Birdsfoot Farm

Hello All,
just a friendly reminder that our annual smashing garlic harvest fest is this Friday after 11pm and Saturday all day.  We are looking for help to get the 9000 garlic which are at good size this year (no minnies) safely into the barn.  The weather looks good and we are going for it.
One highlight is that a crew from Noris store in Saranac Lake is coming out Friday late afternoon to play garlic on a farm.  They are so excited to come that it got me all excited.
For those new this year, we have a group in the field pulling and shaking the dirt off and a group in the shade in the back yard peeling, bundling and hanging the garlic.  There is food and fun and garlic.
Come and have a good time. 
We are also looking for quart yogurt containers to freeze our veggies for winter.  We like Stoneyfield, but I wold take any to have some if they have matching lids.  We freeze about 500quarts of fruits and veggies a year.
Also a reminder to return your cardboard pea and bean boxes so we can use them again. 
The gardens look good, some weeds, not overwhelming and we are excited when new crops like the beans come in. 
see you, Dulli

Dear friends,
I am waiting for the cheese to set.  It is Sunday cheese making day.

Today is Annie's last day before she returns to the U.K. and we are having a party for her.  All the workers and friends of hers are coming.  Some of you have met her at the Canton Farmers Market where she loved to show you peas and fresh bread.  She was researching Birdsfoot Community for a month and wrote pages and pages every day.  There is never a boring day here.
I finally got a new (used) camera from my friends Michelle and Valerie so that the newsletters can continue.  My other camera wold not let the lens out anymore.  So, thank you so much for the gift.

In the gardens it is busy as usually.  We are in the thick of peas.  We picked 130lbs of peas in one harvest last week, more than what Lexi weighs.  Lexi is one of our co-workers and pickers.
If any of you would like peas for freezing, they are now available for $4/lb with a three lb minimum.  We froze a lot of them for winter stir -fries. 

I never thought I would hope for more zucchinis.  They are so slow to produce this year.  We get like two a day from 150 plants.  They are right next to the main path and I look at them so many times.  I heard of another farmer at the market who is waiting too.  So cherish the ones you get.  I hope that we will get swamped at some point soon.  There are another 150 plants coming on in the second planting and they are just starting to flower.  The first planting has been flowering for a month now. 
We are down to the last few 700' of potato planting, 1100' were planted two weeks ago and the last bean planting for the season.  The first planting is not yet flowering and the second planting gets potato beetles picked twice a week.

You may wonder what happened to the garlic festival?  Well we are in a dilemma.  Everything is about two weeks late.  The garlic is in full growth and does not think about finishing up, showing by yellowing leafs.  You want to harvest as 4 leafs are still green and the rest turned yellow.  Or you can cut open the bulb horizontally and see if the cloves are starting to separate.  Usually we harvest July 21 and then I go on vacation July 27-August 4th.  Not being at the farm for the two weekend would put the harvest festival into August 11.  I am worried that is too late and the skins would bee to thin and expose the cloves and it can't be sold.  We are making a decision tomorrow if we have to come home early from vacation.  We will keep you posted and I hope you are ready to help pull and peel the 9000 garlic when the time comes.
peace, Dulli