Potomac Vegetable Farms

CSA opening to Returning Members on Feb 1, 2010

January 26, 2010, 11:56 am / posted by Hana / Link

All the CSA members from 2009 will receive an e-mail on Monday, February 1, giving the link to the registration page for 2010. If you are a returning customer and you do not hear from us then, please write to us and we’ll send a message to your correct address. Returning customers will have until Feb 10 to sign up.

If you subscribe to PVF-West, please read all the new information on this website. There are changes — we have one share size and one season length now. Much simpler. PVF-East continues to maintain its complicated structure, with three share sizes and two seasons. Read all about it.

We have been resting and getting energized for the next season, going to conferences, reading seed catalogs, reading the regular newspaper. We don’t mind cold, wet weather in January one bit, since it keeps us inside and guilt-free. We are looking forward to spring, but we are in no particular hurry.

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Winter Whites

January 12, 2010, 2:11 pm / posted by Ellen / Link

While all appears to be asleep at PVF, the farmers are inside, cozily planning the 2010 season. Most of the seeds have been ordered and are arriving daily. We are making changes to the CSA: tinkering with share sizes, delivery sites, and getting ready for the February onslaught of registering new customers. We cherish this time of the year, enjoying the relative ease of these short days. We are trying to keep in shape, going to the gym, practicing yoga, splitting wood, so that when April comes we will be ready to bend over and plant the first babies in the ground.

Here’s a photo from that tremendous snow of late December. We went out over and over to keep moving the snow off the hoophouse so it wouldn’t collapse. That puts a whole new meaning to snowstorm. We also turned the heater on in the big greenhouse for the same reason. All structures survived the weather. I always think that these super cold nights are freezing our insect enemies in the ground. That’s another way to enjoy the winter, especially when I can stay inside and watch.

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Sweet Potatoes

October 6, 2009, 4:40 am / posted by Ellen / Link

Before frost comes each autumn, we spend hours and hours digging sweet potatoes. This crop is dear to us, one that not so many growers grow, and that is so tasty and nutritious. We start by transplanting “slips” into a freshly tilled and bedded field. Sweet potatoes are one of the few crops we grow on raised beds. That gives the roots plenty of soft ground to form in, and makes it much easier to harvest. After the long warm ummer, the vigorous vines have completely covered the field. In order to see what we’re doing at harvest time, I bring in the bushhog and mow the tops of the plants.

You can see the trickle irrigation tape running down the center of the bed. Now that we can see what is what, it’s time to bring in the beloved Bartschi root digger. The driver keeps the machine moving very slowly straddling the bed, while two people “birth” the roots behind.

Stephen and Zeke are catching the roots as they become unearthed, making sure they don’t get reburied by soil, or fall into the abyss that the root lifting blade creates. Now the rest of the crew can come in and calmly and quietly collect the sweet potatoes, separating them from the vine.

Unlike sweet potatoes from the store, these roots come in every possible shape and size. Some of the biggest are over 4 pounds! As long as it’s edible, we consider even strange ones food too. So, from about 3000 plants, we harvested 235 green pony baskets of potatoes. That’s about 6000 pounds of goodness.

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Newsletter update

September 27, 2009, 9:42 pm / posted by Ryan / Link

A long overdue update to the newsletters section has been made (we’re all caught up now).

How’s everyone enjoying their veggies this year?

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Ladies on Vakay

June 22, 2009, 12:26 pm / posted by Ellen / Link

This is what a happy hen looks like. We keep only hens, no roosters, so we call them the Ladies. I’ve learned from my hip young workers that the slang for vacation is Vakay. Thus the topic of my post. The ladies, all 183 of them, have been out in the field all spring, where the variety of greenery was a bit slim. So, last week we brought them over the a very diverse and interesting area for a little vacation. This spot has weeds of every ilk, wood chips, hay bales and piles of leaves for the ladies to play in. They are so busy all day scratching and pecking that they can barely look up when we drive by. They live in this deluxe hen house at night safe from Mr. Fox. They lay eggs in the morning in the nest boxes, then party the rest of the daylight hours outside.

