Late Summer

The school bus rumbling by this morning sends yet another signal that summer is winding down. My last blog post was months ago as we looked forward to summer and the plants featured there have long since made their way into CSA shares.
I've done a poor job of chronicling life on the farm this summer for our 92-year-old Metzger family matriarch has faced a health crisis, bringing many changes to our world here on Crandall Hill.
But, due to the diligent and loving efforts of Laura and Rytz, CSA customers have enjoyed the bounty of our little USDA Certified Organic farm.
They've also had a major presence at the Potter County Farmers' Market each Friday in downtown Coudersport. This is the time of year that customers can enjoy the best of the season with tables laden with heirloom tomatoes, peppers of all colors and heat, cucumbers, beets, kale, chard, garlic, ground cherries, tomatilloes, cabbage, cauliflower, herbs, flowers... and early season apples.
The USDA Certified Organic designation assures you that your food is grown to exacting standards.  And with stories like this in the news every day, it becomes even more important to seek organic foods to nourish yourself and your family.
See you at the Market!

USDA Certified Organic Statistics

We recently received and completed the survey for Certified Organic farms distributed by the US Department of Agriculture.
By "agriculture" standards, we're a pretty small producer but we are committed to the organic standards and the rigorous process for organic certification.
Here's information about the survey process.

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will begin conducting the 2016 Certified Organic Survey to gather up-to-date data on certified organic crops and livestock in the United States. This special survey effort is critical to help determine the economic impact of certified organic agriculture production across the nation. NASS is mailing the survey to all known certified organic farms. The form asks farmers to provide information on acreage, production, and sales for a variety of certified organic crop and livestock commodities"

As part of our certification, we must use seeds that are USDA Certified Organic. I recently came across a new-to-me seed company, Reimer Seeds, that offered a nice selection of what I thought to be organic seeds, based on the special section that touted them as such. As I clicked through their glitzy website to read more about the various tomato and pepper varieties, I also took note of the icon on each description that indicated they were Certified Organic. I ordered several intriguing varieties of peppers and tomatoes
It was only after I received my seeds did I notice that nowhere was the required USDA Organic insignia that appears prominently on all of my other seed packets, invoices or packing slips. I then went back to the online catalog and determined after clicking through several more windows, that their seeds were "grown organically by our suppliers." Well, that's not good enough.
And, to add insult to injury, there is no published telephone number for this company - all communication is online. So numerous attempts to contact the company to lodge my complaint, have gone into the "live chat" section with no response.
Meanwhile, I was successful in locating most of the varieties from my usual reputable seed dealers.
And the moral of my story is to look for the USDA organic seal if you want to be sure you're getting organic products.
And speaking of organic products, many of the USDA certified organic seeds planted recently haved poked through the USDA certified organic seed starting mix. I'll soon put together a list of varieties of certified organic tomato, pepper and other vegetable starts we'll be offering for sale this spring.

Certified Organic Tomato Plants

Here is a listing of the certified organic tomato plants that we are growing to sell for the 2016 season.  These varieties were selected from several different seed companies to provide a good selection of the determinate (or bush type) organic varieties. The descriptions and photographys below come from the seed catalogs.
Please note that we also grow many varieties of indeterminate tomatoes for our own use and we would be willing to plant addition seeds from our supply if customers are looking for an indeterminate variety. Please contact us as soon as possible to see if we have seeds for your favorites.
If you are interested in reserving tomato plants, please call us at 814-274-8004 or send an email to metzgerfarm@gmail.com to place your orders. Quantities are limited and by reserving your plants now, you are offered a better selection.
I will also be listing the sweet and hot peppers in a separate blog post.

Photo From
Seed Savers Exchange

Silvery Fir Tree Tomato
Traditional Russian variety with distinctive carrot-like silvery-gray foliage on compact 24” p;lants Heavy crops of round, slightly flattened 3”-3 1/2” red fruit. Does well in hanging baskets or on patios. Determinate. 60 days from transplant.
$4.00 per plant in 3-inch peat pot.

Photo From High Mowing
Organic Seeds

Roma VF Paste
Productive plum tomato with great disease resistance! Vigorous and strong, producing heavy yields of picture-perfect, thick-walled fruits with deep red color and mild flavor. Open pollinated. 65 days from transplant
$3.75 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From High
Mowing Organic Seeds

Iron Lady F1 Hybrid

Fight the blight with this disease-resistant red slicer! Impressive resistance to late blight, early blight, septoria and more. Fine-textured fruit is both dense and juicy with good tomato flavor. Determinate. 75 days from transplant.

$4.25 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Southern
Exposure Organic Seeds

Mountain Princess

Perfectly round fruits with crowd-pleasing mild sweet flavor. Very productive and early, great for short, cool seasons. A customer favorite for containers. Grown for generations in the Monongahela National Forest region of West Virginia. Determinate. 68 days from transplant.

