Delvin Farms

School Lunches

2012-01-30T08:46:00.002-06:00

Local food is the buzz word now (thank goodness!) and many schools and univesities are beginning to grow their own food. For a few years now we've been helping several public and private schools in the Nashville area create and maintain their own school gardens. We donate the plants, our expertise and our time to get the gardens started and students take care of the crops and harvest the goodness for their school lunch programs. It's been a wonderful partnership and learning opportunity for the students. Garden-based learning is beginning to be cited as a number one way to promote healthy development in youth. Children who are taught and engaged in where their food originates have a deeper understanding of the importance of eating healthy and learn science and nutrition concepts while working in the garden. With the current obesity crisis among youth in the United States, school gardens and farm-to-school programs are receiving more and more attention. By being active in their own school garden, students are engaging in anaerobic exercise while becoming familiar with the produce they have grown themselves, an experience that will hopefully increase the appeal of vegetables in their diet! With many school districts cutting physical education programs, school gardens will likely become even more important in the school community.
As a former teacher of twelve years, I can vouch for the value of hands on learning. Since students spend more time at school than in their home during the school year, classrooms become small communities for children. Losses and triumphs in each others' lives are wept for and celebrated, and for some students, the classroom community is the only one in which they feel accepted and secure.
School gardens do more than provide produce for the school cafeteria. They are a community builder in the classroom and connector among the diverse population in many schools. I hope to see many more school garden programs "growing" in the Nashville community. Nationwide they are becoming popular not only in elementary schools, but also on college campuses. Below is a link to an article about colleges growing their own food. Locally, MTSU students grow their own produce and hold a farmers market to sell the excess. What a great hands on opportunity for agriculture majors and our future farmers!

http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/01/29/10-colleges-growing-their-own-food

-Amy

Winter Wonders

2012-01-16T18:44:00.000-06:00

Winter is one of my favorite times on the farm (my other favorite time is Spring). In the winter we get a small break with no weekday farmers markets, though we do go to two Saturday markets all year and we're still harvesting for restaurants and Whole Foods. I like the idea of hibernation that winter brings. Everything just seems quieter on the farm, like it's resting in preparation of a busy spring when planting time arrives. Winter is also the time we "catch up" on what we neglected during the Summer. If something breaks- "oh, we'll fix that this winter" or, "this winter, let's get in the barn and reorganize everything." "This winter we need to re-do the market signs."Or my personal favorite, "this winter, let's go to Gatlinburg and get a cabin!" We haven't gotten around to that last goal yet, but I'm hoping before planting time arrives I will convince my husband that he needs peanut butter fudge from Gatlinburg and that it is imperative that we drive there to get it!
January is the beginning of planting seeds in the greenhouse. So far we've planted collards, kale, lettuce and broccoli. Soon we'll be planting peppers and early tomatoes. Seed planting is the beginning of the busy time. No going back, now! Seed catalogs arrive in the mail and we pick out the varieties we know and try a few new ones just for fun. We debate which names of lettuces we liked- "no, remember that one was way too delicate and we said we'd never grow it again" "Are you sure? I thought we liked that one and hated this one." Hmmm...someone this winter should take note of which ones we ordered and which ones we liked!
Another task in January is sending out the CSA newsletters and sign up forms. We did that today. We started at 9am and ended at 6pm- sticking on the stamps, sticking on address labels, stuffing envelopes...we even got Ryder (age 5) in on the action- he was great at the stamps! February-May is always a fun time to check the mail as CSA forms start rolling in (I compare it to RSVP's for a wedding- who's coming?! It's exciting to see everyday who will be joining us).
Spring is just around the corner. Renewal, the green, the pink, the white flowers everywhere- my favorite season. Until then, we'll watch the earth hibernate and prepare for another busy season.

