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What follows are updates about the farm.
Caution: Some useless trivia may
be involved. Click the refresh button
to make sure your are viewing the latest update.
June 5th, 2009
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Spring Ledge Farm
Farmstand Hours
Mon-Fri 9-6
Saturday 9-5:30
Sundays 10-3 |
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Past
issues of the E-Newsletter
Coupons
Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
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Dear
Greg,
A
beekeeper, a landscaper, a Texan and a
water precinct crew stopped by the farm...
That's it. No punch line.
The beekeeper tended to his hives, the
landscaper chose some shrubs, the Texan
helped pick arugula, and the water
precinct crew fixed a broken hydrant.
Another busy day at Spring Ledge Farm.
Bees.
We are fortunate to have two beekeepers
tending their hives here on the farm.
The other day, we watched them install a
few more "supers" on top of the
existing hives of bees. These extra
condos allow more space for a growing
colony and provide a less cumbersome
route for the workaholic worker bees to
access the brood. The extra bees
arrive just in time, as the blueberry
bushes are now buzzing with activity, the
very early strawberry plants we are
growing here in town are in full bloom and
the first planting of squash and zucchini
will soon set flowers. Learn more
about beekeeping
in N.H.
'Joey'
Ptilotus
'Joey' - A new annual plant for 2009.
Native to Australia, 'Joey' offers
beautiful blooms, and the side benefit
of heat and drought tolera nce.
Large, conical spikes of feathery
flowers top thick silver green foliage.
The 3- to 4-inch bottlebrush flower
spikes are glistening silver with a
darker neon pink color near the tips
The plants reach 12-15 inches in height.
We have two crops of these. One is
ready right now, the next crop in a
month.
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First
of the season...
Almost
red tomato found in BT (Big Tomato House).
 We
have a great crop of beautiful tomatoes to
be harvested soon.
Currently, we are harvesting arugula,
radishes, rhubarb, spinach, beet greens,
mesclun mix and micro mix. These
spring vegetables taste great and they are
picked fresh every morning.
This
tomato found in an undisclosed location.
Do not try looking for it, as I think
Tasha put a spell on the whole place...
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 'Miss
Kim'
Lilac
Syringa
patula 'Miss Kim' is a very nice,
compact lilac growing 6-8 feet tall and 5-6
feet wide. It has a delicious
fragrance and blooms about two weeks later
then the common Lilac. It is a great
way for all you lilac lovers to extend your
lilac season.
'Miss Kim'
has very attractive foliage that is
resistant to powdery mildew and leaf spot.
In the fall, the leaves turn a beautiful
purplish-burgundy. 'Miss Kim' flowers from
the ground up so the whole bush will be
covered in lavender blue flowers.
'Miss Kim' was developed by Elwyn M. Meader (more
on Prof. Meader) in 1954 at the
University of New Hampshire. It is
hardy to zone 3, loves full sun and alkaline
soil. Stop by the farmstand today to
see and smell these beauties.
Beth
Manning knows all about shrubs and
perennials, and soon, all about cows.
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Field
Notes:
Mulching.
Once you have planted your vegetable garden
it is a good idea to apply a mulch to the
spaces around the plants. Mulching helps
keep weeds from growing, reduces moisture
loss from the soil, and keeps soil from
splashing onto your plants during rains.
Mulches can be natural, such as grass
clippings, hay or straw,or can be synthetic
such as black plastic or landscape fabric.
Cut Flower garden mulches...2008.
Mulch hay between rows of plastic.
Natural mulches are great because they can
be incorporated into the soil at the end of
the year and add organic matter to the soil.
Natural mulches must be used thickly enough
to block all light so weeds cannot grow. A
few layers of newspaper covered with grass
clippings or hay is an easy, no-cost mulch
for your garden. Plastic mulches work great
at keeping weeds at bay and heating the
soil, but make sure rain water can get
underneath to water your plants.
Here at the farm we are using a new mulch
called BioTelo in addition to standard
plastic mulch. BioTelo is biodegradable,
made out of a corn starch based
material and can be tilled in to the soil at
the end of the year. This reduces our
labor costs of picking it up and keeps
plastic out of the waste system. The
downside is the cost, which is 3 times that
of traditional poly. You can check out the
BioTelo in our cut-flower patch across the
driveway from the farmstand.
More
information from UNH on mulches.
Tasha
Dunning grows the vegetables here at
Spring Ledge Farm.
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Edible
White Mountains
KC Wright, who lives in Elkins with her
husband Barry, launched a new publication
this spring : Edible
White Mountains.
It is a statewide endeavor; an enticing
magazine that "celebrates New
Hampshire's  abundance
of local foods, season by season."
KC is crazy about eating locally and is a
very strong supporter of local farms and
promoting sustainable communities. She
and Barry started Wildberry Bagel Company in
New London back in the '90s. Edible
White Mountains provides a unique
perspective into the way food is grown and
produced here in N.H.
The premier issue just arrived with articles
on The Good Loaf artisan bread, a N.H.
Winery, Walpole Creamery Dairy and an
organic farm in the seacoast region.
And if you're not too tired of reading what
Greg has to say, there's a piece about being
a farmer at Spring Ledge.
KC's vision for Edible
White Mountains -
"This vivid publication
will explore the farmers, food artisans,
and culinary wonders within our
communities that make eating local food an
everyday pleasure. New Hampshire has a
wealth of food stories to tell, and edible
White Mountains plans to tell them
all."
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Animal
News
Polling
for a name...
The as of yet unnamed lamb is growing
well, already grazing with the rest of the
flock and hopping around the fields in the
sunshine. In our last newsletter, we
asked for some suggestions and received
some good ones. With
just a few clicks, you can vote for your
favorite name here.
The ducks seem to be enjoying life by the
pond, away from any dogs. They are
free to roam during the day, but spend
most of their time at the edge of the pond
watching the world go by. We believe
they are a male and a female of the
Mallard persuasion. Time will tell.
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Manure.
Yesterday was manure day here on the farm.
A few of us spent the better part of the
work day hauling manure from an alpaca farm
up to our fields. The manure will be
spread on an acre of land to be "cover
cropped" this season.
A cover crop, for example oats or buckwheat
or hairy vetch, is a non-food crop
grown on land during its fallow period.
All food crops remove nutrients from the
soil. A cover crop helps put the
nutrients back in, and builds the soil by
providing organic matter while reducing
erosion. Some crops, such as hairy
vetch or other legumes (plants in the pea
family), send their roots down 5 feet.
These roots will break up hard pan and
enhance the drainage of fields. Legume
crops also "fix" nitrogen from the
air and into the soil. Click here
for a good explanation of nitrogen fixation
Part of our 7 acre back field produced sweet
corn for 5 years and is now ready to rotate
into a cover crop for 2 years and then into
pumpkins and gourds. With the addition
of manure and fall leaves, the soil tilth
will improve and provide a nice seed bed for
future crops. We strive to feed the
soil, which will in turn feed the plants.
Sudan/Sorgum
cover crop 2008 - Left side & front had
chicken manure...right side had horse
manure. Photo
by Michael Seamans
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Here's to a great growing year in our
gardens! As always, please let me know
of any comments or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg
Berger
Springledge
Farm
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Coupon
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Free Primula!
5" pot size, hardy plants, beautiful blooms.
Click
here to access the coupon so you don't have to print
out the whole newsletter.
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| Offer
good through Friday, June 12th, 2009. No Purchase
Necessary. |
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May 22nd, 2009
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Spring
Ledge Farm
Happy
Memorial Day
Extended
Hours schedule -
Sat
23rd & Sun 24th open at 8am
Open
Memorial Day, Mon. 25th 9-6
Thursday
May 28th open until 8pm
Sat.
