Real food at the Estacada Farmer's Market this Saturday!

Sister Moon Gardens will be back at the Estacada Farmer’s Market this Saturday, June 22nd, from 11 am - 3 pm. The garden is ramping up and we’ll have more goodies on the table to eat! Radishes, Swiss chard, 4 kinds of Kale, Arugula, Spinach, Tat Soi (mild mustard green) and fresh eating Turnips. Cabbages are coming. Lettuce is coming. And, boy, are they looking good!

Come at 11 am to get the best and freshest picks. Bring your own bags or purchase a Sister Moon canvas grocery shopping tote with our cool logo on it for $8. Be kind to the vendors and bring small bills, and lots of them, to purchase your market goodies.

Thanks for supporting your local farmer! Free Farmer Hugs available at the market this week, too!

Sister Moon Not at Market 6.15.19

Wade Creek Antiques is having a fabulous all day Vintage Market tomorrow from 8-5. However, Sister Moon Gardens will not be there. I have a class and meetings all day.

We will be back at the regular Estacada Farmer’s Market next week, June 22, from 11-3. VEGGIES ARE ON THE TABLE! Come early for the best and freshest picks. Bring your own bag or purchase a Sister Moon canvas grocery tote for $8. Be sure to bring small bills to the market as purchasing with big money gets tough on the vendors when making change.

Thanks for your support! And check out our new booth banner! Thank you Whitney Signs, an Estacada business, for a beautiful job on this and the smaller banner on the front of the pop-up. Love it!

Scare Crones and Market Day

Scare Crones have become a Sister Moon tradition, now that we’ve done it 2 years in a row. My mom, Pat Fuller, is the main designer of each ensemble with fabric flow, brightness and gaudiness as the rules. This year we scored at Ross Dress for Less with these fabulous caftans. As you drive Duus Rd., outside of Estacada, you will know you’ve found Sister Moon Gardens when you see these ladies standing proud in the fields.

Look for Sister Moon at the Estacada Farmers Market on Saturday. We’re one of the new kids on the block so our spot has been shifting. I think we’ve landed, though. We have a booth across from the music, one of my favorite things about the market. We’re in front of the chicken house. If you want fresh veggies, come early, as it is supposed to be a sunny day and sooner is better than later when buying food from the market. Our Tin Can Bouquets were a big hit last week and will be back on Saturday.

See you at the Market!

Sister Moon Garden View

Mt. Hood is a beautiful view from my office, the Sister Moon east garden. I’m very excited to be bringing produce to Harmony Baking Company in downtown Estacada as well as the Estacada Farmer’s Market on Saturday’s, 11am-3pm. Good seeing many faces last Saturday. This week we’ll have spinach, kale, radishes, chard and garlic heads as well as more tin can bouquets. Get some starts for your garden, too: tomato, lettuce, flowers and herbs. You can also pick up a sassy and very useful canvas grocery tote or a silky t-shirt with the Sister Moon Gardens logo on them. Thanks for supporting your local farmers!

Market Goodies for June 1st

Looks like I’ll be bringing some REAL FOOD to market this week! Radishes, Kale, Chard and maybe some Spinach. I’ll also have some Tin Can Bouquets made with wild and cultivated flowers and herbs from the garden and the land. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

See you at the Market from 11a-3p.

Sister Moon Market Table Memorial Day Weekend

Well, I remembered to take some pictures this week at Market. That’s because I had a lot of time on my hands. Seems most Estacadians were travelling or camping or BBQing or doing something other than coming to Market. Nonetheless, some hearty souls came, got some lovely starts for their gardens and shared some sweet stories with me. The final hour was a bit soggy with a downpour but I’m an Oregonian! I don’t let a little water out of the sky slow me down much. However, I was very grateful for the fire in the wood stove when I got home to take the chill off. Thank you, Peter!

Sister Moon Gardens will be back at Market this Saturday. Hoping to have some food on the table along with the starts that are looking for a new home. Could it be yours? Keep an eye on this blog and our Facebook page for what’s really going to be on the table Saturday.

Our spinach has made it to Harmony Baking Company! Very excited we’ve started to bring food to the restaurant. You may even see some of the bakery’s yummy goodies on my table at the Market.

