Nistler Farms/ Psycleyobsessed

2012-01-22T16:12:00.001-08:00

There are times, moments, when I have to move slowlyIt helps me if I say to myself "self, one must be very strong to go slow"I suppose it is true, however, I have gradually discovered that I am not the strong one in that situation.And my role really is more like a partner in a dance that I do not know well, and the other knows all too well.I can only hope in that moment to move with some measure of grace so my partner is not embarrassed by my awkwardness.

2011-12-19T05:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday on the tree lot was rough; the Drive-in is right on the Dakota trail; bikers, walkers, bladers, all whizzing by, and me, I'm breaking down stands, pulling nails, watching for the trickle of customers coming through. The late season bargain hunters are tough. Some of them so crabby, some of them just so darn poor. One has to find a price that they'll accept and still leave oneself with some small measure of self respect. It's brutal. And you cant give them away or sell them too cheap because next year they'll come in 2 weeks earlier and want them for that same price.
There was a point where the darkness was overcoming the light, thankfully, a good bowl of hot chili and a rush of rather cheerful customers saved me and i went away from the day feeling good about the season.

2011-12-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

2011-11-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

today, i went north to pick up trees we cut last week.
the thought process can be funny when working alone; at first i thought, jeeze, we should have cut more. then as i started loading, i thought, oh man, i hope i can get it all on... i want to get all this in one trip.
once loaded, it takes another hour just to suck the pile down tight for transport.
awful nice to get it home.
delivery and installation is the easy part.
next week; one more load

2011-10-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

Last load of pumpkins for the season
10/29/11; last market day of the season
see you there!!

next up? dogwood, spruce tops, birch

2011-10-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

10/22,23
This time of year, when people ask, I often say, "sweet corn doesn't end, eventually we just give up". Well, we haven't given up. There will be sweet corn this weekend, including some white corn.
And, I suppose it goes without saying, excellent pumpkins for sale too.

2011-10-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

10/15,16
yes, there is still fresh sweetcorn.
yes, its good
yes, its really sweet
Minneapolis Farmers market, Saturday and Sunday, stall 229 (or right around there, sometimes we get moved a little in the fall)
also
pie pumpkins, pumpkins, warty pumpkins, broom corn, corn bundles

2011-10-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

Gourds are here!!; the warty pumpkins are actually gourds too. they are quite hard and dry down to a pale thin shell so one can enjoy them all winter long. the pumpkin crop, like the corn is a little lean, however excellent quality. buy early, supplies are limited.
still harvesting some awful nice corn.
this weekend; sweet corn, corn bundles, broom corn, gourds, pumpkins, honey

2011-09-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

10/1,2
limited supply of corn; Mnpls market only
nice corn
I think the fall corn is some of the best eating of the season
maybe its because November is looming and every last taste of summer is that much sweeter

2011-09-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of questions this past weekend about the frost. I think the first thoughts that come to mind are our worst fears; it takes time to actaully evaluate, and figure out what if anything was lost.
Is the sweet corn season over? NO
Will it ripen more slowly? Yes
Will the corn be tender and delicious? Yes
Will there be a worm in every ear? oddly enough, No; however, we are starting to see more of them.
How long will we have corn? Supplies will vary from week to week, however there will be some corn until mid October, or until a hard frost.

Squash and fall products are coming soon; like all the crops this year, they are a couple weeks behind so we're leaving them ripen in the field as long as possible. I suspect we'll start harvesting squash the week of Sept 26th

2011-09-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

Fall Market schedule
Weds; UofMN farmers market, Church street 11am - 2pm
Saturday; Mnpls Farmers Market 6am - 1pm
Mill City Farmers Market 8am - 1pm
Sunday; Mnpls Farmers Market 6am - 1pm
-Sorry, no thursday market. there's just not enough corn to go around. its been a lean year.
-There will be corn for a few more weeks; probably until there's a hard freeze.
-Like the crops, honey yield is pretty lean; buy early

2011-09-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

September came fast this year; I guess it always does. I love September because the colors of fall begin to appear, yet there is still green and some of the best vegetables of the season.
There is still a lot of good corn in the fields. I have some that has just tasseled, meaning there is still 3 or 4 weeks of corn.
This coming weekend, Sept 9/10,11 there will be some really nice bicolor; great for freezing.

