FirstWatch Farms

Picking Produce this Fall

2011-12-05T16:06:00.000-05:00

It's been a long summer! Fall and winter are finally here, which thankfully means a slower and more flexible schedule. So I thought I'd share some photos of us harvesting produce in mid-September and a photo of our two, adorable children.

All is calm and peaceful in the morning mist as we arrive at the field...

...and head out to start picking.

Pea Shoots

Swiss Chard

Eggplant

The wagon's filled with the first load of vegetables. "Take it to the wash area, boys!"

Beans are one thing that's quite easy to wash - dump them in the tub of water, check for spotted ones, and put them back in the crate.

To prepare Swiss Chard, we wash, bunch, and trim is before putting it in the cooler or sending it directly with the CSA.

Now it's bean picking time, which will probably take 4 people 4-5 hours twice a week to do.

I'm doing my part!

The sweet potatoes are the next thing on the list to pick.

Dig them out with a garden fork, knock the dirt off, and take them to be washed.

The harvest was very good this year for them.

But now... My biggest treasures - Elise (18 months) and Jon David (6 months)! It's so precious to have them, especially at times like this when Elise is "reading" the Bible to her younger brother.

Hope you're having a wonderful fall!

It's a Flood!

2011-09-09T02:15:00.003-04:00

I'd call this a true flood! In a short period of time, we received over 11" of rain, which caused many streams and rivers to swell tremendously and become very dangerous and damaging. In our area at least 2 people have been killed, hundreds of houses filled with feet of water, cars washed away, etc. It's actually been larger than Hurricane Agnes back in '72.

This is the road I normally take to the field. Impassable? I think so! Actually, a chunk of the pavement was washed away.

That fence isn't holding any animals in!

This wasn't supposed to be hydroponic corn... Amazing how rain can change things.

You can see how high the water level was by where the debris are on the fence.

My irrigation pump was used all night to pump 3 feet of water out of the basement of the house across the water - not it's usual job!

We're taking the high ground!

The water was all the way up to the mark of brown junk.

I store my irrigation pump in here normally, but I had to rescue it by walking through knee-high water!

The water washed some gullies in the field which should be filled in to avoid the plastic blowing away.

Swiss Chard

The beans and peas (for pea shoots)

Over all the garden didn't suffer much, just here and there wash outs and standing water.

But life must go on, according to Mrs. Hen. We lost two days worth of work in the field because of the water, but we're planning to go back out at lunchtime today (Friday).

We're very thankful to the Lord for keeping us safe and only having minimal damage. It was pretty crazy trying to get anywhere because nearly every road around our house was blocked. Now many of those road blocks are removed, the creeks are going down, and things are drying off a bit. So as long as we don't get much more rain we should be okay.

What an adventure!

~ Jonathan

Harvesting Time for a CSA Delivery

2011-07-15T05:51:00.000-04:00

After a winter of growing produce in the greenhouse, it is almost completely empty. A row of tomatoes stretches down the left side of it. Now the majority of the action has been transferred out to the field, so why don't you come along with the crew as they harvest vegetables for a CSA delivery.

Jonathan and Timothy start out with buckets in hand. There is a lot of produce to be picked today!

Picking sugar peas....

The Peas

Philip F. picks....

...and bunches the kale.

Ready to go back to the wash station to be cleaned and packed.

The long rows of tomato plants are looking great.

Green tomatoes, the promise of things to come.

Swiss Chard adds a splash of color to the field.

As do the red, golden, and candy cane beets.

Leeks

Onions

The rack is full of produce that has been washed and is now ready to be packed.

Once the produce has been harvested and washed, the CSA bags are lined up and filled. We work down the lines dividing between the full and half shares.

A beautiful basket of colorful extras.

Well, that's all for now, folks. We hope you enjoyed your visit! Come back again.

~ Abigail

(Jonathan's sister)

Welcome to Another Year of Farming with Us!

2011-03-24T13:22:00.000-04:00

The growing season has now officially begun!

Though, actually, we've been growing vegetables all winter long in our 20'x96' greenhouse.