$4 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Southern
Exposure Organic Seeds

Rutgers Tomato

Hearty tomato flavor and meaty texture. Bright red fruit with a small seed cavity and good color throughout. Good for slicing or canning. Resists cracking. Open pollinated. Determinate. 75 days from transplant.

$4 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Johnny's
Selected Seeds

Gold Nugget Cherry Tomato

An early prolific golden cherry tomato. Deep yellow color. Compact plants with concentrated early set.  Determinate. 56 days from transplant.

$3.75 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From Johnny's
Selected Seeds

Oregon Spring Tomato

Medium sized, early cold tolerant. First early harvest for cool northern locations. Compact plants bearing 6-7 oz. fruit.  Determinate. 60 days from transplant.

$3.75 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Photo From High Mowing
Organic Seeds

Heinz 1350 VF

A productive garden variety with concentrated fruit set and an excellent processing tomato for canning or cooking. Widely 

adapted and good for salad use too. Round 4 - 6” fruits. Determinate. 75 days from transplant. 

$4.00 per plant in 3” peat pot.

Winter Rest

"Ah, world, what lessons you prepare for us,

even in the leafless winter,

even in the ashy city."

– from Mary Oliver's poem Starlings In Winter

Garlic • January 21, 2016

Garlic • January 8, 2016

 "In seed time learn, in harvest time teach, in winter enjoy"

– William Blake

January 8, 2016

January 21, 2016

"What good is the warmth of summer
without the cold of winter
to give it sweetness"

– John Steinbeck

What lessons are we working on this year?

Even as we are writing the last entries in the ledger for our 2015 growing season, planning for 2016 is well underway. We'll share details in coming posts. Let me know you're here!

The Staff Of Life

Our wheat field was very small when measured against the standards of agribusiness - or even small scale farms. The wheat (a variety of hard red spring wheat named 'Glenn' and acquired from Lakeview Organic Grain in Penn Yan, N.Y.) was sown originally as a cover crop but as it ripened in the field, Arthur began to turn over in his mind ways to harvest our certified organic grain.

Our friend Jerry Houwer offered the use of an old Allis-Chalmers All Crop Harvester, Model 66, circa 1950s that was stored in his barn. And so one September afternoon, Arthur drove up Fishing Creek pulling the hulking orange apparatus.
Days were spent just getting it into shape - with the expertise of Bryan Morley and our neighbor Roy Thompson who just couldn't resist stopping by when he saw the vintage machine parked in the driveway. Roy brought firsthand knowledge, harkening back to the days he'd spent helping Don Stearns and Shorty Pepperman with their oat harvests on long-ago Crandall Hill summer afternoons. He even pointed Arthur in the right direction to find a pulley on a old combine on the Thompson farm.

Farmer Art with Farmer Roy and the Allis-Chalmers Combine

On harvest day, Roy Thompson was joined by his son Rob (who took these photos) and even Jerry Houwer stopped by to watch.

From the very beginning, this grain project brought together many folks who share a heritage on our Potter County hilltop. Mike Snyder (who grew up just down the road from here) graciously transported the seed from Penn Yan to us on one of his trips to lend a hand to his son, John (proprietor of Olga's Cafe and Gallery in Coudersport).

This Crandall Hill heritage also includes this John Deere combine that rumbled along in these fields back in the 1950s.

Walter Metzger on the tractor with either Arthur Matteson or
Arthur Metzger Sr. on the JD Combine.
Perhaps the photographer Wanda Gooch Metzger can tell us

Wondering what we're going to do with the organic wheat we harvested? I'll show you in the next blog post - somewhat reminiscent of the Little Red Hen.

Safe For Children & Pets

I put a post on my Facebook page accompanied by this photo of a sign we have in our yard.

Wouldn't it be great if this sign could replace those little warning flags from lawn chemical companies cautioning us that poison has been sprayed in public places like Charles Cole Memorial Hospital or on your neighbor's lawn?
How do we launch a public campaign that would give folks information about the harmful effects of these chemicals so they could make educated decisions about whether they want to run the risk of poisoning themselves, their children, their neighbors just to have the promise of a green and weed-free lawn. What does this say about our society?
And while I'm on my soapbox, I will report that after a visit to a store that sells that stuff yesterday, I was dismayed to find that the smell of those chemicals clung to my clothes long after I had walked out the door. What is the effect on the people who work in that environment day after day?
I attended a meeting of the God's Country Water Dogs Monday evening. The group wanted to have a  discussion about the possibility of forming a coalition of local folks and groups with an interest in environmental matters. I went to the meeting with the idea that I could bring attention to the issue of lawn chemicals and perhaps find some support for this issue. There was good discussion at the meeting and I was impressed with the work being done by this group as they regularly monitor local streams and record their data. Discussion about a coaltion of environmentally-minded groups will continue. Another step in that direction is a picnic planned at the Genesee Environmental Center on Friday, July 13 aimed at bringing together various watershed groups in the area. I'll share more details in future posts.
Back to the high tunnel where I'm trellising and pruning my organic tomatoes today!