See you at the Estacada Farmers Market, 11 a - 3 p!

ESTACADA FARMERS MARKET TOMORROW THE 25TH

SISTER MOON GARDENS is back at the Estacada Farmers Market tomorrow morning from 11 a - 3 p. We’ve got tons of tomato starts and veggie/flower/herb starts to begin that beautiful garden of yours. All have been cared for with organic approved products from seeds to potting mix to plant food.

Our garden is growing well and we hope to bring food to our Market table soon - spinach, kale, chard, parsley, edible flowers, onions, garlic, arugula, tat soi, turnips, lettuce and radishes are all on the near horizon. Be sure to check our website calendar for the specific dates we’ll be at the Market and keep your eye on this blog and our facebook page for weekly updates of our offerings.

See you at the Market!

1ST ESTACADA FARMERS MARKET 2019

We had a beautiful day for the first Estacada Farmers Market of the 2019 season. Lots of bright, shiny faces and fun offerings for the crowd. Our farm had veggie, herb and edible flower starts plus our new “Sister Moon Swag” with t-shirts and canvas grocery totes sporting our very cool logo designed by Estacada’s own Kolieha Bush, my sister-out-law, and famed McMeniman’s artist.

I got so caught up in the day, I totally forgot to take pictures and so did my sweetie, Peter! We’ll have pictures next market which for us will be in two weeks, May 25th. More starts coming and maybe some early veggies. A farmer can hope!

A reminder for those who got starts yesterday… we recycle those pots so bring them on back to the market table once you’ve planted your babies. I’ll use them again. THANKS!

To Market, to Market...

Saturday, May 11th, from 11am-3pm is the first Estacada Farmers Market of the season and Sister Moon Gardens is going to be there! I’ll be bringing plant starts only for now, until that garden I’ve been planting this past week starts producing. Come on by and get fabulous varieties of tomato, kale, chard, broccoli, flowers and even a couple of house plants. More coming in the next few weeks.

See you at the Market!

The Farm Kitchen is Done!

Greetings on this glorious sunny Spring day. I’m happy to announce that the Sister Moon Garden farm kitchen is complete! Well, almost. I still have to fill it with all the utensils and tools of the food preservation trade. Then, it will be time for classes. My goal is to be ready when my first cabbages are mature because sauerkraut is my favorite thing to share with someone who doesn’t know how to make it. If you want to learn when the class is, please sign up with your e-mail address on my website.

I have been planting like a crazy woman this past week. All of the beautiful plant starts in my greenhouse have been crying to get in the ground but until last week, the soil was way too soggy to work. Not now! Spinach, chard, scallions, onions, radishes, cabbages, kale, Asian greens, arugula… soon lettuce, green beans, summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, basil, cilantro and dill. Oh, the list is long and my muscles are feeling it. Its a good hurt, you know what I mean.

Finally! Into the Garden

This Spring has been so wet, it’s kept me from working the soil in the garden to plant. That all changed this week and I’ve been prepping beds every day. This is one of my favorite tools for opening the soil - the U-bar. The soil has rested all winter and gotten dense. This tool brings air back into it and opens it up for better drainage. I’m so happy with the condition of the beds! This tool was going deep, like a hot knife through butter. That compost I put on last year has put new life into this field. Should be a good foundation for another successful planting! The 3rd picture is of my Viola weeds in the onions. I love that my weeds are so beautiful.

New website launches today!

Sister Moon Gardens is moving into the next phase of creation and new website was in order. I like having the blog available for longer sharings of what’s going on at the farm but sometimes its good to have a snapshot of what we’re up to and how you can interface with us.

I’ll be putting the weekly update of what’s available on the market table on our facebook page once the season begins. I’ll also be putting up announcements for upcoming classes on the facebook page as well as e-mailing interested students.

Happy May Day

Greetings on this wonderful May Day 2018.  Tomorrow I get to dig the first garden bed of Sister Moon Gardens!  I am so ready to get my hands in the soil.  There has been much preparation and planning for this moment and the weather is finally cooperating to make the soil workable.