The greenhouse has been doing an amazing job keeping plants a live and growing, though sometimes slowly, even in below freezing temperatures.

Carrots and Beets - 5 months from planting to harvest

Salad Mix - 2 months from sowing to cutting

Sallions planted in between the beet rows - 6 weeks from planting to pulling

Swiss Chard - 3-4 months from planting to harvest

Kale - 6 weeks from transplanting to harvest. This plant has actually been producing since September 2010; we just moved it indoors when winter came. Notice how close the leaf stubs are together, starting at the bottom - 1/2 inch? Those leaves grew last fall. Then look how close the leaves (middle of the plant) grew together during the cold part of winter - really close. Then look how quickly the plant has been growing recently with all the heat! So, you can have fun tracking how fast it's been growing for the last 7 months.

Over 80 degrees in the greenhouse on a day when it was about 35-40 degrees outside.

The garlic, which we planted last November, is coming up great.

My two brothers, Philip and Timothy, planted 1,400 lettuce plants for me last Friday.

They did a good job!

Potato planting time!

We planted 600 lbs. of seed potatoes this year, which translated into over 1.5 miles of row! Anyone want to help weed...?

I love this job because it's one of the first things we do outside in the spring, and it requires us to use some big, fun machinery, which we don't get to use much the rest of the year. I like powerful things!

This is how we farm, Elise. Do you want to help Daddy in another couple years?

I hope you enjoyed this post and will continue to do so with the upcoming ones we're hoping to do to help keep you informed on what's happening how "down on the farm". Please feel free to leave a comment; we love hearing from you!

We're on CNN!

2011-02-05T13:22:00.000-05:00

This past fall, a CNN producer was given the assignment to do a piece on CSA's. So she started calling up different ones within driving distence of NYC, but no one picked up there phone until she called my number. And this started everything roling that brought forth the video you see below. The Lord has blessed us so abundently in giving us this unique oppertunity to tell the world about healthy food.

Click here to find out more about becoming a CSA member.

FirstWatch Farms on CNN!

100% Grass-Finished Beef for Sale

2010-11-16T12:47:00.002-05:00

Are you ready for some great tasting, tender roast that's been cooking all day? Has it been awhile since you had a good NY Strip or Delmonico Steak? Or, are you ready for some good, versatile hamburger?

Well, if you are, we've got what you need - our own grass-finished beef!

We raise our beef cattle during the summer outside, in the fresh air and sunshine on nothing but the best food source for them - 100% grass!

We move them periodically to new sections of pasture to help provide them with clean, high quality food.

When cattle eat grass, both they and we make out a lot better. The cattle live in the environment they were created to live in, thus making them healthier and happier. And we get to enjoy meat that is nutritious, tasty, and healthy for us. Check out the amazing benefits of grass-finished beef at the bottom of this post, such as higher Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, vitamins, CLA, and far, far less danger of E. coli.

We raise a variety of cattle breeds - all of them being designed to produce beef. Click here and scroll down to learn more about the breeds.

Q. What's the difference between "grass-finished" and "grassfed" beef?

A. On our farm, very little. Grassfed cattle's diet is made up of strictly grass year around. Our grass-finished cattle, because we don't have a barn, are boarded during the winter at another farm, where they eat silage (fermented forage and grain) and hay. But once spring comes, the cattle are turned out to green pasture and ingest nothing by grass all summer long until they're processed in either July, October, or November. So during the last 3-7 months, which are the most determinant in the quality of the meat, our cattle eat only grass. The end result: Almost no difference between grass-finished and grassfed beef.

They're both great for you!

Hungry yet?

We've got a wide variety of cuts available from Porterhouse and Sirloin Steaks, to Prime Rib and Chuck Roast, to Ground Beef and Short Ribs. (Remember, it's not too late to grill yet; we still are.) We even have our own Beef Sticks.

To see a complete list of cuts available and prices, click on the links below:

Lititz Pricelist

Wayne Pricelist (includes shipping)

To order, send us an email or give us call with what you would like.