The fencing is just to keep them from eating crops or getting out on the road. They have lots of room to roam and express themselves. For me this is the most important part of being a chicken keeper - keeping them happy. The ladies also have access to real DIRT for giving themselves dust baths. This dust is important for keeping parasites and lice off their skin and feathers. Yet another reason to support free range chicken products! Enjoy.

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What’s with this Rain?

June 11, 2009, 7:53 am / posted by Ellen / Link

Goodness people, I swear I’ve never seen a rainy spring extend this far into June. I know we usually complain about drought, as we may still yet, but we farmers reserve the right to complain about weather any time we feel like it. So now I will let you know what this weather means to us, and thus to you eaters! It’s not so much the actual quantity of water that’s the problem (and we are much drier here in Purcellville than Hana is in Vienna), it that it doesn’t dry up between rains. As keepers of indoor plants, you should have learned by now that plants like to dry out between waterings. They don’t want to wilt. But waterlogged soil invites fungus and makes it hard for the roots to breathe. As major tillers of soil, we need it to become dry enough to “work” so we can continue to plant new plants and seed new patches. This spring has been especially challenging in that regard.

We have a fairly loose plan of where different crops will go as the season begins. Then, the actual on-the-ground factors come into play. “Where is it dry enough to plant?” becomes the key question. Remember that any given field needs to go through a series of processes to go from covered with plants (winter cover crop of rye) to ready to plant a crop. Each of these steps requires dryish soil conditions.

Luckily, this season I have such excellent teammates that we have managed pretty well to continue to plant and sow in the given 10 minutes of perfect soil moisture - quick quick before the next rain comes. It also requires all machines work properly during that exact window of opportunity. So far, no major set backs, just things being on the late side.

Last Friday we enjoyed a full 5 hour pre-market harvest in the pouring rain. This is when you really find out how effective that rain gear actually is. As I told my folks, I’m pretty chipper with mudboots, a felt hat with a brim and rain pants. I get grumpy when the moisture reaches my core (chest and underarms) and then it’s pretty lousy out there. In order to not get stuck in the mud, we picked the load into a trailer (no need to protect from the hot sun). What an beautiful load.

And then after we pick, we need to wash all these greens and pack them up for market. That was two people for 2+ hours! The rest of us picked peas in the mud. My core got wet just in time to call it a day. We were a gorgeous bunch of farmers.

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Farmland Solstice Supper - June 20, 2009

June 10, 2009, 11:29 am / posted by Ryan / Link

Farmland Solstice Supper

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Spring is Long

June 2, 2009, 5:16 am / posted by Ellen / Link

I’ve been long away from this site, fighting my local government, but things are somewhat calmer now and the farm is hopping.

One of the hardest concepts for consumers is the idea of patience. We have now been trained that our every whim can be satisfied within seconds (just ask wikipedia the definition…) or with in minutes (just drive to the store and get it) or within hours (order on-line, get it next day). But in farming you just have to wait. Seeds take as long as they please to germinate, plants take weeks to become mature enough to eat or at least to become grown-up enough to start mating (making flowers and then fruits!).

Let’s just track the lettuce that will be your dinner this week. The seeds were started in the greenhouse in early March. They become cute little plants in the greenhouse. They sat outside for a week, got ready for the “real” world of full sun, heat and cold. We transplanted them into the field on April 27.

Today, 5 weeks later they are big enough to become dinner. Lettuce is pretty much one of the fastest crops: only 8 weeks from start to finish. Other crops like tomatoes and eggplant are at least 4-5 MONTHS from seed to first fruit. And then our fall favorite, celeriac, is the grand champ of patience, 6+ months of growing time.

So, please understand, it takes time to grow food! We do employ a few tricks of the trade, but they can only buy you days, not weeks or months.

Now, try to imagine planting fruit trees: 3+ years from planting to the very first harvest! Now, that’s a whole other take on patience. Thanks for your anxious questions about when something is ready. We’re having a nice long spring trying to make your wait as short as possible.

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Political Wheels Turning?

