Fun Stuff

Our organic vegetables were featured on NTV's "On The Menu" the other day. Thought I'd share it with you all. Enjoy!

National Farmers' Market Week

The USDA has declared this week, August 7 – 13 as National Farmers' Market Week. We celebrate farmers' markets just about every week, especially this time of year, which is important to my family farm and to Nebraska agriculture.

Although I was raised in a rural town, I was not a farmer until I married my husband, Tom. We now own and operate a farm that has been in Tom’s family for over 100 years.  Our children, who are both helping on the farm, are the 6^th generation to operate the farm. 

About 10 years ago we transitioned the majority of our acres into organic production.  Our rotation primarily consists of alfalfa, corn, soybeans and wheat.  We also own a commercial hay grinding business.  In 2009, we started a small apiary (also known as a bee yard), and in 2010, we put up two high tunnel greenhouses and are now growing organic vegetables such as mixed lettuce, turnips, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs and  potatoes. 

Although we sell our produce to area grocery stores (Countryside Market in Bertrand, SunMart in Holdrege and Boogaarts in Kearney) and restaurants (Tru Cafe and Alley Rose in Kearney), we are great supporters of the wonderful, hard working people who grow the vegetables that are sold at the local farmers' markets. 

Because I am the primary record keeper/bookkeeper on our farm, I typically spend at least part of my day working in our home office.  Record keeping is a huge part of organic agriculture, so I have had to put a lot more time into that the last few years. I also do everything from drill wheat, plant alfalfa, disc ground, irrigate crops, run the combine during harvest, work bees, weed vegetables and hand-harvest vegetables.

 

Did you know that Nebraska has over 70 farmer markets across the state? Click here to download the complete directory from the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. 

You can visit my family's Facebook page here or our website at www.schwarzfamilyfarm.com.

I hope that everyone takes the time to visit their local Farmers' Market sometime this summer.  Enjoy the locally grown produce, talk to some farmers and just enjoy the experience!
  

A Typical Day?

  The other day I was asked to describe my typical day.  I honestly had to say that there are no typical days in my life!  I'll use a recent example......

  The day started out with a little time spent in my home office paying a few bills and entering some deposits on the computer.  I knew that this would be a day I would be needed at the farm since we had to harvest vegetables for afternoon delivery to the grocery stores.  Since it was going to be a HOT day (topped out at 105), we got an early start, and I started out harvesting some of our first heirloom tomatoes, then went on to to harvesting/trimming the basil.  I was just getting ready to start packaging the basil, when I got a phone call from Tom.  "The corn is growing really fast.....I need someone else to run the other hiller."

  Now, though I've been farming full-time for 14 years, there are operations that I still haven't done, and hilling is one of them.  It actually scared me some.  In our operation, we plant the crops 22" apart and the tires of our tractors are something like 18" wide.  Not much wiggle room!  The one good thing was that I would be going VERY SLOWLY!  About 3.5 miles per hour, to be exact.  Like many things I'm frightened of, this didn't turn out as badly as I had expected.  I don't think I tore out much corn (except on the ends when I had to turn around), and I got quite a bit done.  Goes to show that many times "scary" is just in  my mind!

Parade Day

Tuesday of the fair in our small town is Parade Day!  The town virtually shuts down and many visitors plan on getting to town by 1:00 p.m. in order to find a parking place and get to their favorite location to watch the parade.

We spent the morning getting our yard ready for the festivities.  Lawn chairs out by the curb - check, picnic table up for the Ping Pong Ball Drop - check, house (kind of) cleaned up - check!  There was activity all along our block:  American flags were displayed in the yards, some of the neighbors were having potlucks and many people were getting set up for Walk Down Medina which was to start immediately after the parade.

Friends started arriving around 1:00, so the visiting began.  The atmosphere was carnival-like and it was time to relax and enjoy the parade.  The hour long parade had something for everyone.....

Antique Vehicles

Antique Tractors

Flying Pigs

Horses

Farm Equipment (Silage Chopper)

Water!

And Elvis even showed up!

Welcome to my Blog!

So, it's the beginning of a new venture for me.  I'm starting my blog - and going in blind except for excellent help from my daughter.  Thank goodness for young blood - she's giving me the push I need to get started.

First, a little about us.  We have an organic farm in south central Nebraska that has been in the family for over 100 years.  I became a farmer when I married Tom - and have been learning about agriculture ever since.  We  have organic row crops (this year we have wheat, corn, soybeans and alfalfa) as well as two high tunnels where we are raising organic vegetables for three local grocery stores.  We are growing everything from Mixed Lettuce to Turnips (no, really, they're yummy!) and Tomatoes to a variety of herbs.  This is still a learning experience for us and you'll be seeing us make mistakes along with our successes.  Our family consists of me, my husband and our son and daughter.  The kids both returned to the farm after graduating from college and are the 6th generation to farm our ground. 

It's a busy time in our little town.  We're in the midst of our annual fair and rodeo and today we have the parade and an event on our block, "Walk Down Medina", with all kinds of activities, games and food sales!  Fun!  More on that later.....


'Till Next Time.....
Linda

Spring, you elude us.

Good news: The plants are alive and well inside the starter house. Very perky looking indeed.
Bad news: It's snowing outside...again.

You see, in normal regions of the country, it snows during the winter. Here in Nebraska, the weather isn't quite so cooperative. But since it's spring inside the high tunnels, I figured I'll give you all a taste of green that you're all craving right about now.

Mmmm, mixed lettuce...

Mmmmm, and turnips!

Just to tide you over until I can upload some pics of our starter house where the temperature, by the way, is a balmy 80 degrees. In case you needed another reason to be jealous.

Love, B