Patchwork Green is a hillside and ridgetop farm overlooking the beautiful Canoe Creek Valley several miles north of Decorah, Iowa. Our family grows five acres of vegetables on a farm near Decorah, Iowa. We grow a wide variety of high quality, chemical-free vegetables using sustainable techniques.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

April News

In Your CSA Bag This Week...
The promise of spring and summer and fall, and all the great food that we can grow in those warm
months.

Coming Soon...
Asparagus, spinach, lettuces, boc choi, rhubarb and potatoes.  Shortly thereafter, we’ll be picking broccoli, summer squash and peas!


Important Dates:
  • May 1 – CSA sign-up deadline
  • May 21 – First Traditional Share delivery (weather permitting!)
  • June 18 – First Farmers Market for Patchwork Green (hopefully)

News from the Garden
Signs of spring at Patchwork Green Farm: more daylight but busier days; songbirds in the morning; more eggs from the chickens; 4”-tall garlic; a hoop house full of green transplants; kids who won’t come inside; fresh chives and sorrel on our salads.  Also, weather worries and trying to relax about below-average temp’s and frosty-cold nights.  But, the spring rains have been wonderful, and the transplants in their flats look healthy and ready for real dirt (once it warms up a bit more).

Thanks so much to all of you who have signed up for a CSA share this spring.  We appreciate your support and we are looking forward to growing good Iowa vegetables for you and your family.  If you have not signed up yet, please consider doing so by the end of April, as this gives us a better assessment of how to plan our production for the season.  Also, if you are a Luther College employee, the reimbursement program (up to $100 off your CSA membership!) asks that folks sign up by May 1st as well.

The old deer fence around our garden has been completely dismantled.  The 10-foot, electrified fence looked pretty impressive to people, but apparently not to deer.  They have found flaws in the fence the past two seasons, and have systematically tested, breached and destroyed it.  As soon as materials are available (hopefully, in the next week), a fencing company will install a permanent wire fence that should make for a physical barrier that will block out all deer pressure for decades.  We’ll all keep our fingers crossed.

We are thrilled with our garden crew for 2016!  Starting this month, our crew now has two full-time women, both with significant gardening experience.  They are curious and hard-working, and will be a great fit for our farm and work pace. 

Patchwork Green is participating in a mentoring program run by Practical Farmers of Iowa, for folks interested in farming as a career.  Both of our employees are enrolling in the program, so we’ll be discussing lots of vegetable farming details as we work each week.  From farm finances and marketing to lettuce variety selection and appropriate machinery, we’ll cover a lot of topics.  It’s very encouraging to give future farmers a chance to ask lots of questions and learn from our mistakes and successes, and to see their excitement about producing quality food.  You’ll get a chance to meet the garden crew at market in June.