~ ~ ~

Nutritional Benefits of Grass-Finished Beef

CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid)

CLA is a “good” fat that in studies has shown promise of fighting cancer and cardiovascular disease. Studies have shown that grass fed beef have any where from 2-5 times the amount of CLA as beef raised on a high grain diet.

Omega-3

Both Omega-3 and Omega-6 are essential fatty acids and a proper balance of these is needed for maintaining good health. Omega-6 is known to help with blood clotting, which is important if you receive a cut or serious injury. Omega-3 on the other hand is important for blood thinning. A proper balance of these two ensures that you will neither bleed to death nor have a heart attack or stroke from clogged arteries. Unfortunately, American’s at large have diets too high in Omega-6 and lacking greatly in Omega-3. Cattle raised on grain are higher in Omega-6, taking it from a healthy to unhealthy balance and raising the risk of heart attacks or strokes in human consumers. Grass is rich in Omega-3 and Beef raised on grass have shown to have a healthy balance between the two essential fatty acids, giving you a more rounded diet.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps protect against damage caused by free radicals. Free radical build up can lead to cardiovascular disease, cancer and inflammatory conditions. Vitamin E may help reduce cancer, heart complications and risk of eye disorders such as cataracts and age related macular degeneration. Source for the health benefits of Vitamin E

Building the Greenhouse!

2010-11-02T10:48:00.000-04:00

On October 2nd, we had a good, old-fashion "greenhouse raising". A group of 15 men and boys came together, volunteered their time, and helped me put up my 20'x96' greenhouse almost entirely in one day. It was such a blessing!

Believe it, or not, there's to be a greenhouse here by the end of the day.

The work begins

The way you anchor the structure to the ground is by simply driving the sidewall stakes into the ground 2 feet.

You got to make sure they're straight!

These two young men (15 years old), plus another one or two around their age, worked very well and drove 25 out of the 50 sidewall stakes in.

Once the posts are in, a strip of metal is run along the top of them. This piece will be used for multiple purposes, such as strength, holding the plastic on, and stabilizing the roll-up sides.

After this, the hoops are put in place, which I thought was quite fun because it looked like we were getting a lot done quickly.

It's really coming together...

...but now it's time for lunch - steamers/Sloppy Joe's made with our own beef.

Lunch was a nice break, but now it's time to start working again because we want to get as much as possible up before the end of the day.

Work, work, work...Many hands makes light work.

Eric, an organic blueberry farmer and metal machinist

Elliot, a CSA member who worked very diligently doing one of the hardest jobs almost all day - driving metal screws

It's taking shape!

Now, it's time for the plastic...

...a job that takes almost everyone.

It was definitely a challenging stretching the two layers of plastic (one at a time) tight in the wind.

Aaron, an Amish man who's also an organic produce grower, was the foreman of the operation, and he did an amazing job of keeping everyone organized, occupied, and accomplishing something. I was planning on paying him for the day as the manager of the operation, since he's got quite a bit of experience and had the hardest job of the day - managing. But when it came to the end of the day, he said he didn't want anything - just wanted me to pass it on sometime to someone else. I was so blessed by his help, especially since he took on managing our large crew excellently, is a very busy farmer, and is skilled in what he does.

It's all done for the day!

Monique and I (and I'm sure our baby, Elise) are so very thankful to everyone from our church, family, and CSA who helped put up our greenhouse. It went up much faster than we were expecting - in 6 hours the basic structure and plastic were on! We're planning to grow vegetables in here to sell through out the winter, which will hopefully provide us with enough income that I can remain self-employed, something I that's been a dream of mine. So, to everyone who helped put up the greenhouse, is part of our winter CSA, and buys from us during the winter, THANK YOU!

The Fall Bounty

2010-09-27T23:57:00.000-04:00

Fall is such an amazing time on the farm! All the pumpkins and gourds are coming ready, the winter squash and sweet potatoes are being harvested, all the other cool-weather crops are coming to a peak, the leaves are changing... It's definitely one of my favorite seasons!

