WWOOF Island.

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At the tailgate market.

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Gladys the resident mouser.

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When WWOOFers get bored.

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Hanging out in the kitchen.

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Waiting for tomatoes to ripen.

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Buttercups.

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The pool makes farming better.

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My grandmother's irises that now live in the circle garden.

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Looking up the hill from WWOOF island.

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The new chicken coop.

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A new path to WWOOF island.

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The dome and BPM bridge to WWOOF island.

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Inside of the outdoor shower, about 5x5 ft.

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Getting a new roof on the warehouse.

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Sculptures and kayak in the back yard.

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Another path through the wildflower jungle.

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Having fun digging garden beds in rocky soil.

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The concrete "pad" before.

And after a little work:

The "pad" with new raised beds and lots of vegetable starts.

And a whole lot more work:

Finished with the bamboo trellis.

And with some furniture and vines, the “pad” becomes a “patio”:

A great place to have dinner.

After a little work, this has become one of the favorite places on the farm!

-greenhouse construction (feb/march)

-plowing and amending the new church garden (feb/march)

-building more edible mushroom growing facilities (ongoing)

-inoculating more mushroom logs (march)

-planting lots of perennial flowers (ongoing)

-developing better compost systems/piles (ongoing)

-rainwater catchment (feb/march)

-trail construction and maintenance (ongoing)

-ornamental flower and herb gardens (spring/fall)

-bog and stream gardens (ongoing)

-building a composting toilet (soon)

-cobb pizza oven (summer)

-solar dehydrator (summer)

-more french drains (ongoing)

-improvements to outdoor kitchen (spring)

-treehouse building (summer/fall)

-expansion of chicken coop (summer)

-wood fired hot tub (summer)

And, anything else that strikes our fancy or that we didn’t get to last year!

Fortunately, we got a lot of things on our 2010 project agenda done, the biggest accomplishments being construction of the outdoor kitchen and shower, making the backyard of the warehouse into garden beds, and building lots of paths and bridges. We inoculated about 150 shiitake logs, built another chicken coop, grew lots of plants, made a new compost bin, set up a trellis system for the hops, built a grey water system for the outdoor shower and sink, cleared most of WWOOF island and set up the dome, started growing oyster mushrooms indoors, amended lots soil, and acquired more land to grow vegetables on.

We did a lot, probably lots more than I can list here. The challenges were numerous, from squash bugs to losing our e-z-up during the tailgate market to torrential rain storms to an algae bloom in the pool, but we persevered.

Big thanks to everyone who had a part in our 2010 season. All the WWOOFers, the Emma Farms community, CSA members, friends, volunteers, mentors, and anyone else who had a part – it was a great year and we couldn’t have done it without you!

So, now that 2011 is upon us, it’s time to get planning for the upcoming season. May this year be even better!

The Emma Farms CSA is 22 weeks long, starting May 1st. We have a $450 share or a $650 share. We are growing more than 150 different varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs this year – so as a CSA member you can expect all of the traditional favorites as well as a lot of unusual and rare varieties.

Our farm is located in West Asheville on Emma Road, one block from N. Louisiana Ave. Our convenient location means that CSA members can easily pick up their shares from the farm, and have the opportunity to see their food growing.

To find out more about the Emma Farms CSA, click any of the links below. Most of your questions will be answered in the following pages, but feel free to contact us with any questions. Thank you, and we’re looking forward to growing with you in 2010!

WHAT IS A CSA?

IS A CSA RIGHT FOR YOU?

HOW IT WORKS

WHAT’S GROWING THIS YEAR

THE NEXT STEP

Late tomato blight damage.

A humongus fungus among us….

Last summer was an incredibly wet year for us. By May it was declared that we had received enough rain to pull us out of the drought status that had afflicted our region for 2+ years. One of the worst gardening years on record for me! All of that moisture, combined with steady lower than average temperatures created the perfect environment for all sorts of evil garden demons… er, well, maybe not evil…

One of the most damaging plagues last year was the late tomato blight. It’s really common here in the cool damp mountains, and farmers are always hanging around the feed store complaining about it. It’s a highly contagious fungus that spreads through the air and can completely destroy tomato crops.

However, last summer, the fungus was unsually widespread and fierce, devastating crops all over the eastern half of the United States. Upon tracking the source of the outbreak, researchers discovered that a large plant company who supplies vegetable starts to large chain stores like Wal-Mart and Lowe’s could have been partially responsible for the massive outbreak.

All of it makes me think hard about agri-business and globalization and giant corporations… And really, I guess what I think is that gardening is way more important than any sort of political soapbox or anti-corporate fear mongering. If being able to buy a tomato plant at the hardware store will get people out in their backyards and eating healthy home grown food, then that’s good.

But, for myself, I’ll be starting all my own from seed this year. And making sure I have enough to give to all my neighbors who are upwind from me!

Click this link to go to the NY Times article about it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/nyregion/18tomatoes.html

Please read through all of these pages – many questions you have about volunteering at Emma Farms will be answered. Thanks!

Click HERE to go to the WWOOF/Volunteer Info Page Index.

Sunlight through the bamboo.

The only place in the whole compound that makes you feel like you’re in a kung fu movie…

Unfortunately, the heavy snowfall (16 inches!) in December hit the bamboo grove pretty hard and a good number got broken or permanently bent. I guess that means we’ll have a lot of material for trellises and little archways and whatnot. Hopefully the grove will expand exponentially again this spring!