Rocklands Farm MD

Preparing for Winter

Greg Glenn — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:05:15 +0000

Is it that time already? I sure hope so, because I think everyone here at the farm, including our highly productive fields, need a good, long rest. However, before we pack it up for the year, there’s still plenty to be done and enjoyed at and around the farm. Let me give you a glimpse into what that looks like.

Farm Visits – How can you expect to really improve if all your knowledge of growing food comes from your own experiences? Thankfully, we have plenty of farmer friends in the area who gladly welcome us to visit their farms and see their operations. Also, it affords a great opportunity to see friends and build relationships that, to be honest, you just don’t have time for in the middle of the growing season.

We’ve been able to so far trek out to McCleaf’s Orchard near Gettysburg and see his fantastic fruit and vegetable operation. Corey and his wife Vicky are not only great resources, but great friends as well. One of Corey’s more impressive innovations are his massive grow tunnels over his sweet cherry trees. Why grow tunnels? Because one can lose and entire crop if cherries are ripe and a rain comes. The cherries protect for that and also minimize disease and pest pressure. Pretty cool!

We’ve also been able to visit a lot of other great farms like Query Mill Hill Farm (Potomac, MD), Arcadia Farm (Alexandria, VA), Black Ankle Winery (Mt. Airy, MD), Deep Run PawPaw Orchard (Westminster, MD), Accokeek Foundation Farm, and Red Wiggler Community Farm (Clarksburg, MD).

Protecting your Crops - Yeah it got down to 25 degrees the other night…so what? Now now, I realize that Nature will have the final say as to when our garden finally hibernates for the winter, but we can still utilize a few simple techniques to have fresh produce (sans greenhouse) up through most of December. We do this in a few ways:

Choosing Cold Tolerant Varieties – So I’m not talking about having tomatoes and squash through December, but more of your hearty greens, lettuce, even broccoli and cauliflower. Things like kale and collards are pretty tolerant to cold already and will likely hang around through all the winter, but with some of your other stuff, especially lettuce, it really helps to grow varieties this time of year that can stand up to some frost and maybe even a freeze or two (or three!). Current recommendations for varieties would be Rouge d’Hiver (Red French Heirloom Lettuce), Winter Density (Bibb-Romaine Lettuce), Premium Crop Broccoli, Winterbor Kale, and Snow Crown Cauliflower. Basically, if it has “winter” or “snow” in the name, it’s probably what you’re looking for.
Covering Your Crops – When it starts to frost and freeze, one of the best and cheapest ways to protect your plants is simply to cover them. We use a thin polyester row cover that lets light and moisture in, but keeps frost out. We drape it over hoops to create a mini greenhouse effect in the garden which will not only keep your plants growing longer into the winter, but faster as well (because of the added heat).

Protecting your Soil - Winter can be brutal on a barren soil: erosion, loss of fertility, bugs burrowing in your soil…ICK! We don’t want any of that. As a farm that seeks first and foremost to improve soil vitality and wisely steward the land, we turn to the all-important cover crop to help realize our goals. Cover crops are great. What are they you ask? Well basically a cover crop is typically a grain (oats, barley, rye, wheat, etc) and/or legume (pea, vetch, clover, etc) that is grown not for harvest but incorporation back into the soil. You can grow different types of covers any time of the year, but since the warm months are typically the months you want to be harvesting and selling, covering is more common in the winter. With a strong stand of what appears to look like grass on the soil, winter covers prevent most erosion (as the plants and roots keep all that precious top soil at bay) and can offer a great deal of fertility and organic matter to your soil.

Right now at the farm we are and have been planting mostly winter rye and hairy vetch. The rye will make a nice grain stand and will nurse the leguminous vetch whose nitrogen-fixing properties will give back even more goodness into the soil. This will be ready to be tilled back into the soil in May and just in time for some summer vegetable plantings. We like happy soil here at Rocklands and cover crops certainly help put a smile on our faces.

Shawn

The Old Seneca Artisans Festival

Greg Glenn — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 18:42:14 +0000

On the Farm, Around the Table

Greg Glenn — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:25:39 +0000

Saturday, September 10, 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm – “Fertile Ground: Local Farm Tour and Lunch,” Rocklands Farm, 14525 Montevideo Road, Poolesville, MD 20837. Free round-trip bus transportation available from Bethesda Green. This is the second in a series of programs organized by Bethesda Green and Full Plate Ventures, On the Farm; Around the Table, connecting farmers, food and community in three meals. Reserve your space now.

Pasture-Raised Beef

Greg Glenn — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:18:06 +0000

This just in…Rocklands Farm is now selling its pasture raised beef. Whether you want pasture-raised for health reasons or just want a great tasting steak to share with friends and family, our beef is bursting with flavor, tenderness, and nutrition. Best of all, it’s available at the farm it came from, right down the street from you. Our beef is free-range, pasture-raised, grass fed & finished, humanely raised, fresh-frozen (flash frozen & vacuum sealed) and immediate-local (our term for “it’s sourced so close, you could visit the location in a simple car-ride visit after work and still be home for dinner”…that’s close, that’s local, thats Rocklands farm).

Supplies are limited, so purchase some today. Visit our products page for pricing, availability, online ordering, or purchasing at our farmer’s markets.

Heirloom Tomatoes, Oh My!

Greg Glenn — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:48:09 +0000

Summer produce is in full swing here at Rocklands Farm. Our CSA baskets are bountiful and farmer’s market displays are full and diverse. Find us on:

Thursdays in Potomac at the Potomac Village Farmer’s Market from 2-6:30pm

here at the farm every Saturday from 9-1pm.

Some of our hot items right now:

Heirloom Tomatoes, Miniature “Fairy Tale” Eggplant, Sweet Heirloom Peppers, Berries

Summer Treats

Greg Glenn — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:36:02 +0000

Summer is just beginning and we are offering plenty of delicious treats at the Potomac Village Farmer’s Market every Thursday. Come out and see us!

Cover Cropping

Greg Glenn — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 13:29:05 +0000

Cover Cropping

Shawn talks about the numerous advantages of cover crops and their importance at Rocklands Farm.

The Old Seneca Farmer’s Market

Greg Glenn — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:02:51 +0000

Each and every Saturday through November 19th, Rocklands Farm hosts the Old Seneca Farmer’s Market each Saturday from 10am – 5pm. Set up right in the middle of the farm, visitors can enjoy see all that we do at the farm, including animals, our garden, shopping at the market, and even sitting down for a nice farm lunch. We hope to see you oout!

Companion Planting

Greg Glenn — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:31:14 +0000

One of the many ways we diversify our vegetable garden is through companion planting, a symbiotic relationship between two plants to help both plant vigor and pest resistance. So far this year we’ve seen great results from our companion plants, as seen here with Kale and Sugar Snap Peas. Learn more about how we grow at our Produce page.

Spring is here!

Greg Glenn — Mon, 09 May 2011 15:20:52 +0000

Our unique bouquet of kale flowers are now being harvest among plenty of other spring treats. Come visit us on Thursdays at the Potomac Village Farmer’s Market on the corner of Democracy and Falls Rd. from 2pm – 630pm. See you there!