Leola Produce Action - a stunning sight to see when it's full of Lancaster Counties bountiful harvest!

Decorative Gourds

Lettuce, in my garden, that's done fabulously this year

The early morning sun, as it rises on my Romaine and Red Leaf Lettuce

Rouge D'Hiver - a French heirloom veriety

We planted close to 6,000 heads of lettuce this year - 7 different types!

Kale is one of those vegetables that is simply packed with benificial vitemins and minerals.

Umm... Mommy and Daddy are training my taste-buds to like healthy food from a very early age!

Really? That looks good, too, like the rest of the produce in the garden.

Ivory Peppers

Watermelons

Basil

Purple Peppers

Yea, I'm really glad my parents do gardening. It gives our family all sorts of opportunities to be together, enjoying God's creation, which we wouldn't have otherwise. It's a good life!

What it Takes to Put Together a CSA Box

2010-08-24T06:37:00.002-04:00

It usually takes us the better part of two days, Monday and Tuesday, to pick, wash, and package all the produce for the CSA.

Corn is always picked the day we deliver it - making it extra delicious.

When corn is available, we usually pick 22 dozen (approx. 260 ears) at a time.

And there's a lot on your knees...

(Beans are being picked in this photo.)

... and bending over picking.

(Cucumbers are being picked in this photo.)

There are usually 3-4 people working each Tuesday to prepare the CSA.

Once the produce is picked it needs washed.

This can be quite a nice job on a hot day!

Tomatoes are typically wiped with a damp cloth to remove the dirt. Washing them this way is much better than putting them in a tub of water and rolling them around because it keeps them from becoming bruised.

Eggplant just need a fast rinse.

All of our produce, after it's been picked, needs to be sorted.

The next step is to set all the boxes out, which can take 15-30 minutes.

On Tuesdays, we pack 14 full-share boxes and 33 half-share boxes, making a total of 47 boxes!

Next, we go down the line and try to put the same number vegetables in each box (i.e. 4 tomatoes for a half-share, 8 tomatoes for a full-share).

Red potatoes

So, here's your box (Aug. 10th)!

Do you understand a little more now what goes on behind the scenes to get your vegetables to you?

We enjoy it a lot!

~ Jonathan

One Year Ago on August 8th...

2010-08-06T22:51:00.000-04:00

Wow, it's hard to believe it's already been a year since we got married!

Isn't she beautiful being escorted by her father?

The Lord Jesus must be the center of our marriage.

Our first kiss!

You aught to see all the cousins as well... These are only our immediate families and my grandmother. Monique has seven siblings, and I have nine; it was awesome growing up in a large family!

We're farmers... :-)

Might as well take advantage of the only acceptable day to have a cake fight in public

And we're off with a blast to our honeymoon in the Adirondacks!

It's been a wonderful first year of marriage. God has given us so much and been with us every step of the way. May He be glorified in the rest of our lives together until death parts us.

We're going away for a few days to the PA Grand Canyon.

~ Jonathan

Fire! Fire! Fire!

2010-07-19T11:59:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, my neighbor's dairy barn burnt to the ground!

What a sad sight....

This barn has been in use, milking cows, for at least two generations. Now it's all gone.

Alright, men, lets get everything cleaned up!

D. Martin (center), the owner, gives instructions to the many, many friends and neighbors who dropped everything to come and help clean up the destruction. It was such a blessing to see the Christian community pull together and help someone in need!

Someone, who owns an excavating company, brought his big equipment in and made the job so much easier.

To help clean up, they started bonfire to finish burning all the timbers.

Scoop that junk out of there!

There was a lot of work to be done!

Charles, the oldest son on the farm, uses their skid loader, which they usually scrap up manure with, to scoop up the ruins of their barn.

What a sight!

Before...

I used to milk occasionally for the Martins when they would go on vacation. It was a nice parlor to milk in, and I enjoyed it. There milk, right out of the tank, was probably the best tasting milk I've ever had.

...and after.

But those days are over now. It's hard to even recognize the place.