2011-08-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today, not having corn to sell is kind of a bummer, however it did give me a chance to work on some equipment, like the disc I just purchased. And, to keep myself from the dark side, I worked on a few more details of the tricycle; fender, chain gaurd, refelctors. In keeping with the South American style, I suppose I'll have to come up with at least three more reflectors and some fancy mud flaps.

tomorrow, August 21st, we'll have a nice load of corn at the Minneapolis Farmers Market.
hope to see you there.

2011-08-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

The effects of the cool wet May have been gradually creeping up on us, meaning, no corn for Saturday Aug 20th.
I'm hopeful we can pick enough for the Sunday Market.

the next plantings look much better and we'll have plenty of corn.

2011-08-03T17:04:00.000-07:00

2011 Market Schedule

Weds: University of Minnesota Farmers Market, Church Street; 11:00 am - 2:00pm

Thurs: Nicollet Mall Farmers Market, 8th and Nicollet; 9:30 am - 3:00 pm

Sat: Minneapolis Farmers Market, 6:00am - 1:00pm

Sat: Mill City Farmers Market, 8:00 am - 1:00pm

Sunday: Minneapolis Farmers Market, 6:00am - 1:00pm

2011-07-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

Kind of hard to tell just how many coats of paint on this sign, however, a fresh coat can only mean one thing; sweet corn season has arrived. We have some really nice corn coming ripe for the weekend. You can find us Saturday and Sunday at the Minneapolis Farmers Market 6am-1pm, and Saturday at the Mill City Farmers market 8am to 1pm.

2011-07-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

i have some pretty big mits, so, objects next to them may appear smaller than they really are.
2 inches of rain today and impending hot weather leads me to believe 10 days to the first drizzling of corn; 3 weeks to watermelon.

2011-07-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

i was checking on corn today, taking a few photos. the patch is pollinating and full of bees.
corn does not require a pollinator, however, the bees want the pollen. my neighbor, a knowledgeable fellow, says they will use this to cap the honey.
as i was observing the bees and trying to get a few photos, i thought to myself, i sure am glad this is not a gmo corn meant to kill insects because if it was, it sure wouldnt be great to have all that pollen hauled back to the hive. and i cant help but wonder, with all the bt/gmo corn grown across the country, couldnt that be a contributing factor to colony collapse?

2011-07-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today, driving a tractor down hwy 12 was an eye opening experience. In a way, when riding a bike, I had been operating under the notion that people just didn’t like bikers. I thought if I was driving a tractor with a machine on the back, I would be wider and slower, but people would be more understanding and give more room. Well, the reality is, they are not. They are not understanding and they give less room. And, on a bike at least I can get out of the way, or try, but on a tractor I’m kind of stuck out in traffic and who am I to take away someone’s god given right to keep their foot on the gas no matter what. Maybe its painful to let up on the gas, I don’t know, I drive a car a lot like a tractor so even slow seems fast to me.

I talked to another farmer; he said, when he’s on the road he takes the whole lane; because if he hugs the shoulder they try and squeeze by at high speed, traffic or no, they’re coming through.

I’d like to blame the Republicans, and maybe some limousine liberal Democrats, but I have a feeling this is a bipartisan effort to get where one is going as fast as you can while keeping in constant contact with all friends using any and all hand held devises sipping a coke eating a burger petting one’s dog and catering to the kids every whim. It’s the American dream.

That state budget thing. What a bummer. No one is going to give in. We cant even slow down

2011-07-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

a guy from the coop was out today; said this year most folks would be happy if this was how good thier field corn looked. this is the earliest sh2 (supersweet); just beginning to tassel; it'll be ripe the first week of august. all the corn is not nearly this nice, however, overall, the crop is improving with every warm day. some rain this weekend would be fantastic.
what you see in this photo represents about 10 days of corn.

2011-07-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

a couple weeks of warm weather have helped the crops a lot. the watermelon are beginning to vine and the sweetcorn is showing some tassel. that's about a week to 10 days behind normal; I suspect it'll be the end of the month before we start harvesting.

2011-06-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Its been a crazy spring; too cool and wet, then too hot and dry, finally, right now, we're hitting it about right.
the transplanted watermelon are at least 10 days behind. The sweet corn has improved a lot in the last week and I think its nearly on schedule. Squash and pumpkins are about on schedule as well.

2011-05-25T06:07:00.000-07:00

Jake is on the far right; he was about 19 in this photo.

Working at Nistler Farms is the first job for quite a number of local young folks; pretty common for them to work here through high school or a little after. I feel fortunate to work with them. Mostly, they are, by far, smarter, have better social skills and are worldlier than I was at that age. It’s great fun to ponder their futures; I look forward to them running ahead of me and leaving me in the dust. I envy the pride their parents must feel. I like to think I have some small role in their success, but really, I know, it’s them; what’s in them; what drives them.

