We will be participating in the CSA Fair this Saturday, March 8th from 12-3pm at Boynton Middle School. http://ccetompkins.org/agriculture/events/csa-fair
We currently have 4 available fruit shares left for 2014. We are offering a CSA weekly pick-up at the T-Burg Market on Wednesdays.
Fruit shares begin in mid-late June and one of the first fruits: Hungarian Tart Cherries!
We are looking for a full time orchard worker for the 2014 season. The position would start in April and initially be part time (20-30 hours/week). May through October would be full time (40+ hours/week) and November and December would be part time again. There could be work in the winter months for the right candidate. Salary depends on experience and ability. The work week during the main part of the season would generally be five days a week Thursday to Monday.
This is a hands on position and the ability to multitask and think on your feet are highly desired. You will be participating in all aspects of a fruit farm and cidery from nursery work, record keeping, planting, orchard maintenance, harvesting and fermenting. We have two farm parcels three miles apart and we will be working at both locations some times on the same day. We would like to have someone in place by the end of February. Please send a letter of interest and your previous experience to :
daringdrake@zoom-dsl.com
Here is a general list of the seasonal tasks that need accomplished here at the farm:
April: seeding transplants, planting new perennial fruit, grafting and propagating fruit, plowing and preparing beds for planting, bottling cider and vinegar, seeding and planting early annual crops, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing.
May: seeding transplants, planting new perennial fruit, plowing and preparing beds for planting, seeding and planting later annual crops, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing, maintaining annual beds by weeding and trellis maintenance, placing and monitoring insect traps, picking and maintaining early planted annual crops.
June: seeding and planting later annual crops, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing, maintaining annual beds by weeding and trellis maintenance, placing and monitoring insect traps, picking and maintaining early and later planted annual crops, harvesting perennial fruit plantings.
July: seeding and planting later annual crops, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing, maintaining annual beds by weeding and trellis maintenance, placing and monitoring insect traps, picking and maintaining early and later planted annual crops, harvesting perennial fruit plantings, beginning to press small fruits for fermentation into alcohol, monitoring fermentation.
August: seeding and planting later annual crops, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing, maintaining annual beds by weeding and trellis maintenance, picking and maintaining later planted annual crops, harvesting perennial fruit plantings, beginning to press small fruits for fermentation into alcohol, monitoring fermentation.
September: seeding and planting later annual crops and cover crops, Plowing and preparing beds for planting the following season, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing, maintaining annual beds by weeding and trellis maintenance, picking and maintaining later planted annual crops, harvesting perennial fruit plantings, beginning to press tree fruits for fermentation into alcohol, monitoring fermentation.
October: Plowing and preparing beds for planting the following season, maintaining the orchard by weeding and mowing, maintaining annual beds by weeding and trellis maintenance, picking and maintaining later planted annual crops, harvesting perennial fruit plantings, press tree fruits for fermentation into alcohol, monitoring fermentation, planting garlic, orchard cleanup.
November: picking and maintaining later planted annual crops, harvesting perennial fruit plantings, press tree fruits for fermentation into alcohol, monitoring fermentation, orchard cleanup.
December: press tree fruits for fermentation into alcohol, monitoring fermentation, orchard cleanup.
This is a general list of the tasks needed, however we go to farmer’s markets several times a week, have a small farm stand and need to build several small outbuildings and work on the inside of the fermentation barn. We have flock of ducks for egg production that need care every day. We will probably have some pigs on pasture this year that will need work. I could go on …
for our 2013 discount. We will have CSA pick-ups at the Ithaca Farmer’s market on Tuesdays & Saturdays; T-Burg Market on Wednesdays; and Fridays at the Daring Drake Barn. 20 weeks of fruit grown using only organic methods at our family farm.
For CSA information: http://daringdrake.com/csa/
Blackduck Cider & Perry as well as apple cider vinegar will be available in 2014…finally!!
Meet our ducks, and spot a few geese, from last winter: http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/runner-duck
The posts go out the window during the growing season!! 2013 was an incredible season and our CSA members were laden this fall with apples galore, ground cherries, pears, quince, fresh pear/apple cider, and apple cider vinegar.
We are offering a limited number of fruit CSA shares for the 2014 season. We chose to keep our Fruit CSA small so if interested, we suggest registering early. Please visit our CSA page for more information on our fruit CSA. We utilize only organic growing practices and all fruit in our CSA is grown at Daring Drake Farm. Let us know if you are interested in a Wednesday T-Burg CSA pick-up – this is a possibility for next season.
We are still pressing cider and doing fall orchard clean-up. Blackduck Cider & Perry will finally be available in the spring of 2014 along with raw apple cider vinegar!
First – a big shout-out to wwoofing team yinzers who were awesome workers even if one of them didn’t like the spiders.
Fruit! Our CSA will begin this Friday as we distribute Hungarian tart cherries, strawberries, and jam. The orchard looks great this year. We have completed hand-thinning of the apples, been doing lots and lots of weeding and we have netted all the cherries. We are hoping for a great fruit season. stay tuned.
Last week our plums were in full bloom! Our pears are just about done blooming; gooseberries, currants and most of the apples are currently in full bloom. Such a lovely sight. We did have a light, brief frost in the home orchard last evening, but little damage was done.
Our first wwoofer team has completed their visit. They were a tremendous help and they provided us entertainment with their ice cream addiction. The Ovid Village Soft Serve will see a slump in sales this week.
We had some babies this week and it wasn’t the waterfowl. Idunn has some Silkie and bantam Wyandotte chickens and they usually get short changed on the blog. Several weeks ago some of the hens started to sit on a clutch and today they hatched! Idunn is excited as the babies are the first hatch from chickens on the farm. The two Silkie mothers shared one nest and maintained an “alternative lifestyle” not often seen in southern Seneca county.
Jack the rooster has always asked for a shout out, so here goes……..
Yes, we still love ducks. Shannon and Idunn helped the local students set up an incubator in their classroom with our duck eggs. They took a few newly hatched ducks to visit the class that day, so the kids could see some cuties to quote Idunn. If the eggs hatch in 28 days the kids will raise them for a couple weeks and than they will move to our orchard.
Oh, and the crew planted trees, hardy kiwi, raspberries and assorted seeds during the dry window, we had the first week of April. The orchard is the main focus on the farm and this year looks good so far. The pears are in swollen bud, apples in silver tip and the black currants will soon flower. After 2012’s spring we feel cautiously optimistic for fruit farmers!
We have our first blooming plum tree (see photo below). Not surprising when the temperature inside the high tunnel is hitting 70 degrees when the sun shines. We have been planting seed trays; potting gooseberry and currant cuttings; and 6 variety of peas are in the ground waiting to be watered later today. The trees friends and members helped plant last year look great, very minimal rabbit or deer damage. Scrumpy is enjoying the spring mole hunt.
