Waste not, want not

This post may contain affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you anything extra but if you use these links to buy something, we may earn a commission.

Are you team Minimalist or team I Might Need That Someday?

Farmers are definitely team I Might Need That Someday. We’re frugal – by necessity – and are great at cobbling things together to make the project work too. So we’re well aware that things can be repurposed. And we don’t want to throw something out because someone, sometime, somewhere might need it.

Although, I have yet to have any of the family/employees say, “Oh good, a seat-less three-legged chair. Just what I was looking for.” Doesn’t stop us from putting newly seat-less three-legged chairs in storage though. Just in case.

However, my sister did head off to college with a pot that had been living in the barn for at least 50 years (it was probably from Rachel Webster, but possibly Mary Pauline Webster). So we do use the stuff. Eventually.

Fortunately, we tend not to buy too many unnecessary things.

And we get every little bit of use that we can out of everything. I remember my Grandmother telling me “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” when I suggested throwing a 12″ piece of hose out when I was like 5. She got a double dose of making do by growing up on a farm and in the Depression.

This thought process applies to the crops as well. We want to harvest everything we can from a crop.

We had a bunch of kale ready to be planted. But no empty fields.

One tomato patch was slowing down, but was by no means kaput – there were still a lot of green tomatoes on those plants. So there has been a great big pick off all week getting those green tomatoes off. No point in letting perfectly good green tomatoes go to waste. We even picked the cherry tomatoes.

Once picked clean, out came the tomato plants, in came a little bit of compost to fill in where needed, and the little kales planted.

The lines you see are drip tape. Since they are growing in a high tunnel, which keeps the rain out, we need to provide irrigation.

For us, that can look like drip tape on timers to automatically water the plants at certain times. Or it looks like standing there with a hose and wand twice a day.

For the shorter growing period crops, like the lettuce below, the guys don’t seem to mind the hand watering. I think automatic watering is a better invention than sliced bread and should be utilized at every opportunity, but to each their own.

(If possible, you want to keep the head of your wand from touching the ground to limit spreading diseases. Plus you’re less likely to step on it and break it if it’s up in the air)

Some seasonal inspiration:

​Bok Choy Salad with Sesame Soy Dressing​

​Asian Beef, Broccoli, and Cabbage Stir Fry​

​Braised Chicken with Celery Root and Garlic​

​Baked Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce​

​Crockpot Apple Pear Cider​

​

Happy Eating!

Elizabeth

Make sure you order for Thanksgiving 2022; the order deadline is approaching (Nov 16th, 2022)!

Fresh pies, turkeys, ducks, and geese available. 

Days Hours Minutes
No longer taking orders for Thanksgiving

Open Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9-5. Closed Sunday.

Closed Sundays & Mondays starting after Christmas.

This is one of the weekly newsletters that is emailed out every Saturday night (no more, no less). If you liked the information make sure you sign up so you can get my (moderately) snarky writings delivered right to your inbox. You can read it on the website – obviously – but a copy of the newsletter isn’t posted to the website until several weeks later.