News .
11/28/99
I've had a few people coming out for Christmas trees. Here is the deal: We have quite a few fair sized trees that look pretty good. For those that make an appointment and arrive promptly, the price is $10. For others, it is $20. That's per tree. 512 764-2122 or mckemie@inetport.com for appointments.
We had our second heavy frost several days ago. The peas are down to nothing anyway; squash was set back; we were getting tomatoes, but they seem to be near the end; spinach is looking very good, we should be picking in about two weeks.
11/21/99
If you found this, you know that the new web page is up on the domain austinfarm.org. P2Organic is working to get a page setup there, also.
Several crops recovered fairly well from the freeze; we are getting some tomatoes and squash. The peas have dwindled down to almost nothing and the cantaloupes and okra are completely gone.
I think I did my last farmers market at Round Rock yesterday. Round Rock, Taylor, and Georgetown markets are going to keep going for a few more weeks or until we get a killing freeze.
Spinach is in very good shape; we have about six acres planted and about three more acres ready to plant. We should be picking the first planting in two to three weeks.
11/3/99
Well, my web page host died unexpectedly; may it rest in peace. By now, you have found my new URL. I hope that austinfarm.org will become the home for many Austin area farm businesses; we will see. With our own domain, we hope not to have to change urls again.
This morning, we had pretty devastating freeze. All the frost sensitive crops will be gone after we finish gleening today or tomorrow. My earilest spinach is just up, so we will be out of the selling business for over a month. :-(
9/6/99
Once again, it has been quite a while since my last update.
We produced our last tomatoes last week; in spite of their extreme ugliness, our farmers market customers were sorry to see them go. This year, we had tomatoes all through August; most years, tomatoes are gone by the end of July.
We have had a steady, but relatively small supply of peas since early summer. We have not been successful in seeing that all peas get enough water to survive. If/when we ever get a rain, the peas are expected to rebound. Until then, we will continue to struggle to distribute the well water. We still expect to have peas until the first frost in November or December.
Cantaloupes started to produce about two weeks ago; we are selling between 10 and 30 at each farmers market, which is less than the demand. Watermelon are also producing less than I would like, perhaps 40-50 per week.
The burn ban brought on by the continuing drought is thwarting my plans to prepare land for planting in our newly acquired land.
We continue to go to the following markets:
Monday: Taylor (The Taylor Market has been extended through September)
Tuesday: Sun City, Killeen, Elgin
Friday: Killeen, Bastrop
Saturday: South Austin, West Lake
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8/22/99
I see that it has been quite a while since I've made a posting here! The season for the Georgetown market was extended by three weeks due to good supply and good demand; the last "spring" session was last Thursday, 8/19/99. The "fall" season will open the last Thursday in September. The Sun City market continues, but with only one or two sellers.
We continue to go to the Killeen, Sun City, Elgin, Bastrop, South Austin, Westlake, and Taylor markets.
Tomatoes continued to produce to a record late date; we are just now finishing them. Cream pea production has been somewhat sluggish, but they will continue until frost. We are just starting a blackeye pea field that is very promising. Pear sales have been below production and we are losing many to over ripeness. The first persimmons were picked this past week. We started picking watermelon last week and we will be selling a few at each farmers market. Cantaloupes should start in the next few days. And muscadines have started.
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7/29/1999
Just posted the pear recipe sheet. Check the main page.
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7/28/1999
The last session of the Saturday Round Rock Farmer's Market is 7/31/99. The Thursday Georgetown and the Tuesday Sun City markets have been extended, possibly through late August. All other area markets continue to operate.
Tomatoes are declining, though it looks like we may have SOME for several more weeks.
Okra is now producing almost a bushel a day.
Figs have declined to about 4 gallons a day.
And we are getting only around 1/4 gallon of blackberries a day. We will stop picking soon.
There are no new crops in the immediate future, but we have fair sized watermelon set as well as tiny cantaloupes. Production of those is expected in September.
We continue to pick pears, around 30 boxes a day. We have around three hundred boxes in the cooler, waiting to be adopted.
We are still getting around a hundred pounds of cream peas a day.
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7/20/1999
Tomatoes are making a second coming. I am running a classified ad for canning tomatoes.
We made our first okra picking two days ago, our second today. We got less than a peck on the first. MORE to come.
Figs have leveled out at 6-7 gallons a day.
We are getting about 1/2 gallon of blackberries a day; they are all sold at farmers markets for $5 per pint.
We are now averaging more than 100 pounds of cream peas per day. The black-eye planting seems to be doing well; we should have some in five weeks or so.