30th & Sun. 31st open at 8am
Both Sundays open until 4pm
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Past
issues of the E-Newsletter
Coupons
List
of Vegetable Transplants for 2009
Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
Follow Farm Events on Twitter
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Dear
Greg,
Weather
is always a factor in the
life of a farm. This week we saw
temperatures fluctuate 60 degrees in just
a few days. We spend half our time
closing greenhouse sides and covering
plants outside, half our time opening
greenhouse sides and watering plants
outside and  half
of our time worrying that we did enough to
mitigate any weather damage. (for
some reason, farmers think they have half
again as much time).
The farm is in full swing now as field
crops are planted in their rows and
flowering plants and shrubs prepared for
sale. In the midst of all the Spring
goings on, we've added another lamb to the
zoo, recovered from a dog vs. duck
encounter and rolled a Gnu into the world.
The Gnu preview party is this Sunday and
all the Gnus
go to their respective spots on May 30th.
We
are open seven days a week, including
Memorial Day and we've loaded up the
farmstand with thousands and thousands of
plants from our greenhouses down back.
We will be opening at 8am on Saturday and
Sunday this weekend and next weekend.
We will also be open on Thursday the 28th
until 8pm. Its a great time to
stroll through the display gardens and the
benches of plants.
View
of the Taj Greenhouse "down
back"
Fresh Artisan Bread
Stop by the farmstand on Wednesdays and
Saturdays for The Good Loaf  artisan
bread, baked fresh that morning and
delivered to the farm. Unique
artisan breadsGood Loaf bread is available
around 11am.
On Fridays we carry Red Hen
bakery artisan
bread, also baked fresh that morning and
delivered to the farmstand.
Certified organic baguettes, rolls,
ciabatta, Mad River grain and more.
Check out their website here.
Red Hen bread is available at 9 am.
We are also carrying N.H. McNamara Dairy, Star
Lake Farm beef and pork (raised in
Springfield, NH), Grafton
Village Cheeses (Vt.), and Walpole
Creamery Ice Cream (NH).
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Hostas
One of the great garden foliage plants.
Hostas produce bold texture in the landscape
and will take dry shade. Their large
leaves are a wonderful contrast with Ferns,
Dicentra and other fine-textured shade
plants. Some cultivars form
magnificent specimens. All hostas do
very well in a mass planting. A wicked
rugged and long-lived perennial!
Hundreds of varieties to choose from: blue,
green, gold, and many combinations of
variegated foliage. We have many sizes
available from small 1 quart pots all
the way up to 5 gallon, four year old mature
plants.
Hosta
'Big Daddy'
Hosta 'Francis
Williams'
Hosta 'Sum
& Substance'
For as much Hosta information as possible,
check this link to the American
Hosta Society.
Learn more
about hostas and the basics of starting your
own perennial garden on Thursday, May 28th
here at the farm.
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Frost
Control
Speaking of weather, we were on high alert
earlier this week as the temperatures dipped
down to 28 F overnight. While we
covered what we could of the tender crops at
the farm, we needed to protect the three
acres of strawberries down at Pleasant Lake
Farm. 
The strawberry blossoms can take
temperatures down to around 30 F before
damage occurs. Any lower than that and
the flower dies, which means there is no
berry to follow which means what will we
have with our champagne while watching
Wimbeldon?
In order to keep the temperature of the
strawberry flowers at 32 F, growers put the
water to them. We irrigate the entire
field and allow the water to freeze on the
plants. Remember high school physics?
Neither do I (sorry Mr. Mackenzie).  But
at some point we were taught that as water
freezes, it actually releases a bit of heat
(latent
heat) as it changes state from liquid to
solid. As long as there is ice forming
on the plant, enough latent heat is released
to keep the blossoms at 32 F.
So we checked the temps throughout the night
and at 2 am started the tractor which runs
the pump which sprays the water onto the
fields. By dawn, the ice was about
1/8" thick on the plants. When
the air temperature rose above 32F, we
turned off the water. All that effort
paid off as the strawberry blossoms are
still viable and we estimate berries will be
ready for picking in the third week of June.
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Animal
News
Quackers & Lambs
A new arrival at the farm last Friday.
She is yet to be officially named...any
suggestions? She and mom are doing
well, hopping around outside in the
sunshine. This is the final lamb of
the year (even I know that much).
She joins five other lambs.
The oldest two are over a month old.
The ducks have moved to a new spot on the
farm. Their duck condo is now next
to the  pond
as they acclimate to life in the
"wild". They are learning
to find their own food in the pond.
We do close them into their condo at night
so they aren't taken by foxes or coydogs
or cute little cairn terrier dogs.
Last week we had one of those "life
on the farm" moments. The ducks
were on their walk around the back of the
tomato greenhouse. The two cairn
terriers were on their walk around the
front of the tomato greenhouse.
Dog sees duck.
Dogs take off after ducks.
Dog tries a bite of duck.
Humans intervene.
Will duck make it?
After much TLC, duck is doing very well.
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Field
Notes:
The mad rush is on!
All the tomato greenhouses and cold frames
are now planted with over 2,500 tomatoes,
eggplant, cucumbers, and cut flowers.
Lettuce, chard, parsley, squashes under
covers and seeded crops all made it through
the recent frost. Now the weather forecasts
look great for planting outside; nighttime
temps predicted to be in the 40's and 50's
for the next two weeks. This week we will be
setting out more lettuce, bean transplants,
and many cut flowers. We will still wait a
couple of weeks to plant out peppers,
squashes, cukes and tomatoes as these plants
need warm soil to thrive.
As you are
planting your garden make sure to put your
plants in at the proper spacing. Many times
the plants you buy will actually have more
than one plant growing in the pot. Lettuces
need to be spaced at 12" to attain full
heads, the broccoli family need 18" to
form big heads. Squash, zuchinni and
cucumbers can be planted in hills 2 feet
apart, with 2 to 3 plants per hill.
photo
by
Michael Seamans
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Happy
Memorial Day.
Click for a 2009
calendar of events
at the farm.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg
Berger
Springledge
Farm |
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May 15th, 2009
Spring Ledge Farm
Spring
Open House - Sunday, May 17th 11-3
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Past
issues of the E-Newsletter
List
of Vegetable Transplants for 2009
Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
Follow Farm Events on Twitter
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Dear
Greg,
Please join us
for our
Spring Open House here at the farm
on Sunday, May 17th from 11am-3pm.
Tasha and Greg will provide tours of the
farm starting with the vegetable row crops
in the fields, moving onto the tomato
houses where we grow over a thousand
tomato plants and opening up all the
ornamental plant growing greenhouses
"down back" to show you how we
grow what we grow. If you make it
through the tour, you will receive your
choice of a free tomato plant or flowering
annual for your garden.
View
of Greenhouse #3 "down back"
The Open House is free and refreshments
will be served. Bring your gardening
questions or just stop by for a nice walk
through the farm. The animals will
be out standing in their fields as well (a
few may be sitting, and one or two may be
grazing). We'd love to see you
there.
We've Moved....the
vegetable plants. All our
vegetable transplants for your gardens are
now together in the farmstand greenhouse
(the little greenhouse attached to the
building). You can find tomatoes in
4-packs and pots, hot and sweet peppers,
vine crops and all the other vegetables we
offer as transplants in and around that
house. Here is our vegetable
transplant listing for 2009.
The larger, detached greenhouse holds the
warm season annuals grouped by sun-loving
plants, shade-tolerant plants, accent
plants including silver foliage and
ornamental grasses and loads of hanging
baskets.
