Jay Hill Farm Blog!: February 2009

Web Site Updates

Friday, February 27, 2009

Whee! As some of you will notice, I finally got some of the promised items up on the site. Specifically, we've got one whole recipe in the recipe section as well as our new F.A.Q. having gone live. These things would be faster if I weren't so darn stubborn about having them work exactly as I envisioned them. :) I've got the FAQ so it's a drop down script which I think looks pretty awesome!

I also spent a greater part of this morning chugging coffee and re-coding the order page so that now you get a nifty pop-up image of the item when you scroll over it. Go ahead, you know you want to leave the blog and see if I'm lying... that's okay... I can wait. The blog will be here when you get back. *laugh*

In other news, I'm about to head to the farm where, I'm glad to say, it's not windy. Yesterday was yet another day of cursing and shaking my fist at the sky. I can't wait until we get out of the "windy" season. It's just too yucky!

Okeydoke then, I hope you have a great weekend and that you enjoy the site upgrades. More are coming as I find free time!

Cheers!

Windy days and random musings...

Friday, February 20, 2009

Argh! The wind is back today, which is going to make picking extraordinarily hard. Even in the greenhouse the wind can make me crazy. I'll probably spend most of the afternoon doing stuff that allows me to stay in the house rather than spending time in the greenhouse. That makes me super sad... as a friend put it, being in the greenhouse this time of year is like being in an oxygen bar.

There's not much else to say today... Except that I really want to learn to speak Spanish. I want to be able to watch Telemundo. For some reason I think that Mexican television is far more entertaining than ours. Can you tell farming gives me too much time to contemplate things? Can anyone recommend any good spanish learning tapes that I can listen to while I work?

Cheers!

Wind damage to plant studio. :(

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Ack! The wind over the last few days was horrific! That's probably what caused my dream last night that I awoke in a hotel room full of stinging wasps. *ick* (And the hotel wouldn't comp my room... what is that?!?!)

On the plus side, my friend Dan was kind enough to come over and help with the damage not only during the major wind on Tuesday but yesterday as well to get things back under control. He's a god-send! :)

Things are going as well as they can considering the clean-up that's necessary. While the wind in Boulder was bad, it has the shelter of many buildings and nice old trees. Out on the farm we regularly get gusts over 70 miles per hour while Boulder is experiencing around 45 mph. It was beyond scary for a while there. Especially considering the fan flaps in the greenhouse make the place sound like a horror movie in a strong wind. Clank. Clank. Clank. *eep!*

Here are a few pictures of the damage done to our plant studio late in the day Tuesday.

The roof - or what's left of it. :(

ditto

Blue skies... nothing but blue skies!

You can see the wood was actually ripped apart. *sigh*

Happy Valentine's Day

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Finally! A new blog entry... it only took me 8 months. *sigh*

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have been supporting us over the last year. Mom, Dad and I have been so impressed by the amount of positive energy that has come our way. This farm has always been a family enterprise but it has never been what one would call a "success".

Through only word of mouth, all y'all have made it possible for us to get the farm up to the standards I have always believed we were capable of.

From starting out with a web presence in the fall of 2008, we now have several hundred wonderful "localvores" on our mailing list.

Thank you!

On to the more exciting news! As many of you may have noticed, we've added spinach and egyptian bunching onions back onto the list. This time last year is when I starting cleaning up the greenhouse. This year, I'm working on planting like a maniac to get everything in. You can't know how nice it is to know I'm three months ahead of schedule!

I'm keeping it short and sweet today to match the Valentine's Day attitude. I hope you have a wonderful day! (I know I will... Valentine's dinner at 4580! Yum!)

Here are some pictures from the greenhouse this week:

Baby Lettuce

Rainbow Chard

Spinach

Baby Turnips

Blue Jay photo provided by Bill Schmoker Photography

Previous Trends

Archives