Happy New Year

It's New Year's Eve and we are sitting at home reading farm literature and looking at catalogs. We are both hoping that we can stay up to watch the New Year come in.

Not a lot has happened since the last post. We do have the guy scheduled to come out next Wednesday and tear the house down (what's left of it). He is going to bring it all out here to the house where we can burn it without having to get permits etc. Plus, this way whatever wood that is salvagable we will have it here at the house with easier access and the old bulk barns to store it in. Plus, the ash from burning it all can be mixed into the mulch pile and we can use that later on. Jeff got Jon Dowd to come tear the house down. They are friends and this is what Jon does for a living. We will probably get him to grade the spot where the new market is going to go. We have to have soil brought in and the spot built up otherwise it won't pass inspection because of the existing septic tank. The septic tank is at the top of the property and the whole 10 acres slopes downward toward the highway. And of course we can not have the septic flow running uphill. I sent out emails and made phone calls to those who had been getting stuff from the house to let them know when the last day would be. I am hoping to salvage some of the boards to make a country sign to go on the porch with the hours or some kind of welcome sign-not sure yet. Before we can have the house torn down we have to get a licensed electrician out there to put up a temporary power pole so that the electric company will come move the meter box from the house. So Monday we will be trying to get all of that done.

We rode through the farm while out running errands this afternoon. It was raining so we were unable to do anything there. The strawberries are looking good and I get more excited each time I go up. We also didn't see any deer tracks around the perimeter of the fence which is a good thing. A good friend of mine sent me a link to wral's web site about a story of a strawberry farmer who was having a terrible time keeping the deer out their field. They had done the same things that we had done but for whatever reason it wasn't working for them. I mentioned this to Jeff who said he received an email from the head strawberry research professor at nscu who had gotten a call from a strawberry farmer. The man called to tell him that he was having a hard time with the deer also and had rode out to check his field and saw 3 deer standing off at the far end of the field at the tree line. He had a gun in the truck with him and it was loaded with bird shot. He shot towards them in hopes of scaring them off instead the deer charged him. He ran and got into his truck and they attacked his truck!! This would have seriously freaked me out. So I am hoping and praying that our luck holds out and the deer stay out of our field.

While there I also picked out the spot where I am going to put the plants that I have in the greenhouse. I had ordered plants that are deer resistant and some that deer really don't like and will avoid. I have a corner at the end of the garden that is at the tree line and I am planning on taking that whole corner for that. Then if anyone wants to know about deer resistant plants I can show them what we have. All of them are perennials and I will be able to get seed from them and start new plants in the greenhouse next year and then hopefully be able to sell those the following year. I am also looking for weather resistant signage that I can place in that area with the flower names and some info on it. So far what I have seen is very expensive.

I am a huge fan of HGTV and have gotten several ideas from the show. One of the things that we were going to do was offer firewood for sale and to go along with it I was going to do natural scented firestarter bundles. I had already came up with the dried orange peel, dried apple peels, cedar twigs, cinnamon stick, etc. But I was reading some of the literature that Jeff bought for us and there was an article of something similar about the fire starters. This one farm grew herbs and in the winter the herbs have to be cut back to almost ground level and then covered with mulch for the winter. This one farmer stripped the plants of the seeds, leaves, etc for drying and vinegars and with the stalks dried those and mixed those together to make fire starter bundles too. I had not thought of that. They wrote that they keep them in a basket near the check out and sell them for $3.00 per bundle and they sell out as quick as they get them in the basket. So i will be trying this idea too. Plus, it keeps from wasting any part of the plant and that is big plus for me.

Jeff just read a part of a story in a famring book that said one farm went to the area restaraunts and met with the owners and chefs to discuss their needs. Some specialty items are difficult or impossible to get from food service companies and this farmer said he would grow the items they needed if they would purchase them. One of the things it mentioned that they grew were squash blossoms. Richard, a cook I had worked with, had asked me for some from our personal garden this past year for his personal cooking. He said that he would fry them and that he also chopped them up and put them in soups and sauces. I had never heard of this before. But apparently it is a huge thing in mexican cooking. The farmer in the article sold his primarily to upscale restaraunts in their area. They are a high dollar item and are impossible to get from food service companies because their ability to sell them in the short time of freshness is difficult. So for us this may be an option. I have started a letter to the chefs that bought tomatoes from us this past summer letting them know what we will be having and that delivery will still be available. We have a good reputation with these guys already with good product and fast service. Each one said that they will definitely be buying from us when we get the full farm going. After hearing about the article I am going to add into the letter, asking if there are hard to find items that they would especially like for us to grow.

The next couple of months are called out of season due to the cold weather and golf is the main attraction in our area. Everything in the area slows down drastically until the beginning of March. So I am hoping during that slow time that I will be able to set up meetings with other chefs to try to get even more business. That face to face meeting is very important. I could send a letter but without having a face or product to go with it, that letter will very likely end up in the trash. So what I am hoping is to carry our list with us, discuss their needs, and concerns and hopefully they will like us and will become new customers. Hopefully that extra personal touch will put us a little above the others. My next rainy day will be spent working on those letters, and lists.

For tomorrow, I am hoping to talk Jeff into digging up some of the crepe myrtles and hollies and going ahead and getting those in the ground. It will be alot easier to do it right now since we are getting rain right now and the ground won't be so hard. If we don't do that, I am definitely going up and painting the sign by the highway with the coming soon message. So on that note, I will stop blogging and head to bed for some sleep before what I hope will be a productive day tomorrow. Happy New Year Everyone!!