May 10, 2009, 6:41 am / posted by Ellen / Link

Thank you concerned and dedicated customers for your show of support on Monday. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has heard from farmers and eaters alike that putting a 4000 student eduplex right next to some of the most successful farms in the county is a BAD IDEA. But, School Board reps are still defending the plan.

The deal is not dead yet.

For those of you late to the story please use email to each Board of Supervisors member and School Board member to register your upset. For those of you that are up to date, please send them another one. I am told by those who know, that these letters are making ALL the difference.

Here is our best local paper coming out in strong support of our cause.

Please visit Wheatlandalliance.org for pertinent information, addresses etc.

Thank you for helping us to continue to thrive.

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Board of Supervisors Meeting archive

May 5, 2009, 11:00 am / posted by Ryan / Link

Last night’s demonstration/public comment at the Board of Supervisors meeting in Leesburg saw a wonderful turnout. 60+ people spoke in opposition to the contract, taking the meeting beyond 9pm.

The video of the meeting can be streamed online or downloaded (large WMV). The audio of the meeting can be downloaded.

Thanks to everyone that showed up for support and to everyone that’s taken the time to contact the board.

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Help us save the Loudoun Valley

May 2, 2009, 7:06 pm / posted by Ryan / Link

Help us save the Loudoun Valley, the agricultural jewel of Northern Virginia Home to Potomac Vegetable Farms, Wheatland Vegetable Farms, Tree and Leaf Farm, Moutoux Orchard, Greenstone Fields Farm, Corcoran Vineyards.

Demonstration on Monday May 4th, 2009 6:00pm
Loudoun County Government Center: 1 Harrison Street, S.E., Leesburg, VA 20177-7000

We will present our 900 petitions, have a press conference, and have as many people as possible with signs standing in the courtyard and in the lobby of the building. This is to get us fired up for the 6:30 public comment period. We need to have so many people speak to the supervisors that they have to sit there until midnight hearing our concerns. Our goal is to get the Board of Supervisors so upset and embarrassed by this debacle that they pass some kind of resolution or motion that states a school cannot be built on these properties. That will make the sales contract Null and Void. We have two legal opinions that agree with this as our best avenue to stop these schools.

If you can’t join us, please make some phone calls and get BODIES on the site. We have three days to get this together. It’s now or never.

Deluge the Board of Supervisors with emails (bos@loudoun.gov) and calls (comment line 703-777-0115) demanding this land purchase be stopped by any means!

Thanks and see you there!

http://wheatlandalliance.org/

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New Fence

April 11, 2009, 7:11 am / posted by Ellen / Link

In two days this week, an energetic crew of 5 men from Pennsylvania put up 3000 feet of deer fence. We have been taking down the less than ideal black plastic net fence to prepare for their arrival. They arrived in two trucks, one monster pick up and a semi carrying three loaders/tractors and all the supplies. The were here at 8AM sharp after driving for almost 2 hours.

Semi w/fence posts

They had a wonderful attachment to a skid loader called a post driver, which bashed in the 12′ post almost 3 feet in the ground, bang bang bang.

Post driver

And then another loader with the fence stretcher would unroll the 8 foot woven wire fence. Once the grounds men held it up to the posts, it would pull the wire very taught and they would nail the fence to the posts.

fence stretcher

I was impressed with the steady pace and speed at which this all took place. Wonderful equipment and highly skilled workers are a joy to watch. It’s nice to know that this big chunk of change ($16,000) was well spent. Now we’ll see how the deer adapt to this new line of defense. Remember that this is replacing only 1/3 of our fence, in the most “challenged” areas. We have to grow some more veggies, make some more money and invite this team of fencers back again next spring.

woven wire nailed into place

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One Upmanship with the Deer

March 31, 2009, 7:30 pm / posted by Ellen / Link

We are deep in a long standing battle with our neighbors the deer. Due to many factors mostly surrounding suburbanization the deer population has exploded, especially in Loudoun County. I liken the battle to the nuclear arms race. My first volley came in 1992 when I planted one crop on this 180 acres, 1000 tomato plants. I harvested exactly ZERO fruit that season. Can you imagine? The plants were big and healthy and I thought all was well until I ventured into the patch to see when the first ripe one would arrive. I found no tomato fruit at all, and lots of deer poop. Thus the battle began.

