Growing and Donating Food in COVID-19 Times
Our second growing season at Veggies to Table is going strong with over 2000 pounds of food already donated. Despite many challenges, COVID-19, social distancing, masks, drought, pests and more, we are harvesting and donating produce and flowers like crazy.
I will try to be better about updating Paris to Maine… but I am good about Instagram if you want to follow more of what’s happening on the farm.
Veggies to Table, my non-profit, has received some wonderful press of late that I am happy to share. From a feature in Forbes to the Boothbay Register and a lengthy piece on News Center Maine, it’s been exciting. More fun news to come soon.
We are harvesting; tomatoes, peppers, sweet potato leaves, salad, cucumbers, onions, shallots, garlic, kale, chard, beans, beets, turnips, basil, sage, scallions and tons of dahlias, zinnias, sunflowers and more.
We also have a lot of roosters. Luckily this gorgeous guy found a new home. Let me know if you want a lovely rooster to protect your ladies, or for a pet!
And we hope you can visit us… socially distanced, and with a mask of course! We love sharing the farm.
All photos Erica Berman unless otherwise noted.
Coq au Vin and Hatching Eggs in Maine
We hatched eggs last year. They were unsexed. We ended up with 19 roosters plus Monsieur … the original roo. We gave away 15. Kept four. It was all going so well, Monsieur ruled the roost. The ladies were fine. Winter came and went and the little roos are now adults. They are attacking each other, attacking Monsieur, and worst of all attacking, wounding, maiming and even killing our ladies. It’s time for action. We must kill them or give them away. This is hard as, despite the havoc they are wreaking, we love them. They are all very different and very interesting. But they must go. The slaughterhouse is full up for months, COVID_19 lockdowns going strong, so we must do this ourselves. Luckily we have YouTube and experienced friends. What we don’t have are the proper tools and equipment. We will improvise.
This leads us to the next issue, chick season is upon us. We thought of ordering some breeds we don’t have. With Covid-9 we dont really want to ship chicks (plus its not so good for the babies). We could get eggs… but we think we will hatch our own, again. This means we have to do it now as the ladies with less roos may not be fertile.
Hatching chicks is quite a bit of work. Killing roos does not thrill me. Especially since I am attached. Do both we will. And we may just get a delicious coq au vin in the process!
Organic Tomatoes Continue in Maine
Fall is here and frost is on the way. We had a recent scare but, fortunately, we were not affected much. We are harvesting our tomatoes like crazy in hopes to get as many as we can before that fateful final day when we do get hit. Hundreds of pounds of heirloom beauties (large and cherry) have already been through our non-profit Veggies to Table. We have also been frantically making sauce with the damaged tomatoes, and sun-dried loveliness for winter treats! Let’s hope this warm weather holds as long as possible.
Tomato Season at Veggies to Table
We started them in March in our guest bedroom under flourescent lights and tended them for many months with care. They went from the bedroom, to the screen porch, to the unheated greenhouse and finally to the garden. And now, many months later they are ripening and delicious. We have many kinds of organic and heirloom tomatoes and we are so happy to be able to donate them to those in need of healthy food through Veggies to Table our non-profit.
Our First Transplant
It’s exciting times on the farm. We had our first indoor transplant of seedlings planted on March 8 and transplanted on April 2! We moved hundreds of celery, celeriac and parsley from tightly packed trays to more spacious accommodations. We are now fully maxed out in our indoor, fluorescent light in the guest bedroom setting. We have also planted the first of the lettuce and kale in the greenhouse. And the onions and leeks got a hair cut.
Everything is coming up, even my saved seeds which is exciting.
As you will see, we have planted a lot of things already! Here are all of the new ones since my last post. It’s all very exciting and kinda overwhelming.
New Plantings:
Herbs and Flowers
Stevia – Botanical Interests
Foxglove – Pinetree Seeds
HollyHock – Botanical Interests
Green Twister Echinacea _ Pinetree
Belles of Ireland
Broccoli
Thompson – Fedco
Cabbage
Super Red – Fedco
Golden Acre – Fedco
Early Jersey – Seeds Savers Exchaange
Tomatillo
Toma Verde – Botanical Interests
Green and Purple Tomatillo
Peppers
Orange Peppers
Yolo Wonder
Red Peppers
Eggplants
Long green from Thailand
Green Egg
Chinese White Sandy
Round from Valence
Hot Peppers
Early Jalapeño – Botanical Interests
Piment sweet and long from les Landes
Bouquet
Tomatoes
Fruition – Honey drop
Delicious tomatoes don’t know name but I saved the seeds
Sungold seeds I saved
Pineapple
Travellers
Orange, red and yellow cherry
Yellow Brandy Wine – High Mowing Seeds
Indigo Apple – High Mowing Seeds
Gold Medal – Fruition
Green Zebra
Kale
Delaway – Seeds Savers Exchange
Russian Frills – Fedco
Lacinto Seed Savers Exchange
Dwarf green Curled Kale High Mowing Seeds
Red Russian Seed Savers Exchange
Vates High Mowing Seeds
Spinach
Bloomsdale – Botanical Interests
Lettuce
Parris Island Cos – Botanical Interests
Ice Queen Baker Creek
Green Towers Romaine High Mowing Seeds
Little Gem – Baker Creek