The Martins are a wonderful family, with ten children, that I've really enjoyed getting to know. Their sprite through all this has amazed me. They've been joyful, in spite of their circumstances and very thankful that no people nor cows were hurt.

So, where do we go from here?

The Martins are considering growing produce for me next year to send to you all with the CSA!

~ Jonathan

Heat, Drought, Rain, Independence Day, Etc.

2010-07-14T21:41:00.001-04:00

So what should we tell everyone about, Elise? So much has been going on here since I've last posted, part of the reason why it's been a long time. Well, one thing that's been taking our time has been you, little girl, but we like giving you time. Other things we've been doing are harvesting garlic, making up our seed order for fall lettuce, broccoli, etc., and all the day-to-day work of running a farm - picking, weeding, mowing, irrigating.... So, Elise, let's give everyone a few photos to look at, so they can see a little what it's like around here.

For a period of 3 or 4 weeks, we didn't get any rain, except for 1.5 inches that mostly ran off. (We've been bless a lot more, though, than some other farmers who haven't had a measurable rain for a month.) Last week (7th & 8th), I got my irrigation system up and running. The dryness didn't effect all the crops, like potatoes, much because they're almost full grown, but other crops, like cucumbers, are greatly effected by lack of water. Things were really dry here, but...

...the Lord decided to give us rain, and He did so in abundance! Since Thursday, we've gotten close to 4 inches!

Patriotic red, white, and blue potatoes to celebrate July 4th with

We went to a gathering, some friends in Shippensburg hosted, on Monday, July 5th. Part of the event was a pie contest that I was selected a judge for, not a job I minded!

It was hard though selecting which one was the best; they were all good! It was an interesting experience.

Life's been busy here! And the big question is: Who tired who out?

The Jonathan Einwechter Family

Thanks again for supporting our family by being part of our CSA! More than we can put into words, we appreciate it because it's giving us the ability to experience our dream - farming full-time for the glory of God.

True Producer/Customer Relationships!

2010-06-22T07:09:00.001-04:00

Gift from CSA members for our little, darling Elise!

Now this is what I call a real producer/customer relationship!

Thank you so much everyone who gave us this gift! We very much appreciate you thinking of your farmers in this way. It's certainly not every day the supermarket does this for you!

The peas were very plentiful this year, peaking about a week ago. But now they are almost done, and are making room for more crops. There won't be very many, if any for today's CSA shares.

Samuel, hard at work picking peas

Last Friday, we started digging the first, new potatoes! And, wow, they are good when you fry them up with some green onions, garlic, and seasonings in olive oil!

Washing the green onions

Packing the CSA boxes (something I'll be doing later today)

Thank you everyone for your amazing support of us!

Jonathan, Monique, and Elise Einwechter

Everything is Growing - the Baby, the Vegetables, and the Weeds!

2010-06-14T07:34:00.003-04:00

This last week has been a very busy one for us. It's been our new little daughter's first week of life outside the womb with all the adjustments she's had to make, family visiting, and a lot of work in the garden. But it's been a wonderful week, and we're enjoying life!

This is quite an interesting life out her, but I think I like it! ~ Elise

Grandpa Hoffman holds his new grand-daughter for the first time.

We've had some trouble getting her to feed properly, so she's been getting her Mommy's milk through a tube, while learning how to suck. Currently, she's doing a lot better, and we rarely need to use this method of feeding.

Weed Time!

Those weed's got to go!

It's amazing how many weeds grow in this garden!

So why do weeds grow again? Because man has sinned against his Creator - Jesus Christ. Even though the ground, to some degree, will always grow weeds, there is hope for our eternal souls if we believe on Jesus Christ to save us from our sin (Genesis 3:17-19, John 3:16-17).

The clover in the paths, between the beds needs mowed regularly.

But now it's time to take a break for some water and lunch.

Nothing like water on a hot day!

These onions (left photo) are ones that are going to be left grow until the plant dies and they are harvested as dry, storage bulbs. The little plants in the right photo butternut squash, and they're doing very well.

Cilantro

So far, the tomato plants are growing beautifully.