We started with one strand of electrified wire around that one acre patch. We moved to two strands, then two whole fences 3 feet apart. Then in 1996 we went big time and put up a “permanent” seven strand electric fence around the whole 50 production acres. It was a huge project, costing a fair amount of money and many people hours. That worked for a few years. Then the second fence outside the first. Then 3-4 years ago 7 foot plastic mesh, attached to the ground with 12″ ground staple so they couldn’t get under the fence. And now, this winter I could see that the deer have started to jump over. So, next week, a company from PA will come down and spend 3-4 days installing an 8 foot woven wire fence. It costs $5 per foot and my fence is more than 8000 feet around, so I am only affording to replace 2900 feet at the most high pressure areas = where I can tell they are jumping over. I anticipate doing this 2 more years until the whole fence is replaced. That’s right, $40,000 invested in keeping Bambi out. As you might imagine I enjoy venison quite a bit, mostly out of poetic justice.

So we are quickly trying to dismantle the existing fence so the new one can get installed next week. That means taking down 20,000 feet of wire, 2900 feet of plastic mesh and many half-rotted fence posts. It’s a big job. Here are two pictures of our worst section in terms of the complex of weedy perennials that have taken hold in the fence line.

I got so frustrated with separating the mesh from the pokey weeds that I brought out the skid loader and just smashed it down and ripped it out of the ground. It was very satisfying. But we still had to roll up the good parts of the mesh and fold up the ruined pieces to throw away.

I’ll show you the beautiful new fence when it gets here.

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Spotting

March 17, 2009, 2:24 pm / posted by Ellen / Link

Spotting is the word we use to describe the act of taking a tiny seedling that’s in tight quarters and moving it into a more spacious environment. Today I spotted the cabbage you’ve been watching develop. I took hunks of seedlings out of the seedling flat and separated them into individual plants and put them into a cell tray. This tray has 72 separate cells. The cell tray is filled with a mixture of “soilless media” (peat, bark, perlite) and my fantastic compost. I make a little depression with my left index finger and then set the tiny seedling into that hole and push soil on top. Now add water and they will adjust to the new situation and start growing again.

Some plants handle this kind of rough activity better than others. Cabbage is in the Brassicaceae family and they are pretty good at being transplanted. Plants in the Cucurbitaceae family are less happy about jostling so we seed them directly into the cell trays, or even seed them directly into the field.

You can see that the greenhouse fills up quickly at this rate. One seedling flat yielded 6 trays of 72 plants. We’ve also been working with many fancy herb plants, moving them for 85 cell trays to 50 cell trays. These are herbs that come from cuttings: rosemary, lemon verbena, tarragon, and lavender. So now the greenhouse looks like this:

We also seeded dill and cilantro for the first time. We put a pinch of seeds into each of the 84 cells, 7 trays of each variety. They will be ready for the field in 5 weeks or so. Tomorrow we head out into the sunny weather (at least that’s what “they” are promising) to prune our neighbors blueberry patch. This earns us many hours of picking blueberries in July for free!

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Bedding Plants

March 9, 2009, 6:49 am / posted by Ellen / Link

We grow bedding plants as a way to get the season started at our early markets. Bedding plants are flowering annuals that folks grow for pleasure in pots and flower beds. We buy “plugs” of tiny plants from expert growers from around the country who take cuttings of special plants and root them. They arrive by FedEx and we “bump them up” into 4 inch pots. They grow for 6-10 weeks in our greenhouse and are then ready to sell. We specialize in unusual plants - how else to compete against Home Depot? So, you won’t find any impatiens or marigolds, but lots of gorgeous strange selections.

Bedding Plants

We are also slowly making our way through the top half of the greenhouse, weeding and putting down landscape cloth to try and keep it clean and weed free through the season. We are then setting up our makeshift benches on top of the cloth.

