Barking Cat Farm Availability 17 July 2008

Orders accepted until 5 PM Wednesday for delivery Thursday between 3-5 PM unless other arrangements have been made. We appreciate your business.

Barking Cat Farm Availability 10 July 2008

Yukon gold potatoes are gone for now. There are still onions & red new potatoes from the Akins. Please place your order using the website so that quantities are updated correctly. If you have trouble placing an order, please feel free to call or email Kim directly and she’ll help you work it out. We appreciate your continued support of local growers!

Barking Cat Farm Availability 26 June 2008

Hot weather is taking its toll on the plants and the farmers. Good news is that this is perfect weather for purple hull peas and okra – so watch for them being available soon. Meanwhile, we have onions, potatoes and a few herbs available.

Please see our website for what is available this week at: barkingcatfarm.locallygrown.net

Orders accepted until 8 AM Thursday 26 June 08. We appreciate your support of local agriculture.

Barking Cat Farm Availability June 19: Market Re-opens

We’re seeing a seasonal increase in vegetable and herb production. Barking Cat Farm Herbs are starting to put on more growth. However, we are staying conservative in our availability so we don’t short orders.

Akin Farm has many pounds of fresh onions and potatoes available. These will not be available all summer as none of us currently have facilities to store them.

If you are interested in local honey, please pre-order this week. The BeeCharmer does not bottle honey in advance to prevent crystallization. 5 lb bottles will be $20.30. 1 Gallon of honey will be $41.20.

All prices include website fees and delivery. Because we’re sending this availability update out late, we’re accepting orders until Thursday at 8 AM. Orders will be delivered Thursday afternoon unless other arrangements have been made.

We really appreciate your support of local growers!

Closed This Week

Produce volume continues to be low, so we are once again closed for restaurant sales this week.

Closed This Week

Volume is still low on all three farms because winter crops are growing slowly. Consequently, we are closed again this week for restaurant sales.

Planted last week: cress, ‘Chioggia’ (candy stripe) beets, ‘Winterbor’ kale. We will forecast crop harvest after germination occurs. Chard was cut back hard to combat heavy caterpillar invasion. Re-growth will be slow in the cooler weather. More greens to be planted weekly.

A killing frost has not occurred yet at the Barking Cat Farm nursery, so sweet peppers are still alive. We may have some available next week for sale.

With the odd Fall weather we have had, we expect crop volume to continue to be erratic. We will continue to do the best we can, and we greatly appreciate your patience and support.

Closed This Week & Next

Due to continued low volume on all three farms, we are closed this week for wholesale sales. We will also be closed next week for the holiday.

We wish you & yours a Happy Thanksgiving. We’re thankful for your continued support of local, sustainable agriculture.

Kim Martin & Laurie Bostic Barking Cat Farm

Season ending for warm weather vegetables

Our offerings are slim as we shift into the winter season. Consequently, our minimum order for delivery is $20 for this week.

We’ve pulled all the chile pepper plants in preparation for winter. We’ve also pulled all Genovese & Purple Ruffles Basil a week early as well to make room for winter greens. We do still have the blue basil.

The lack of rain in October has affected the shell beans we expected in November. There are some ready, but they are sparse and difficult to pick. Okra has slowed down considerably and is no longer available in quantity.

Direct seeded lettuce mix is growing slowly and has not progressed to the true leave stage even yet. Chard and other greens continue to grow. We hope to start having greens available by December in quantity.

Last Call for Chile Peppers

This will be the last week that chile peppers will be available until next Spring. We’re pulling the plants late this week in advance of the first frost to make room for winter vegetables.

Sweet peppers are continuing to produce well with the cooler weather. We will leave the sweet peppers in until they are frost killed.

The first round of direct seeded lettuce mix has germinated. We are trialing growing lettuce mixes this way and are not sure yet of the yield or quality. We’ll keep you posted.

‘Red Rib’ Italian dandelion greens were planted last week in restaurant quantities. Look for them to mature in mid to late December.

Get Peppers While They Last

Sweet peppers are doing well. These peppers will only be available until the first frost. And that usually comes in mid November in this part of Texas. Okra will begin to slow down as the weather cools. Purple & Sweet Genovese Basil will end when we hit the first low below 45 degrees. We’re not sure how the African Blue Basil will respond to the cooler temperatures. It is supposed to be more cold hardy and perennial.

Planting later this week: lettuce mixes, cresses, asian greens, other miscellaneous greens, radishes, & salad turnips.