'Sun
Gold' tomato photo by Michael
Seamans
Fresh Artisan Bread
Stop by the farmstand on Wednesdays and
Saturdays for The Good  Loaf
artisan bread, baked fresh that
morning and delivered to the farm.
Amazing breads that are delicious and
beautiful at the same time. Yes, its
true, bread can be beautiful. Last
week, Lynda Shortt, artisan bread
baker/owner, brought a few new varieties:
garlic basil and a whole wheat w/ cheddar,
pancheta & chive.
They were still warm when they arrived at
the farm. (n.b. Good Loaf bread
usually arrives around 11:00 am). We
do take special orders for Lynda's bread,
just let us know what you would like.
On Fridays we carry Red Hen
bakeryartisan
bread, also baked fresh that morning and
delivered to the farmstand.
Certified organic baguettes, rolls,
ciabatta, Mad River grain and more.
Check out their website here.
Red Hen bread is available at 9 am.
We are also carrying Vt. Cheeses, N.H.
McNamara Dairy, Star Lake
Farm beef and pork (raised in
Springfield, NH), Our own micro mix salad
greens, our own Asparagus(!) and rhubarb.
Coming soon....more vegetables grown here
on the farm including arugula and
radishes.
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 Perennials
Woodland Garden
The woodland garden at the farmstand
continues through its spring changes.
Each week something new is blooming and the
entire garden provides ideas on what to
plant in a shadier spot. To reach the
garden, walk up through the perennial and
shrub areas next to the farmstand and you'll
run right into the  garden.
Learn
the basics of starting your own perennial
garden on Thursday, May 28th here at the
farm.
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Azaleas
Azaleas
are flowering shrubs, generally upright in
nature, which can be used as a specimen
plant where their spectacular blooms are
highlighted or in a shrub border mixed with
other textures and colors. Azaleas have
great merit and can be extremely valuable in
the naturalizing gardens. Although the
foliage of these shrubs is pleasant, they
are grown mainly for their flowers which
generally bloom in early to mid spring.
They thrive in well drained soil, acidic in
nature, with adequate moisture throughout
the summer. Many different azaleas are
blooming at the farmstand today. Here
are a few of the outstanding varieties... (envelope
please)
'George
Reynolds'
'Jane Abbot'
'Gibraltar'
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Field
Notes:
We've
already had a woodchuck chomping on some
early brassicas, so we know spring is in
full swing. As the fields dry out, we
till them up and create raised beds into
which we plant lettuces, radish and arugula
seeds, spinach, mesclun mix, beets, carrots
and swiss chard. All the other
vegetables (tomatoes, zuchinni, squash,
cukes) are planted into the cold frames,
where they stay protected from frosts, cold
winds and pounding rains. 
Jay,
Jeremiah, Michael and Matt are busy
transplanting strawberry plants and corn
transplants. The strawberries are
planted this year for harvest in 2010.
Each crop of strawberries has about a four
year term. The first year, we plant,
weed, pick off blossoms, weed some more,
cultivate and grow the crop into a healthy
stand. The second year, we harvest the
berries, weed some more and then renovate
the crop to prepare for the third year.
If all goes well, we can stretch out that
particular planting into a fourth year of
growth and picking.
In any given year, we have four
plantings at different stages of their crop
cycle in the same field. This year's
strawberries look very, very good at this
point. We're looking forward to a
tasty and bountiful strawberry season.
Historically, the first berries are
available around June 22nd.
Corn transplants are in the ground. We
grow about an acre of corn transplants.
We start the seeds in trays in the
greenhouse, move them to a cold frame and
then plant them into the fields. This
gives us a jump start on the cold soils and
provides an earlier corn harvest. As
we plant them into the field, we add a slog
of water, Neptune's Harvest fertilizer and
beneficial microbes. Now Jay has moved
on to the other 6 fields of sweet corn we
grow around town.
We do have corn transplants available for
sale again this year at the farmstand.
The variety is 'Early Choice' and they are
in flats of 50 plants.
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Hope to see you to our Spring Open House on
Sunday, May 17th from 11-3. Tours of
our production greenhouses and spring field
crops. Free - Refreshments - Free
plant to all who tour.
Click for
a 2009
calendar of events
at the farm.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg
Berger
Springledge
Farm |
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May 5th, 2009
Spring
Ledge Farm
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Daffodils
- Spring Ledge Farm Perennial Garden
Main Street, New London
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Past
issues of the E-Newsletter
List
of Vegetable Transplants for 2009
Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
Follow Farm Events on Twitter
|
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Dear
Greg,
Wordles:
Here is a "wordle", or word
cloud, of all the text in this Spring
Ledge e-newsletter. A wordle is
generated by counting the words in common
and assigning a larger font size to those
words that occur most often. For
instance, in the wordle below, "Farm"
occurs 18 times in this email.
You can generate your own wordles here.
What does this have to do
with farming? Not too much,
but it does create a new perspective on
our everyday lives.
Farm
News:
The farm is buzzing with activity these
days. We are bringing new plants up
to the farmstand every day including
vegetable plants and herbs. Click here
to see the plant lists on our
website. Hanging baskets
and mixed planters look great for this
coming Mother's Day weekend. We also
have gift certificates available in any
denomination.
This coming Wednesday, May 6th we are
offering a free
20 minute garden consulting here at
the farmstand. Bring your pictures
or drawings, ideas and questions and ask
one of our certified N.H. Landscape
Professionals about your landscape.
Wed. 1pm- 5pm. Sign up by calling
the farm at 526-6253.
A new locally grown product offered at the
farmstand is Star
Lake Farm Scottish Highlander beef
and Star Lake Farm pork. These are
raised on the pastures at beautiful Star
Lake Farm in Springfield, NH. They
are delicious. Try them out as we
are offering 10% off any of these local
meats through May 15th.
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Succulent
Gnu
Meet Brutus
the Wildebeast. aka Gnarley the Gnu.
He is preparing to join the herd for the
summer showcase of Gnus
of Gnu London (click for more info).
Brutus' life is not easy...first he was
framed and then he was stuffed. Now he
is covered in succulents. However, he
does have his own watering system and just
hangs out in the greenhouse watching the
plants grow. (Some
days, I try and get away with doing the same
thing ... to no avail.)
Succulents
are plants that require very little water
and are characterized by fleshy leaves and
stems. Common succulents are
Sempervivums 'Hens and Chicks' and the Jade
houseplant. Sempervivum loosely
translated from botanical latin means
"always alive", and succulent
plants live up to that claim by surviving
under harsh and dry conditions.
Succulents work well in rock gardens and
areas with sandy soils. They also make
great specimen plants for indoor culture.
The farm carries a couple dozen varieties of
succulents, from sedums to echeverias.
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New
England Woodlanders
The New England Woodland Series is a
collection of native plants chosen for their
unique characteristics by our friends at Van
Berkum Nursery in Deerfield, N.H.
These natives are a valuable addition to the
shade garden and naturalizing back yards and
woodlands. The series includes native
ferns, grasses, low growing blueberries and
many spring blooming shade lovers.
Early spring is a great time to enjoy these
native bloomers as many are in full bloom
due to the available sunlight shining
through the open canopy. As spring
turns to summer, the decidious trees leaf
out and cast shade on the woodlanders for
the remainder of the season.
Come in and check out our great
New England Woodland collection.
One plant looking especially beautiful this
week is Dodecatheon
meadia 'Shooting Star'. This
native plant is a beautiful wildflower,
resembling graceful badminton like
"birdies" heading earthward.
The foliage stays low and goes dormant
midsummer. Try this one in open
woodlands or a rock garden.
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Fowl
on the Farm
(I feel like Ol' MacDonald!)