Back to School with Winter in Mind

2011-08-31T21:52:00.001-05:00

   The summer heat is still present despite the back to school feeling of fall. Before I joined the family farm full time I was a Middle school Literature and Writing teacher. Back to school time meant new resolutions and new school supplies! This year at the beginning of August I went to Office Depot, took a big whiff of all the new school supplies and convinced myself that the farm needed new dry erase markers, clipboards and a new item I was particularly excited about- dry erase crayons. WHAT? Dry erase crayons?! I bought two packs- one for my home and one for the farm. In typical Delvin farm fashion, all the new markers, clipboards and crayons are now broken, lost or no longer working. Oh well, at least we were organized for a little while! I haven't decided what to do with dry erase crayons in my home, but I'm sure there's a use for them soon.

   Back to school also means back to quick dinners. No more leisurely grilling time, and the summer vegetables are making their way out to make room for leafy greens. Before they're all gone, now is the time to freeze those vegetables so quick dinners can be made in the Winter.

   I'm not a big canning person but I love to freeze things. Recently I took a stab at freezing tomatoes- you simply cut out the core and pop them in a bag. I blanched them first to peel the skin off, but I learned after the fact that I didn't need to do that. Another item I like to freeze is bell peppers and hot peppers. I like peppers in just about anything. Freezing peppers is a breeze! There is no need for blanching like other vegetables. All you need to do is remove the seed from the inside of the pepper and pop the peppers into freezer bags and you're done! You can choose several methods of cutting them before freezing:

Cut the pepper in half, remove the seed and membrane. You now have two halves which can be put into the bags and used as stuffed peppers this winter.
Another way is to cut the halves into strips which can be used in stir fries, fajitas, etc.
Still another is to cut into strips and then dice the peppers for use in sauces, meatloaf, omelets, etc.

Either way you store them is easy and takes only minutes to prepare. You'll be so happy to have them at your fingertips this winter. It sure beats paying $5.99 a pound for bell peppers at the store in the winter!

So before the back to school time takes over too much make time to freeze some veggies. You'll thank yourself in January when you want some hot peppers to spice things up a bit!
-Amy

Something Squirrely at the Farmers Market

2011-08-08T08:21:00.002-05:00

Last Wednesday's East Nashville Farmers market was by far the hottest the market I have ever been a part of. You could see the slowness of everyone dripping in the heavy air. There were no babies, no dogs, just slow moving adults out to support the local farmers and artisans. I grew up in Nashville on Delvin Farms, I'm a Southern girl, I like my tea sweet and my okra fried, but it wasn't until this last heat wave that I truly understood why people say the South moves slowly. Well no wonder, it's because the air is a wall of heat we have to muddle through! Even my words were slow coming out. Someone would ask me a question and I could hear my brain trying to digest what was being said, so you could imagine how slow I was to respond when Pastor Weeks of the East Nashville Freewill Baptist Church came out and asked if my husband Brandon and I could help him remove a critter from the church nursery. Pastor Weeks is the reverend from whom we rent the market space. He is kind, gentle and I'm fairly certain a born and raised Southern himself with the thick accent to prove it. So when he asked if we could help him remove a critter from the nursery, I paused a minute to try to make sense of what he was asking while Brandon grabbed a bushel basket and said, "sure! Let's go!" What we found in the nursery was a scared squirrel who had apparently wanted to free himself of the debilitating heat himself. He was perched on the crib staring at us when we walked in. Brandon shut the door behind us and the three of us took our places in various corners of the room. I never knew a tiny squirrel could make three adults jump the way we did! I kept saying, "ooohh I'm a little scared of him! Brandon, get him!" When he hit the window trying to get out, it dawned on us to simply open it. That's another thing heat does to you- makes you lose common sense! I opened one window, Brandon opened the other and out the squirrel jumped, away from three jumpy adults, away from the cool air conditioning and back to his own world. Things sure did squirrely there for a minute!

Farmers markets are not only about shopping for your goods. They are a place for the community to gather, to make friends, share recipes, talk to the people who grow your food and help one another out- maybe even rescue one from a critter! That's the reason I enjoy our weekly farmers market. Not only do I get to socialize off the farm a bit, but there's always some new adventure, some new knowledge or experience! What do you enjoy about your weekly farmers market?

