900 pounds of fresh picked Pears
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Terry and Paul thinking about lugging fresh picked Pears to the truck for distribution to local feeding programs. |
Terry's Jarred Pears
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Pears are easy to preserve. Peel, core, cut. Place the fruit in a jar with half inch of room at the top. Add sugar syrup to jar. Sugar syrup is 3 parts water 1 part sugar dissloved in water and heated . Place in large pot of canner. Place jars in boiling water for 25 mins. Make sure they are covered by at least 1 inch of water. Remove the jars (be careful). Place on towel and let cool 12 to 24 hours. That is all there is to it. |
Terry trying out the pears
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
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GB getting to the top where ladders and pickers could not reach
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
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AK picking from ladder
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
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Paul sizing up the days work to come
Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Part of Soundkeeper's sustainability farm effort is to max out the existing permaculture scattered around the town. Fuit picked from local backyard trees is donated to local and area feeding program. . |
Sustainability Farm Grant Award
Posted on Sunday, August 23, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Ms. Ellie, Terry and Farm community gardeners on award day. |
Sustainability Farm Grant
Posted on Sunday, August 23, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Group photo of award presentation. L to R
Mayor Jim Miron, Ms. Ellie Hawthorne, Joan Presinsky, Terry Backer, Steph Phillips, Robyn Greenspan. |
Terry on Grant award day
Posted on Sunday, August 23, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Before the shock of the $11,000.00 gift to Soundkeeper. for sustainability work. |
Talking planting stratgies
Posted on Sunday, August 23, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Ms. Ellie and Terry talk over strategies for planting diversity and ways to deal with very wet weather. |
Kennabec Varity Potatoes
Posted on Friday, August 21, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Despite the Late Blight I managed to get the potatoes harvested. The Late Blight may cause these potatoes to have a shorter storage life. The potatoes begin to rot in storage. |
Potatoes for food pantry
Posted on Friday, August 21, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
When I dug these on August 21 it was so hot they were nearly baked already. They went quickly at the food pantry. |
Nice spuds
Posted on Friday, August 21, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Even though I harvested the potatoes a few weeks earlier than I would have to keep ahead of the Late Blight they were really great. |
Surveying Late Blight Damage
Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
This plot was tall and green a week ago.
Late Blight fungus moves through a field with lightening speed. A friend lost 6 acres of tomatoes in one week.
The strategy on the farm is to rip out all the tomato plants and start so fall crops like turnips, cabbage, green beans and lettuce.
We can save some of the year this way. |
Late Blighted Tomatoes rot before rippening
Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Late Blight is a fungus so our wet weather has not been any help. It attacks members of the Nightshade family. The order seems to be tomato, potato and then eggplant. |
Plants collaspe and sag quickly.
Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Late Blight can be controlled with a power commercial fungicides if caught early. It moves so quickly that through spores that can travel 30 miles on the wind. |
Late Blight Damage
Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
The whole crop is a loss at the farm. Tomatoes won't ripen. The red in this tomato actual came after the fungus made the first brown scaly spot. |
Terry potato field shows signs of Late Blight.
Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
Terry's potatoes are showing Late Blight. They are about 70 days in from planting. We are trying an idea of using hydrogen peroxide mixed in water. Not sure it will work. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down in he sun quickly to water and oxygen. If it works it will kill the fungus on contact if not ... |
Expected New Potatoes but these are good size to harvest.
Posted on Sunday, August 02, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
I sampled one plant from the potato patch and harvested about 5 pounds of nicely formed potatoes. They are medium size. It may be best to harvest the whole patch at this rate now and replant turnips. Trying to get another 10 or 15 percent in size might see them all rot. |
The Irish Famine: Late Blight
Posted on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 soundkeeper1 posted a photo:
The same fungus that caused the Irish Famine known as Late Blight has been found this year across the region.
Its first signs legions in on the stem of tomato and potato plants. It has been called the bubonic plague of vegetables.
Late Blight appears to have been shipped into the area via plant providers and distributed from many sales points including Walmart and Home Depot. |