A certain unnamed person at a certain
unnamed local college brought by this pair
of ducks a couple of weeks ago. Seems
farm life may be more fitting than dorm
life.
Luckily for the two quackers, we have a full
staff of caring, nurturing folks here at the
farm and an endless supply of "awww's"
and "ohhhhh's". And there is
even a fully equipped pond on site. By
the end of this week, they will be ready for
their first trip to said pond.
And yes, we have a video
of the ducklings.
We call it
Bug
Patrol in Greenhouse #1.
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Field
Notes:
As Ye Sow....
Early
May is the best time to sow many seeds
directly into your vegetable garden. Cool
weather crops such as lettuce, peas,
radishes, beets, scallions, arugula,
spinach, dill, cilantro, and even carrots
will germinate at this time of year.
It is best to wait a couple of weeks to seed
beans and basil as they are very frost
sensitive. Sow seeds a little thickly
this time of year as all might not come up.
You can thin out the plants later to achieve
the proper spacing. After seeding water the
area right away. This will stimulate
the seeds into action. 
It is
also time to put a few cold hardy plants in
the ground. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower,
lettuces, onions, and some herbs may safely
be put out now. Potatoes, rhubarb,
strawberries, and raspberry plants can also
go in the ground.
We
offer a wide assortment of seeds for your
home garden including organic flowers, herbs
and vegetable seeds. Click
here for a coupon to save 20% on your
seed purchase.
Before
you know it your garden will be green and
growing!
Tasha Dunning grows the vegetable crops
and runs the field crew at Springledge
Farm.
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We have great plants and gardening gifts for
Mother's Day weekend.
We invite you to our Spring Open House on
Sunday, May 17th from 11-3. Tours of
our production greenhouses and spring field
crops. Free - Refreshments - Free
plant to all who tour.
Click for
a 2009
calendar of events
at the farm.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg
Berger
Springledge
Farm |
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April 24th, 2009
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Trout
Lily - Spring Ledge Farm Woodland Garden
Check
it out just past the shrub section at the
farmstand.
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Past
issues of the E-Newsletter
List
of Vegetable Transplants for 2009
Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
Follow Farm Events on Twitter
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Dear
Greg,
 Two
or three more lambs at the
farm.
Two boy lambs were born last
Friday here at the farm.
One named "Good",
the other named
"Friday".
Both are doing quite well.
We will introduce them into
the greater barn area this
weekend.
Emails and blogs may move at
electron speed, but your
trusty farmer is a bit
behind the eight ball.
Since "last
Friday" was actually
April 10th, we've had
another lamb born here on
the farm. Another boy
named "Big Boy",
and he's a whopper.
Already as big as his
cousins who were born a week
ago.
We'll keep updating pictures
on our website on the "lamb
page".
And click here
to see a new video on
"ewe tube".
Get it?
"Ewe" tube!
Jokes like that should be
"baaa"rred .
Seriously, though, don't
fleece me for trying.
Just grazing for some
feedback. I'll
understand if you don't
flock to the barn anytime
soon. Things are
getting a bit "ram"bunctious.
After reading through that,
you deserve a break.
How about a coupon
for plants at the
farm. Buy 4 annuals
packs, get the 5th Free.
Click here to view and print
out the coupon.
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A
small peek into the world of
herbs:
Any plant
that adds flavor or spice to
your meal is an herb.
Herbs are easy to grow inside,
especially with the increased
daylight we experience in
March, April & May.
Start with a small container
that will fit on a windowsill.
Fill this with potting mix and
organic fertilizer. Sow
the seeds according to the
directions on the packets.
Dill, cilantro and basil
germinate quickly and are easy
to grow. Thyme, parsley
and sage take a bit longer to
get going, but will reward
your efforts later on as they
are useful in many kitchen
dishes. Once the danger
of frost has passed, you can
move the plants outside.
Click here
for growing requirements
of common herbs.
Hand painted herb sign at
SLF by Heidi
Herbs add flavor, spice and
color to meals. A common
salad turns into a
flavor-packed serving when you
add chopped dill, basil,
cilantro and just a sprinkle
of chives. Include some
purple basil ('Purple Ruffles'
and 'Osmin Purple' are two of
our favorites) for taste and
color. Nasturtiums offer
spicy green leaves and spicy
edible flowers to a salad or
cold soup. Drying herbs
is a good way to extend the
summer harvest. Harvest
the plants at their peak and
dry in a dark, airy spot.
When fully dried, roll the
plants with a rolling pin and
store in an airtight
container.
Many of the
common kitchen herbs are
native to the Mediterranean
area. Although we don't
usually have the same
conditions here in NH, its
good to keep in mind that the
herbs do best in dry and sunny
conditions (basil, thyme,
rosemary and sage).
Water sparingly, as the
seedlings are prone to damping
off (dying down because of a
Botrytis fungus). If
possible, try to water the
plants without getting the
leaves wet.
Herbs can
be bought already started in
pots. When choosing an
herb plant, be sure to check
for strong, healthy roots,
stocky top growth and a
well-branched plant.
These potted herbs can be
replanted into a container of
your choice.
A little
tough love also makes the
herbs more flavorful.
Don't pamper your herbs; they
won't develop good character.
You need to toughen them up a
bit. For instance,
growing herbs outside after
the danger of frost has passed
creates a stockier plant and a
stronger flavor. The
cool nights make a strong
plant that will withstand the
stresses of summer in N.H.
Use some organic fertilizer
and compost, but beware that
too much fertilizer will grow
a very green and fleshy plant
without as much flavor.
We
have an extensive selection of
herbs in pots and herb seeds
available at the farmstand.
Chocolate mint, orange mint,
spicy oregano, stevia,
lavender and complete herb
gardens in a pot to name a
few.
Place the
potted herbs near your kitchen
door for easy access. As
you pass by every day, you
should take a moment to
"smell the basil" or
dill or cilantro or rosemary
or oregano...
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A
Tree For The Tree Enthusiast
Metasequoia
glyptostroboides
'Dawn Redwood'
Once thought to be extinct, Metasequoias
were
"discovered" in
China in the 1940's.
Seeds were sent to the Arnold
Arboretum at Harvard and by
the 1990's, the trees were
gaining in popularity.
The new growth of the Dawn
Redwood comes out light green
in the spring and in the fall
the foliage is a blaze of rich
golden bronze. Like a
bald cypress, it is one of the
few conifers that loses its
needles in the winter.
It is an erect growing tree
that can grow 3 or more feet
in a year when young and
vigorous. The deep
valleys on the bark reach far
up into the tree making it
very interesting in the winter
when the needles are gone.
Dawn Redwoods respond well to
good soil conditions, an ideal
place for them is at the edge
of a stream, river or pond
where the base of the tree
will remain high and dry, yet
the roots can reach for all
the water they want.
This is a very interesting
tree with many uses and
certainly under-utilized in
the landscape. If you
are looking for something
different and unique then
discover the Dawn Redwood.
Available at the farmstand
today.
Click
for the Wickipedia entry on Metasequoia
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Field
Notes:
Planting Time
April is the time to get going
in your vegetable garden. For
starters, you need to think
about the soil that your
vegetable plants will be
living in. For a tomato
plant to produce a lot of
fruit, it needs an adequate
food supply. We use a
combination of North Country
Organics Pro- Gro and a
commercial fertilizer  blended
to match what soil tests show
we need for nutrients. Manure
was applied last fall, but
compost may be put on the
garden safely in the spring.
Rototill or dig these in and
you are ready to plant!
We have UNH soil test kits at
cost here at the farmstand,
along with Pro-Gro fertilizer,
Vt. Compost compost and many
other organic soil ammendments
(blood meal, greensand, etc.).