The greenhouse finally got to the point I could put the keikis (baby plants) into it without frying them and now I'm filling it in earnest.  Its a beautiful space to work in.  Way to go, Peter!  He did a great job bringing this custom job to completion.

He's also helping keep the shop remodel moving.  The packing shed will be ready to paint by the end of this week.  Electricity is in, water is in, insulation is in, new windows are in, new garage door is in.  Now the finishing touches.  The kitchen side is still in motion, but that's another phase.

The final amendments went onto the East Field and it got ripped and tilled (that's Peter in the picture on the tractor, ripping).  Tons of lime were applied to the West and South fields and tilled in.  We just got the cover crop in last week - 90% crimson clover, 10% sunflowers to half of the East Field and the West and South fields.  The perfect amount of rain, the perfect sun and we should have a crop sprouting soon.

My Mom and I second-hand shopped for the most bright, billowy, gaudy dresses we could find to adorn our "Scare Crones".  We tend to have crows, geese and other birds that might find the sunflower seeds tasty so we thought we'd be pro-active to keep them at bay.  Plus, a little garden whimsy never hurts.  That's my Mom in the picture with the completed crones.  Which one is she?

All is well.  Thank you to all who have donated to my gofundme campaign.  Every bit counts!  

Happy Planting!

Happy Spring Equinox!

I know the equinox happened yesterday about 0915 our time.  But today is the day I had a little time to update the process.

So much has been happening to shore up the foundation of the farm, but not much planting.  The new greenhouse has yet to be electrified so the temp swings in there are extreme, sometimes 34 degrees to 103 degrees.  I'm not willing to put seedlings in there yet.  However, I am going to start some today inside the house.  Last year I made way too many starts for a home garden so I know I can at least begin a farm appropriate amount until the greenhouse is more usable.

I did the final measuring of the tillable land at my folks place.  I have 1.8 acres to work with over the coming years.  I also found out that I'm responsible for liming and putting in the cover crop of about 1.5 acres of open land that Dan cleared this year of Christmas trees.  So I've been scrambling to get that organized and secured a gentleman to lime it next week.  

I've been in conversation with NRCS and they are working on the conservation plan for the farm after their last site visit a couple weeks ago.  They've also been a great resource to help me decide the cover crop mix and rates to take on this new project.  I'm seeing a field of sunflowers with an under story of buckwheat, field peas and maybe crimson clover.  Should be beautiful.

The remodel continues to go well.  I'll get some pictures and post them soon.  I've been doing research on how to build a walk-in cooler for the greens.  I'll do a complete post outlining the plan once we make it.

I found a great resource for bulk compost in SE Portland, Dean Innovations.  I've purchased 11 yards of "White Lightning" for garden start-up this year.  White Lightning contains worm castings, mycorrhizal fungi, mineral dust, topsoil, fruit and veggie compost, dairy manure compost, mushroom compost, river sand and horticultural pumice.  I was super excited when I did the compost test (a quart jar 1/2 full of water, a handful of compost into the water, shake) and all the material settled to the bottom.  That compost is ready to give back now!  No non-decomposed material floating on the top to become a nutrient robber in the planting bed.  I'll be making my own compost soon enough but this will be helpful now.

Ok, time to head to the greenhouse and FINALLY put some seeds in soil!

Remodel Phase 1

The remodel has begun!  Its nice to have someone else working on a foundational piece so I can be freed up, mostly, to work with the field preparation.  However, for any of you who have done a remodel, you now there are a million little decisions to make in the process.  Most of them I'm making without ever being in a space like this, inside from the elements.  I'm used to all the cleaning and packaging happening almost out in the field on a Hawaiian day year round.  So this design is a very new thing for me.

Good thing I just went to the "Small Farms Conference" down at OSU (Oregon State University) in Corvallis.  There was a session specifically addressing the ergonomic design of the packing shed.  It gave me enough information that now I have even more questions to answer.  It did give me some really cool ideas to follow-up on with the builder.

My gofundme Campaign

I recently sent out a letter to family and friends from the island and abroad introducing them to this website.  I had several comments from folks that they would like to support the project financially.  Therefore, I finished setting up the "gofundme campaign" I had started earlier this month and abandoned.  Its now up and running and anyone wanting to contribute has the ability to do that now.  You can either click the "Donate" button on the Home page or the "gofundme Campaign" choice at the top of this page.  Both take you to the same place.