I secretly hope that some of them will be my memory; that they’ll tell me stories when I’m old and can’t remember…or maybe listen to one of my blended garbled ramblings. That’s how it’s supposed to be; I think; I thought…

there seems to be a few too many exceptions to this orderly idea of life I cling to…yesterday, Jake Hughes died.

Jake was bright eyed and aware at a very young age. He started working here way too young; washing gourds, weed wacking. By the time he was 13 he practically ran the place. Jeeze he made my life easy. He could drive anything, fix anything, and often helped me figure out how to adapt machines to varying specialty crops. He started college at age 16 and entered the Carlson School of Management earlier than most. He didn’t struggle with school.

He started building computers about the time he started college. He built the one I’m using right now. He built one for himself and overclocked the processor, then water cooled it to make it even faster. I guess he was always pushing limits.

I don’t like to compare people who work or have worked here, because each has their own strengths. However, it’s interesting to me, that the best ones come back; when they are between jobs, or short of money, or just for the heck of it; they come back.

Jake owned a home, was engaged, had a good job down town as a tech guy for a law firm. Still, if I needed someone to run a crew on a Saturday morning, he’d come over and do it. He offered it up; made it easy for me to ask.

But now he’s gone. His folk’s hearts are broken. And we are left to ponder what might have been. And what we could have or should have said, or done, to avoid this. All of it, all of him, spinning around in our heads, heavy hearts, and tears; spinning, never arriving anywhere, because the unfortunate/awful/horrible/tragic truth is; he’s not comin back.

2011-05-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

I guess I post a photo pretty much like this every year, still, always a thrill to see the corn begin to emerge. Yesterday, in the morning, there was nothing, at all; by evening one could make out rows of corn; its amazing.
With the sunny weather we have been really busy with field work. I'm fortunate to have some excellent help, also, family members who bring me some food and coffee, knowing I'm pretty much living on the tractor.
Today, even though there is still plenty to do, I'm practically glad for the drizzle; I can get some work done that I've been putting off, and maybe mow the lawn for the first time...well, no, but I did manage to weed wack around the mail box so they keep delivering the mail.

2011-05-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

finally, dry enough to plant today. the ground worked up really nice.

2011-04-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

higher bars, lower gears, fatter tires...I'm NOT getting older, I just want more comfort

2011-04-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

2011-02-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Carl, I wish I could think of something profound to say to you; something about hoping for half your dignity when my time comes, or maybe casting a shadow half as long,
but really,
today,
I just wish I could talk to you

2011-01-15T13:19:00.000-08:00

I am aware that this looks an awful lot like a 9th grade shop project; however it is the heart and soul of the soon, almost, very near, amazing technicolor textile traveling trunkshow tour, in a van (coming to a town near you). It will allow us to pack the van with rugs, to the roof, and still be able to extract the bikes without having to unpack.

2011-01-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

pappa noel brought some studded tires. in the past, i have taken some hard spills on the snow packed gravel roads, so it takes awhile to really believe that the studs will keep one upright. however, once one leaps that hurdle, they are really a blast!

2011-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

I'm slowly picking away at bike projects. the headset on my old raleigh is nearly 35 years old and it is worn enough that there is both indexing and shimmy. often times this is a job i leave for professionals, but i knew there would be some adaptations along the way so i used my crude instruments and indeed ended up with parts from 3 different headsets in order to achieve what i was looking for. i'll have to wait for spring, or at least an extended warm spell, before i can really try it out.

2010-11-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

i'm building wheels for my touring bike. this is the rear. it came out really nicely

2010-11-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

I have a nice old cast iron truing stand, but no dishing tool. Dishing tools are only 35 dollars or so, but they are really only worth about 5. Being cheap, I cant seem to part with the money.
Instead, I'm making one from an old jacked up level.
Dad was a little horrified when his eye caught, amongst all the clutter, a cut up level. I explained to him that it had been on a shelf in the shed for about 30 years, so it must have been off somehow or it wouldn't have been there in the first place, and it is being transformed into a new tool; he was a bit more understanding.
I have a couple sets of wheels to build. Its nice to have a diversion when the madness of Christmas trees looms.

