep.
* September - Turned the tide.  Start to enjoy the "harvest" as main crops start to finish.  Plant for winter and fall.  Tomatoes!  Summer squash anyone????  Please?????
* October - Serious harvest time.  Dig potatoes.  Dig potatoes.  Dig potatoes.  (We ended up with about 4 tons of potatoes in storage!).  Winter squash comes out of the field.  We ever so happily watch the summer squash plants DIE!  Dry Beans!  Pull them, put them in the barn, dry them, thresh them, dry them again...

Sabrina cleaning spring garlic for market

And that gets us to right about now...the end of October.  When you write it all down it doesn't seem like that much, does it.  Hah!  Well, I can tell you it was a lot.  10 acres of veggies is well...a freakin' crazy amount of work.  Nonetheless, I can happily say we had THE BEST year ever.  The best crew, the best crops, the best sales, the best customers.
A big thanks to all of you reading this right now who were a huge part of our success!  Thank you! And a huge thanks to my great crew this year - Kevin, Janiece, Blake, Jen, Ben, Kate, Sabrina, Lauren and most especially - my Dad!
Now...that I've said all that...down to what really matters - what we are bringing to market today!
* Potatoes!  Loose and 10 lb bags.  10 lb bags are $12 OR...buy 2 or more and your price goes to $10 a bag!  Last market special ONLY!
* Dry Beans!  We will have Rockwells, Tiger Eyes, Arikara and Barn Floor Mix beans.  (Black Coco, Peregion and Cannelini aren't quite ready yet...).  For every 4 bags at full price you get a 5th bag at 1/2 off!
* Onions!  We have a large selection of gourmet onions and 5 lb net storage bags for just $7.
* Garlic!  Loose garlic plus 1 lb bags of garlic for just $8!  A $2 savings and a Last market special ONLY!
And then we will have our usual assortment of winter squash, pie pumpkins, cabbage, mesclun, arugula, kale, chard, collards, tomatoes, kohlrabi and etc....
 Plus...all purchases of $60 or more get a FREE GIGANTE KOHLRABI!

My normal appearance during the summer (well really most of the year!)

So...hope to see you at Bayview today!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

Last Call For Local Produce!

Okay folks...this is THE VERY VERY LAST market of 2010!
I'm both sad and happy....
Sad it's over and won't see your friendly faces every week.  Happy to take a little bit of a rest and plan for next years market season!
So...we hope we get to see you today at the Bayview Holiday Market, 10 to 2, INSIDE the Bayview Hall!  We will bringing some fresh produce and lots of great locally grown gift items.
Check out -
* Cabbage
* Leeks
* Potatoes - We will have small and large 10 lb bags
* Garlic
* Jerusalem Artichokes
* Winter Squash
* Onions
* Dry Beans
* Garlic Flakes
* Garlic Braids
* Locally Grown Grains!  Emmer, Kamut and Purple Barley from my friends and neighbors
Also....we have GREAT gift boxes full of Willowood Farm favorites or...buy the box from us and stuff it with locally grown produce and crafts from all the great vendors at Bayview Market.
Hope to see you today!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

What? It's Over Already?

