Our beautiful (hoop)house

Construction on our hoophouse finally began last week after months of waiting, and was completed in a mere two days! Since we missed out on the season for greenhouse tomatoes, we're planting a cover crop now to enrich the soil before we plant greens upon greens upon greens for the winter months.

The whole cleared area during construction.

 Our greenhouse is built on a metal track, so it can roll from one end of our plot to the other. This way we can rotate crops and replenish the soil season to season.

The Chicken Post!

For about a month now we've had chickens at Long Lane Farm. Our nine eight hens are a pleasure to care for and a bright spot in the day. The ladies are approaching their golden years, so we got them free of charge from a nice farmer who said they weren't laying quite heavily enough for her anymore. Still, they're providing six to seven eggs a day--more than enough for us. They are well-behaved and mostly civil with each other, though a bit chicken-like in intelligence. We try to make their time here at Long Lane Retirement Facility as nice as possible, offering services such as water, food, housing and bingo. 

Worm! Worm! Is that a-- worm?!!

Wow. I ain't ever seen grass that tasty!

Who's this hairy guy?

Off to the Market

Long Lane hit it big yesterday with a wildly successful debut at the Middletown Farmers Market (hereafter referred to as the MFM), with a whopping sales total of >$0.

The Whole Smörgåsbord

We got some great foot traffic out in front of ION, owing in part to a wonderful musical collaboration between our very own Laura Cohen and WILDwes compatriot Nathaniel Dolton-Thornton.

We met some former Long Lane CSA members, chatted with a local writer, and straight-chilled with our friend Izzi, who works at the North End Action Team and runs the MFM. Our complementary iced tea (soon to be added to the LLF recipes page) drew crowds of customers to our stand, many of whom gobbled up our (pictured below) braising greens.

Our Patented Mix: Mustards, Kale, Chard and Lamb's Quarters

The Brew

When ION slowed down we migrated to Neon, where we sold out of nearly everything that was left. A very successful day at the market!

The Crew

Farm Standin'

Last Saturday was our third farm stand in front of the Neon Deli where Fran has so graciously welcomed us. We set up our table with peas, raspberries (our best seller), garlic, radishes, lettuce, braising greens, and free juice. There was quite a lot of foot traffic due to the lacrosse tournament, but most spectators did not want to buy produce only to let it sit in the sun for the rest of the day. So we packed up and took our stand to Main Street. We had a bit of luck outside Amatto's Toy and Hobby Shop, and we had a good time marching up and down Main Street with the beautiful market sign from Long Lane years past. What did we do when business slowed in the evening? We went swimming!

Some Farm Photos

A huge tomato flower. Can you imagine what that tomato will taste like?!

WHOA what's that awesome structure? Methinks our cucumbers will have a nice place to lay their leafy bodies

This guy's already trellising and flowering

Doesn't this chard just LOOK healthy?

What's down there? Lotsa veggies

A meeting by the dumpster; the best kind of meeting there is