Rising Moon, Setting Sun

2011 Photos

2012-01-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

Lettuce trial


Mouse trapped in chicken food bucket

Ruby at work

December Harvest

Announcing...2012 Summer C.S.A.

2011-12-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

Rising Moon, Setting Sun Farm 2012 Summer C.S.A. Info:

We are proud to offer a limited number of farm shares for next seasons bounty. Members will receive vegetable boxes for 22 weeks, mid May through October.
Boxes will be dropped off in Ithaca and Syracuse weekly.
(Exact location and times yet to be determined)

We plan to grow a wide variety of beautiful, colorful, heirloom vegetables and culinary herbs.
Crops Include: Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Garlic, Salad Greens, Collards, Swiss Chard, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Melons, Onions, Radishes, Summer Squash, Winter Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers, Herbs, Flowers and more!

Shares cost $525.00 ($23.86 weekly)
Half shares available for $265.00 ($12.00 weekly)

Payments may be divided up or paid up front.

We grow real food for real people.

Sign Up Now! Spaces are limited.

Contact Sean @ risingmoon.settingsun@gmail.com

More Photos

2011-11-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

Photo Update!

2011-09-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Fall Bed Prep

Market Selection

Asian Greens and Sunflowers

Buckwheat Cover Crop

Stir-fry Bouquet

Spring Begins

2011-03-31T20:21:00.001-07:00

Photos

2011-02-08T21:42:00.000-08:00

Simple Terraces

2011-01-30T14:44:00.000-08:00

Freshly tilled permanent beds, early spring.

These beds are about 40 feet long, 42" wide and the pathways are 24"- 30", just wide enough for an electric lawn mower. This system works great, but I have been experimenting with bigger terraces,

3 beds wide to lessen the amount of mowing needed to keep things clean and the strips a manageable height.

Real Greens!

2011-01-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

CSA Harvest

2010-09-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Beans, Baby Cabbage, Garlic, Cherry Tomato, Potato, Squash, Kale/Chard,
Salad Greens

Summer 2010 Photo Update:

2010-07-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived!?

2010-03-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

With spring just around the corner, its nice to simply enjoy the sunny weather as of late. But, there are so many things to do...

Seed flats have begun to pile up, stretching for the sun. With many more on the way. It will be great to finally get the greenhouse I bought last fall assembled and standing. One of the most important BIG jobs to be done pre-season. More on that later...

The first batch of compost tea for the season is brewing away, with the help of my new 4 watt aquarium stone bubbler. This batch was made from fresh homemade worm castings, stinging nettle, comfrey, chamomile, molasses and some bio-dynamic compost activator. Brewed for 3 days, this tea will bathe my new seedlings in biologically active herbal goodness. It can also be used to "wake" the microbes sleeping under the soil in the garden, as well as give the winter ravaged cover crops some inspiration to start growing again.

Our Philosophy: Pasture Raised, Grass-fed Vegetables

2010-02-19T00:22:00.000-08:00

Pasture based vegetable production is a combination of new and old ideas evolved into a paradigm that fits the needs of our particular piece of earth, as well as our metaphysical assumptions of reality. The goal is to achieve maximum equilibrium through naturally provided elements at hand. Balancing the energy fields surrounding the Earth as we know it.

Soil, Air, Water, Life (plants, animals, fungi, bacteria)

The farm we bought was an abandoned hay field, once used for grazing cattle about 100 years ago. Set on a hill side with 10-15% slopes, this land was considered unsuitable for traditional crop farming. In this time period an amazing Eco-system has developed, providing homes for many beautiful creatures, plants and animals alike. To simply plow this all under for the sake of producing food for humans seems sacrilegious.

Our solution: small fields, contoured to the lay of the land, with mowed strips of native pasture between each terraced permanent low till bed(minimizing soil disturbance), and fields surrounded by un-mowed native wildflowers and grasses. Thus providing balance and minimal disturbance of the natural environment. Giving homes to predatory insects and animals, as well as attracting important pollinators.

Plant based compost, composed of cuttings of native plants is the primary source of fertility. Herbal/compost teas, leaf mold and worm castings made on farm provide the secondary source.
Small amounts of farm produced live peat moss, forest humus, chipped branch wood, pulverized shale fossils (400 million year old energy) and chicken manure from a small laying flock will fill in the rest of the holes. Green manures and winter killed cover crops are also used as often as possible in this system.

Pesticide Facts:

2010-02-18T04:05:00.000-08:00

The United States of America uses 77% of all the worlds pesticides, but only feeds 5% of the world population.

For every $1.00 spent on pesticides, $5.00 to $10.00 of environmental damage is done.

25 million farm workers are poisoned each year by pesticides, causing an estimated 300,000+ deaths.

Over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil.

So, who is ready for some REAL change?

(photo from U.S.D.A.)

Strawberry Fields

2010-01-28T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today I ordered 600 strawberry crowns, 200 of each variety. Earliglow (early), Jewel (mid-late), and Seascape (day-neutral) for fruit from early summer to early fall. I will be planting them in these beds pictured, which were prepped last year with crimson clover and rye grass.

Winter Planning

2010-01-25T13:22:00.001-08:00

Well, the bulk of my seed order arrived. Now its all about the plan! This year I will be seeding and planting with the help of my "2010 Stella Natura" calender. This tells me the "best" days to plant various vegetables based on celestial movements. An absolute must in every Bio-Dynamic garden, and from what I have read, it really works! But for now my life seems consumed by notebooks, catalogs, field maps and imagination. Who would have thought planning an 8 year rotation could be so hard!

The 2nd photo shows some of the cover crops I will be using this year. Johnny's is the trusted supplier at this point, until I start to save my own. New Zealand White Clover, Mammoth Red Clover, Sudan Grass, Field Peas and Oats.(all organic) I also have buckwheat, hairy vetch, crimson clover, soybeans and yellow sweet clover, hopefully out of a mouse's reach somewhere in the barn.

L.E.D. Grow Light Experiment

2009-12-30T13:36:00.001-08:00

I recently bought a small L.E.D. grow light to experiment with.
I wanted to see how greens (brassicas and lettuce) would grow under this new 28 watt high output (250 watt equivalent) "GlowPanel 45".
I am happy to report this light seems to be working great, and I am especially grateful for the extra 222 watts saved. This technology has room to improve significantly in the coming years and its implications are out of this world.

UPDATE: After very satisfactory growth, I plan to use this light for germinating salad crops indoors during the heat of summer. These greens, mainly Lettuce, germinate best in cool conditions, making greenhouse propagation during July and August frustrating to say the least.

Winter

2009-12-21T14:54:00.001-08:00

photos

2009-12-18T14:38:00.001-08:00

photos

2009-12-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

Last of the Fall garden

2009-12-16T08:39:00.001-08:00

Salad greens, beets, baby bok choi, broccoli, kale and weeds! Cold, wet and windy weather characterized October and November this year. With the exception of the late planted beets failing to reach a nice size, the greens, Brassicas (and weeds) always preform.