 That's right folks, today is the last Bayview market of the season!  (Well, until we start the indoor holiday market on Nov. 27th!). But for the main season, well, today is it.  And with the close of the markets and shortening of the days comes a lot of reflection on the season - the good, the bad and the tasty.
So here's a quick run, down, by season touching on some of the highlights...
The Winter into Spring - Jan through May.  Was wet.  That's pretty normal.  Did have some quite warm/dry spells in early March, enough to get some plantings in of early greens.  Planted lettuce (about 3000 plants); sewed 3000 row feet of greens like mustards, arugula, spinach, planted about 1500 row feet of brassicas (cauliflower, cabbages, broc); planted about an acre of potatoes and about 1/2 acre of onions.  Weeded and fertilized 8000+ garlic plants.  Planted three acres of dry beans.  A 1/2 acre of winter squash.  Worked on building a 20x48 foot greenhouse.
The Summer - June through Sept.   Cooler and wetter than many of past years.  Although not an unusual summer for this Whidbey Island born and raised girl.  Finished the greenhouse and planted out 70 some tomato plants.  Seeded basil.  Weeded (or at least tried to), fertilized and bug-managed all the crops previously noted as planted (eek!).  Harvested garlic in July.  Sprayed compost tea.  Re-planted multiple successions of many plants - lettuce 2x (about 4000 plants),  planted about 4000 row feet of fall/winter veggies. Picked and picked and picked some more!
The Fall into Winter - September until now.  Wet, wet fall!  Our almost ALWAYS dry and beautiful summer we got buckets of rain causing havoc with all sorts of curing crops.  Harvested about 6000 pounds of potatoes, a couple more 1000 pounds still to be dug.  Beginning pulling dry beans and attempting to dry them in complicated fashions involving a semi-dump truck, lots of fans and a propane heater.  Onions same story - came out of the field WET.  Garlic almost all molded in the barn til we created a "dry room" installed we a heater and de-humidifier.  Amazingly enough, we got some winter squash all the cool summer meant production was off probably 50 percent. Planted another 2000 heads of lettuce for late fall harvest (not quite ready yet).  Kept picking.  And harvesting.  And picking.
What's Left?  Well..we start planting garlic this week and lots of that to do!  We have over-wintering greens to plant into the hoophouse, rows to be weeded and mulched for the winter and lots of cover crop to seed.  Still got some potatoes left to dig. Oh...and about another 1000+ dry beans to thresh, clean and bag! 
That's the great thing about farming in the Pacific Northwest - the fun never stops!
And now, since I know you are all drying to know what we'll be bringing to market today...here is the list:
* Dry Beans - Rockwells and Black Cocos!  These sold out FAST last week so we stocked up quite a bit more for this week. 
* Mesclun bags
* Arugula bags
* Leek bunches
* Winter squash
* Potatoes - including our 10 lb storage bags at reduced pricing!
* Garlic - stock up your pantry and we will still have a bit of seed garlic as well - not to late to plant!
* Jerusalem Artichokes (aka sunchokes).  A tasty fall/winter crop!
* Beets - red, pink and golden types!
* Rainbow carrots from our good friends at Prairie Bottom Farm
* Cippolini onions
* Chard
* Kale
* Collards
* Kohlrabi
And probably something more I'm forgetting!
So hope to see you at market today!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

Last Chance for Local Produce!

Well, not the last chance ever - but the last chance in 2009!  Today is the last Bayview Farmer's Market Holiday Fair and Willowood Farm is bringing the green! We dug deep (sometimes literally), for one last great farmer's market.
Surviving the recent deep freeze, was quite a range still of lovely veggies:
* Collards
* Fabulous Flat Cabbages and Lovelier Red Cabbages Too!
* Mixed Baby Kale
* Baby Spinach!
* Baby Palla Rossa Radicchios (similar to Belgian Endive)
* Carrots!
* Rutabagas (in their prime right now too - perfect size!)
* Japanese Salad Turnips
* Kohlrabi
* Jerusalem Artichokes (aka Sunchokes)
From the storage cellar we will be bringing:
* Potatoes! Potatoes! Potatoes!  Several kinds, including fingerlings.
* Garlic!
* Winter Squash
* Dry Beans
We are also hoping for a early morning delivery from our neighbors Prairie Bottom Farms with leeks, beets and (we hear rumors...) maybe even some Rockwell Beans!
On top of all that fabulous fresh food, Willowood Farm is also featuring a number of great Holiday Food Gift Ideas including -
* Garlic Braids, Garlic Sampler Bags (4 kinds of different roasting garlics), Garlic Lovers Gourmet Box, Garlic Flakes
* Bagged dry beans and Rockwell Bean seed packages
* The Willowood Farm "Harvest Feast" box.  A perfect local food holiday gift!

