Visiting Farms in South Louisiana, Dec. 2011

Between Christmas and New Years, 2011, my friend Lesia and I were able to visit New Orleans for a few days. While we stayed and experienced the French Quarter during the evening, we exited the city limits during the days to seek the surrounding attractions. 

Below are some pics that I took along the way.

 On a visit to St. Rose Parish, we had lunch at the "Port Side" restaurant. It resided just a few feet from the Mississippi River dike and was a great "working man's" place to eat.  The owner visited with us about the history of this eatery while we dinned on gumbo and hush puppies. He even shared a collection of arrowheads that he had collected over the years. Interesting touch; in the corner of the dinning room were two slot machines.

 

We took a tour of the Destrahan Plantation, which was a great educational experience about early Louisiana history. Interesting to learn that the average height of a man in early 19th century New Orleans era was 5'3". Thus, the door knobs were really low. Above, Lesia poses at the foot of plantation store.

Always interested in seeing local agriculture, so we stopped by this "cabbage stand" and asked "...where's the farm?" FYI, this farmer donates sales from this cabbage stand to the local high school baseball team fund. How generous is that?

Nice size cauliflower growing here at this farm which rests adjacent to Mississippi River Farm. The owner says his farm soils come from the American mid-west as they developed over centuries via the ebb and flow of the Mississippi River.

 Rows or broccoli, onions, beets, cauliflower, cabbage, turnips and more.

 

More cauliflower needed, so "out of season" baseball players help out with the harvest.

 We caught a ride back on the farm wagon "full to the brim" with cauliflower.

 

This is a different day and different farm. Located near Ponchatoula Louisiana, this farm has about 45+ tillable acres under of production; 15 acres being in strawberries every year.  Above workers remove runners from strawberry plants. Kind of like "suckers" on a tomato plant, removing the runners helps in growing better fruit.

The white fabric, shown above, is "row cover" which is spread out over the plants when the danger of frost develops. While strawberries can take cold weather, frost can burn the blooms. As you may know the flower blooms are what eventually develop into the fruit.

Younger strawberry plants basking in the early day sun. In case you are wondering, the plants are grown on raised beds and covered with black plastic. The plastic keeps the root zones nice and warm as well as prevents weeds from growing which can compete for nutrients.

Owner Eric looking at another field of strawberry plants. Eric's farm grows about 225,000 strawberry plants each year.

The strawberry season for Eric ends each year around Memorial Day Weekend. The farm's focus then becomes Blueberries. Shown above are Blueberry plants remaining dormant until the days begin to get longer and little warmer. The white vertical pipes are sprinklers that assist in frost protection for those late spring frosts.  Eric also grows purple hull peas, tomatoes, squash and other summer vegetables. He can be found every Thursday at the Baton Rouge Farmers Market.  

Full Share Photos Fall CSA

 Our final week (shown above)  included turnips, beets, 

micro greens, cauliflower, spring mix, broccoli, and cabbage.

 

  Week #11 (above) included kale, red ruby grapefruit, beets, 

micro greens, spring mix, broccoli, and butter nut squash.

 

 Week #10 of our Fall CSA program included satsuma citrus, spaghetti squash, 

sweet potatoes, micro greens, cauliflower, spring mix, and broccoli.

 

 Full Share Week of 11 23 shown above.

Sweet potatoes, satsumas citrus, baby arugula, tomato, micro green mix, 

butternut squash, salad mix, green beans

 

 Full Share of Week of ll 17

Sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, satsumas citrus,  

tomato, red ruby grape fruit, kale  micro green mix, 

 

 Full Share Week of ll 10

Red bell pepper, Salad mix, green beans,  

tomato, red ruby grape fruit, kale  micro green mix,, zucchini

  Full Share Week of ll 2

Mustard Greens, red bell pepper, persimmons,  

tomatoes, cucumbers, salad mix, portabella mushrooms,  micro green mix, 

  Full Share Week of 10 13

Red bell peppers, Salad mix, green beans,

tomatoes, storage onion, sweet potatoes, spaghetti squash

 Full Share Week of 10 6

Mustard Greens, Italian eggplant, Summer Squash, 

 salad mix, portabella mushrooms,  zucchini, micro green mix, 

 

Fall Open House, 2011

Photos courtesy of Lesia Streckfuss

 Nope,  I haven't begun preaching; just visiting with interested farm visitors from my "tractor pulpit."

 Kiddos enjoying the tractor ride.

A panoramic photo of the school house and adjacent yard.

A view of one of our ponds.

Early December and already a frost bitten shrub. 

About 8000 of our strawberry plants resting on the hill above the pond.

Hopefully they'll begin producing next month.

Notice the raised beds outlined in black.  

Another angle.

Shorter days resulting in Sweet Gum leaves turning into a nice Autumn shade of rust.

Setting out on the farm tour. 

Parents walking next to the trailer as their children ride the tractor drawn trailer.

