Last Week at Snake Hill Farm

(Meant to be posted on Saturday)
This past week has been busy and beautiful. Everyday was sunny and in the 70’s and 80’s while we were working, which allowed us to get a lot done. Tuesday morning we used a monster of a lawnmower to power through a jungle of tough weeds in the blueberry and raspberry beds. After mowing down all of the big stuff in the walkways and beds, we went through the beds themselves and hand picked out the roots of the weeds. A tricky thing about growing blueberries is that they prefer an acidic soil. Because of this, after putting down fresh soil, we then put pine shavings on top for an added acidity. Later that morning, we were surprised to find a cow going into labor! Roger, one of the farm managers, had to help the cow with the birthing, but later that afternoon there was a new baby calf at Snake Hill. One aspect that Savery recognizes needs major improvement is her soil quality. We are improving it by adding organic minerals to the soil. To determine how much of each mineral is needed on the beds, she had a soil analysis done. The analysis told her what minerals the soil was lacking, and how many pounds per acre are needed. What I did for her was to calculate the area of her beds and then to figure out how many pounds she actually needed. I then weighed out the minerals to be spread on the fields.

On Saturday we went with Savery to the Shaker Square Farmer’s Market. Until working with Snake Hill, I had never been to this farmer’s market before. We arrived bright and early at 7 am to help set up the stand. After setting up the tables, signs proclaiming that organic beef was for sale, a Snake Hill Farm Banner, and strategically placing the vegetables and syrup to look the most appealing, we were ready to sell. We were worried that the gloomy morning would keep shoppers away, but this was not the case. It was a busy day on the square. That day at the market we came with a mission to sell more ground beef. To achieve this, we brought a hot plate and a skillet to cook up bite size hamburger samples. When people smelled the aroma of the beef, they flocked to the stand. After trying the organic grass fed beef, most people could not resist it and bought some by the pound. In addition to the ground beef, we were selling many cuts of steak, beef sausages, chives, ramps, and syrup.
(extra long to include two posts in one, sorry)