Bee stings and seed flings

It was a productive weekend in the garden. We finished the cold frame, and started a variety of seeds in it (darn, it's already full!, we need more space!): chiogga and early wonder tall beets, shin kuroda? carrots, rocket arugala, mizuna greens, radicchio, gourmet lettuce mix, bloomdale spinach, mache, parsnips, kohlrabi, endive--wonder how THAT will do? and rutabagas. 

Almost all of the seeds under the grow lights in the basement are popping up (aside from the straw flowers). What did we start? vitamin greens, wormwood (flower), sweet ciciley (experiment), stevia, savory, cornflower, various greens, rainbow chard, asian greens mix, pak choi, and agretti (an Italian green).

On Saturday, I also fed the bees, but it came at a price! One head on collision with a worker bee has left me with a swollen puffy eye for the last few days! I've never had a major reaction to a sting, but this time was a bruiser. I should have considered my approach before making my move towards the hive. Sudden warm days like what we had this weekend make the hive particularly active and a bit more aggressive. Now is the time they start needing food to feed and generate the worker bees so they were eager to go out and start hunting. Today, I led a workshop at the Carolina Friends School on Urban Farming and I think my looks made a great impression, or at least stirred a few laughs. Live and learn...and laugh along the way!

Chicken News: Gruesome and beautiful all in one

We had an attack intruder in the coop at UF2200 on Monday. It was not pretty by normal standards, but by natural standards, there were/are lovely aspects I think worth sharing (some images may be hard for some to see). Not long before the attack, we had, we thought, successfully moved the chickens to a new location on "the farm" -- behind the big downed oak tree, a location rich with insect and larvae infested logs and a lush mat of weeds, brush and shrubs. We meticulously stitched together various leftover sections of mesh of varying styles to enclose--top, bottom and sides--a rather large area, a system we are determined to improve upon next move! We were happy to see the chickens happily scratching and exploring their new coop and returned to our respctive jobs of starting seeds and building the coldframe. Not long after, however, we heard lots of ruckus in the "lower field." When I went down to check, it was too late. One of the chickens lay dead at the entry. In the corner of the coop there was still lots of commotion. Frantic in the corner I saw the culprit. Scared and desparatly trying to escape after his (or her) snack, was a hawk. Justin handled the hawk while I gathered the chicken. Before letting the hawk go, I snapped lots of pix. My what fine eyes you have! My what a fine, bloody mouth you have, my what lovely wings you have! My what a marvelous creature you are....But you can't have the chicken. The legs, yes, the feathers, the innards yes, but our dear layer will be with us. That's right, we decided to de-feather, and prepare her for the next stage. Adam and Justin lead the process for this. Adam having had lots experience at both Coon Rock and in Hawaii. Justin experienced with a rooster and a rabbit. Me? I'd stuffed sparrows and other song birds back in my birding days. Adam's recipe for defeathering: dunk chicken in NOT boiling water, but rather 60 degree C for no more than 1 and a half minutes. Remove chicken and begin plucking. This part was easier than expected. After chicken is free of feathers, then the gory part begins. Slice the backend, cut through the fat very carefully as not to get the bile bag, and open wide enough to get hand in. Gently and carefully (still trying to avoid the bile bag) remove intestines, gizzard, heart, lungs, liver, the bile bag, and WOW, are those eggs?

We saved some and gave the rest to the hawk.

We'll let you know how the chicken soup turns out!

Spring 2010 Plans

UF2200 is starting up its second season. There are a few changes:

1) Farmer Adam is, well, not leaving us in spirit most certainly, but is starting up a farm and running a CSA in Rougemont called Simple Rhythm Farm It's a very exciting endeavor for Adam and the community!

2) UF2200 is going to concentrate its efforts on creating varied, artful, colorful, plentiful flower arrangements and hopefully extend the flower share to include a couple of businesses and restaurants. We will also offer flowers for special events, all at a reasonable price, with what I hope will be a growing variety of species with a variety of colors, forms and textures. If you know of any businesses that might be interested in getting weekly flowers to brighten up the office/store/restaurant, please let me know!

3) As for the edibles: UF2200 is going to start specializing in more varieties of "greens", peas, beans, herbs, and edible flowers with an emphasis on fall and spring plantings. We will still have some summer produce - squashes, tomatoes, beans, peppers and cukes, okra, but the majority of the harvest will be for spring and fall (April - June and September - November). A lot more details will follow.

4) Justin Waller, who was a huge behind the scenes volunteer for UF2200 last year, is going to continue having an active hand with the farm: tending to the bees, helping with flower cultivation, and developing a fun, new consumable product we're both really excited about! Stay tuned. He also just built a beautiful cold frame! Seeds started: asian green mix, pok choi, vitamin c greens, various flowers, lots of radishes, and more...a list of the season offerings coming soon!

That's the briefing. We still owe everyone tote bags from last year and many more thanks for supporting us through the first year! We look forward to a new season and hope you will continue to support us while enjoying a few goods grown locally right here downtown Durham!

Warm, but oh so chilly out there greetings and Happy New Year wishes,

Katherine