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U-pick Raspberries are now open and u-pick strawberries are expected to be available in August. Raspberries and strawberries are both available already picked for purchase in limited quantities. Please feel free to cal to check for availablitiy. 
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Dean's been mowing down the winter cover crop on the fields to till it in, keeping the fields healthy all year round. Our contribution to being carbon neutral since 1989.  It's finally dry enough to start working the soil. As you can see, we have one field ready for planting. We still have CSAs available, but they are being sold out quickly. Call if you have any questions. 360-491-3276    Lambs arrived today and are happily munching on grass! The cows arrived last week and have already eaten much of their first pasture with lots to go in the next!CSA shares can now be purchased online at https://pigmans-produce.square.site/. 
CSA brochures will be available online on March 30th or call or stop by for a printed copy.
Peas have been planted and we are looking forward to enjoying them ourselves and sharing them with you! We expect our CSA to be a 22 week season and have both a small and family size weekly package.
We have a steady supply of Farm Fresh eggs right now. We will have a stand open at the farm some days and have a CSA this year. Keep watching for more information
We have fresh eggs available most days. Please call the farm at 360-491-3276 with any questions.  Its amazing how fast 2016 went by, and here we are already a well into the new year.
As many of you know we scaled back at the farm quite a bit last year. This has been wonderful as we were able to spend more time with family and even go to the beach a few times. We love visiting with all of our family, especially these two young men. It is amazing how fast they grow! Dean had a triple by-pass just a few weeks ago, and as you can see he is doing well. He is already walking up the Nisqually Hill, and we are looking forward to another beach trip soon. We had an unfortunate and sad event a bit ago as well. A stray dog came onto the farm while we were away and destroyed our chicken coop and killed all of our chickens. This was a very sad sight to return home to! Currently we do not have any animals on the farm and are looking at how we want to house the chickens and other animals going forward. This upcoming year we are looking at more changes still, but more information on that soon! Hard to believe we are into August already, the summer is flying by! The biggest news this past month was the wonderful Farm to Table dinner that the Greater Olympia Slow Food group had at the farm in July. Absolutely amazing again! The food and company were fantastic, and the random light showers added a coziness to the event. Wonderful and creative appetizers were followed by a tour of the farm lead by Jan. The tour included the history of the farm as well as visits to the animals, a lesson in composting and raspberry sampling. After the tour we enjoyed amazing food which led to full bellies and happy faces. These events are of course fun for us, but serve to raise funds for the Slow Food Group to do other things in the community. There is a community ice cream social and pizza bake coming up, and many opportunities to help educate the community about local foods. You can get more information about their events on their website, or at their info booth (with food sampling) at the Olympia Farmers Market.
Many thanks again to all that helped make this a wonderful event!  Brody & Brandon by Maggie Shafer 2014 Now is the time to come pick delicious perfectly ripe raspberries. The plants are completely loaded - heaviest set Jan has seen! They are supper easy to pick and you can load up your flats in record time.
Our standard hours are 10-5 pm Mon-Fri, 10-6 on Saturday, 1-6 on Sunday. Check on Facebook to verify we are open (we close periodically to give the fruit time to re-ripen) or call the farm directly at 360-491-3276. We anticipate Strawberry U-pick being open again later in the summer. The farm is located at 10633 Steilacoom Rd. We have been certified organic for over 20 years - although we did not re-certify this year so are not officially organic anymore none of our practices have changed. You can always be comfortable knowing that there are never any chemicals on any of your fruits or vegetables from our farm! U-Pick Strawberries are now open! Availability is very dependent on the weather - please watch Facebook or call the farm for hours.  Photo by Brie of Lilah picking berries 2014  Oregano, Mint, Lemon Balm, Comfrey, Plantain, Nettles, Parsley We have an abundance of Herbs right now! So we are offering YOU an unique opportunity -- for just $5 per person* come to the farm this Saturday the 30th at 10am to harvest your own fresh herbs! You will even be able to dig your own starts to get plants of your own started at home! Bring your own tools please! (a pair of clippers or scissors, a trowel if you are getting starts, something to take your treasures home in) * This event is intended for individuals for personal use. If you are in need of large quantities or are a resale business we are happy to help you, but please contact us separate from this event. Thank you.
