Adirondack Erratic

While looking up info about tents, I happened upon this site documenting a couple’s (Michelle Ferrarese and Marty Heller) bike trip in Michigan in 2006 visiting CSAs around the state. They visited 31 farms ranging from 4 to 250 shares each. The photo blog, and the documentary they made (you can see the short version here) give an idea of the variety of ways that people are growing food for themselves and their neighbors. There’s plenty of inspiration here for growers and eaters!

…’Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’ Keats

And sometimes it can be found in the garden… Hard to remember this in the intense flurry of planting everything, building stuff, and getting the market display ready. But the garden is beginning to fill up with green, as well as other colors, which truly does bring joy when I take my evening stroll. I’ll be posting batches on the photo page periodically; for an early season look click here.

Some of the pictures in this batch are of the hoophouse, which is so far living up to my expectation of an inspiring and challenging experiment. Melons that have been planted and watered with drip irrigation already have flower buds! On the other hand, the sides must be rolled up when the sun comes out or the air temps will get too hot. And I’m not sure how many years the plastic will last if it is constantly being folded and unfolded.

This is the hoophouse in all its glory:

and these are the end walls before assembly:

Here’s Rich working on the boards that go along the edges:

and this is inside the area before covering:

There will be more pictures of vegetables in the next few days. Next year, during the winter months, these posts will help to remind me what was happening in the garden, and when.