It’s been hard work getting the chickweed out of the gravel, using our fingers and a shovel. The first blisters of 2009 happily reside on my right hand. That’s one of the costs of taking the winter off.

Thanks goodness the weather has been more cooperative these last few days, with night temperatures above 45 degrees. That means the heater has not had to work to keep the plants happy overnight. We run circulating fans at night to keep the warmer air in the top half of the house mixed with the cooler air at ground level. They also keep the plants from collecting so much dew and inviting fungal pests.

As for veggie crops, the chard, fennel, onions and leafy greens are up and growing. This week we start seeding some of the sexy annual fruit crops that make our season prosper: tomatoes, eggplant and peppers which are all members of the Solanaceae family.

We will also head out to the field today to see if it is dry enough to do some early tillage. One of the worst things a farmer or gardener can do to the soil is to work it WET. You end up creating clumps of clay that will plague you for years to come. If it’s indeed dry enough, we’ll till and plant some peas. It’s early, but these super warm days and light winds have dried the top of the soil at least.

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What is a Greenhouse anyway?

February 28, 2009, 10:10 am / posted by Ellen / Link

I decided that maybe I should introduce you to the greenhouse. Every so often I remember that the term greenhouse is not universally understood, especially when I give directions to someone and they think I’m saying green house (a single family unit painted green). My greenhouse is 24×96 feet and is made of galvanized steel bows spaced 4 feet apart and attached to ground posts that are set into concrete. This is to make sure it doesn’t collapse or blow away. It is covered with two huge sheets of plastic that are kept inflated with air. This air cushion is the only real insulation to try and keep the warm air inside the greenhouse overnight. The purpose of this structure is to provide a warm protected environment to start our vegetable plants. The plastic alone traps the air inside and promotes very quick warming as the sun rises. In fact, even in winter, we need to make sure it doesn’t get too warm, so we have to provide ventilation as well. My greenhouse has roll-up sides so i can instantly (but not automatically as it is not hooked up to a motor and thermostat) provide ventilation. In addition we do have an exhaust fan with a thermostat that can be that emergency cooling device in case someone FORGETS to open the door or sides of the greenhouse on a warm day. Ask me to tell the celery story sometime….

Inside the greenhouse we use various found materials to create benches = places off the ground to put the plants. In our case we use 50 gallon drums (empty) and old pieces of chain link cage scavenged from who knows where. You can see the general disarray of things right now. We are moving the barrels around, weeding the greenhouse floor, and putting it all back together again as we need more bench space. Then we run out of bench materials and just put the flats right onto the gravel greenhouse floor. The floor was made with a layer of landscape fabric covered with gravel. Weeds now come through the cloth regularly. We are going to experiment with putting another layer of cloth ON TOP of the gravel and see what happens.

Daniel built a curtain in the middle of the house yesterday to attempt to halve the amount of space we heat overnight. It’s just another layer of plastic hanging from the hoop structure. I sure hope it helps us not waste so much money heating a house with only 20 flats inside! Dawn and I seeded 30 flats of Bright Lights swiss chard into 72 sized cell trays. That means there are 72 individual cells in a 10×20 flat. We grow chard this way because it doesn’t appreciate having it’s roots disturbed. So the seed will germinate in that cell, grow into a cute 6 inch plant and we’ll take it out to the field in April. You will see a lot of chard in your bags, so get ready!

Here are the cabbage babies you met last week. They are not growing very quickly, but it will work out fine. Now that we’ve turned on the heat, they will grow faster.

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First Babies are Born

February 20, 2009, 5:18 pm / posted by Ellen / Link

Let the Season Begin -

It was a big week on the farm. The very first seeds were planted on Wednesday. I use the Stella Natura cosmic calendar as a guide to choosing the very best day to plant certain seeds. Wednesday was a “leaf” day, meaning an excellent day to plant crops that we harvest the leaves from. So I seeded lettuce, celery, parsley, and three brassicas (cabbage, kale, kohlrabi). I put the soil mix into the planting flat, make 10 little ditches, sprinkle the seeds in the ditch, cover it up and water. Then I place the flats into an old refrigerator that is laying on its back, hang a 60 watt light bulb in it and close the door. Most other growers have a fancier way of germinating seeds. We’ve ALWAYS used this system. It’s cheap and works quite well. The temperature inside the frig is around 85 degrees. When the weather gets warmer we use a 40 watt bulb overnight and make sure to open the top during the day so the seeds don’t get baked.