-Amy Delvin Tavalin

Doggone Good Tomatoes!

2011-06-13T17:48:00.001-05:00

Summer is here and that means tomatoes are on their way in! We have several varieties of early tomatoes that are ripening in our hoop houses including the golden nugget, the red washington and the juliets. My personal favorite is the golden nugget for their sweetness and the beautiful yellow color it adds to my salads and pasta.
I'm not the only one in my household who loves tomatoes. Being a newlywed, I'm learning to mesh with my new husband and his quirky habits, but even more of an adjustment is learning to live with his dog's quirky habits! He has a pug named Boo. Boo is a girl, daddy's little princess. I've always maintained that if I can accidentally step on the dog then it's not the dog for me. I prefer larger dogs, mine is a border collie mix. She has her own neurosis, but that's another blog for another day.

Boo has her own little wardrobe (especially in the winter) and is shockingly pampered beyond the normal pampering for being the pet of a farmer! One of Boo's favorite treats for "being daddy's little puglet" is tomatoes. This dog will eat tomatoes like they are the last food on earth. She runs down the rows of tomatoes and yanks them off the plants and if there is any type of round, red object lying around she will bark at it thinking it's a tomato. Yesterday I brought a pint of juliets home from the farm and set them on the counter until I made the salad for dinner. Boo stood under the counter and barked, and barked and barked until finally I said, "what?! What do you want?!" She cocked her head to the side and since both her eyes go in different directions I wasn't sure if she staring at me or the tomatoes. I figured the barking was for the tomato and sure enough, one bite shut her up...until she swallowed and then it was bark, bark, bark all over again. Finally I had to put the tomatoes in the refrigerator to hide them from her. As a side note, one should not store tomatoes in the refrigerator, it makes them mushy and lose their taste.
Apparently we grow doggone good tomatoes- tomatoes even a pug can't resist!
-Amy

I Don't Aways Reap What I Sow

2011-05-16T21:53:00.001-05:00

Tonight for dinner I made Swiss chard for the first time. I thought it was odd that all these years we've grown Swiss chard I have never once eaten it! Today while harvesting for a Whole Foods order I decided to take a bunch of chard home with me and see what I could do. It turned out fabulous! Truth be known I didn't do much of the cooking- Brandon did most of it. He also took pictures of it while exclaiming how beautiful it was. First I diced an onion and added it to some olive oil (as a side note I was experimenting with one of our wedding gifts- a Le Creuset frying pan which I might add was pretty amazing). Brandon diced up the stems of the chard and tossed it in with my onions- the stems are always a disagreement with us. In the case of red or green kale, I think it's just as good to cook it all together, but he insists it's better to cook the stems first, add the leaves later. In this case, he's right! The result was a tender green with caramelized onions- sweet, not bitter and amazing!

While the chard cooked I threw some cauliflower (another vegetable I rarely eat) in some boiling water to steam. I went to the office to check my email and when I got back to the kitchen Brandon had taken the cauliflower out and grated some Colby cheese on top of it, making my once healthy cauliflower not so healthy. I'm not even sure where he got the cheese- we just got back from our honeymoon and our refrigerator is very empty and I haven't bartered for cheese at any of the farmers markets this week. He said he "found it in the back of the refrigerator" and when I balked at the amount he grated on top, he said, "But that's how Great Grandma Rose does it, I know it's good!" Well, alrighty, who's going to argue with Great Grandma Rose? I've met her, she's awesome, and turns out so is her way of cooking cauliflower-healthy or not we ate it all!
Tonight I learned several valuable lessons: I should reap what I sow more often and I should always say yes when my husband wants to help prepare our meal! While discussing dessert (we had Foxy Bakery's lemon pie) we discovered that neither one of us care for apple pie and prefer cake over pies in general unless it's lemon or cherry. You learn something every day- especially when you're a newly wed.
-Amy