 Apple Blossoms are the herald of spring for me. If only we had scented pictures so you could enjoy that sweet, subtle fragrance standing in the orchard brings. . . If you don't have allergies of course! Yes, well there is a bit of overwhelming pollen about now too, all part of the rush of spring. Everything is bursting to life with the fevered need to grow, prepare and produce. Once the early rush is past the wait for final growth and production will begin, but spring is like the starting leap of a race.  The cows came to the farm last week in a rush of a different sort of energy. They have been enjoying the lush grass and dappled shade of the old orchard, and this week will start wandering their way toward the back pastures by the barn. The waiting with them is a needed patience to win their trust, a timely process. They will eventually learn that we are bringers of treats and givers of head scratches, but for now they are wary of us. The lambs have started to learn though and head scratches are welcome in their pasture! The chickens are laying abundantly now and if you are interested in purchasing eggs just let us know, there are also still beef and lamb shares available as well, just call to make arrangements.  This last weekend was opening weekend of the Olympia Farmers market and it was a wonderful weekend. The planting has begun in earnest on the farm, now that it is dry enough to work the fields, and we look forward to bringing fresh delicious produce to you every week. Many have asked about signing up for our CSA - YES there is still time! Sign up now, before April 25th for the early sign up discount. Pickups will only be at the Farm on Fridays, but if you are set on pickup at the market stay tuned as we will have a different option available for you soon!
Celeste (For Jan, Dean and Crew)  After last years drought we certainly needed some good winter rains, however we were quickly waterlogged this winter. Some of our fields have had standing water in them since November! All of the water you see was rain water - the water table and ground saturation simply couldn't cope with the 'wettest winter on record'. We are drying out now though and the farm is coming to life with flowers blooming, bees buzzing and birds busy nesting.  The lambs arrived at the farm this week, and the cows will be coming soon. We are looking forward to the Olympia Farmers market starting this week - we will be bringing lots of kale, chard, nettles and leeks among other items. Don't forget that you can still sign up for our CSA now at the 'Early Bird' reduced price and partner with us for a whole season of great healthy vegetables! Pick up will be at the farm only this year, so you will have even more opportunities to see the animals and watch the changes on the farm. Enjoying the sun and looking forward to another abundant season - Jan, Dean and Crew
Are you or someone you know a student interested in hands on farm training? We are currently seeking SPRING INTERNS to start on April 1st 2016. Internships must be coordinated with the students school so that they receive academic credit for their time. They also will receive a stipend for each day they are at the farm as well as a wealth of knowledge and hands on learning. Below is a list of all the different tasks that go on at our farm - interns participate in them all!
Work may include any of the following:
 This year will mark our 27th year of farming here in the Nisqually Valley. As most of you know we have been looking towards retirement for a few years now, and many of you have wondered if we were going to be back this year. We are happy to report that although there will be a few changes again this year we will still have a CSA and be growing the same great fruits and vegetables for you!  This has been a particularly wet winter with many of our fields in standing water which has given us some time to rest and to look forward to the coming season. We have decided to make a step toward retirement by scaling back how much we are doing. This last year we grew on about 6 acres of the farm; we had about 85 people in our CSA with 6 pickup locations; participated 4 days per week at the Olympia Farmers Market; hosted a farm stand once per week (mini market) at a state office building; sold produce to both Olympia Co-ops, the Yelm Co-op, Farm Fresh Produce and several restaurants. This upcoming year we will be scaling back to about 2.5 acres; we will only be accepting 30 people into the CSA and pickup will only be at the farm; we will still be sending some produce to the Olympia Co-ops although not as much; we will still be at the Olympia Farmers market; we will continue to have U-pick Strawberries and Raspberries as well as the pumpkin patch in the fall. (Our CSA is open for signups now - head over to the CSA page for more info and to sign up today as space is limited!)  So, if we are only using half the land to grow produce what happens to the rest? We anticipate turning a good portion into additional pasture grazing for cows, which may mean additional beef shares will be available in the fall. We also have leased about a half-acre to a local non-profit group, Faith Harvest Helpers, to help them learn how to grow produce on a larger scale than back yard gardening. The food that they grow on their half-acre will be distributed via their local food bank.  Photo by Mary Ellen Psaltis 2015 Another change you may notice is the farm name will be changing from Pigmans Organic Produce Patch to Pigmans Produce. We assure you this will in no way change the way that we grow your food! Because of the rules and expense involved with organic certification we have decided (after being Certified Organic for 20 years) to not pursue recertification this year. Because we will not be going through the recertification process we will not be allowed to use the word Organic in our farm name or label our food as such. Please note however that we are not changing how we grow your food! We will still be using all the same methods and healthy amendments that we have used in prior years. Our food will still be ‘organic’, healthy and safe, we simply will not be paying to use the term. If you have any questions about how we grow your food we would be happy to answer them. We want to thank all of you again for being a part of our extended farm family. Some of you have only been with us for a year, some since the beginning and we are so very grateful for your continued support. We love growing nutritious food for our community and are thankful that we are able to keep providing for so many. Thank you for joining us for another abundant season! Looking forward to 2016 – Jan and Dean Pigman Christine started off with the fairly well known plantain and dandelion. She showed the physical characteristics of broad leaf plantain and discussed the benefits/uses of both plants . . .and then looked at some of dandelions not-so-wonderful relatives!