We are seriously trying to get the pear crop into the cooler; we have many Orient and somewhat fewer LeConte. These are for sale at the farm for $7 per 25 pound box. I now have a pear recipe sheet printed; I hope to get an electronic version posted on this site soon.
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7/13/1999
We are still getting a fair supply of red tomatoes and, now, a few yellow ones.
We seem to have peaked on fig production this past week; we picked as many as 16 gallons one day, and now we are down to 8.
Peas continue to pick up. We are doing a little more than 50 lb per day, which well supplies our farmers markets. I expect to be up to 150-200 lb per day in the next week.
We are STILL getting about one gallon of blackberries every day.
We continue with the following farmers markets:
Tuesday: Sun City and Killeen
Thursday: Georgetown
Friday: Bastrop and Killeen
Saturday: South Austin, West Lake, and Round Rock
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7/7/1999
The tomato situation has improved; we generally have several bushels of #2s sitting around. Price: $12/bu
Figs are producing well; I can now sell five-quart boxes at the farm. Price: $12.
Peas are still slow, we are getting 15-35 pounds per day. I can sell a few bags at a time at the farm. Price: $3/lb. We should have a large volume of peas starting in perhaps two weeks. At that time, I will offer 10 or more bags at the farm for $2.25/lb.
Blackberry production continues to decline; we are down to 1 to 2 gallons per day.
I expect to start picking okra in the next week.
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6/27/1999
Someone at the Round Rock Market Saturday (Carol: you know who you are :-)) pointed out to me that I had not made clear here what my tomato situation is. I'll take this opportunity to encourage all readers to give me some feed back on the quality and quantity of information that I am posting here. mckemie@inetport.com
The tomato situation is this: My first planting has declined and is producing only small and ugly tomatoes. The second planting is just starting to produce. The wet weather we have had has been very damaging; fruit rot is much more common and we are getting a lot of splitting. Even though I'm still running a classified ad for canning tomatoes, I'm turning down requests for them. I hope and expect this situation to improve in the coming week. But, of course, I don't really know what will happen.
We are in the process of planting two green bean fields to cream peas. The first tomato field will be planted to cream peas within the next two weeks, with other tomato fields following over the next two months. The first four cream pea fields are just starting to produce. We should have an abundance of cream peas August through October. I hope to plant black-eyes today in a field that previously contained peaches. That means that we can expect black-eye peas around the end of August or first of September.
We have picked figs now for three days and we are getting less than one gallon per day. It may be two weeks or more before we have a good supply of figs. Until production picks up, the farmers market price will be $3 per pint. When supply allows, I will charge $12 per 5 quart box at the farm. If/when we get a good supply that price will come down to perhaps $10.
Blackberry production continues to decline, today we got four gallons. We have raised our farmers market price from $3 to $4 per pint.
Some of the farmer's markets have disappointed us; we have dropped Elgin, Smithville and Taylor. We are still going to Killeen (Tu,Fr), Sun City (Tu), Georgetown (Th), Bastrop (Fr), South Austin (Sat), Round Rock (Sat), and West Lake (Sat). At each of those markets in the coming week we expect to have at least some figs, blackberries, and peas. Pears and tomatoes will be in better supply.
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6/25/1999
We had seven bags of cream peas at the Georgetown Market Thursday and we have 13 bags to be divided amongst the three Saturday markets: Round Rock, West Lake, and South Austin. Also at the Saturday markets will be first of the figs.
Surprises of the week: figs and pears are ripening about one month early.
"Orient" is the highest volume pear this year; it is a moderate quality large pear that softens as it ripens. We will also have some "LeConte" and "Garber" later.
The wet weather continues to do great damage to tomatoes.
One old bean field has been planted to cantaloupe, so we should have melons in September.
Okra is growing well but is still perhaps two weeks away from producing.
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6/17/1999
I'm getting some enquiries about cream peas. Here is the scoop: We will be getting some cream peas soon and I will be selling them for $3.00 per one pound bag, shelled only. When volume improves, in three or four weeks probably, I will offer ten or more bags for $2.25 each, at the farm only. For those with cream pea anxiety, remain calm; we will have a good supply in August through October.
I just took out the green bean plantings; no more green beans this year.
We had a couple of light showers, .2" one time and .25" another. Rather suprisingly, they ruined a lot of tomatoes with cracking and rot. These cool nights (~70 deg lows) that we are now having will give us late tomatoes; they may last into August. Our first tomato planting is about to give out while the next two are beginning to produce.