So we hope to see you today!  If you've never been there, the market is located at the Bayview Hall behind Bayview Farm and Garden.  And yes, it is indoors!

And on a final note, I wanted to include a link on a GREAT blog posting from "locovore" Vincent Nattress.  Vincent's blog, Puget Sound Bites, has become one of my favorites.  Check it out!

As always, THANK YOU! for your support of local food
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

Bye Bye Willow!!!!!!

So, feeling rather nostalgic tonite. Tomorrow is not only the last main season market day of 2009 (Bayview only, sorry Coupeville!), but Willow - one of the fab three Willowood Crew this year - willing be leaving us this Sunday to pursue new adventures in farming. Wah! Wah! Wah!

Willow came to Willowood Farm via a coffee and chocolate farm in Hawaii where she had been interning (I'm still not sure why she left...Coffee? Chocolate? Hawaii?????). She was looking for a farm in western Washington to gain local experience as she hopes to start a farm soon somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
Discovering a farm named "Willowood" seemed fate. It was literally, calling her name! (Willow has suggested I get her a sweatshirt with just the word "ood" so then she could be "Willow-ood." Ha. Ha.).
But when she and I first talked, I had to be upfront about the name thing. Not only was my farm name also hers, but, um yeah, our dog's name is Willow too! And yes, we've had a fair bit of confusion on that issue. However Willow (the person), has gotten to recognize the different tone of voice I use for Willow, the dog. As in, "WWWILLLL-OOOWWW stop freaking barking! It's just a hiker/hunter/garbagedriver/UPSman/neighbor/apparently nothing???? So STUFF IT!" Usually Willow (the person), figures out I'm talking to Willow (the dog), because I tell her to stop barking. That's the big clue. Meanwhile Willow (the dog), keeps barking because she now has learned to pretend she is deaf (except apparently when discussing the possible procurement of bone-flavored treats). Willow (the person) also is very alert to possible discussion of treat procurement, her preferred, however, being chocolate flavored.
Anyhoo....
So, somehow, we worked it all out. Dogs barked, seeds were planted, cabbage was harvested...It was all good. Until now. When she is leaving. Wah-wah-wah!
But...I AM excited for Willow to get busy pursuing her dreams of starting her own farm with her mom. Not to get all sappy and what not...But young enthusiastic, energetic and SMART people like Willow are what the future of a local, sustainable, healthy food system is ALL about...
And I know Willow will be "kickin' it" and coming to visit lots (she better!), so we'll get to see her plenty. Since Willow (along with Kevin and Elizabeth), will all be at the Bayview Farmer's Market tomorrow for a "going away" market day we hope you will come stop by for a quick visit! I know Willow would love to see all the friendly faces we've met at Bayview this year. And yes, this is THE LAST Bayview Market of the main season (yet to come, the Bayview Holiay market but that starts Thanksgiving weekend). And yes, in typical "Bring the Abundance" Willowood Farm fashion, we will be coming loaded with all sorts of goodies for you to stock up to get you through the long, no market winter weeks! Here's the short (long) list...
- Gourmet potatoes loose and in 10 lb bags as discounted price for winter storage!
- Loads more garlic and still plenty of seed garlic (I plant into mid November so not too late!)
- Cabbage, cabbage, cabbage! Three kinds for all your sauerkraut fantasies!
- Lots of nice fall bunched greens. Raab, collards, mustards - all tastiest this time of year!
- Spinach and arugula bags!
- Last of the season's head lettuce (and we've had quite the year of head lettuce!)
- Brocolli side shoots - yummy!
- Gorgeous cauliflower
- Dry beans - Rockwells and several other kinds as well this week!
- Winter squash and yummy pie pumpkins!
- Decorative gourds and mini pumpkins
- Other stuff I'm forgetting!
And on a final note, since it will be Halloween and all, the Willowood Crew will be dressing up in accordance. Check out this hilarious spoof to get a clue on our costumes for the day!
http://www.storewars.org/noflash/
Hope to see you there!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie