Lloyd Craft Farms Fresh Produce, Locally Grown

Quick Note to Everyone–All the garden has ready for Pick Up next week is Summer Squash–7 varieties!  BUT…hardly worth the trip out to The Farm, or running the truck around for deliveries.  HOHOHO

SO–Looking for the CSA Pick Up to start Thursday, July 9th at The Farm–4:30 to 6:00 pm.  Deliveries will start Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  Check out the CSA Pick Up page for details.

THANKS!  The Farmer’s Wife

Cheri Anderson has vine-ripened Fort Laramie strawberries for sale.  3 pounds are available today…and she is picking more!  Cost is $5/pound.  Great in jams, smoothies, and flash frozen for later!  call her at 431-5021

(We had some and they were YUMMY!)

2 weeks until Harvest?  We sincerely hope so, but no guarantee with the crazy Spring that we’ve had with rain, rain, and more rain.  The upcoming week: high’s in the 90’s…good for the garden, but harder for us as we go bed to bed and row to row hoeing and pulling weeds.  The Farmer has been successful with his ‘tool bar’ cultivator he rigged up and ‘hoed’ between each bed.  It has taken out the weeds in the middle of the space between the beds, and stirred up the tall weeds next to the plastic…they are much easier to pull and hoe! 

I saw yellow blossoms on the zucchini!  And small green tomatoes…and some blossoms on the peppers…but not much more.  Today I went to the new garden spot above the canal on Michel’s place and was amazed at the size of the pumpkin plants and how well the purple sweet potatoes that we set out June 10th have grown.  I also heard gushing water and upon reporting it to The Farmer found this is the third drip line that the mice have chewed…not a good omen.  It is most likely mice are the ones responsible for eating the pumpkin seeds we first planted–The Farmer and Zebediah had to replant over 20 hills.  We were blaming it on crickets…

Read more…hoophouse progress, plans for more cooler space… http://www.lloydcraftfarms.com , UPDATE ON THE FARM page.  

Thanks, The Farmer’s Wife

UPDATE ON THE MEMBERSHIPS:

We closed the Memberships at 84–19 of those are Leap-Froggers for 8 weeks.  As we had already planted (and planned) for 100 members for 16 weeks, we came up short in covering all the input costs.  However, we are working on an exciting venture outside the Big Horn Basin that will bring in 20 more shares–more information will be shared once the details are worked out and the agreement signed!  This will help us tremendously in covering costs we have already incurred.

DELIVERIES and FARM PICK UP:

All Leap-Frog Shares–First and Third week of each month.

Worland Deliveries–Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning .  (If you, or anyone in your group, have a Fruit Share your delivery will be Thursday morning.)

Thermopolis Deliveries–Thursday morning.

Manderson/Hyattville and Basin Deliveries–Friday morning.

CSA Pick Up at The Farm (1049 Washakie Ten) will be Thursday between 4:30 and 6:00 p.m.

COMMUNICATION:

Before JULY 1st, you need to ‘sign to follow’ the blog again…Go to http://www.lloydcraftfarms.com and enter your email address again to the right.  You will get a confirmation in your email–accept it and choose to get your emails ‘immediately’.  (We have had some difficulty with the emails going direct from Wordpress to your personal email addresses.  I think that over time more of them are being hung up in spam filters.)

I’m setting up a text message group for those members who do not frequent email.  When you get your text message you should take the opportunity to visit http://www.lloydcraftfarms.com and read the notice in its entirety.  Text messages have to be short and brief–more detail and information may be in the Post.

EGGS:

The availability of eggs seems to have increased in the Basin, the cost is all over the place.  I’ve tried to stock fresh farm eggs weekly at Pick Up.  If you are interested in buying eggs for $3.25 at Pick Up send me an email ASAP. I’m looking at around 7 dozen a week, but can make more available if needed.

That’s all for now– The Farmer’s Wife

There is a reason that we wrap up the Membership earlier than two months before we hope to start the Pick Up’s.  Time is one factor–The biggest factor, actually–no time to do anything in May and June…but what the garden demands!

This is a quick memo to let you know that I haven’t opened the envelopes that came in the mail the last week in May — With the first frost possible the second week of September, WE HAVE to have all the successive plantings on the melons, beans, and corn done before next week, AND any replants done now, too!  I will try to get those checks deposited this next week–I ask for your patience and understanding.  If your CSA Agreement was set up on an installment plan, this is the reminder that your installment is due.  🙂     June 10th is the date to make sure you have paid for your Lettuce/Spinach Option– $100 for Mini & Half Shares, and $50 for the Leap Frog’s.

Water is always a blessing, but too much is a curse–or so it seems.  We were in a good position with all the plastic mulch beds down before the Great Plains ‘monsoons’ moved in…water is water and it has affected the potatoes, beans, and all the transplants, too.  The broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage that we set out the first week in May have grown, but–BOY–do they look beat up!  Wind and bugs.  We have planted the pumpkins–twice–and something is still chewing on them and snacking on the seeds before they pop out of the ground.  We thought it was Chirpy Cricket, but then The Farmer saw a short-tailed ground squirrel skittering away the other day.  So the diatomaceous earth we spread will not phase him…He’ll probably thank us for the condiment!

I’ve been amiss is keeping you posted on the progress this Spring–Will try to do better.  We are still hoping to start the first week in July…but it seems so hard to picture right now…it seems so many plants just held their own waiting for the rain to pass…we’ve lost about 10 days.  A few sunny days will help–as long as we don’t go into extreme temps to further stress the plants.

Such is the life on The Farm, and such is the life for The Farmer, and The Farmer’s Wife.  No two springs are the same, all have challenges, but still growing things and working with the earth is an exciting adventure!  Glad you are taking this trip with us this year– For those that have been with us since the beginning, you have a growing understanding of what I’m talking about–  🙂