 Waiting in front of the ol' school house.

Weather was pretty good.

The ol' school house, majestic but rustic.

What a great asset for our farm; community room, commercial kitchen, and facilities.

Without the school house, farm events would be a tad more challenging.

Thanks to all of you that visited us.

School Tour

Students from Montessori schools in Kingwood and Livingston converged on our farm a few weeks back and had a great time. Most of the teachers/adults walked, while the students enjoyed the hay ride behind the tractor. 

 

 Thumbs up? Yes-Sir!

  Our Smoked turkey, our fresh cut salad greens and warm bread; what a great lunch combination.  

Okay, so our hay bales provide good lunch table seats too.

Our group photo in front of the "ol' school house" at Wood Duck Farm.

Strawberry Plantings Fall 2011

Our efforts for our winter/spring 2012 strawberries began back in late August preparing the soil via making raised beds as shown below.

 Strawberries like moist soil, but require good aeration. Raised beds provide a good environment for strong root development.

 We follow the raised beds with a mulch layer as shown above. The mulch layer lays the irrigation drip tape, immediately followed by the mulch. The black mulch provides warmth to the soil in the winter, as well as prevents competing weeds from growing. Weeds not only compete for soil nutrients, but also can  harbor bad insects. During dry conditions, the mulch helps prevent soil evaporation.

 Drip tape laid across the bed center (black strip in bed center) provides 

an efficient method of trickle irrigation.

 Irrigation drip tape connected to a central "header pipe," located at the end of a raised bed, provides the water flow to all beds.

Looking pretty bad huh? Not to worry! These strawberry plants are fresh dug roots from Quebec and have traveled here to Texas via refrigerated truck. They will likely loose their leaves, but once the roots re-establish, they will generate new life and hopefully create flowers that will turn into strawberries.

 

Once the roots are transplanted, they require both drip irrigation as well as overhead sprinklers to protect them from the hot October sun here in Texas.

Our strawberry plantings basking in the sun on a cold November morning. They still need a few weeks to really get growing, but the recent rains have been very beneficial to giving them a good start.

These strawberry plants were planted in August with the hope of December berries. We planted them under the shade cloth of one of our greenhouses.

 Yes we get an occasional strawberry or two, but it seems as the plants are just waking up from their dormancy. Our strawberry grower friends over in Louisiana, tell us to get ready as they should be good bearers of fruit come January. Dang we hope so!

 Ice droplets on our broccoli plant leaves this morning.Not to worry they can handle the cold.

 Cold hardy Fennel bulbs welcoming the warm morning sun after a frosty morning. Notice they too are growing next to their drip tape irrigation source. Just knowing that this fennel will find itself in some tasty stews or potatoes come this winter.

So what happens when it gets really cold? Row cover my freinds.

More to come.......

Spring 2011 Open House

A few weeks ago we had over sixty adults and lots of kiddos' attend our Spring 2011 Open House here at the farm. The weather was hot, but merciful as a steady breeze kept us cool for the most part. We started off with a farm tour where lots of kids and adults alike piled onto the tractor towed hay wagon. While others traveled on foot, we made a short circle around some of the growing areas where a brief explanation of what was growing provided by "yours truly."  We returned to the ol' schoolhouse where our friend, Charmaine LeBlanc, provided a one hour demo on canning everything from green beans, to making pickles, to making peach preserves. Meanwhile some of the kids enjoyed playing dodge-ball underneath a water sprinkler. The evening was wrapped up with a "pot-luck" dinner.

Here we are about to cross the dike that separates our two main ponds, which act as natural wetlands for waterfowl. Hence the reason we named of our farm, Wood Duck Farm. 

Everyone seemed to stay in the shade as much as possible.

 

 "Yours truly" explaining how we filter our pond water to irrigate all of our field crops such as tomatoes, watermelon, onions, squash etc.

Eager attendees listening to Charmaine providing some insights on canning techniques. *Thanks Charmaine, we were so fortunate to have your assistance.* We are also fortunate to have relocated this building for hosting events such as our farm dinners, open house etc. This building was reportedly built in 1912, and was a one room schoolhouse for several years prior to Great Depression up near the community of Evergreen, TX. 

Green Beans almost ready for the final phase. Peach preserves are next!

 Aah! The "pot luck" buffet finally begins. Dinner time at last! 

This little guy skipped the casseroles and went strait for the sweet section. 

Can't blame him as some excellent peach cobbler was waiting.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU THAT ASSISTED IN MAKING THIS OPEN HOUSE A SUCCESS!

Photos courtesy of Lesia Streckfuss.

 For more photos visit our facebook photo album at Spring 2011 Open House FB Photo Album

  Please remember that our 2011 Summer CSA program begins next week, June 15th. Visit this link for more info CSA Registration

Another reminder that our Fall Creek Location has changed to be 8202 Emerald Meadow lane, 77396

A link to this location can be found at the following:

Fall Creek CSA Pick Up Location