Here's a
link to a UNH fact sheet on
fertilizing your garden
organically:
Tasha Dunning grows the
vegetable crops and runs the
field crew at Springledge
Farm.
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Coming soon to the farmstand -
Locally raised meat from Star
Lake Farm in Springfield, N.H.
Delicious.
Now offering local eggs from
our farm, from Warner, NH, and
from Elizabeth's Eggs
(organic) in Newbury and maple
syrup from Spring Ledge
Orchard in Wilmot, NH.
Please e-mail me with any
comments, questions or
suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm
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| Pack
Special |
Buy
4 packs of annuals, get the 5th free!
Click
here to access the coupon so you don't
have to print out the whole newsletter.
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| Offer
Expires: Friday, May 1st |
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Springledge
Farm | 37 Main St. | 603-526-6253 | New London | NH | 03257
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April 8th, 2009
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Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
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Dear
Fellow Grower,
The
Farmstand is Open for the Season!
This seems like a good time to open the
farmstand with Easter plants and Spring
bulbs, pansies, violas and herbs. We
also carry seeds, organic soils, new pots
and information on growing.
This week will test all the true gardeners
and farmers. "April
showers" seems a euphemism with our
current weather pattern. 
Yet true gardeners and farmers are an
optimistic lot. We can't help but
see the completely gray sky and point out
that "the gray on the horizon is a
little brighter". While April
brings rain and cold, we know from
experience about preparing for the sunny,
warm days to come.
Here at the farm we're busy sowing the
seeds for the first crops of vegetables -
both for harvest at the farm and for sale
as transplants to our fellow gardeners.
Swiss Chard, Green Ice Lettuce, Dill,
Arugula, Peppers and Tomatoes are
germinating and growing in our greenhouses
and cold frames.
A few rows of strawberries here at the
farmstand on Main St. have been uncovered
and the larger strawberry field on
Pleasant Lake will be uncovered this week.
Garlic shoots are poking up through the
ground and the crocus are blooming.
Hope to see you soon.
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Lamb
Update
Judging from the response to the last email,
most everyone would rather see cute little
lambs than hear about botanical fun facts.
Not that I'm a wormwoodian (a bitter plant
guy), its just that plants do all the work
and animals just stand around looking cute.
I'm resigned to that fact, so here is an
update on our barn dwellers.
Snowy and Ashes are doing quite well.
I'd say they weigh about twice as much as
when they were born. Both are starting
to hop, as new lambs tend to do without
hesitation. Snowy spent a few days
last week limping and favoring only one of
her hind legs. But over the weekend,
she slowly began using the limp leg and is
now walking on all four.
Thanks to several people who wrote back
suggesting the lamb video should have been
seen on "ewe" tube. How
could I have missed that one!
We'll keep updating pictures on our website
on the "lamb page". Click here
for some more pictures. 
Snowy
Ashes
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Quick
tips for your flower gardens by
Megan Dearden
Have you cut back your flower beds yet?
If you are like me you leave some things up
for winter interest, the birds, and then
those few plants you never get around to
cutting down in the fall. Now is a
great time to cut back those plants which
come up from the ground each year and tidy
up those beds.
I like to wait until the ground dries out a
little bit so I don't compact the soil.
Then I cut back my plants to about 6 inches.
That way I know where the plant is it until
the new growth starts, and I also find it
helps keep my dogs from stepping on them:)
Grasses in particular benefit from an early
cutback. If you wait until the new
growth starts you can't just hack it down
without taking the new tips with it.
Trust me, I've done this. 
This past weekend I made sure to cut back
the grasses. The pictures are of Carex
'Ice Dance', which is almost
evergreen for me. To cut the grass
back I grab the grass by the handful and
cut. I did this to all of my grasses,
both short (which this variety is) and tall.
Now all I have to do is wait and let the new
growth go crazy.
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Field
Notes from Tasha:
The
first Tomatoes are in the Ground.
March
26 was an eventful day for us as we planted
our first tomato house (BT) with over 750
grafted tomato plants. An oil burner, a
propane furnace, and underground hot water
pipes are keeping the plants at a
comfortable 65 degrees. The soil was loaded
up with chicken manure and Pro-Start, an
organic fertilizer made in Vermont. Trickle
irrigation on a timer keeps the plants
watered, and a white plastic floor helps
keep the weeds down and reflects light back
up into the plant, allowing more
photosynthesis to occur.
The plants have really taken off since we
planted them. New roots can be seen
under the soil and we're due for a pruning
this week. We released 100,000
beneficial insects to keep aphids and spider
mites under control. This week we
bring in a hive of bumblebees who will
perform all the pollinating. Check in
at the farmstand in June for the tastiest
tomatoes in town.
Tasha Dunning grows the vegetable crops
and runs the field crew at Springledge
Farm.
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The farmstand opens April 8th. We've
brought in local cheeses, pestos, McNamara
dairy in glass bottles, Walpole Ice Cream
and Vt. pastas and cookie dough.
Our own micro mix is available as are local
eggs from the farm and Warner, NH and maple
syrup from Spring Ledge Orchard in Wilmot,
NH.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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March 27th, 2009
Snowy - 6 hours old (girl)
Ashes - 6 hours old (girl)
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Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
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Dear
Fellow Gardener,
Yesterday
morning it was get the kids off to school,
and I bypassed the barn on the way down to
the greenhouses, knowing that the sheep,
chickens and alpacas could fend for
themselves until noon. I would
feed them on my way back for lunch.
After a busy morning in the greenhouses,
up the driveway I went to feed and water
the animals. The routine
unfolded...feed the alpacas in their
bowls, re-fill the can and open the barn
gate to take the sheep their grain
outside. "C'mon sheep".
Three out of four ewes trotted my way and
went outside. Where is that fourth
sheep?
Off in the corner of the barn, I see her
lying down...with two brand new lambs.
Couldn't have been more than an hour old.
Already up and about, the lambs wobbled a
few feet and plopped back down. Mom,
being a sheep, proceeded to get up and go
outside for her food. Not much
stands between a sheep and her food.
All this is a surprising treat in itself.
But the real trick here is that we weren't
expecting any lambs this spring. A
complete surprise!
Now
before you go emailing me about the facts
of life, I'll say that it was not out of
the realm of possibility that these ewes
were bred, it was just highly unlikely.
We're not expecting any more lambs from
the other three ewes, but, we've been
surprised before.
Thanks for your time,
Greg
Berger
Spring Ledge Farm
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March 20th, 2009
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Springledge Farm
37 Main Street
New London, NH
03257
603-526-6253
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Dear
Fellow Gardener,
Today marks the vernal equinox - equal
amounts of day and night. On the
calendar, it means Spring is here and days
continue to lengthen. For plants it
means increased photosynthesis, warmer
days and more growth. For the rest
of us, it means better moods, more energy
and the promise of gardening for another
season.
Today at the farm started out cloudy, but
it looked like "it was about to be
sunny". That's our new motto
here - "Springledge
Farm, where it's about to be sunny!".
Kind of like "The
flogging will stop when moral
improves".
Each day here at the farm (on average) we
plant another thousand plants, sow another
three or four thousand seeds, fix a dozen
pieces of machinery, structures or
tractors, and water the plants in four
greenhouses. Next week we'll open
two more greenhouses, the week after that
two more and we'll continue in that
pattern until we run out of room under
cover. And then we'll move to the
outdoor growing areas.
Viola 'Sorbet Yellow'
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New
Tomatoes for 2009
We're excited about 'Polbig', a slicing
tomato we tried last year in  the
fields which performed very well and rated
highly in our Tomato
Tasting Trial last September.
The description is as follows:
New! Compact plants perform well in cool
climates. High yields of very good
tasting, meaty, 6-8 oz globe shaped fruit.