2010-11-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

prepping for birch deliveries

2010-11-07T14:39:00.000-08:00

my neighborly dairy farmer friends were kind enough to rent me their plow rig. it's a fine machine and really does a nice job.
because of the rainy spring and summer, we were force to manage much of the sweet corn ground under wet conditions, which made for some soil compaction. this chisel plow does a nice job of breaking up that compacted soil.

2010-10-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

the wind and rain sure can take the fun out of the pumpkin business. washing pumpkins in full rain gear layered over winter cloths is not too fun. still the loads are quite lovely and there are plenty of orders to fill this week

2010-10-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

we've harvested a mountain of pumpkins, squash and gourds.
this gourd is the most amazing of all and it may take me a while to figure out how to capture photographically its incredibleness.
maybe you'll have to see it in person

2010-09-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

12 plus hours to prep for the weekend markets.
I sure hope the sun shines upon us
Its all so ordinary, almost sad, when its gray
but when the sun comes out
even for a moment
spectacular

2010-09-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

Rain can take some of the fun out of the pumpkin business. Its not just the sluggin around in the fields harvesting; its all the washing. If its dry, one can just brush off the pumpkins and its all good; now, because of the mud, everything needs a bath and scrubbing; everything, gourds, squash, pie pumpkins, jacks.
If the sun favors us this weekend, they will look spectacular.
There is still corn. Bicolor saturday; white on sunday.

2010-09-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

pumpkin, gourd, corn bundle emergencies have popped up in a serious way this week.
this is the first load of the season.
there will still be sweet corn for a couple weeks; mostly at the weekend markets.

2010-08-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

somehow these loads of corn never look as big in a photo. this is 85 sacks of corn. it took us 2.5 hours to pick it. nice corn right now. a few worms, but not bad.
good crew i might add.

market schedule

2010-08-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Really nice corn coming in now
Wednesday: UofMn Farmers Market, Church street, 11am-2pm
Thursday: Nicollet Mall Market, 8th and Nicollet, 9:30am-3:30pm
Saturday: Minneapolis Farmers Market, 6am-1pm
Mill City Farmers Market, 7:30am-1pm
Sunday: Minneapolis Farmers Market, 6am-1pm

2010-08-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

This is the 4am load on a Saturday morning. If we have a lot of corn there is a second, not nearly so big load around 9am.
Unfortunately, I am currently kind of short of corn. I'm into a planting that did not develop well because of all the early rains. I'm skipping tomorrow's market(Sunday), and hope to be back to regular market schedule by weds. I suspect there will be a rather tight supply for about a week to 10 days. After that i hope to be back to huge piles and multiple loads.
There will be all yellow and all white corn coming ripe very soon.

2010-07-28T16:25:00.000-07:00

the two hoodlums helping sell at the UofMn. wow we were busy.
we are into some really nice corn this week

2010-07-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Today I was driving by a garage sale and saw a bike, so I figured I
should stop.
As I approached I saw that it was copper colored Raleigh with high
flange hubs.
Closer, I could see it had a chrome fork ends, chrome stays, ornate fork crown
I could hardly breathe...could it be the Holy Grail; a copper colored
Raleigh International?
Alas, it was a Super Course with cheap simplex derailleurs.
However, it did have Suntour bar-end shifters that I've been looking
for and the hubs were Normandy with aluminum rims with new tires, and
some nice long reach centerpull brakes.
And the coolest handle bar water bottle holder ever.
The guy was an older gentleman and had ridden it to Madison and back
when he was younger.
Asking 40
I gave it too him.

2010-07-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

2010-07-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

2010 sweet corn sales schedule

2010-07-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

The ceremonial washing of the tables can only mean one thing; sweet corn season is upon us.
We're going to start picking Weds July 21st.
The 2010 schedule is:

Weds - U of Mn market, Church Street, 11 am to 2pm
Thursday - Nicollet Mall, 8th and Nicollet 10 am to 5pm
Saturday - Minneapolis Farmers Mkt, 6am to 1pm
Saturday - Mill City Farmers Mkt, 8am to 1pm
Sunday - Minneapolis Farmers Mkt, 6am to 1pm

2010-07-03T07:47:00.000-07:00

In our family we always take 4th of July corn photos. the corn is progressing nicely; not too weedy and plenty of silks showing so we are expecting to start harvest somewhere between the 17th and 20th.
Emily and Austin are good kids and not too grudgingly give in to this yearly ritual. It's getting pretty hard to call Austin "the boy"; we still manage to blame him for everything that goes wrong.

2010-06-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

I got an excellent deal on a nice cultivator; it'll take some modification to fit my row width, however its in good condition and the discs on the ends will help hold a nice line on the hillsides.