Strawberries

2011-04-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

Well, it's April! When Brandon and I were setting the date for our upcoming wedding, I asked Dad when he could guarantee that our gamble at planting 20,000 strawberry plants in the hoophouse would pay off. Would it be April 9th or April 30th? Would it work at all or should I just wait for the field berries to produce in the normal season? Just to be sure, he said April 30th would be the date that we would be sure to have berries. It turns out April 9th would have been a good date too, because we have strawberries! It might sound crazy that I have planned my wedding around strawberries, but my love for them began at a young age when I ate so many that I formed red dots all over my body, including my tongue. There will be strawberries incorporated in the flowers at the reception, and our wedding cake will be made from our strawberries (courtesy of Rebecca at Rebecca's Wedding Cake Design).
This week on yahoo news, strawberries received special attention as being one of 10 items one should buy organically:
Strawberries may be a superfood—but they pose a potential risk unless you go organic. In addition to having up to 13 pesticides detected on the fruit, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis, conventional "strawberries have a large surface area and all those tiny bumps, which makes the pesticides hard to wash off, so you’re ingesting more of those chemicals," explains Marion Nestle, PhD, a professor of nutrition and public health at New York University and author of What to Eat.

Cindy Delvin picking the early berries for a gift to present to a friend!

Lucky for shoppers of Delvin Farms produce, our strawberries are not only certified organic, but you can get them four weeks earlier! We'll be at the Franklin Farmers market and the West Nashville Farmers market Saturday from 9-12pm. The berries will go quick, I'm sure!

-Amy

Strawberries in the hoophouse

Kale Raab, and Why I am not the genius I thought I was...

2011-03-21T11:44:00.001-05:00

On Sunday evenings I send out an email to all the restaurants and grocery stores we supply. On Mondays I begin harvesting for them and on Tuesdays I deliver. It takes me all day to harvest, unless the farm crew isn't busy doing other work and then I solicite their help (on these occasions it takes us 30 minutes to harvest!). This morning the farm crew was busy planting acres and acres of Spring crops, so I was in the kale field alone harvesting for Turnip Truck and Flyte. The green kale is from the Fall and some of it is starting to flower, or bolt. I was picking off the flowers before making the bunches of kale when I began to ponder...I wonder if these flowers are like broccoli raab? Now it must be said, self confidence and self esteem is not a problem for me. I think I am funny, pretty good looking, smart, and from time to time I think I am a downright genius. Well this morning at 7:30 am after a hearty breakfast and some good coffee, I was sure that I was a complete genius in the kale field as I pondered the delciousness of kale raab. SO I googled it on my smart phone (I even think my phone is smart!) and according to google, kale raab is indeed delicious...and I am not the genius I thought I was. Apparently everyone has been cooking and loving kale raab. I felt a little out of the loop when I read all the blog entries and recipes. It was a small ding to my self esteem when I realized I was behind...but have no fear, I'm sure something else will happen later today that will replinish my esteem and remind me of how fabulous I am :) In the meantime, I have come back to my house for lunch where I am about to cook the kale raab with pasta (see recipe link) and I invited Brandon to join me at 12:30 for what is sure to be the most delicious lunch we've had in a long time!
For your own kale raab, come see us this Saturday at the West Nashville Farmers market (4611 Alabama Ave) or the Franklin market (at the Factory on Liberty Pike). I'll print out some recipes for you to take home, and maybe I'll come up with an original one of my own...I'm smart like that!
-Amy

Spring Has Sprung!

2011-03-16T18:41:00.002-05:00

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

The air is warm, the birds are loud with chirping and the trees are starting to flower...Spring is springing upon us! Spring is my all time favorite season. I love the rebirth, I love Easter (which in my large Catholic family is a big celebration) and I love the flowers, the green grass, the birds, and the general good attitude people display as they shed layers and soak up the warmth of the sun. In Catholicism, the Church is in the season of lent. The music is not as joyous, cloths cover the usual happy decorations and we sacrifice something for 40 days to emulate Jesus' 40 days in the desert. But on Easter morning, cloths are removed to reveal flowers, the music is upbeat, and the congregation is dressed up and joyous. Spring is upon us, it is a joyous time and the heavens and earth are happy.

