Late in the afternoon an armada of at least five large ladder trucks and several smaller trucks from Pepco entered Clagett Farm. Power was restored a couple of hours later. And now that there is electricity to work the pumps, the water is also back. A great relief to everyone at the farm.
Most shareholders know that nasturtium flowers are edible, but fewer are aware that their beautiful lily pad-like leaves (and leave stems) are also edible and have a more powerful peppery taste reminiscent of watercress. Good for adding to a salad or as a garnish.
Yesterday my customary 40 minute drive from Clagett Farm to Dupont Circle became a 95 minute drive. I was caught in a couple of traffic jams and was about 20 minutes late. Several shareholders were waiting and then waited a bit more while I tried to set up as quickly as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience and good humor. I hope no shareholders missed their share because they had to leave before my arrival.
Yes, we are having shares this week. Saturday shareholders got their share one day after the storm and the Tuesday share should be ready on time. Because the farm does not yet have any running water, your veggies will need an extra-good rinsing at home to get all that good dirt out. There should be enough watermelons for all shareholders, but expect the tomato share to be small.
In her comment Pat mentions the first vista as one rounds the corner after entering the farm. Here is another nice view from a different part of the farm. Some of you will recognize it as the background picture of the Clagett Farm website.
<a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- background.jpg"><img alt="clagett -- background.jpg" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- background-thumb.jpg" width="350" height="131" border="0" /></a>
If you want a larger view, click on the picture. The same applies to the pictures below.
As many of you, Clagett Farm is suffering the aftermath of Isabel. Last Wednesday we spent the day battening down the hatches. Most of Thursday was spent on hunkered down mode. On Friday we went back to harvesting. Fortunately, we did not get as much rain as we feared. The farm, though, did lose electricity and water. As of this writing (Sunday night) the farm is still out power and water. We were told that it might last several more days.
A quick note to let you know that from now on our posts will appear from newest to oldest. That is, the newest posts appear at the top, the oldest at the bottom.
Some of our barns.
<a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- barns.jpg"><img alt="clagett -- barns.jpg" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- barns-thumb.jpg" width="350" height="167" border="0" /></a>
Rion and Becca at the Wash Station.
<a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- rion and becka.jpg"><img alt="clagett -- rion and becka.jpg" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- rion and becka-thumb.jpg" width="350" height="234" border="0" /></a>
Matt, Amanda and Megan hard at work. Carrie, our head grower, recommends an ergonomically correct "broom sweeping" motion for hoeing. With those huge weeds, Matt had enough of that.
<a href="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- matt and amanda and megan.jpg"><img alt="clagett -- matt and amanda and megan.jpg" src="http://kolya.typepad.com/clagettfarm/clagett -- matt and amanda and megan-thumb.jpg" width="350" height="274" border="0" /></a>
A quick heads up on our tomatoes. They had a late and slow start (as just about all our crops this year), but then we had several very bountiful weeks. Six pounds of tomatoes is not a small share! Neither is a three pound share. Well, it's mid-September now and those bountiful weeks are over. The tomatoes are still around, but they are slowing down and most of the plants look rather tired. This means, of course, that this week's share of tomatoes will be considerably smaller than last week's.
This is it! With this post Clagett Farm is taking the leap into the world of weblogs. We are newbies at this, so it will take us some time to get the hang of it. We hope that with Clagett Farm Notes you will be able to stay more informed about the farm. If you feel like sending a remark, just click on the comments link right below the post you want to comment on. One more thing: according to weblog convention, the newest post is at the top of the page. We will start following this convention in a couple of days or so, but to avoid any confusion in the beginning we are reversing the order and this first "Launching Off" post is at the top for now.
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