They're already blooming and have small, green tomatoes on them. It'll still be at least a month, though, until there are any ripe ones.

Purple beans have got their place up on the hill where they've got a good view of the garden.

But, I need to be done now with this post because I've got other responsibilities - such as going to the garden and working to provide for our new little one and reliving Mommy from time to time holding her. So that's all for now.

Enjoy you week!

Jonathan

It's a Girl!

2010-06-06T19:24:00.002-04:00

We had our first baby yesterday (Saturday)! My heroine, Monique, after 9 hours of labor and less then 1/2 hour of pushing gave birth to our first daughter - Susan Elise Einwechter!

Our new little family; the Lord is so good to give us this little girl to raise for Him!

We named her Susan Elise Einwechter, after her two grandmothers, and we plan on calling her most of the time Elise.

My precious little daughter....

Weighing the baby an old fashion, but reliable, way

She weighted 7 lbs. and was 20 inches long.

Your so comfortable to be near, Mom! ~ Elise

It's amazing, when the Lord Jesus brings 1 man and 1 woman together in marriage, how He can creates a new life between them. Life is so precious everyday from conception!

A very happy, new Uncle Noah!

My wife had our baby at home, right in our own bedroom - something that was a dream of hers. And these two wonderful midwives where right there helping. They were such a blessing!

But it's been a long day, and both mother and baby have been through a traumatic experience and are worn out. So, let's go now and let them sleep quietly....

Thank you everyone for your inquires the last few weeks about how my wife and baby are doing. We appreciate your support of our little family!

~ Jonathan, for Monique and Baby Elise

FirstWatch Farms Open House

2010-05-28T15:20:00.001-04:00

Saturday, May 22nd was our farm's open house.

Thank to every one of you who was able to come! It was wonderful meeting you and being able to show you where your produce is being grown, and some of the work that is behind it.

Jonathan has been busy these last couple days trying to get the irrigation system up and running-unfortunately, it is being rather resistant to his efforts. . . hopefully he'll be able to get that going soon!

Jonathan - in his element - loves farming and teaching other about it.

We had approximately 40 people attend our open house.

Really, is that the way you do it?

The next generation of farmers?

Sadie teaches us how to properly plant dirt clods :-)

Giving hoeing a "whack"

All men have an amazing fascination with tools!

The stirrup or scuffle hoe is run just beneath the surface of the dirt to kill the weeds, by severing the roots from the plants. It is a pretty effective, energy-efficient way to kill the weeds. You really aught to buy one for yourself!

Back under the tent, we had some food samples prepared.

- Salad, made with greens, radishes, and scallions picked from the garden that morning.

- Delicious roast beef, which Philip masterfully prepared form one of our own cattle.

- Zucchini muffins and cookies.

In the foreground are some fantastic homemade, goat milk soaps, crafted by Jonathan's sisters.This is their first year to be making and selling soaps, and we'll be making them available to our CSA members.

Monique is trying her hand at making milk baths, salt scrubs, sugar scrubs and the like.

Entrepreneurialism is contagious in our family!

Hay Ride!

This tractor was probably made shortly after World War II, and is still used today.

A scenic ride through prime Lancaster County farm land.

"That was one of the longest and best hay rides I've ever been on." ~ Sherri

Tractor driving is fun!

So, as you leave, we hope you've had as a wonderful and educational experience on our farm as we've enjoyed having you!

Until next time,

Jonathan and Monique Einwechter

The Effects of a Late Frost

2010-05-13T17:17:00.000-04:00

"By the breath of God the frost is given. . . "

Job 37:10

This past weekend we had two late frosts. The garden took a bit of a beating as you can see by the dead, frost bitten leaves, but the Lord was gracious and sustained the crops.

Even in the midst of the dead foliage signs

of life are evident in the new leaves of this bean plant.

The tomatoes also withstood the frost;

you can see the damage in the leaves.

The potatoes are also recovering, praise the Lord.

One of the challenges of farming is the fact that you cannot control the weather, you can try to plan for it and make what preparations you can but after that, it's in the hands of Providence and truly, there are no better hands for it to be in.

