News From the Farm

March 2009

Spring is right around the corner! The work is really picking up around here,3 of the greenhouses are full (
seed starts, carrots, green onions) the last will be planted to Tomatoes early next week, we hope!  Ben is
preparing to seed in some of our smaller fields tomorrow! This month we have been busy seeding flats in the
greenhouse, pruning apple trees, taking soil samples, spreading compost, and doing field –prep work. We
have also in the last week expanded our irrigation pond to 3X the size it was last year! This was a full week
of pond digging. We still have 8 foot piles of dirt to move and level, but at least the water is there when we
need it! We are lucky to have such an abundant amount of water on our farm. In front of our house we have a
creek that is the very beginning of the Kokosing River. We also have springs all over the farm, our drinking
water is actually spring water! With the amount of water we have and the large pond, we are able to irrigate
crops as needed.

I have added a Recipe section to the website www.sippelfamilyfarm.com.  This is just the beginning of this
section, I will be adding to it throughout the year, if you have simple recipes you would like me to add that
will fit into one of the categories, please email me. We aim to begin deliveries the first few weeks of May, as
always, we will continue sending Newsletter updates and will let you know as SOON as we know our actual
starting date, we never know what the weather is going to throw at us in April!!!! Keep your fingers crosses
for a mild April!

February 2009

Spring is creeping up on us, although the weather may not seem like it! This week we are starting tomato
seedlings for the early greenhouse planting! These seeds will be started in the house under lights to give
them a jump start, they will be (hopefully) transplanted into the greenhouse by the first week in April. We
will be busy seeding flats in the greenhouse of spring and early summer crops during the month of March.
Most of March and April are spend in the greenhouse, long hours of dropping one seed at a time into flats
with 128 cells. Over the course of the season we will plat about 3, 000 flats. It is nice though, to spend
some time in the greenhouse while the snow is still on the ground, if it is sunny, the greenhouse can get up
to 70-80 degrees, even in the winter! We have been receiving our seeds form various sources over the past
month or so and always get anxious to begin planting and trying new things. We are hoping to add Sweet
Potatoes this year, this will be a first for us, but we are excited about the possibility of giving out sweet
potatoes to all of you!

Last week during the wind storm, we lost the plastic off of one of our greenhouses. This is never fun to
wake up to. Unfortunately, the greenhouse that lost the plastic was relatively new and the plastic still had
several years of life, it would have been nice for the plastic to come off of the old greenhouse that was
scheduled to be replaced this year, but we all know that’s how it works! So, we will be replacing the
plastic on 2 greenhouses this year…. And so goes the weather in Ohio.

April 2009

Hello Everyone!

Seems the old saying “April Showers bring May flowers” is ringing true! We would like you all to begin
doing some “stop-raining” dances please, because too many April showers make it VERY hard for us to
get into the fields to plant!!!!!!!!!!!! We like Vegetables more than Flowers around here, so bring on some
dry weather.

We have seeded our front fields and the spinach is starting to come up, how exciting!  The greenhouses are
full and the seed starting greenhouse if busting at its seams, as soon as the soil dries a bit we can get those
plants into the ground! Ben picked up our new transplanter yesterday in Pennsylvania. We have 2 types
of transplanters, one that plants into bare soil and one that plants into plastic mulch.  We have had only a
single row bare soil transplanter for the last 6 years. Since we don’t have more land to use for vegetables (
we max out at 30 acres of vegetable appropriate ground) we needed to upgrade to a 2 row transplanter to
make better use of the fields. So, where we once only had one row of broccoli, we can fit 2, it nearly
doubles our production capacity in some areas!!

The cows are slowly but surely moving from hay to grass, they wait eagerly every morning to be moved to
a new pasture for new grass, which seems to be growng slowly with all the rain.  They also look forward
to sunny days where that can lay down in the grass and warm up. They love the sun in the spring!
Nothing funnier looking than a cow laying in the sun like a cat!

We typically begin CSA deliveries sometime in May, we hope by the 2nd week, but as usual, we will keep
you posted for the OFFICIAL start date via email. We will have pork to sell at the first few pick-ups this
year, so if you need more, you don’t have to wait too much longer!


Hope you are all well!  We will be seeing you soon!
Country Living Article, February 2010