Stinging Nettle vs Dead Nettle Christine explaining about creeping buttercup (eat the roots only!); The group sampling dock; Christine finding plantain seeds for people to try.
Thistles love to grow in the raspberry field, so we looked for thistle blossoms and raspberries! We found that the bees love thistles too, and the kids noticed lots of different birds in the field.
Ended the morning with a great lunch of both 'wild' and 'domesticated' veggies and lots more! Many thanks to Christine for a wonderful morning. If you are sad to have missed this event let us know - we may have another in September! Scroll through this photo heavy post for a quick peek at the deliciousness!  July 18th was a beautiful summer day capped off with a wonderful dinner designed and prepared by Chef Joel Hart of Hart's Mesa. Produce from Pigman's Organic Produce Patch, dairy from Tunawerth Creamery (ricotta and mozzarella cheese made by Chef Joel), cookies from The Bread Peddler, and beer from 3 Magnets Brewing Olympia. Wa. Seasonal artisan cocktails (not shown) were made by Joe Papas.  First Course Gazpacho bloody mary with pickled asparagus. The asparagus was harvested from the farm earlier this year and pickled specifically for this event! Thanks to Loretta, Joel, Emily and everyone else that made that happen.  Second Course Fresh caprese salad with homemade mozzarella, sliced tomato, and fresh basil. Chef Joel made that mozzarella fresh earlier in the day with milk from Tunawerth Creamery.  Third Course Ricotta and lemon balm stuffed squash blossoms, dipped in egg batter and fried. Again, Joel made the cheese fresh that day! The squash blossoms were carefully harvested from the zucchini and pumpkin fields on the farm.  Fourth Course Chilled roasted vegetables (cauliflower & Broccoli) topped with carrots, tomatoes and cilantro chutney.  Fifth Course Roasted roots (beets & carrots) with Rainier cherry balsamic reduction and kale chips topped with pickled cabbage.  Sixth Course Zucchini ribbons with basil pesto and new potatoes.  Dessert Shortbread cookie from The Bread Peddler with fresh ricotta, basil creme fraiche, stewed strawberries and fresh basil  YUM!
Farm Tour: Jan took everyone on a walking tour of the farm including meeting the cows, explaining how they make their own compost and the history of the farm. At the Table: Our hosts Jan and Dean with the strawberry field behind them; Great food and conversation; wonderful turn-out tabled between the corn and strawberry fields.  One of my favorite pictures of Jan.