Uniform ripening time. Excellent deep red
internal and external color.
'Polbig'
Another one of the 60+ tomato  varieties
we are growing is 'Principe Borghese', an
Italian heirloom that is famous for sun
drying. Small 1-2 oz. grape-shaped fruit are
very dry and have few seeds. They have a
rich tomato taste that is wonderful for
sauces. Determinate vines (bush type plant
habit) yield clusters of fruit in abundance.
Dry these and enjoy the flavor all winter.
'Principe
Borghese'
These two, along with
over 50 more tomato varieties, will be
available for sale as plants this Spring at
the farm.
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Farm
Shares:
Many,
many thanks for the support of the Farm
Shares program. There's still time for
a 5% discount. Buy yourself a Farm
Share with cash or check before April 1st
and receive 5% off.
Think of it
as buying a CSA (Community Supported
Agriculture) share where you decide
what goes in your bag every week; plants,
produce, pots, local dairy and cheeses...you
choose.
Your early purchase
of a Farm Share helps the farm's cash flow
as we buy seeds and supplies for the coming
season and provides you with a 5% return on
your money. 
Gerbera
'Festival Rose'
Click here
for more information and thanks for
supporting local agriculture. |
 Lettuce
'Vulcan'
Field Notes from Tasha:
Time to
Start
Starting your own seeds is a great way to
get the vegetable varieties you want.
Late March is a good time to start seeds for
many vegetable crops. Tomatoes,
peppers, eggplant, onions and leeks can all
be started indoors now to get a good jump on
the season. Faster
growing lettuces, broccoli, and squashes
should
be sown in April and May. Once the seeds
have germinated, the trickiest part of
growing them is providing enough light.
Vegetables need full sun and will stretch
and grow "leggy" if not provided
with sunlight.
We are starting peppers, tomatoes, onions
and chives this week here on the farm.
These will be for transplanting out into the
fields and cold frames in May.
Tasha Dunning grows the vegetable crops
and runs the field crew at Springledge
Farm.
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Our own Micro
Mix is available here in the
greenhouse office. Price is $4.00/bag.
Micro greens are great on salads, sandwiches
and soups. In fact they stay nice and
fresh in soups, adding flavor and
crispiness.
We continue our Egg &
Micros special - One dozen fresh local eggs
(from Warner, NH), and a bag of fresh Micro
Greens for just $6.00. (individually,
1 doz eggs for $3.50, 1 bag micros for
$4.00). 
Stop by the greenhouses anytime and find
both these items in the fridge in the Taj
greenhouse. Turn into the farm, follow
the driveway down and bear right towards the
greenhouses. Look for the largest
greenhouse (the Taj Mahal), and come into
the office via the grey door. The eggs
and greens are in the fridge. Pay on
your honor. Thanks.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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March 6th, 2009
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Dear
Greg,
What came first, the Micro
Mix or the Egg?
Who Cares! Because now you can find
fresh local eggs along with our Micro Mix
in a package deal at the Farm. 1
dozen eggs and 1 bag Micro Mix for $6.00!
Individually, the Micro Mix is $4.00 and
the eggs are $3.50/ doz.
Available in .the greenhouse office - turn
into the farm, follow the driveway down
and bear right towards the greenhouses.
Look for the largest greenhouse (the Taj
Mahal), and come into the office via the
grey door. The eggs and greens are
in the fridge. Pay on your honor.
Thanks.
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Farm
Shares:
Buy a Farm
Share with cash or check during the month of
March and receive 5% off.
Think of it
as buying a CSA (Community Supported
Agriculture) share where you decide
what goes in your bag every week; plants,
produce, pots, local dairy and cheeses...you
choose.
Your early purchase
of a Farm Share helps the farm's cash flow
as we buy seeds and supplies for the coming
season and provides you with a 5% return on
your money.
Click
here for details!
Thanks for
supporting local agriculture.  |
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Please
e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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Feb 20, 2009
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 Dear
Greg,
We sensed the changing day length a few
weeks ago. Starting around Feb. 8th,
the days seemed noticeably longer, the sun
was stronger and the plants in our
greenhouse grew faster. Pansy
seedlings are poking up through the soil,
perennial lupines are expanding their
first true leaves and the Micro Mix fills
out the seeding tray. During a
sunny day, temperatures inside the closed
greenhouse can reach 90F. Of course,
at night, the heaters must kick on to keep
the temps around 60F.
A major installation over the winter in
the greenhouses is a new heat retention
curtain. We're installing it in our
seed starting greenhouse and in our
geranium growing space. 
The curtain slides along horizontally,
opening during the day and closing at
night. Energy savings will be
between 30-40%. This curtain, along
with insulating heat pipes and filling in
greenhouse gaps means we are reducing our
energy consumption while maintaining the
high quality plants you've come to expect
at Springledge Farm.
Heat
retention curtains partly open
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Baptisia
sphaerocarpa 'Screaming Yellow'
New Perennial for 2009
We're excited about this new selection of Baptisia
(false indigo). It is compact
and rounded, with bold deep-green foliage
and yes, screaming yellow flowers.
Large blooms on drought tolerant plants and
they are deer resistant. Look for it
at the farm this Spring. |
Datura
Farm Shares:
Buy yourself
a Farm Share with cash or check during
the month of February and receive 5%
off.
Think of it
as buying a CSA (Community Supported
Agriculture) share where you decide
what goes in your bag every week; plants,
produce, pots, local dairy and cheeses...you
choose.
Your early purchase
of a Farm Share helps the farm's cash flow
as we buy seeds and supplies for the coming
season and provides you with a 5% return on
your money.
Click
here for
more information
Thanks for
supporting local agriculture. |
Field
Notes from Tasha:
Tomato Grafting
Spring Ledge tomatoes.
Yum. We plant the seeds in February,
transplant in March and begin picking out of
our greenhouse in Early June.
Learn how we dice and
splice our tomato plants for early Summer
fruit harvests. Full
story...
Tasha Dunning grows the vegetable crops
and runs the field crew at Springledge
Farm.
She has worked with plants all her life
and here at Springledge since
for...like...ever....
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More
seeds in the soil:
For a list of what we are sowing this week, click
here.
Seed starting is an
amazing process. Given the chance,  most
seeds will start their growth easily.
The trick is providing just the right
conditions to nurture that first root as it
emerges; provide for the first set of leaves
as they unfold. Here at Springledge,
we've learned many tricks over the years.
For instance, the most important factor in
seedling growth is light. With enough
light, anything can happen.
With adequate light, seedlings will grow
to be strong and stocky. The biggest
reason for seedling death on the home
gardener's windowsill is lack of light.
We've all seen the plants stretching for
the light, even after just a day on the
windowsill. This stretching weakens
the stem and as the weight of the new
leaves increases, the seedling falls over
onto the soil. Once that happens,
"damping off" occurs, whereby
disease pathogens attack the seedling.
SLF tomato seedlings in February.
If you're starting seeds indoors,
here are some tips to help combat damping
off.
First, make sure you start your plants on
time. Most gardeners are so jumpy once
the days grow longer that they jump the gun
and start seeds too early. Check the
recommendations on the seed packet.
Count back from the date you want to set
them out in the Spring. Stick to that
schedule.
Second,
provide as much light as possible.
Supplemental grow lights work well, but they
must be lowered just over the seedlings to
be most effective. If you are growing
on the windowsill, be sure to rotate your
pots each day so that the seedling doesn't
do all its leaning in one direction.
This tip coincides with the first tip in
that the longer you wait to start your
seedlings, the more natural daylength is
provided free of charge.
Third, keep the soil surface somewhat dry.