Today I took the first three flats out of the frig. As soon as I see that brand new seedling emerging from the soil, the flat needs to come out and get into the sunlight. If we leave them in past that point, they stretch too long looking for the light and become unsuitable for growing on - long weak necks. Now I will baby these flats along by placing them over a heat mat. Next week I’ll turn on the expensive propane heater so that the whole greenhouse stays warm overnight.

Anyone home? trust me there are baby cabbages in there!

Low-tech seed germination “chamber”.

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It’s Almost Time…

February 6, 2009, 9:31 am / posted by Ellen / Link

We’re warming up our engines and getting ready to welcome new members into the CSA. We’ve given our last years members a head start at sign up, and so far we have about a 30% return rate. We’re trying something new and modern this year to assist with the massive information crush that CSA sign up entails - all automated, web-based registration. We’re learning the ropes and it seems to be working well. So, by February 15th we will be ready for all the new members!

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Happy New Year

January 15, 2009, 10:19 am / posted by Ellen / Link

by Ellen Polishuk

I am enjoying this beautiful cold weather by staying inside and warm. New ideas for our farm and especially for the CSA are bubbling furiously. Now is the time of year for conferences, farm visits and long lunches. We have time to consider new crops (rhubarb, shallots?) and new practices (manure free composting?). We have time to sort the mountain of receipts and statements for tax preparations.

We are getting ready to register CSA members, considering exact price structure and drop off spots. We are curious about our customers preferences regarding the In the Bag document and the newsletter.

** Should we continue to send the In the Bag via email, or post it in this website?

** Should continue to offer the newletter on real paper? and every other week? or should we make a combined weekly hybrid version that is all electronic.

If you have any insights please email them to me: ellen@potomacvegetablefarms.com

Be well

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The Spirit of the Law: How can we get a County ordinance to do what its authors intended?

September 9, 2008, 10:57 pm / posted by Hana / Link

By Mariette Hiu Newcomb

In the early 1980’s some local activists got together with Fairfax County planners to see what could be done to save farmland that was rapidly being converted into subdivisions, shopping malls, and office parks. They came up with the Agricultural and Forestal District ordinance that would make qualifying lands eligible for lower real estate taxes based on its agricultural use instead of its market value which was increasing due to development pressures.

In 1985, our farm became the Potomac Vegetable Farms Agricultural District which was committed to not developing or changing its use for the eight year term of the district. We have since renewed our district each time the term expired. It originally included the 30 acres on Leesburg Pike and a noncontiguous 8-acre parcel owned by the family on nearby Beulah Road, on the other side of the Moutoux Orchard which also had its own agricultural district. This 75 acre block devoted to farming became notable as land in the surrounding area filled up with large houses.

Three years ago, the Moutouxs decided to sell and move their orchard operation out to Loudoun County. We have written in these newsletters about the impact of the loss of this beautiful and productive orchard and our historic access to our Beulah Road land. We are continuing to grow vegetables and cut flowers there, but Fairfax County no longer allows it to be part of our agricultural district, now that it is more obvious that it is noncontiguous to the rest of our farm, and we are paying much higher taxes based on its market value as a house lot.

The County attorney has ruled that noncontiguous parcels cannot be part of an A&F district even though the ordinance stated at the time our district was established that noncontiguous parcels, if located within a mile of the core of the A&F district, would be allowed.

I have spoken with our Supervisor John Foust and consulted with the Fairfax County Planning Office but have been told that some legislative action might be necessary in Richmond to allow our noncontiguous parcel to be included in our A&F district. We need some help and advice to make the necessary connections to pursue this. We were wondering if any of our customers and associates might have more experience and expertise in this area than we do. Can any of you help?

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