2012 Meadowlark Money/CSA

• 2012 growing season is well under way. My greenhouse is near completely full with flats and one of my hoophouses will be filled with beautiful healthy starts (lettuce, spinach, peas, cilantro, arugula, mizuna) in the ground hopefully tomorrow so they will be ready first market. I puchased another hoophouse that is near complete and hope to have that filled up soon as well. With two hoophouses now I hope I can have things a little earlier for your enjoyment and mine. I will be at the two Ashland markets again this year from start to finish, as well as Thursday - Medford in a more limited capacity. I will be planting more strawberries and more melons this year. Fruit is good!
• Lastly, and most important, I am doing my Meadowlark Money/CSA thing again this year. Please consider signing up, it is a benifit to both of us. I get money now when I need it most and have it least, and you get a discount on your produce. Here is how it works:

- %10 off from now through April 1.

- %5 off from April 1 - end of season.

It breaks down like this:

With %10 off if you order 50 farmbucks you pay $45.00

100 farmbucks you pay $90.00

250 farmbucks you pay $225.00

* you must order in 50 dollar increments, with a minimum of 50 and max of as much as you think you can eat.

If you would like to sign up you can email me at meadowlarkfamilyfarm@gmail.com and I will send you my address or call me at 541-821-8082. -Thanks -Quinn Barker

2011 CSA/Farmbucks

Hello everyone! The 2011 season is beginning. I have sown a bunch of Alliums( doubling last years) so far and am just about to start on the Brassicas, spinach, cilantro, lettuce and other springtime delights. I want to let you know about Meadowlark Family Farm's 2011 CSA/Farmbucks deal. First of all, you should know that this year we are not partnering with Village Farm or Happy Dirt Farm, it will be exclusively us. Secondly, their will not be any boxes made to be picked, delivered, or sent anywhere, I'm not doing boxes, only Farmbucks. With that said here is how the Farmbuck system will work.

- %10 off from now through April 1.

- %5 off from April 1 - end of season.

It breaks down like this:

With %10 off if you order 50 farmbucks you pay $45.00

100 farmbucks you pay $90.00

250 farmbucks you pay $225.00

* you must order in 50 dollar increments, with a minimum of 50 and max of as much as you think you can eat.

If you would like to sign up you can email me at meadowlarkfamilyfarm@gmail.com and I will send you my address or call me at 541-821-8082. -Thanks -Quinn Barker

Seeding Stress (Stessfilmeupis toinsanitius)

Here it is again, the greenhouse days, the planning, the ordering, the spending of obscene amounnts of money. Savings gone, loans rapidly being depleted, no inflow only outflow. Will everything arrive in time?, Is my tractor going to make it another year? What about my piece of crap truck that I've put way more money into fixing up than what I bought it for? Where is my labor going to come from and and how are they going to perform for me? What about any one of the three pumps that I am reliant on for irrigation? or the three different landowners that I have to deal with that I lease from. These are the days of worry no doubt about it. Once everything is up and running and plants are in the ground and growing and selling begin it starts to level out and the brain can settle into a routine of sorts again. But right now Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

2010 CSA Season

Meadowlark Family Farm in partnership and solidarity with two other Ashland farms - Village Farm and Happy Dirt Veggie Patch - is now accepting members for its 2010 CSA season. We are offering two options; the usual model of a box of produce every week delivered or available for pick-up and also a newer model involving a early purchase of a packet of "farmbucks" exchangable for veggies at participating growers farm stands. The cost of a full share box is $560 and half shares are $360. There is a $5 per box delivery charge. Farmbucks come in bundles of 50 with a - 15% discount through Feb. 2010($42.50 per bundle of 50)

- 10% of through March and April 2010($45.00 for 50)

- %5 off May through remainder of season (47.50 for 50)

*Farmbucks are good only for the 2010 season only.

For more info or to receive a brochoure by mail e-mail Quinnbarker@hotmail.com. Thanks -Quinn of Meadowlark Family Farm.

Ashland Farmer's Market Summer 2009

HOT TIME

Hola, its 95 degrees at 7 P.M. and I am kickin it in the sweet sweet air conditioning after a long hot harvest day. Today we harvested about 12 lbs of Salad mix and more edible flowers than we have ever harvested as we have been selling out the last few markets and getting a lot of positive feedback about how yummy it is. We also harvested about 50 heads of lettuce, which will probably be melted by 10 A.m. but I had to get them out before they bolt. Kale and Chard is still on the menu, and struggling through these hot times. Most of my Kale is going to seed and my chard is under assult always from cucumber beetles and leaf miner. I just planted out more of these things though, so that should help. I have beets and will keep having lots of beets from now till the end of time because they are easy to germinate and grow and sell fabulously. Onions are coming out of my wazoo. Leeks are also plentiful but they might as well be up my wazoo because they aren't selling worth a damn. The taters I'm pulling up are beautiful, I have six different varieties, all different shapes, colors, and flavors. Eggplants are coming on, I have a few for market tomorrow. Tomatos are ripening up. There was one tomato in particular that has been this huge green monster for weeks now, it's constant greenness a has been a particular annoyance. Finally, it turned red today and I was happy. And that is my life.

SPRING!

Its officially spring, although it has felt like it for a couple of weeks now. My overwintered veggies have got new life to them, greening up, perking up, and slowly growing. Peas and radishes, turnips and beets that I seeded a while back on much chillier days are popping up out of the ground. My starts in the greenhouse have been very happy. They seem to be an inch bigger every day. I am planting out a few flats every day and seeding a few more, a cycle I see lasting for quite a while. The first Growers Market was last Tuesday and was a success, I sold completely out of everything I brought, of course I was the only one there with any veggies so the competition wasn't very hard to beat. One last note, and then I got to get to bed, we are now Certified Organic! we just received our Certification document the other day. Goodnight. -Q