~Monique Einwechter

Planting Strawberries

2010-05-08T08:47:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone,

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted last. During the last two weeks, the conditions have been right, and it seems as if the garden has just exploded with growth and jobs to be done. We've been starting to put in some pretty full days!

It's only a little over two weeks until the CSA begins!

The first pick-up day for Wayne is Tuesday, May 25th, and the first day for Lititz is Saturday, May 29th.

Also, our open house is only two weeks away, on Saturday, May 22nd!

We're planning a great time for you all and really hope everyone can come. I'll be sending you more info about it soon.

Enjoy the photos!

My dear wife, Monique, wanted to help in the field. So she came over a couple times recently to help, even though she's pregnant with our first baby, due June 15th! I really appreciate her!

We decided to plant some of our own strawberries this year.

The normal life of a strawberry plant is as follows:

Year 1 - Plant the "crowns", but don't get any fruit

Year 2 - Plants bare fruit very abundantly

Year 3 - Plants bare fine, but not quite as much as previous year

Year 4 - (Option 1) Plants bare okay, but not as productive as previous year, or (option 2) are tilled under and new ones are planted

There's a lot to be put in the ground - 1,000 to be exact.

We use a handy, little tool to make the holes in the plastic, and it's a huge help.

It seems like most of the rows in our garden are so long!

The don't look like much now, but they'll grow into nice, producing plants.

Our official farm/delivery van! We just got the graphics put on it. (The two small stickers are for Buy Fresh Buy Local and IAmNotAshamed.org.)

Hope to see you in to 2-3 weeks from now!

~ Jonathan

The Cattle Are Here!

2010-04-23T21:53:00.000-04:00

"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." ~ Psalm 50:10 (KJV)

In addition to growing vegetables, we also raise 5-6 beef cattle each year, and we love it!

Cattle (and animals in general) are so different from plants, and they tend to find ways to spice up our lives - like when they get out and run all over the neighboring farms and can't be found for several hours. They all seem to have personalities of their own. Some are very calm and others are skittish, some wander up and down the fence every day looking for ways out. Some are leaders and others are followers, and the list goes on. So, can you imagine now why cattle make our lives more "interesting"?

Enjoy the opportunity to take a little part in our farm through this blog!

On Tuesday, we bought 5 beef cattle from a man in southern Lancaster County, who also delivered them.

Cattle are bought/sold by the live-weight pounds. We weighed the truck with the cattle loaded on it, and after the cattle were unloaded we weighed the truck again to figured figure out how much the cattle weighed.

Their average weight was 732 lbs.

Aren't they beautiful?

The cattle were very nervous about me at first and stayed as far away as possible.

We got a whole mix of breeds this year!

The breeds are (L-R): Charolais, next two Angus/Hereford crosses, Red Angus, Hereford. There's one more steer that isn't in any of these photos because it's at another farm right now, but it's a Black Angus, and it'll be here soon.

What are you looking at?

The spinach crop this year has been slightly delayed. I planted a bed of it a couple weeks ago, and soon after it rained really hard, and when the ground dried it crusted over. Only a few plants were able to come up through the packed dirt - not even enough to be worth the space it was taking up - so I tilled it under and replanted it. Because of this, the spinach will be a little late coming in;

it'll probably be ready beginning of June.

Also, this past week, I've been trellising the peas.

The first thing I do is drive the stakes in the ground.

Secondly, I string line between the stakes, and...

...thirdly, loop it around each stake so it doesn't come loose.

Competelion...a wonderful feeling!

The onions are growing quite nicely. They're approximently 4-6 inches tall now.

The first CSA pick-up day is only about a month away! For those of you who live in Wayne, your first day is Tuesday, May 25th, and for you CSA members in Lititz the CSA will be starting Saturday, May 29th.

The produce is growing a little slower than I hoped it would be for the beginning of the CSA, but we'll have plenty as long as we get a fair amount of warm weather.

