harvest

Autumn On The Farm

November 9, 2020

Autumn at Rural Studio Farm is in full swing.

A student uses a sprayer to apply foliar fertilizer to growing plants with a good view of the farm

Some of the lingering warmer season crops are still yielding, like eggplant, peanuts, and bell peppers.

  • A student picks jalapeno peppers
  • A close-up of a bright red hibiscus flower
  • Many brightly colored flowers are in bloom with dense green foliage
  • A close-up of brightly colored zinnia flowers
  • Students prepare pepper plants to be removed from the farm to make way for cover crops to be overwintered

Mostly we have been busy planting seeds into soil blocks and direct-sowing with the push seeder. These crops are lettuces, mustard greens, baby brassica greens, carrots, beets, chard, collard greens, rutabagas, broccoli, radishes, spinach, hakurei (salad) turnips, and turnips.

  • A student thins out extra seedlings that have emerged in the soil blocks and seedling trays in the seed house
  • Two students plant crop seeds into newly prepared soil blocks and seedling trays in the seed house
  • A student pushes the seeder across a prepared bed
  • A student uses a soil blocker to make batches of 20 1.5-inch soil blocks
  • A student makes adjustments to the push seeder before using it
  • A large tray filled with seed blocks of lettuce seedlings
  • A tray of mixed lettuce soil blocks with bright foliage ready to be transplanted
  • Several rows of perennial crops--asparagus, artichoke, and scallions--with a rainbow over them

Once the seedlings are ready, we prepare the beds and transplant out all the crops.

  • Two students transplant beet and chard seedlings
  • A student uses a sprayer to apply foliar fertilizer to growing plants with a good view of the red mustard greens
  • Two students transplant out some fall crops into bed still brown with recently mowed cover crops
  • Rows of crops grow: summer squash, mustard, and turnips with buckwheat growing in between
  • A student transplants out some lettuce seedlings
  • Lush green rows of mixed lettuce and carrots are growing with rye grass in between

We have been reaping great harvests of many of these crops too, with all of Rural Studio’s daily green salads coming straight off the farm.

  • Farm manager Eric harvest some baby greens
  • Three students pick and process turnips
  • A student harvests baby carrots
  • A student harvests baby carrots into a bowl
  • A near shot of some red mustard greens
  • Two groups of students are harvesting mustard greens and turnips
  • Two students are harvesting turnips
  • A big pot of mustard greens cooking in the kitchen
  • A close-up of a harvested baby carrot
  • Two students transfer newly spin-dried greens into plastic bags read for the kitchen
  • Two students are harvesting red mustard greens
  • Students wash newly harvested lettuce leaves in a large sink
  • A view of several rows of fall crops ready to be harvested: red mustard greens and turnips
  • A student transfers some mixed lettuce greens to a commercial salad spinner
  • Students spin-dry mixed lettuce greens that were recently harvested and washed
  • A student harvests baby carrots

Now that the weather is beginning to cool, we have also been preparing for winter by sowing fall cover crops to leave in the field for overwintering. This ensures that there is always something growing in the beds, which helps with drainage and compaction and overall soil health. In the spring, these crops will be mowed down, adding good organic matter back into the soil.

  • Fall cover crops for overwintering grow across several beds with rye grass growing between the rows

Finally, we are also preparing the greenhouse for production over the winter, which is where most of Rural Studio’s food is grown in deep winter.

  • A student mixes amendments into a raised bed in the greenhouse, preparing it for transplants
  • A mixture of red and green lettuces grows abundantly in the greenhouse raised beds
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Peanuts: come shell or high water

October 28, 2020

Since Rural Studio Farm is a not a commercial farm, we get to grow a wide variety of crops that many other small-scale organic farms might find inefficient to grow, in terms of space and time. Lately, we have been enjoying such a treat: peanuts.

  • A tiny peanut sprout emerges from a soil block
  • Two rows of growing peanut plants

We began peanuts in soil blocks way back in May before transplanting to the field. As they grow, the plants produce little yellow flowers, which then fade and produce a peg, called a peduncle, that pushes several inches underground to produce the tasty little morsels. Typically, they require around four months to mature, but are low maintenance and pest-free, making them a great crop for us to grow during the summer when Eric was without his usual student workers.

  • Students dig up peanut plants and collect any stray peanuts
  • Two students delicately dig up a peanut plant, revealing all the peanuts that have grown underground
  • Freshly harvested, dirt-covered peanuts are clustered around the central stem of a recently dug peanut plant
  • A student holds up a freshly dug peanut plant with many peanuts attached

A few weeks ago, we dug up the plants and left them to dry in the greenhouse for several days.

  • Students pick dried peanuts off the peanut plants
  • Eric holds a ten-gallon tub of dried peanuts en route to the kitchen
  • A closeup of a ten-gallon tub of peanuts
  • Students pick dried peanuts off the peanut plants

Then we separated the peanuts from the plant and took them to kitchen where our cook, Catherine, made some delicious boiled peanuts for our lunches. We got 10 gallons of dried peanuts from about 80 linear feet of plants.

Rural Studio's cook, Cat, boils a large pot of peanuts

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Crop Cycles

April 17, 2020

This week was marked with large harvests, which were the endings of some spring crop cycles, and seed starting in the seed house, the beginning of new crop cycles.

A close-up of harvested and washed carrots, both purple and orange
  • A close-up of collard greens
    collard greens
  • A row of mature collard greens in the field, ready for harvest
    collard greens
  • A close-up of red Russian kale in the field
    kale
  • A close-up of Muir type lettuce in the field
    lettuce
  • A close-up of several red lettuce varieties
    lettuce

Thankfully, teaching faculty, Mary English, Steve Long, Emily McGlohn, and Xavier Vendrell all graciously volunteered their time to help farm manager Eric during this busy period.

  • A professor poses with carrots and collards she helped to harvest from the field
  • A professor washes down trimmed carrots on washing table
  • Two professors pick carrots from the field
  • A professor plants seeds into prepared soil blocks
  • Two professors trim harvested carrots
  • A professor picks carrots in the field

Harvested spring crops included lettuces, carrots, collard greens, kale, cutting celery, turnips, arugula, beets, and scallions, as well as herbs like spearmint, dill, thyme, and oregano. Many of these commodities were eaten fresh, but the rest were given to the kitchen where chef Cat processed and stored large quantities for future meals once students have returned.

At the same time, Eric and Emily started seeds for late spring and summer. These future crops were zucchini and summer squash, determinate tomatoes for the field, eggplants, red and orange bell peppers, spicy peppers, and butternut squash.

  • A view of several trays filled with soil blocks
  • A professor is planting seeds into prepared soil blocks
  • Zucchini seedlings just starting to emerge from soil blocks
    zucchini seeds day 3
  • Zucchini seedlings emerging out of soil blocks after 6 days
    zucchini seeds day 6
  • Mature zucchini plants growing in the greenhouse
    mature greenhouse zucchini

Eric also planted seeds for various beneficial insect-attracting flowering plants, culinary and medicinal herbs, and perennial ornamentals. While many of these accessory plants do not yield tangible crops, they do confer other benefits on the farm, such as bringing pollinators, deterring pest insects, and aesthetic compensation. It is also a key feature of Rural Studio Farm to use a polyculture model, planting a wide diversity of different crops and flowering plants.

  • A close-up of woodland phlox in bloom
    woodland phlox
  • Flowers bloom on a small berm off the solar greenhouse
    phlox and rosemary
  • A wide shot of several old farm buildings in a field in Newbern
  • A broken down tractor in front of an old barn in Newbern
  • An old barn in Newbern with ivy climbing up the sides
Newbern in spring

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