Many thanks to all who made this dinner come together!  THIS Sunday July 26th from 9 AM until noon Join us for a fun and hands-on event: why, what, when and if to forage for the wild edible plants that grow between our produce. The aspects of their nutritional and medicinal value will be addressed. We'll wrap up the event with a potluck and foraged salad. Bring your favorite dish to share, your own silverware and plate, a blanket or chair to sit on. AND come prepared for the weather (bring a water bottle, hat etc). $25 per adult, families $35, students $15  A bit about our Event Leader:
Christine Jarlik-Bell holds a Master's degree in botany and is passionate about foraging local plants (superfood) and mushrooms. She has come to know the nutritional as well as medicinal benefits of our local Superfood and enjoys sharing her ever-growing knowledge. She lives in the countryside between Yelm and Rainier. Contact Christine @ owl.onewithlife@yahoo.com or 360-446-1898. Or sign up at the Pigmans Farm by calling 360-339-3627.  Look close! Can you see the microbes? A Cup of Tea for Our Veggies - by Jesse Honiker Do you love your morning cup of tea? Well, our plants and soil here at Pigman’s Produce Patch does too! Now, we don’t give them black or oolong tea – no, we provide our plants with quality compost tea. Yes, it is actually what it sounds like. For 24 hours, we soak a mixture of our farm’s compost, cured chicken manure, and some fungal microbes, with a splash of molasses, liquid kelp, or humic acid to create a liquid teaming with a healthy microbial community, or as we call them, “soil defenders.”  Photo by Rita: Gena & Jesse Fungus Hunting Now, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves, why do we want to put microbes and fungus into our soils? It helps to think that compost tea is to the soil as probiotics are to humans. A team of bacteria and even yeast (fungus) helps us break down the food in our gut. Compost teas, teeming with microbial life, help break down what we feed to our soils. So, when we feed our soil cured compost, manure, or trace minerals, those microbes help unlock the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the soils and cycle these nutrients into a usable form for our crops. “Soil Gatekeepers” is starting to sound like a more appropriate name, no? The compost tea we make on the farm comes in two forms: bacterial dominant teas and fungal dominant teas. The bacterial teas go on our annual crops – where fields will be tilled within the year. Fungal dominant teas go on our perennial crops – where fields will not be tilled in the foreseeable future. Fungal-dominant soils can’t withstand tilling because their ribosomal structure is lost. Bacterial microbes can withstand tilling. So for annual as opposed to perennial crops, we are creating different types of soil communities.  Photo by Jesse: Rita & Gena hard at work creating a fungal dominate compost pile A few weeks ago, we made a fungal dominant compost pile so we can grab fungus on the go for brewing tea! By layering wood chips, sawdust, oatmeal, and fresh grass clippings dosed in a molasses based brewer’s barley malt, we started growing a robust population of fungus in just weeks!
Rest assured your farmers are feeding their soils the best elixir possible, as you sip your morning cup of tea. Here’s to compost tea! We are so very grateful for all of our CSA members! Providing good food to the community is the reason why we do this every day. For some of you this is your first time ever having a CSA membership with us, for some this is your first time with any farm. I wanted to take a moment to explain how the CSA process works from our side - a little peak into the 'behind the scenes'! First off you have made an investment - $599 for a full share, $365 for a small share. Over the course of a 22 week season that works out to $27.22 or $16.59 per week respectively. When we pack your shares our goal is to send home with you each week a bag with a market value of either $30 or $18 (about a 10% add-on value). Because we also look at many other factors some weeks are a bit under, some a bit over, but generally we hit right about on target! Some of those other factors we look at? 1) How much of a given crop do we have available. We want everyone to have a sampling of each item we grow on the farm, sometimes we have an abundant crop (like our spinach right now!) and everyone can have a good amount for a few weeks. Other times we don't have as much and can maybe only include an item in a few shares at a time (like our strawberries right now). 2) Variety. We never want to send you home with only a few items, most weeks small shares have 6-8 different items, full shares have 7-9 items. We also try to not put the same item in week after week. If you have gotten spinach two weeks running you can be fairly confident you won't get any in your next bag. However, a CSA is a share of what is available on the farm so if spinach or squash or cucumbers are the 'in' crop you may receive it for several weeks. Chard and Kale are generally included, but alternate week by week. If you are at one of our 'choice' sites (the farm or farmers market) you may get to choose between the two rather than us choosing for you. 3) Roots vs Greens. During the spring this can be a bit of a hard one! Spring greens are abundant, while root crops are just getting started. Mid summer the opposite is sometimes true - while greens may be struggling in the heat, root crops are out producing. We try to balance the two. We'll send you greens pretty consistently (at least kale/chard) mainly various types of lettuce, but also purlane, cabbage or spinach. Root crops vary, and sometimes you may get a large amount of one type, sometimes smaller amounts of multiple items (i.e. 4 small bunches of beets, carrots, radishes and turnips rather than just 2 large bunches of beets & carrots). This is all just the things we look at before we start to harvest! We use all of those factors to make our 'best estimate' of what we will need for each CSA day (we have 4 each week, and often they are each slightly different) and create a "Pick List". Once the actual harvesting begins our flexibility (and yours) sometimes gets tested! Farming is so much about faith and trusting that there will be abundance, also about dealing with issues as they arise - preparing for a CSA is no different. Lets look at a few different crops as examples:
 As for sizes of items that go into each bag or box: Small shares are meant for 1-2 people, large for 3-4 people. If you are a family of 2 but primarily eat veggies then a two person share may not be enough! For some 4 person families that don't eat a lot of veggies a large share is overwhelming. You have to look at what your family specifics are to make a choice. Small shares usually receive smaller bunches than what you see on our market stands, the bunches there are considered 'full sized' and are what is used in our Full shares. To the right is an example of bunch sizes for kale - small share on the left, full share on the right. Below I have broken down the three samples pictured at the top of this post to give you a detailed example of what goes into an actual share. Hope this helps everyone to better understand how CSA's work. And remember each week is different and if you ever have questions or concerns feel free to email or call! - Celeste  Small Share (June 3rd, 2015) = 18.62 Kholrabi $1.50 Radishes $2.50 Spinach $3.00 Chard $1.50 Lettuce $3 Broccoli (1/2 lb) $2 Asparagus (1/2 lb) $3.12 Garlic (1/4 lb) $2.00  Small Share (June 11th, 2015) = $17.62 Kale $1.50 Beets $1.50 Carrots $1.50 Turnips $1.50 Spinach $3.00 Asparagus (1/2 lb) $3.12 Broccoli (1/2 lb) $2 Pint of strawberries (not pictured) $3.50  Full Share (May 30th, 2015) = $30.75
Asparagus (1lb) $6.25 Shallots (1/2 lb) $2.00 Herb (1 of 2 pictured) $1.50 Radishes $2.50 Beets $3.00 Bok Choy $3.00 Lettuce $3.00 Spinach $3.00 Kohlrabi $1.50 Chard $3.00 Garlic (1/4lb) $2.00  Here is a example of the deliciousness that would have been in your CSA box this week.
We offer two CSA sizes - a small share (pictured) and a large share. We have six different options for where you can pick up your share, including our newest location in Dupont! Everything that we grow is certified organic and grown by hand on our farm in the Nisqually Valley. You will receive a box of fresh picked fruits and veggies every week June 3rd- Oct 31st (22 weeks). By purchasing now you will receive about 10% extra value throughout the season. Our CSA members also receive an additional 5% off all purchases at our booth at the farmers market or at the farm. Farm shares make a great gift for mom too, and prices go up after Mothers day, so give her the gift of scrumptious eating this year - Sign up today!
 Spring is fully here, along with sometimes crazy weather that keeps us on our toes. A couple weeks ago we were watching the rain clouds come down off the hills into the valley so we would have a bit of warning to run for the greenhouses before the heavy rain (or in the case of this picture- hail) came down. We know we need the rain though, so we keep busy up-potting starts, weeding or seeding inside, then head out again in between downpours. We are loving the beautiful weather we have had this week and are thrilled that we had a block of time to get some BIG planting projects done.  Of course with spring come all the new growth - all the hope put into each seed planted shows with an abundance of new green. This picture here shows artichoke starts ready to get transplanted to the field. There is also another new addition in the picture if you look close - a newly hatched Praying Mantid! These workhorses are 3rd generation born and raised on our farm, they love hunting the 'bad bugs' in the green houses. You can pick up your very own Mantid Egg case for your garden at our stand at the Market.  Our new lawn mowers have arrived as well! A sure sign it is spring. Each year we are host to three cows and three lambs that arrive in April and feast on our lush grass and organic produce until November. These gentlemen are one year old short horn bulls and are adapting well to their new space. The lambs will be arriving soon.  And finally for today we would like to give a HUGE thank you to Carter and Sylo. These two wonderful friends were instrumental in preparing the farm this winter for us to have a wonderful season this year. They willingly helped to do anything and everything (seen here cleaning the tractor) from weeding and planting to roof repair, storage room cleaning and digging out blackberries! We can not thank them enough for all their hard work and are sad to see them go. However, we wish them both the best in their new adventures and are truly grateful for their hard work this winter.
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