Sisters Hill Farm

Friday, May 16, 2014

New Educational Videos from Sisters Hill Farm 2014 Season and more!

The Sisters Hill Farm blog is back and ready for action. Today we wanted to share with you some of the exciting educational videos we've been working as a part of our new initiatives for the 2014 season. We've been putting our brand new time lapse camera to good use, experimenting with recording and editing our efficient methods for transplanting, weeding, and rolling/unrolling row fabric. We've put a sampling together for you below, but feel free to peruse our Youtube channel for more.

In this video we are transplanting onions with the crew and a few volunteers. We put in over 15,000 onion seedlings in half a day!

Here we are transplanting some early spring greens.

Another initiative of ours for this season is to revamp our trails in the woods in order to get our members and community more involved in other aspects of a healthy lifestyle. Good health starts with great food, and exercising is another way to stay fit. We've begun this spring by marking and clearing trails; both for biking, walking and running. Check out our facebook page for updates on group trail clearing parties we will be having throughout the season.

Lastly, we wanted to display a video of the first share from our 2013 season. You can expect a similar type of share for this season, although there will be some variation given the cool spring we've been having, in addition to some slight edits in the crop plan we made to better accommodate our members' vegetable preferences. If you'd like to sign up for the 2014 season and haven't yet, we do have only a few more spots available. Check out our membership page to download the member commitment form.

As for other events and happenings on the farm, this season we'll be having three farm picnics on June 14th, August 30th and October 11th. Save the dates! We'll have live music as well as cooking demonstrations given by local chefs; yet another way to make sure members know what to do with their bounty when they bring it home.

At distribution, we will be giving out new recipe cards and be displaying vegetable tip sheets with more information on the history, storage and prep of the produce you'll be getting in your weekly shares from the farm. Above is a sneak peek of one of our tip sheets for tomatoes!

And lastly, here are some of the signs we worked hard on this winter. We've got PYO signs that describe how to properly pick herbs we'll be growing in a dedicated pick your own patch and we have also added cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, and hot peppers for your own harvesting pleasure.

And that's some of the exciting projects that are unfolding at Sisters Hill Farm. We're looking forward to harvesting for the first CSA pick up this coming Saturday, May 24th. See you there!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Recap of 2009 Season!

2009 was a successful year for Sisters Hill Farm! Although the rain and cold provided unprecedented challenges for farmers throughout the Northeast, we were able to weather the storm and grow some very nice shares!

Our 2009 farm team; Farmer Dave, Maureen, and Bria.

Sisters Hill 2009 Apprentices....ready for anything!

As spring grabs hold, we prep the fields; marking a grid on them with our 1940's era Farmall Cub Tractor. This grid allows us to create the perfect spacing for all of our transplants. This is the future site of our cucumbers and summer squash...yummm!

Hand transplanting and cultivating our nice straight rows....what a pleasure!

Farmer Dave transplanting leeks.

Here's Bria on the Cub tractor cultivating some lettuce beds. We stir up the soil as soon as the weeds germinate; its much easier to control them while they are still tiny.

Just look at the size of those lettuce heads!

During early mornings on the farm, there are magical things to behold! This dragonfly waits until the dew dries to fly away.

Kale...in its early stage of growth.

Maureen and Bria washing lettuce.....did we mention it rained this season?! The weather you see in this picture held on for the majority of the season. Most counties in New York and New Jersey were even declared Agricultural Disaster Areas! Late blight, the disease that caused the Irish Potato Famine, ravaged the area and caused serious damage to just about every farmer's tomatoes and potatoes. We also got late blight too, so we didn't have as many tomatoes as we planned, but the shares were bountiful because of the great variety of crops we grow.

A glimpse into "Breezy" field, mid-summer.

A bountiful spring share!

Broccoli harvest....a fast paced and exciting harvest!

Summer Farm Picnic! A hay bale ride around the farm is so much fun!

It isn't a real farm picnic without a potato sack race.....

....and some music.

Welcome to the world baby squash!

The magic of a morning on the farm....this is a cantaloupe leaf in the greenhouse.

Watermelon, in its early days.

Watermelon and cantaloupe...a summer favorite!

Our wonderful volunteers helped harvest the garlic you see hanging in the barn to dry. Thank you!!

Our little family of chickens, on a walk around the farm.

This picture showcases just a portion of our 4,700 lb. onion harvest this year!

Our dedicated and incredible volunteers came to the farm at a moments notice for a "Beer and Blight Party" to help save our tomatoes from late blight. It was successful.........

...and we were able to harvest some tomatoes!!.....

A Saturday distribution in the summer...lots of lettuce!!

A glimpse into our Saturday summer distribution....squash, cucumbers, beans, scallions, leeks, peppers, eggplant.....and much more!

One of our younger members picks up her share at a Saturday distribution. This picture showcases: carrots, squash, cucumbers, fennel, beans, kale, radishes....and much more!

Want to try bobbing for peppers?? This is our wash bin full of colorful peppers!

Our truly incredible group of Friday volunteers....they come rain or shine every Friday to help harvest for our Saturday distribution. And this season....there was a lot of rain!! You are amazing!

Stanfordville Community Day 2009! Maureen drove the tractor, pulling a Sisters Hill Farm contingent in the parade. The theme was "Hats off to Volunteers," and we decorated hats with all different veggies....carrots, flowers, kale, radishes, bees....it was so much fun!