With a little more than a month away for the official opening day of Crossroads Farm, a group of enthusiastic previous volunteers braved an early spring snowstorm by attending a volunteer open house on Saturday March 21, 2015. The group was introduced to the staff that will take the lead for what promises to be an exciting new season. Judi Consigli and myself are co –coordinators of volunteers and presented some new additions to the volunteer program which are crucial to the functioning of the farm on many levels. A key point is that we intend to act as the “go to” people looking out for volunteers to have the best experience. An example is being able to start volunteering work at early hour
There's a lot going on at the farm right now in preparation for the growing season and its official opening . We need help with the following tasks as soon as possible: Turning the soil in the Winter Hoop House to prepare for planting the organic tomato starts. Click here to sign up. Additionally we're looking for someone with a creative flair to paint signs to be displayed on the Ocean Ave. side of the farm. Other tasks that need to be performed over the next couple of weeks: Paint the store's double front door Quonset hut clean-up Reparation of the Quonset hut's roof Retail Hoop House clean-up Some additional back barn organization Please sign up below and help us get the farm looking it
CSA: Community Supported Agriculture Farms have a tough time at the beginning of the season when our expenses are high (we puchase seed, hire help, make repairs, and get ready to grow) and our income is low. CSAs are one mechanism farms use to raise money early in the season. The concept is simple: folks in the community purchase "shares" in the farm output in advance and then receive farm product when it becomes available later on. Crossroads is no exception. Each year we are faced with signficiant farm start up costs before our store is open. However, out CSA is slightly non-traditional and actually offers more flexibility than the traditional CSA model in which participants purchase
Opening day is just around the corner. We need your help to get the store spruced up, stocked, and ready for the new season. You’ll also get to see all the new natural and organic products we’ll be selling this year and talk with our Farm Stand Coordinator Danielle Phair. Please join us on one or more of the following days so we can be ready for the crowds: Friday, March 27th from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon Saturday, April 4th from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon Friday, April 24th from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon Saturday, April 25th from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon Click here to sign up. Please remember that we always appreciate the help you provide and the time you spend here at the farm. Thank you, Judi
We are moving on to the next stage in planning our fruit tree grove with biodynamic orchardist, Joe Haley. The orchard will be about 45 by 55 feet with four semi-dwarf apple trees running the long way on each side with a row of s pear trees running up the center. All varieties will be cedar apple rust resistant. We do expect to have some issues with near-by cedar trees but their proximity is a fact of life in suburban Nassau County so we are simply selecting varieties best suited to ward off this blight. Planting will occur early in April, just when the ground can be worked and danger of hard frost has passed. Here is an interesting fact about starting new apple trees. New plantings canno
Manny and Stephanie working in the green house. Manny is testing a mixture of 50% compost and 50% peat moss.
Please join us this Saturday, March 21st at 12:00 PM to assist in the completion of the new hoop house. Hoop houses help us start our growing season earlier and then extend it later into the fall and winter. Right now, Stephanie, the farm’s Greenhouse Manager has organic tomato plants that are ready to be moved into the hoop house. Who wouldn’t look forward to tasting some delicious juicy organic tomatoes earlier in the season? Help us make this happen. Whether you can spend an hour or the better part of the day, we are grateful for the help. Please sign up today. Thank you, Judi
Spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s party!” - Robin Williams After this long cold winter you won’t get any push back from me. The sun feels a little warmer, the buds on the trees are emerging and the flowers are starting to break through the ground. It certainly won’t be long until I’m elbow deep in soil at the farm. Although I still look forward to working side by side in the fields with other volunteers and staff, I’ve also taken on a new role this year as Volunteer Co- Coordinator. Lee Jacob and I are working together in this function in hopes of making the volunteer experience a more engaging and fulfilling one. So that being said . . . “Let’s Party!” : ) Please join me at th
The Crossroads Farm Stand will be open selling Easter flowers as follows: - Friday, April 3rd from 12 to 6 - Saturday, April 4th from 9 to 6 - Sunday, April 5th from 9 ro 2 Stop by, pick up Easter flowers to celebrate the season, and in so doing support your local community farm! We will have lovely fresh pott flowers: Tulips Hydrangea Daffodils Hyacinth Easter lilies African violets Pansies Bouquets of cut flowers
Growing is happening. We have 350 tomato seedlings underway in our greenhouse. These will be planted in our new 84 foot four-season hoop house in 4 or 5 weeks for an early crop. The next wave will be outside transplants. Cauliflower will get seeded this week. We have a field plan with over 50 crop varieties. Dare I say it? Spring has sprung.
Joe Haley came to visit us at the farm today. Joe is an organic, biodynamic orchardist. He maintains trees upstate at his Swallow Tale Farm, but has recently taken up residence in Malverne, and wants to help us plant an orchard! Joe has been growing organic apples and pears for many years and has learned the hard way how to get good yields. Joe is offering to donate a small orchard to Crossroads, perhaps 12 trees, a mixture of apple, pear, and asian pear. We will most likely opt for the semi-dwarf varieties. So look for a new orchard at the farm. We will start it from graft starts and won't see fruit for several years, but what an exciting new dimension to add to our growing profile. O