Also, remember our open house coming up on Saturday, May 22. We'd love to have you come to it, and it would be a great way to expose yourself and your children to farming.

Hope to see you in less than a month!

~ Jonathan

"Instant" garden! The benefits of transplants!

2010-04-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

Here in Lancaster County, PA, the weather's been beautiful lately!

Over Wednesday and Thursday (the 14th & 15th) we've been able to accomplish a lot of work in the garden like transplanting, planting seeds, weeding, tilling, etc.

Today's post mostly covers the work a friend from Allentown and I did on Wednesday. Enjoy!

The day dawned early with very heavy fog.

Notice how the fog is only rising off the corn field (further away),

which has bare dirt exposed, and not the hay field (the closer, greener one)?

My helper, Daniel, arrived ready for work with his sister who spent the day helping my wife in the house.

He has his own publishing company (Salem Ridge Press), with which he publishes a lot of great books!

We planted lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage from these trays,

which hold 125 plants each.

There's a lot of open space to fill yet - one plant at a time!

Plant it properly...

A romaine head at approximently 3-4 weeks.

The garden looks so lush right now with the everything growing so well.

I love spring!

It's time to turn the rye into the ground as fertalizer.

The nieghbor came over and mowed it down for me,

and I later rototilled it into the soil.

We planted two very long rows of green, yellow, and purple beans.

Those little seeds look so innnocent right now, but they're going to turn into

plants that will take hours and hours to pick!

The day's been a very profitable one!

We planted approximately:

850 Lettuce Heads

900 Broccoli & Cabbage Plants

Thanks for checking out our blog and feel free to leave a comment if you enjoyed it!

~ Jonathan Einwechter

Planting Potatoes

2010-04-08T14:20:00.000-04:00

Over the past week, or so, we've spent time cutting up the seed potatoes (getting them ready for planting), and waiting until the ground drid out. Well, the rain finally stopped, the sun came out, and now it's time to plant potatoes.

Alright, Philip, it's 4:00 PM,

and we've got a lot of work to get done before the day is over.

All these potatoes got to be planted - 5 types 350 lbs.

Okay, this is how you drive the tractor...

You're doing a great job tilling the ground!

While we were working, a killdeer kept running around us,

calling "killdeer, killdeer".

It's finally time to start planting the potatoes...

...and it's getting late, so we got to hurry!

Farming is an industry that when something needs done,

there's a small window of opportunity, and it must be done right then.

This planter, which is probably over 50 years old,

is an amazing time saver.

It makes a shallow furrow, drops the potatoes certain distences apart,

and covers them.

We finally finished planting the potatoes around 9:30 p.m.

The potatoes are all in the ground now, where they will stay and grow

until sometime in June, July, or August, when they are harvested.

It's been a good day in the field.

Thank you for your support of our farm!

The Produce Season Has Officially Begun!

2010-03-30T22:13:00.000-04:00

With the arrival of spring we find ourselves heading out to the field. The winter break from farming was restful, but to tell the truth, near the end Jon and I were starting to get antsy - it's time to get back out into the field and start the new season. Jonathan spent some time 2 weeks ago cleaning up some things from last year and tilling the ground in preparation for planting. Over the winter he's been reading a book, recommended to us by a friend, Nate Thomas, "The New Organic Gardener", by Elliot Coleman, which he has been enjoying. One element he has decided to implement this year is to divide the ground into long beds, about 5 ft wide.

Philip busily pours the onion sets out into a box for ease of planting.

What we're planting now will be harvested for spring onions/scallions.

Monique and Jonathan planting together

Monique and Philip

You must plant them exactly upright, or you'll get twisted scallions.

They remind me of Hershey Kisses!

Beet seeds

Our brother Philip Einwechter, who will be growing part of the vegetables, starts off his year, too, by planting three types of beets.

Garlic that we planted last September/October

It's been a lot of fun getting out and working in the field together as a newly married couple.

We were married August 8, 2009.

Thanks for being a part of our farm and keeping up to date with what's going on "down on the farm"!

~Jonathan & Monique Einwechter

FirstWatch Farms