I put together some incentives for different dollar amounts.  For those that are not local, we'll work out an alternative.  If you donate at the amount that receives a meal made for 2 by me, it might just give me an opportunity to travel!

Above all, thank you in advance to those that donate.  Every little bit gets me closer to setting up what will be the most beautiful garden in Clackamas County and beyond.

The Greenhouse Today!

Oddly, I feel much more relaxed today with 10 inches of snow on the ground outside.  All that beautiful weather last week made me nervous because I am NOT ready for spring.  Close but not quite. 

I have been receiving some beautiful e-mails and phone calls from my friends from the island.  I guess I kind of fell off the map for a bit.  But I'm back, ready to play again.  Thank you for all the good wishes.  They feel good.

Yeah, winter is NOT over.  Repeat, NOT over.

The Greenhouse

The Greenhouse

This last late Fall and Winter, Peter has been building a glass greenhouse at home.  This is a total custom job, requiring excellent math skills and much trial and error.  Most of it was built with lumber that was on the property when he bought it 16 years ago, lumber milled from the triple cedar tree that fell on his marimba shop last year, glass that he had here from replacing windows in the house and glass donated from family and neighbors.  The main thing that had to be purchased was plywood for the north wall, caulking, and screws.  It has been quite the project, consuming his time for many weeks.  Somehow, he stayed joyful and excited every day, steeped with a sense of purpose and accomplishment.

I'm personally gleeful right now because I finally get to work on it.  I'm painting all the wood inside white to reflect the sunlight.  I'll soon be able to set it up the way I need to begin Spring starts. 

The space is 21'x15' and has an almost 3 ft. bed on the long side for winter plantings.  This will be perfect for home use and this first farming season, however, I plan to have a small greenhouse at the farm for future years of starts.  My commute is 11 miles at this time.  I'll make it work.

My new playhouse!

The inside planting bed.  Soon to be filled with soil.

Unique Financing

For those looking to start a farm, you may want to check in with resource agencies that can be helpful in financing your dream.  The idea to start this farm was a spur of the moment flash that has gained momentum and support as it has unfolded.  My personal resources were at almost nothing and my job situation was and is sporadic and seasonal.  So, I went looking for unique ways to bring in some financial resources. 

The Small Business Development Center in Gresham, OR has been very helpful in steering me towards funding sources I didn't know anything about.  Crowd funding, IDA's, microloans, bartering and such have come into my sphere of knowledge.  At this time, since Spring is not completely here and my farming operation is still in it's fetal stage, I'm sifting through this information to see what fits me and my situation. 

I have an aversion to debt so I'm not considering those programs that are loan related.  If I choose to go that route, there are many options for low interest farm loans, especially for new farmers.  When the time comes, if it ever does, I have a great source list for those agencies.

I have, however, endeavored to connect with agencies in Oregon that do business related IDAs (Individual Development Account).  I'm currently working with Mercy Corps in Portland and am hoping to apply for their program within the week.  The website goes through the pre-qualification questions and it seemed to fit me.  There are some courses that are a pre-requisite to applying and I'm fulfilling those now.  By the end of 6 months, I hope to have an extra $3000 in my pocket and some excellent business training in my tool belt.

I've also connected with NRCS (Natural Resource and Conservation Service), a USDA program that works with land stewards to create a conservation plan for the farm and offer reimbursement programs for projects that may already be on my list of things to do.  Looks like I'm a prime candidate for their local "Soil Health" contract and their state-wide "Seasonal High Tunnel" program.  The conservationist that did a site visit with me encouraged me to wait to apply until Fall since I don't have all the infrastructure present to warrant the application now.  And once the farm has been operational for a couple of years, I can apply for their "Conservation Stewardship Program" and get financial reimbursements for my current conservation practices as well as reimbursement for enhancing those practices.  Sounds good to me.

All of this business focus makes me antsy after awhile.  All I want to do is put my hands in the soil and plant some seeds!  And it snowed up here today, predicting 18 degrees in this area tomorrow.  Soon enough.