2010-06-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

Some of the corn is quite spectacular, some really suffered with all the rain and has yellowed. One can see a little of both in this photo. The last few days of sun and warmth has improved conditions in the field dramatically.

2010-06-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

Today, finally, I was able to cultivate pumpkins. Normally I would have rotary hoed a comple times and cultivated by this point, however, the rains made that impossible. Vines don't normal do well with that amount of moisture. Fortunately these are on a nice fertile hillside on Karen C's farm. The weed pressure is managable and I see almost no bug damage. Quite lovely I think

2010-06-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

in spite of my minimalist management, there is going to be buckets of strawberries soon

2010-06-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

2010-05-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

this time of year is quite busy; there is still ground to work, planting, transplanting, rotary hoeing, and by this time next week we'll be cultivating too. still rocks to pick, constant monitoring of drip tape...oh man there is work out there.
anyway, one may wonder; is there still time or energy for cycle obsessions? yes.
i have been experimenting with a few shifter combinations for the A.Eisentraut and i came across this old campagnolo shifter clamp, on ebay, from an italian seller, and i said to myself, self, i bet my
c-record shifters would mount on that clamp, and indeed they do. they shift famously and look perfect on the bike.

2010-05-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

2010-05-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

2010-05-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

Watermelon has a rather humble start.
The three narrow center trays represent 3 varieties, 150 plants and, hopefully, about 300 watermelon. enough for a week to 10 days.
they require really warm soil to germinate so i start them on a heat mat, then transplant them.
my mouth waters just thinking about them.

2010-05-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

i was biking home from a job around noon today, and a woman in a black suburban stopped me; i thought she was asking for directions...she said, i want to give you this. it was a little wad of money. i asked, what for?. she- i just feel like i should give it to you. i - i'm not poor, i'm riding my bike because i want to ride my bike. i didnt take the money. it was a wierd feeling. i was wonderfully dirty, and in work cloths as i had helped with some chain saw work south of delano, and brought my bike as a means of escape since i'm very handy with a saw and i knew they would try to keep me much longer than i desired, and i do have my own work to do even if rain is inevetable. and they did try to keep me longer, and i did manage to escape...
so i was dirty, very, and i had been on the end of a saw for a few hours, and i was biking into quite a wind and it was past noon so i was about as hungry as a bear, so i can kind of understand her conclusion and i only wish i had gone into marketing mode; for example; if you want to help me, buy produce just up the road at Peterson produce.
or; if you want to help someone, google artandes and click on communidad, then paypal.
maybe next time.
and maybe i should ride around more in my work clothes.

2010-05-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

yesterday, 5/5, the sweet corn began to emerge.
this spring seems really early and warm, however, that's only a few days ahead of last year.

2010-04-30T05:25:00.000-07:00

strawberry blossoms are beginning to show up
its very exciting!!

2010-04-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

the sweet corn germinated in under a week. i have never ever ever had it germinate that quickly this time of year.

2010-04-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

I planted 5 varieties of sweet corn today. It seems a lot earlier than normal. Not by the calender; last year I started 4/22. The soil, the land, is ahead; dryer and warmer than usual for this time of the year. The ground really worked up and planted well.
A nice little rain would be perfect now.

2010-04-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

if you get down on your hands and knees you can see the wheat is coming. by tomorrow night there will be rows.
we were walking the fields for rocks today. its funny about rocks. how they're hard to just leave out there on a pile, they are just so lovely.
we bring nearly half of them home

2010-04-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

nice nice rain last night; nearly 1/2 inch. perfect for germinating the wheat planted this past friday 4/9
sweet corn will be soon

2010-04-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

I like it even better with fenders and its much nicer for spring riding

2010-03-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

2010-03-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

2010-03-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

2010-03-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

what a day; and great to see that the bees made the winter

2010-02-11T18:50:00.000-08:00

2010-02-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

2010-01-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

there is an emptiness at the end of the season that i have come to relish
the busyness of the seasons would not be worth the effort without
i love the end
putting up all the big trees is grand
then suddenly its over
there is time to collect myself

2009-11-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

Life is like a sunny day in November

2009-11-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

well, it was a wet fall. we picked plenty of pumpkins in the rain and mud and had to wash them all, however the demand was good and we sold every one.
i had plenty of anxiety about the soybeans; whether or not we would ever get them off the field and if they would be dry enough to avoid big discounts, fortunately the weather turned around and things worked out about perfect in the end.
now, my life is plowing, birch, dogwood, spruce tops and good grief we started getting ready for christmas trees today. those few weeks between pumpkins and trees are fleeting.