6/12/1999
Many of the farmers markets are doing suprisingly well, especially including Round Rock, Elgin, Georgetown, and Sun City. For the past week or more, sweet corn has been in good supply in many of the markets. Okra, cantaloupe, and peas are begining to appear.
My green beans are almost gone; we will be having cream peas soon, though they will be in short supply for another month.
6/7/1999
Berry production is past its peak, down to about 12 gallons/day.
We stopped picking asparagus this past week.
Green beans should last another week or so.
Tomatoes will be in good supply for 5 or 6 weeks more.
We will be getting a few Cream Peas within the next couple of weeks; however, good volume is still 5 or 6 weeks away.
Peach production will not be zero! We ate a peach a couple of weeks ago and we have two more ready to eat. :-)
Fig prospects are still very good. They will be begin in July or August.
And prospects for "Orient" European pears are very good. In August or so.
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5/31/1999
Berry production has picked up somewhat; yesterday we got 16 gallons.
Tomatoes are coming in good volume and we are hitting many farmers markets, including Taylor, Sun City, Elgin, Killeen, Georgetown, Smithville, Bastrop, Round Rock, South Austin, and Westlake. At most markets we have tomatoes, blackberries, green beans, and asparagus.
I'm somewhat short of labor and am offering "field run" tomatoes for $20 per bushel (~50lb); these are not cleaned, mixed color, and contain some #2s. #2s are $12 per bushel when available.
Okra is up, but still over a month away from production. Some Cream peas are starting to bloom, but we are over a month away from significant production. We will stop picking asparagus soon and the green beans will last another two to three weeks. Seedless watermelon have been transplanted and should produce in August and September.
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5/23/1999
Berries are still producing slowly; daily picks in the 7 to 8 gallon range. It is nearly certain that we will not be open regular hours for pick-your-own blackberries this year.
We are approaching good volume on both green beans and tomatoes. We are still picking a little asparagus. This week we will try to make farmers markets in Taylor, SunCity, Elgin, Georgetown, RoundRock, SouthAustin, and Westlake. We should have tomatoes, green beans, asparagus and blackberries at all those markets.
I have been discussing with other farmers and farmers market managers, the possibility of getting a domain such as Austin-Farm.org and putting there web pages for all participating Austin area produce/fruit farms and farmers markets. The response has not been overwhelming. Please email me if you have an interest in this.
We are getting caught up on maintenance; weeds are getting slowing beaten back. We caught a couple of good well spaced rains and we have not irrigated in about three weeks.
The fig crop continues to look astonishingly good. We may have an early (berbieda?) crop before the normal August crop.
Squirrels are rapidly ruining the few peaches that we have.
The Asian Pears have finally leafed out, though there is little fruit. "Orient" European pear continues to look promising.
We got a poor stand on the early planted Cream peas, but they have been re-planted; production in late June. One acre of orka has been planted, but has not yet emerged.
Watermelon, for August and September production, will be planted in the coming week.
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5/17/1999
The berries are no better than I expected last posting. Yesterday we picked six gallons. The first Taylor Market (at new downtown location) was hailed/rained out last Monday; we hope for better luck today. Our first tomato pick was Saturday, we got about six tomatoes. I hope to be suppling farmers markets in about a week and grocery stores in about two weeks. Green beans are setting and we should be harvesting in about a week.
I will post here the email that I sent out to established customers with an email address yesterday:
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At this time it appears that this year's blackberry production will be so low that I will not be able to supply the "pick-your-own" segment of demand. I normally try to open for pick-your-own after the daily production reaches 25 gallons, or so. This year, we are currently at 5 gallons and I estimate that we will peak at 10 gallons. In previous years, we have peaked at about 120 gallons. The reason for this sad situation? Read on!
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In retrospect, I see now that my blackberry patches have been declining for several years. In the past at various times, I have attributed the lack of vigor to lack of fertility, lack of water, grasshopper damage, and lack of chill. I am now attributing my problem to the disease Anthracnose. Although it appears that the treatment window for this year has passed, I continue to research the topic. Anthracnose (not the mammal disease Anthrax!) does not affect the fruit directly; it causes lesions on the canes and denies nutrients to the portion of the cane above the lesion. The most obvious effect is that fruiting canes are weak or die before fruit matures. I will attempt to treat the disease later this season and early next season. If treatment fails, I will make new plantings at a new location. If time permits this Winter, I may make a new planting without waiting for treatment to fail. At any rate, next year's prospects are not much better than this year's.
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The only other significant size blackberry producer that I know of in this area is Dan Wolf of McDade. His family is selling pick-your-own berries this year. Their phone is 512 273-2388. I can fit in a few (1 or 2 per day) pick-your-own customers by appointment in mornings only; Saturdays are not possible.