This will reduce disease organisms taking
hold.
Fourth, as your seedlings mature into young
plants, start the hardening off process.
This involves exposing your plants to
somewhat harsher conditions - lower
temperatures, more air movement and
protected outdoor conditions.
(read
on here if you're interested in the
botanically nerdy explanation of plant
stretching).
Phototropism is the directional curvature
of organs in response to changes in light
intensity. The seedling exposed to a
uni-directional light source seems to be
stretching or leaning towards the light.
In reality, the curvature occurs because
the cell growth on the side near the light
is depressed, and the growth on the darker
side is accelerated. This is due to
auxin, a plant hormone. The lateral
distribution of auxin in the plant stem is
affected by light. More light on one
side pushes more auxin to the other side,
resulting in increased cell elongation on
that "dark" side.
Movies
of plant phototropism be sure
to check out the "cool
corn" clip.
movie
credit to Roger P. Hangarter
Indiana
University, Department of Biology
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Our own
Micro
Mix is available here in the
greenhouse office. Price is $4.00/bag.
Micro greens are great on salads, sandwiches
and soups. Give us a call to check on
availability. 526-6253.
Another
fresh-grown item is "Greg
the Grass Man" brand pet grass.
This healthy pet grass for cats, dogs, birds
or any small furry creature can be found at
Unleashed pet supply store here in New
London as well as Dog
Star Canine in Springfield and Lebanon
Pet & Aquarium in Lebanon, NH.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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Dear
Info,
What do farmer's do in the winter?
Where do I start...we
work on fixing all those broken,
patched-up-with-duct-tape-to-get-through-the-summer
pieces of equipment. 
We work on planning for the 2009 season;
combing through dozens of catalogs to
choose new varieties while remembering to
grow the old favorites.
We even have some meetings to discuss last
season and how we hope to improve our
growing and service for the new year.
Of course there is the chicken herding to
contend with.
And as the day length increases, something
inside us prompts us to spend time in our
greenhouse, playing with dirt and starting
seeds. And before we know it, the
snow is gone and the plants are blooming.
Of course some time off in the woods is a
requisite activity. Click for a trail
map of the ski/snowshoe trails behind
the Old Middle School and Springledge
Farm. Thanks to Chad Denning (N.L.
Rec. Dept), John Clough, John Kiernan and
the boy scouts for maintaining the trails.
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 Early
Bird Special:
Buy yourself
a gift certificate with cash or check during
the month of February and receive 5%
off.
Makes a great
gift or use it yourself. Good towards
primulas, peonies, potatoes or any product
we provide.
Your early purchase
of a gift certificate helps the farm's cash
flow as we buy seeds and supplies for the
coming season and provides you with a 5%
return on your money.
Thanks for
supporting local agriculture. |
Sowing
this week:
Crops
we start early in the year include
perennials, pansies and very early tomatoes
for grafting and use in our first tomato  growing
greenhouse.
A
few notable varieties for 2009 that are
already "in the ground" are Penstemom
Electric Blue & Heuchera
'Melting Fire'. A few new
annuals already sown include Pansy 'Fizzy
Lemonberry' and Osteospermum
'Asti Mix'.
Click
here to see pictures and descriptions.
We are looking forward to see these bloom
this spring and summer.
For information and ideas on what to sow
this time of year, check these links to Dr.
Leonard Perry of U.V.M.
Surviving
a long winter indoors
January
sowings
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Field
Notes from Tasha:
People often ask what we are working on in
the middle of winter. Occasionally we take
the day off to ski or sit at home by the
woodstove, but most of the time we are at
the farm. 
Ordering seeds is the most interesting
project right now; mulling over the catalogs
full of colorful pictures of what may come;
thinking about the flavors of summer.
Planning out when and where and how much of
each crop to plant is essential, as spring
always comes on quickly. Ordering supplies,
working on budgets and crew schedules, and
moving snow round out our days.
We do some seeding of early crops now with
the bulk of the sowing in March. Soon the
greenhouses will be filling up with green,
and farmers and gardeners will be ready once
again to do what they love.
Tasha Dunning grows the vegetable crops
and runs the field crew at Springledge
Farm. She has worked with plants all
her life and here at Springledge since
1992.
Pictured above is Tasha cultivating beans
on the 1954 Allis Chalmers 'G' tractor.
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We do manage to grow a few winter crops here
on the farm.
Our own Micro
Mix is available here in the
greenhouse office. Micro greens
are great on salads, sandwiches and soups.
Give us a call to check on availability.
526-6253.
Another
fresh-grown item is "Greg
the Grass Man" brand pet grass.
This healthy pet grass for cats, dogs, birds
or any small furry creature can be found at
Unleashed pet supply store here in New
London as well as Dog
Star Canine in Springfield and Lebanon
Pet & Aquarium in Lebanon, NH.
Please e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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Late-December email newsletter. To sign up, fill in the email box
at the top of this page...
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| Dear
Greg,
Chicken redux.
Although egg production declined
drastically with the short days and cold
temperatures, the ladies are still a
productive crew on the farm. The
picture below shows the results of their
hard work.
Next stop...NT (New Tomato) house where
weed seeds, rotten tomatoes and fresh bugs
await.
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Inventory Sale
Open
Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 29th and Dec. 30th
for an inventory sale.
Everything is
on sale - houseplants, Christmas
decorations, ribbons, etc. 
Both days 10am - 3pm.
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N.H.
Chipped Christmas Trees
After the holidays, bring your tree back to
the farm where it will be recycled into a
mulch used on the blueberry bushes.
Drop the trees off on the pile in the
parking lot at the farmstand. No
brush, wreaths or roping please.
Many
thanks for your support of local agriculture
throughout the year.
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Please
e-mail me with any comments,
questions or suggestions.
Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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Late-November email newsletter. To sign up, fill in the email box
at the top of this page...
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Springledge Farm
Farm
Christmas
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| Dear
Greg,
Welcome to a Farm Christmas.
Springledge has everything you need for a
naturally beautiful Holiday season.
A simple wreath decorated with natural
rose hips, juniper berries and cones will
bring home the Christmas cheer every day
of the season. A poinsettia with
full, bright colors will last into the new
year. A N.H. grown Christmas tree to
fill your room with fragrance and create a
natural focal point for holiday
festivities.
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Poinsettia
Tuesdays
10%
off all poinsettias - Any Tuesday!
We grow our own Poinsettias here beginning
in July. After much pinching and
prodding, these beauties begin to color in
October. Strong stems and roots are
the result of beneficial root microbes and
bio-controls.
Poinsettias are named for Dr. Joel Poinsett,
1st U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, who brought
back samples of the plant to the U.S. to
pass along to friends.
Poinsettias make great houseplants; cleaning
the indoor air of pollutants and releasing
oxygen. Save 10% on all poinsettias
when you purchase on Tuesdays.
Poinsettias
are NOT poisonous! That is just
an urban myth.
Legend
of the Poinsettia, a wonderful
adaptation of poinsettia folklore by our
friend Tomie dePaola can be found at Morgan
Hill Bookstore in New London.
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Tapestry
Wreaths
A Springledge Specialty
Our own Tapestry wreaths are
a beautiful combination of fragrant balsam,
cedar, juniper and white pine. They
are naturally decorative and provide the
perfect gift for friends and family (&
yourself).
We ship
these wreaths around the country to
bring a little bit of NH to others who are
less fortunate (meaning they don't live in
NH!).
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Sincerely,
Greg Berger
Springledge Farm |
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Mid-November email newsletter. To sign up, fill in the email box
at the top of this page...
