Green Market Harvest Dinner Part 2

This was the second series of the Green Market Harvest Dinner in Cos Cob at the Historical Society. Our local organic produce was used in the dinner as well as decoration!

Live Green Ct

Packed and ready for market!

Live entertainment!

Robert Ballard, discoverer of Titanic!

Tesla electric car!

Setting up for Live Green Ct in Norwalk Ct. Delighted to be part of event! Speaker was Robert Ballard, who discovered the Titanic. So inspirational to listen to. Makes me want to search for buried ships during my off season!

GE Harvest Festival

Setting up for GE Harvest Festival in Stamford, CT. We were excited to be part of their health smart kickoff! Lots of events, rock climbing wall, kids activities, grilled foods!

Greenwich Times Front Page

Green Living & Organic Eating really catching on!

Green Market Dinner with Michele Nicheon

This was a wonderful event at the Bush Holley House in Greenwich Ct. Along with Michele Nicheon of The Dressing Room restaurant in Westport Ct we participated by providing our local and organic produce for the dinner held in the historical societies antique barn. A night to remember!

Cheese Making

So we have this beautiful old stone milkhouse on our farm built with fieldstones. We would milk our cows in the barn and store the milk in the milkhouse where it was cool. i thought I would learn the art of cheesemaking since we have the facility here to do that sort of thing.So my friend Michelle and I went to MA to take a cheesemaking class...YUCK cheesemaking is really gross. Basically you curdle the milk with bacteria and separtate the curds and whey. Doesn't look pretty but sure does taste good!

Farm House

Our farm house built around 1915.

Cold Frame

Many people ask "What is a Cold Frame?" Cold frame farming is similiar to a greenhouse. But unlike just using a greenhouse for starting saplings in containers, with a coldframe you plant directly into the ground as soon as you can work the soil. The sides of a coldframe typically roll completely up and both ends open. The benefits of coldframe farming are you can extend your season by planting early and harvesting later into the season. You can grow items that typically might not grow in the region because you have more control of the elements. Your plants are protected during harsh weather and animals. Your vegetables have more of a field taste because they are planted into the soil rather than containers. Our coldframe is almost 3,000 square feet and we have many veggies growing right now!

Hay Season

About 2-3 times a year we cut and bale our hay. These memories go back to the mid 1970's for me. Every year my cousins and I would sit on top of the stacked bales as they were pulled into the barn!

An Organic Collection

Around the farm!

Heirloom Tomatoes

It has been forever since i have last posted! I must be the worst blogger ever! It has been sooooo busy on the farm and I havent had a minute to sit down literally! It has been constant watering, harvesting, going to markets...lots of work! I did manage to snap a few pictures along the way. The first is a collection of our organic heirloom tomatoes! My favorite is the Mortgage Lifter...besides being wonderfully delicious and pink and juicy, it comes with a great story. In the 1930's a guy was out on his luck financially. He developed a tomoto seed variety and was able to raise $6,000 to pay off his mortgage...thus the name Mortgage Lifter!

This is Me!

Greetings!
I am Kimberly (aka your organic farmer). Basically three years ago I sold my business & house and made the commitment to move back to my family farm to become an organic farmer. I am an artist by trade and spent many years working as a designer. In my past work experience I also owned and operated an Aveda Day Spa, Lilly Pulizer & Lacoste Clothing Boutique and Yoga Center in Southbury Ct. Who would of thunk that I would do a full circle and come back to my roots...literally!

Well let me tell you about farming...It's not easy and it is ALOT of work! I really have no idea what I am doing and wish I paid more attention to my grandparents when I was a child. I can remember planting, hiding and eating strawberries in the patch when I was suppose to be picking them, and waking up at 3:30am to milk cows on my grandmas lap. As far as how, when, where, what to do...I am basically going by information on the back of seed packets and information online. It amazes me what a seed actually is...its like you think its going to be this high-tech procedure, and when you open the seed packet, for example to plant peas...you plant a pea! It's like magic!

I am 100% organic on the farm...basically because I am a true believer in the organic movement, and honestly I wouldnt know what to use to keep the bugs and animals out anyways. Someone recently told me that I am a step beyond organic...I am a Naturalist Farmer...Who knew??? We don't use anything besides Water & Sunshine to grow our produce here on the farm. Since we have been farming for almost 100 years my dad told me where things grow best on our farm...so thats the strategy. So far so good.

So come along for the ride as I try to restore our family farm! 40 acres on a hill, an old stone milkhouse, a historic barn and even an old outhouse. It's going to be quite the adventure...so stay tuned and keep it growing!

Kimberly

Great Grandma & Grandpa

These photos are around 1925, my grandma Mary is the baby in the photo! My great grandpa is standing in from of the hay barn which still exists today. Look at the arms on my great grandma! Seriously....those are some huge arms from lifting hay and farming! I have to admit that between the Russian/Polish descent and now that I am doing farm work everyday, I am a little nervous that the apple doesnt fall far from the tree...