Planting garlic.

It is time to harvest all sorts of things. We have not had a hard frost yet. There are still lots of peppers, beans, lettuce, squash, radish and leeks. Last evenings picking of cauliflower was over 100 heads. Most of them are bright white but there are a few that are a gorgous purple. We also planted a good portion of the seed garlic yesterday. That should be ready to pull about the third week of July.

A farmers life is characterized by a lot of waiting and patience. In the spring we tend to be impatient- it is so cold and wet. Then after things are planted we need to wait many days for the harvest.
If you are a gardener you have also probably noticed that plant growth is not linear. Little plants tend to grow very slowly for a number of weeks and then in a short time grow a great deal.
The farmers life is also characterized by a great deal of precision. Besides waiting we need the be prepared to act in a precise window of time when it is time to plant, harvest etc.
The seasons also come and go more than we tend to be aware of in the spiritual realms. If it is time to reach out and love someone, or listen to your child etc. do it now- tommorrow life has moved on. Daniel

Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes, lots of sweet potatoes, we have successfully grown lots of nice big sweet potatoes. In past years the sweet potato harvest was an awful lot of work as we dug them with a spade; they dig hard. This year I bought a tool for the tractor that reaches underneath the whole bed and loosens the ground with out stirring the soil much. It was a much easier process. I am looking forward to parsnip harvest.
The big fall irish potato harvest will begin late next week or early the following week, depending on soil conditions.
We just had some really good white sweet corn for supper. This last planting is at its prime right now. Daniel

Cauliflower

Hello again on a rainy fall evening. There is something cozy about relaxing in a warm house with the smells of good food cooking and a wonderful family all around.

I have lots of nice cauliflower right now. Bulk pricing is a 25 lb tubful for $25 or we also have a buy two get 1 free sale on it right now. This sale will remain as long as we have lots of cauliflower. This week or next week is the time to freeze or pickle your winter supply.

We still have plenty of both sweet corn and green and yellow beans. I am just starting to pick on the last plantings for the year for both of these crops. They will be gone with in a week or two. We are still picking both tomatoes and cucumbers from the greenhouse again.

The lettuce is at its prime right now- sweet and good. Radish, onions, peppers, potatoes, beets, carrots, brussel sprouts- the stand is packed with all sorts of fall foods. Come soon and get yourself the finest food in Potsdam for your cooking and canning needs. Daniel

Good raw honey

Hello, The market page at martinsfarmstand is open for orders. The selection is rapidly shifting from summer things to fall crops. The storage onions are dry now and we are mostly finished hauling large amounts squash in from the fields. We have raw honey here at the stand again.
We plan to have the stand open this fall with normal hours until sometime in mid November. After that we will still be open into the winter with informal hours- If we are around we will give you service. We also have a wonderful lot of really good watermelons right now. Andrew just hauled in three loads with the van. Daniel

Chicken and biscuts-

Another busy fall day is drawing to a close. There are still lots of canning tomatoes and beans. Do not procrasinate too long to get yours though- this season will come to an end by and by. We also have lots of cantalope that are so good. Again they are only in season for a few moments so enjoy them now and then it is time to move on to the next seasons food.

We plan to dress the first of the meat chickens that we are raising tommorrow. They will be available at the stand for $3.50 per lb. For those of you that wish to stock up your freezer we have a 10% discount if you take 6 or more chickens.

Also on this weeks agenda is the main winter squash harvest and the start of the sweet potato digging. I like this cooler fall weather and there is even something lovely about a cool, rainy morning like this morning. It was a good excuse to enjoy the house a bit longer before going out to start picking. Daniel

Fall Raspberries

The fall raspberries are abundant. This season runs from now to mid October. We are offering them u-pick for $3.25 lb. We also have an intermittant supply of picked berries on the stand. Contact us to make an appointment to pick. I was going to write about raspberries this morning and forgot about them. Daniel

Open Labor day

Yes, our stand will be open today as normal from 10 am till 6 pm. Some of the highlights that you will find in abundace is lots of sweet corn, cantalope, watermelon, tomatoes of every sort including lots of canners, and lots of salad ingredients such as lettuce etc. There is also plenty of beans, peppers, brocoli and nice young green onions.