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November
18th, 2008
Opening
for the Holidays
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Dear
Greg,
The
farmstand will re-open on
Wednesday, Nov. 19th chock
full with Thanksgiving
squashes, pie pumpkins, our
own potatoes, onions and
garlic.
Our
regular hours for the
holidays are Monday -
Saturday 10-6, and Sundays
10-3.
603-526-6253
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What
do farmers do in
November?
Although
the farmstand has
been closed to the
public, we've been
busy inside
cleaning and
storing the summer
products and
setting up for
Thanksgiving and
Christmas.
For Thanksgiving,
natural
decorations work
well to highlight
the true nature of
this holiday.
Gourds and
pumpkins along
with ornamental
corn to decorate
the tables,
squashes grown
locally for soups
and side dishes,
Springledge
potatoes, onions
and garlic for the
root crops on the
menu.
Fresh artisan
bread will be
available from the
Red Hen Bakery
(Mon, Wed, Fri)
and The Good Loaf
bakery
(Saturdays). The
Red Barn Farm will
be baking pies and
Marcia the Cake
Lady will provide
delicious cakes.
All of these can
be custom ordered
for the
Thanksgiving
holiday. Give us a
call for details.
We will again
offer McNamara
Dairy from
Plainfield, NH.
Choices include
cream, half and
half, chocolate
milk, whole, skim
and 1% milk and we
heard they are
just starting to
make their famous
eggnog.
Elswhere
on the farm, the
wreath factory
crew (housed in a
greenhouse) is
creating beautiful
holiday wreaths,
including our
special
"Tapestry"
wreath.
These look great
this year and are
available for
shipping to
friends and
family. A great
treat for those
who cannot make it
up to N.H. for the
holidays. We also
offer N.H. Maple
Syrup for
shipping. The
maple syrup is
from Spring Ledge
Orchards, in
Wilmot, NH - the
namesake of the
farm in New
London.
The wreaths and
syrup can be
ordered online.
Please follow the
link at the bottom
of this article.
The
poinsettias are
growing well in
the Taj Mahal
greenhouse. We've
been caring for
these beauties
since July - our
longest term
greenhouse crop of
the year.
The bracts on the
plants begin
turning color in
early October. We
grow over a dozen
varieties - from
'Enduring Pink' to
'Cortez Burgundy'
and 'Prestige
Red'. This year's
crop is strong and
sturdy, grown
sustainably using
beneficial
microbes and good
bugs to control
diseases and
pests.
The farm equipment
and fields are put
to bed, and straw
is ready to be
spread onto the
strawberry fields.
A few necessary
repairs to
greenhouses and
the farmstand
along with turning
off the outside
water and draining
the lines made for
a busy two weeks
of work in
November.
The great SLF
crews work hard to
grow, create &
maintain high
quality
poinsettias,
wreaths, displays
and all that it
takes to be a
diversified farm
in New Hampshire.
We look forward to
helping you with
all your holiday
decorating needs.
Order
a wreath for
shipping...
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Let us know if you are looking
for something in particular.
Please feel free to forward
this email to anyone you think
may be interested. Thanks.
Please email back if you do
not want these messages sent
anymore. We will happily abide
by your wishes.
Thank
you for shopping locally - See
you soon at the Farmstand,
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Late-October email newsletter. To sign up, fill in the email box
at the top of this page...
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October
28th, 2008
Apple
Pie Results
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Dear
Info,
Thanks
to all the participants in the 12th Annual Apple
Pie Contest held last weekend at the farm.
Forty-Three pies were judged during a fun-filled,
beautiful day on the farm.
Several events proved to be very popular; the
Sorghum grass maze & the Dried Corn and Bean
beading table.
Our
regular hours are Monday - Friday 9-6, Saturdays
9-5:30 and Sundays 10-3.
We will be closed from Nov. 1st - Nov. 18th and
will re-open on Nov. 19th for the Holidays with
our own poinsettias, wreaths, natural decorations
and N.H. Grown Christmas trees.
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The
Legend of Jack O'Lantern
The
story behind the carving...
According
to ancient Celctic folklore, a man named
Jack, known for his drunken stupors, was
really sauced up one All Hallow's Eve.
The Devil, sensing a hot prospect, came
to claim his soul but Jack tricked him
so as to keep his soul intact.
Jack, eager to stay alive, begged the
Devil to let him have just one more
drink before he died. The Devil agreed.
Jack was short of money and asked the
Devil if he wouldn't mind assuming the
shape of a sixpence so Jack could pay
for the drink and after the transaction
the Devil could change back. Seeing how
the Devil is quite gullible in almost
all these folk tales, he agreed to help
Jack and changed himself into a
sixpence. Jack immediately grabbed the
coin and shoved it into his wallet which
just happened to have a cross-shaped
catch on it. The Devil, now imprisoned
in the wallet screamed with rage and
ordered Jack to release him. Jack
agreed, but on the condition that he be
left alone for one full year.
The next All Hallow's Eve as Jack was
heading home when the Devil appeared and
demanded that Jack accompany him. Once
again, Jack, not eager to die,
distracted the Devil by pointing to a
nearby apple tree. Jack convinced the
Devil to pick an apple out of the tree
and offered to hoist the Devil up on his
shoulders to help him pick the apple.
The Devil, fooled once again by Jack,
climbed into the tree and plucked an
apple. Jack took out a knife and carved
a cross into the trunk of the tree.
Trapped once again, the Devil howled to
be released and told Jack he would give
him ten years of peace in exchange for
his release. Jack agreed, but survived
only a few more years. His drinking
caught up with his liver and he passed
away on his own accord.
When he attempted the gates of Heaven,
he was turned away. When he attempted to
gain entry into Hell, the Devil refused
Jack admission (his ego was still
stinging from the tricks Jack played).
However, the Devil handed Jack a glowing
piece of coal to help him find his way
in the darkness of Limbo. Jack put the
piece of glowing coal in a turnip and it
became known as a Jack O'Lantern.
On the marshes and moors of Ireland, the
phosphorescent lights (swamp gas) are
said to be Jack searching for a place to
rest. When the Irish emigrated to
America, pumpkins were more common that
turnips (and easier to carve), so the
pumpkin carving tradition was
established.
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Let us know if you are looking for something in
particular.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you
think may be interested. Thanks.
Please email back if you do not want these messages
sent anymore. We will happily abide by your wishes.
Thank
you for shopping locally,
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Mid-October email newsletter. To sign up, fill in the email box
at the top of this page...
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October
17th, 2008
Fall
Open House
&
12th Annual Apple Pie Contest |
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Dear
Greg,
Please
join us for the Fall Open House here at the farm.
(37 Main Street, New London).
The event is Sunday, October 19th from 11am - 3pm
We will have tractor hay rides, kite flying, a hay
bale maze for kids, popcorn, squash bowling,
ornamental corn beading (make a necklace), gourd
coloring, cider and snacks, animal viewing
(alpacas, sheep, chickens), and of course the 12th
Annual Apple Pie Contest.
Our
regular hours are Monday - Friday 9-6, Saturdays
9-5:30 and Sundays 10-3.
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Apple
Pie Contest
12th
Annual - Sunday, Oct. 19th at 1pm
Enter
the apple pie contest.
Judges will rate your pie on appearance,
filling, crust and overall pie-itude.
All entrants will receive a long-sleeve,
original design, 2008 Apple Pie Contest
tee-shirt, a bag of apples and a
certificate.
The winner receives all of the above
plus a gift certificate plus high
acclaim.
To
enter, print out and fill in an entry
form (click below for a link to an entry
form on our website, or stop in the
farmstand for a copy).
Bring your pie in by Noon on Sunday,
Oct. 19th.
Judging by a panel of your peers.
Past
year's winners, pies & recipes..
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