2009-08-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

2009-08-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

8/18

2009-08-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

We are going to start picking white corn tomorrow!!!
It's beautiful and very sweet

8/14 Corn update

2009-08-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekends rain and the heat that followed has brought the corn along nicely.
We got around 2 inches which was nice considering some people got severe weather and maybe too much rain.
The problems in the fields that the dry weather created do not suddenly disappear, but now the plants can develop and ripen up much better.
I was hoping there would be some white corn for the weekend; alas, it just isnt going to make it.
there will be some starting weds at the UofMn.
There will be some all yellow corn next week too. The all yellow is one of my favorites.

Corn Update

2009-07-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

The rain and warm weather has changed/ripened the corn dramatically.
We started picking today.
I can see the early corn is not going to yield well enough to warrent going to market this weekend. We will sell it locally.
We will start selling at markets starting Weds the 29th.
There will be a nice supply.

2009-07-21T06:18:00.000-07:00

the past few years i've had some problems finding good white varieties. by good i mean not only do they taste good; i want them stress tolerant and i want them to yield well.
this is a new variety and so far i am quite pleased. this is on some low slightly peat ground and wow it is lush.
in a few weeks we'll all find out if it tastes as good as it looks.

2009-07-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

unsolicited testimonial; yesterday at a small party Julia came up to me and stood on a chair and said "I love the corn".
What more could a guy ask for in life?

the corn is just coming ripe. we'll know in next day or two if there will be enough volume for market.

2009 Market Schedule

2009-07-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

2009 Market Schedule

Wednesdays; UofMn Farmers Market, Church street, east bank, 11am-2pm

Thursdays; Nicollet Mall Farmers Market, 8th and Nicollet, 9:30am-3pm

Saturdays; Minneapolis Farmers Market, 6am-1pm
Mill City Farmers Market, 7am-1pm

Sundays; Minneapolis Farmers Market 6am-1pm

2009-07-06T05:56:00.000-07:00

the corn is progressing nicely

with some rain and warm weather, this ear will be ripe in two weeks

still looks like the 18th or 19th for harvest start date

new plantings continue; i'll plant until July 12th, giving us corn well into October

2009-06-24T09:32:00.000-07:00

what looks like small leaves will soon form form the sweet cob of corn that we will be hand harvesting and bringing to market
i expect the harvest to begin right around Saturday July 18

2009-06-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

the corn is a little short as a result of the dry weather
recent rains and warm weather have brought the crop back to good health
one can now see tassels forming
as a general rule of thumb, i figure on harvesting 3 weeks from 3/4 tassels
so i expect to have corn right around Saturday July 18.

2009-05-11T17:00:00.000-07:00

2009-05-11T16:57:00.000-07:00

isnt it lovely

2009-05-11T16:54:00.000-07:00

the wheat looks nice
could use a little rain

2009-05-08T18:52:00.001-07:00

sweet corn came up today!!!
in the morning there was nothing
but by the afternoon, sure enough, there it was
and if you looked carefully you could see the rows.
the ground has worked up really nicely this year. i'm expecting nice even germination and good crops.
i'm predicting ripe sweet corn July 15th

2009-04-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

all that carbon fiber
ppfffffff
they didn't know i'd been to boone

2009-04-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

yes, its true
i'm back in the chicken business
also,
planted wheat friday the 17th,
sweet corn today
!!!!!!

2009-03-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

this is our new and improved high tech syrup cooking system
it works really well. about 10 times faster than our old sytem
and nicer finished product too

2009-03-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

2009-03-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

biking boone
long climbs, treacherous descents, beautiful views

2009-03-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Biking Boone NC

2009-03-04T11:23:00.000-08:00

i'm sorry
what is the point of offering me a corn hook
without offering to use it

2009-03-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

um, well,

i've been caught

maybe it wasn't all stress and worry and sleepless nights

2009-02-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

Dad and I near Pisac

I was born on a mountain so high,
One could swear it was heaven

And it was known in the bones
Of GrandMother Earth…

When I was only one year old,
I grew wings, and I could fly

And it was known in the bones
Of GrandMother Earth…

Maria Quispe

2009-02-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

some one asked
am i...?
i hesitated, not from doubt
the real question is
will i...?
even then, what other answer is there
..."old charlie stole the handle
and the train(bus) it wont stop going
no way to slow down"