Tomatoes in the Ground!

May 26, 2015
Last week was way colder than anybody wanted, including our tomato plants.  Despite being covered by the greenhouse, we discovered black basil and frost-damaged tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants Tuesday morning.  Yikes!  Aside from the damaged leaves and a little more stress, I expect these plants to do fine.   
It was a great relief this Memorial Day weekend when we got these plants in the ground with no more frost in sight.  The planting crew (yes, the kids did help) dove in Saturday evening and all day Sunday to put in nearly 3,000 tomato plants and about 600 pepper plants.  Let the summer growing season begin – Game on. 
Lida Farm planting crew with Holland Transplanter (Sylvia, Willem, Argo, Maree, and Ryan)

Sign up for CSA by March 15 and receive 2014 price

February 4, 2015

Now’s the time of year when we all look toward spring.  We’re putting winter behind us and dream of warmth, sunshine, and summer harvests.  I’ve found that this is also the time of year when people start thinking about signing up for CSA shares.

2015 will mark our 10th season operating a CSA and I think we have a long list of reasons why to choose Lida Farm for 2015: 
  • Certified Organic: Last year we certified to assure folks that we’re “doing it right.”  We invest in building soil to produce healthy crops without chemicals and GMOs, 
  • Clean Energy : We power our farm with carbon-free wind and solar power.  Our Ventera wind turbine provides a majority of the farm’s electrical needs and we recently installed solar thermal panels to heat our winter greenhouse. 
  • Small-scale Family Farm:  We’re pretty much the opposite of big ag.  All produce which you receive is grown, cultivated, washed, and packed by Ryan and Maree Pesch with some assistance from our friend and apprentice Kelsey Wulf.  Our three children make up the rest of the workforce, but their contributions are hit and miss. We’re hoping for 50 shares in 2015.
  • Delivered Shares: One feature many of our members enjoy is that their CSA box simply shows up on their doorstep.  We deliver every Friday directly to home or businesses in Pelican Rapids, Detroit Lakes, Vergas, Cormorant, and many lakes in between.  We have limited shares delivered to a dropsite in Fergus Falls on Tuesdays.  
  • On-farm Experiences: The fall harvest party may be reason enough to join.  We also invite members to pick peas, beans, tomatoes, and a jack-o-lantern.  
We offer two kinds of CSA shares: a full/family share where you receive a 3/4 bushel box of what’s in season every week for 16 weeks and an every-other-week share (8 deliveries over 16 weeks).  We also expect to do fall storage shares and some winter shares with details forthcoming. 
Full share (3/4 bushel box each week for 16 weeks):
  • Pick up at farm – $435 (receive 2014 price if sign up by March 15)
  • Delivered – $485 (receive 2014 price if sign up by March 15)
Every-other-week share (3/4 bushel box every other week): 
  • Pick up at farm – $235 (receive 2014 price if sign up by March 15)
  • Delivered – $265 (receive 2014 price if sign up by March 15)
*You will receive a 20% discount if using SNAP benefits to have your assistance go further.  

Sign up: Fill out this order form.  To confirm that you are in our delivery area or whether we have shares still available (especially if you’re reading this in May or later), please contact Ryan or Maree at 218-342-2619 or lidafarmer@gmail.com.  

Happy New Years from Lida Farm

January 3, 2015

I hope 2015 finds you and your family in good health and spirits.  At Lida Farm, we’re both tired from 2014 and expectant for the year to come.

The big chore and accomplishment in 2014 was the construction of our deep winter greenhouse.  We are nearly 90% complete as of the New Years.  We just attached the two solar thermal panels on January 2, but still need to hook them up.  There is also a ceiling I need to install inside the greenhouse to put a barrier between the humid air in the greenhouse and the cold steel roof.  Right now terrible weather is holding us back, but we expect to get the solar panels running in the next couple of weeks.

We’ll need to do some terracing on this steep hill and bury some tiling, but these tasks obviously wait til spring.

I also planted our first seeds in the greenhouse Christmas morning – unbelievable, Christmas morning!  Things are germinating well and the temperature is fluctuating between 32 and 80 degrees, even in the coldest weather.  Today we are zero degrees, with an overcast sky and 40 mph wind gusts; the temperature is sitting near 50 degrees and the propane heater is not kicking in at all.

We look forward to the first greens harvest toward the end of January and all the off-season growing we can muster between now and May.  I am especially excited to grow our own onion starts by seed this year and get those tomato and pepper plants started super early for high tunnel production, not to mention baby arugula in February (I’m getting tired of greens from California going bad in our fridge).

Thank You for a Great Season

October 21, 2014

We delivered our last CSA box on October 10 and we’d like to thank all members for joining us for the season.  Like all seasons, there are ups and down, but, overall, I think it was a great year.  We hit a lot of milestones on the farm such as getting certified organic, becoming authorized to accept EBT, and building our deep winter greenhouse.  We also hit our largest number of CSA members ever in 2014, delivering 40 boxes week in and week out.  All told, I’m pretty tired with a number of fall chores yet to tackle.  I wish everybody a restful winter and hope to hear from you in the spring.

It got cold out!

October 3, 2014

Wow, what a difference a day makes.  We spent yesterday planting garlic and harvesting for the box in the 60’s with full sun.  This morning, I had to plunge my hands into water at a temperature most commonly found off the shores of Antarctica.

Late Night Washing Vegetables

Every so often I was able to stop shuddering today, and, looking around, found some beautiful sights.  The colors on the trees right now are incredible and it’s wonderful to see how even the weeds and grasses I curse all summer color with autumn hues.  The birds on the farm are taking turns bolting upwards in the strong winds, and, I also appreciate seeing our wind turbine spinning away – we’re really making a lot of power today!

As we edge into fall, we’re turning our attention ever more to finishing our winter greenhouse.  Right now we have a lot of rafter up, which is great because we feel like we’re making real progress.  For a long time, the whole project was just a big pit in the ground with some rocks in the bottom, but it’s starting to take shape.  Next we’re shoveling in a one-foot layer of sand for the radiant floor tubing.