I also have glads, sunflowers, and zinnia. If you pick a bunch of flowers up you could have them for the evening and then take them into work in the morning to brighten the workplace.

It is time to be stocking up for the winter for your storage onion and garlic needs. They are mostly cured. Winter squash, leeks and such like are coming soon.

Today 13 years ago Mendy, and I were married. I think a man with a good wife is pretty rich. There is nothing else quite so wonderful as a couple that is really together in heart and soul. Daniel

The hot pepper story

Tomatoes, cantalope, watermelon, sweet corn, peppers, lettuce, red, beets and 50 other things- our stand is full of wonderful food. Now is the time to order freezing corn and canning tomatoes if you are planning to do so this year. Now is the time to get out to Martins Farmstand and get the food for a good supper. Late summer and fall is the time the stand is in its full glory.


Here is this years simple hot pepper story- There is a group of us working together to grow food for the market here. We try to plan to grow a balanced supply of all the differant crops that we should have and also to time all of our plantings so as to have a broad diversity of food for your supper spread out over as long of a season as the climate and our energy allows. So somehow in this we ended up with about 1500 hot pepper plants spread out over several of our gardens. They are doing well. If each plant gives 5 pounds of peppers from now till October we could have over 2 ton of hot peppers (mostly jalapeno and hungarian)to sell. I can not quite comprehend selling so many hot peppers. This means that somebody needs to make pickled hot peppers. Following is the recipe

Sweet Pickled Hot Peppers
2 cups vinegar
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt per quart
Slice the peppers, pack into jars. Add salt. Mix brine and pour over peppers. Put jars in canner and cover with water. Bring to hard boil for 5 minutes over high heat. Remove jars. These are good to eat in 2 weeks.

These peppers are really nice in that the sweetness and the hot interacts nicely and tempers the heat. They can sit in the refrigerater and one can fish one on two rings out as needed when cooking or sometimes I use the brine. My children like to eat them with small pieces of hard cheese folded over each ring. They call them pepper wraps. We have bulk amount of peppers available for $1.50 lb. Daniel

watermelons are ripe!

There is so much food coming from the gardens today- Will the eaters be able to eat most of it?

The sweet corn is back in abundance. The next 5 patches of sweet corn look like they are going to ripen in perfect timing so I think there should be an unbroken supply of corn for the next 2-3 weeks and may be longer. We are only half done picking todays tomatoes and there is 20 crates already. We will have canners for sale as soon as we get them sorted.

Now the high light! Our homegrown yellow watermelons are ready. There is also lots of cantalope and a few red watermelon. They are so sweet with a rich flavor. Did you know that in breeding for the seedless traits that you find in many of the store watermelons that they also lost a lot of the flavor. We use low tech organic type methods to grow our melons, I believe that this along with the cooler weather of the north also is a large factor in top flavor. Daniel

Summer prices on tomatoes

In the summer and fall; this area is blessed with a wonderful selection of beautiful and delicious homegrown food that has no bad stuff used on it. This is your chance to be filling freezers and jars with this bounty. Or you can just enjoy lots of it fresh at every meal.

This mornings pick gave over 500 lbs of cucumbers and about 350 lbs of tomatoes. There are round red slicers, romas, Funny colored heirlooms, rainbow colors of cherries, and Tomitillios. We have dropped the tomato prices on the stand to normal summer prices and it is soon that there will be canners available.

We have an abundant pear crop this year. We picked the Clapps Favorite and Stacy pears late last week. These are both good eating or cooking pears. Right now we have over half a ton of pears in the cooler. Does anyone want to make pear preserves or canned pears? Daniel