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5/6/1999
The berries are just looking worse and worse! At this point, I'm not sure that we will be able to open for pick-your-own sales this year at all. I just checked with Dan Wolf; he is in poor health, but his family will be selling pick-your-own berries. They are open now and will be open every day during the daylight hours. It sounds like their crop is much better than mine. Check the "friends and competitors" link. Al Lang in Lexington also has some berries.
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4/29/1999
We picked the first blackberries today. Excitement is inappropriate, though; there will be very few in the near term. Amusing, we are picking blackberries while we still have peach, pear, and apple trees that haven't bloomed or leafed.
Also today, we finished picking spinach; we will deliver the last of it Friday or Saturday and have a little at the Westlake Market on Saturday. Also at the Westlake Market, we may have 10 to 20 pints of blackberries.
The Georgetown Market will open next Thursday, 5/6/99, and we expect to be selling asparagus and blackberries there.
We are looking for a slack period until tomatoes start in late May.
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4/23/1999
Well, we did have a frost on Saturday morning, 4/17/99! This is the latest frost that I have seen in this area. I had very little damage; however, people to the north and west had moderate to severe damage. We had only a little damage to some figs and some tomatoes.
At this time, it appears that I may have someone to work retail sales at the barn; we may, therefore, be open every day. Opening date is still not determined.
We are STILL getting a good supply of spinach. It CAN'T last much longer.
Progress continues on getting the tomato crop planted.
4/15/1999
I've been pondering my retail business at the barn. I may not be able to find local people willing or able to work every day; I do plan on being open at least Saturday and one other day, probably Tuesday or Wednesday. Depending on the progress of the berry crop, our opening day will probably be either 5/22 or 5/29. We will be selling only blackberries on a pick-your-own basis, although our other products will be available already harvested. I expect the pick-your-own berry price to remain at $6 for the five quart box with a $.50 credit for bringing one of our boxes and re-filling it.
We are now down to two spinach fields, but they are still producing well. We are seriously planting tomatoes, with one acre going in every two days. Three acres of green beans have been planted, but cut worms are playing havoc with them. One acre of cream peas is in. As I write this, we have a 37 degress low forecast in a day or two. An amusing prospect for a very late frost.
4/9/1999
We are over the hump on spinach after a very productive period since my last post here. Day time temps are now in the 80s and spinach cannot long endure such conditions.
Due to the pressures of spinach harvest, we are behind on everything. We have a large stock of tomato transplants waiting to go out. The berries (and everything else) are very weedy.
Peaches are STILL not blooming or leafing well. It looks like a very poor peach crop, at least here. Some other tree crops look good. Figs are very promising; Orient pears have a heavy crop; persimmons look good. Asian pears are in the same condition as peaches. The first WestLake Farmer's Market was last Saturday and it was well attended. The first Sun City Market was last Tuesday and it was something of a disappointment; we will not go back there until we have berries to sell.
3/18/1999
We are now in the middle of our spinach crop, which is disappointing due to warm and dry weather. The first tomatoes have been in for a week or so. Peaches are generally suffering from lack of chill. Blackberries are straggling into bloom. We had a frost about a week ago which burned back some figs and potatoes; no long term damage though. At this time, I would say that fig prospects are very good.
We have completed the purchase of about 75 acres more. It appears to be to late to get Spring/Summer crops in there, but we should be able to produce significantly more this Winter and next year.
Plans for farmer's markets are firming up. Check that item on the main page. Westlake will be opening first, on April 3rd.
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1/24/1999
One of the things that we do this time of year is check the condition of dormant plants, look for damage and look for signs of breaking dormancy. Figs are showing very little damage, so, at this point, I am predicting a record fig crop in 1999; they will have been three years with out a significant freeze back. (!!) We had some temperatures near 20, but much cold weather and light freezes brought the figs into dormancy before the hard freezes hit.
These balmy days make me want to plant tomatoes! Wife, Jean, threatens divorce. Maybe later, I don't have space right now, anyway.
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1/23/1999
First news post for the new year!
We are producing modest amounts of spinach. Much more spinach to come. Winter projects include turning about 700 peaches that were planted in 1986 into vegetable land. All available vegetable land is currently planted in spinach and I hope to plant about two more acres, before it is too late, on this old peach land.
I am attempting to purchase more land for farm expansion. If the deal goes through, we will add about 75 acres to the farm, with the potential of cultivating as much as 50 more acres. We will probably nibble on this new land, bringing perhaps 5 to 10 acres per year into cultivation.
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