When I was a teacher I used to take the children outside for reading time in the Spring. There's something about a good story and soft grass to make school seem so much more fun. I used to get thank you notes for letting them read outside, which just goes to show, we all need a little nature in our lives. Now that I'm not teaching and am full time on the farm, I love Spring even more. We plant tiny seeds in trays in January and February, and I'll admit I kind of hate planting those tiny tiny seeds in trays in the cold greenhouses. But come March, BOOM- those tiny seeds are all out green plants and it's sort of miraculous to me, all that life in our greenhouses that we'll plant in the fields which will eventually end up on families' tables. Yesterday we took a gamble and planted tomatoes, basil, easter radish and lettuce in the hoophouses. We're hoping to have tomatoes earlier than usual, and who knows, miracles are all around us, and Spring is the perfect time to reveal the miracle of an early tomato! I hope you all will take the time to rejoice in your own daily miracles this warm, spring season. Hug a tree, sniff flower, and if you're lucky..eat a Delvin Farms early tomato!
-Amy

Berries, Buttercups and Bumblebees

2011-03-02T16:31:00.000-06:00

My last blog was about a wishful big snowfall. I'm going to assume (knock on wood) that since it's March 2nd already, the big snowfall is not going to happen for me. The buttercups (some of you may refer to them as daffodils) are abundantly growing along the fields and roads in Williamson county, but they seem to be a little early this year. I think that means we need to brace for a hot summer much like our cold winter we're leaving behind us. Buttercups are my absolute favorite flower. When I was little they grew wild all over our old farm. I can remember that Dad used to bring Mom buttercups home which he would pick from the fields. I loved the smell of them on the kitchen table. I was reminded of this last Spring when my fiance’, Brandon, came to my house with five vases full of them! He had gotten his farm crew to help him pick as many buttercups as they could manage. It was a fantastic surprise and I had a vase in every room. I'm secretly looking forward to having as many in my house this year, and so far Brandon has brought me one vase full.

I love buttercups, but I ADORE strawberries! When I was four years old I was picking strawberries with Mom and legend has it that I ate more than I picked- 4 quarts more. She had to take me to the doctor the next day when I broke out in red dots all over my body, including my tongue. From then on I was dubbed the strawberry girl. As luck (and careful planning) would have it, we're expecting strawberries out of our hoophouses in 3 weeks!! 3 weeks!! I can already envision running down the rows in the protective haygrove tunnels, buttercups in my left hand, strawberries in my right. I'm beyond excited at the prospect of having strawberries months earlier than usual. I planned my wedding around these early strawberries, making sure that I had the correct date when they were planted and verifying with Dad over and over when he thought our gamble at early strawberries would pay off. Playing it safe, he assured me he was certain they would be ready April 30th. So Brandon and I set the wedding date for April 30th and I found a wedding cake baker who will use our strawberries in my strawberry wedding cake. Now that the early berries are producing even earlier than we expected I am working at pushing back that small fear in the back of my mind that by the time April 30th comes around the early berries will all be gone! Hopefully the field berries will be ready by then..that’s the plan anyway. (Plan B is to cancel the wedding and move it to the middle of May when the field berries for sure will be ready, but I haven’t shared that crazy plan with anyone yet...).

In order to pollinate the berries in the hoophouses we have ordered bumblebees! Apparently honeybees won’t go in the tunnels, but bumblebees will. Maybe because bumblebees are ergonomically not really supposed to be able to fly anyway, they think to themselves, hey, I’m already defying nature, let’s get crazy in these tunnels! I don’t know..but that’s my fun theory. At any rate, bumblebees, berries and buttercups are in my life this glorious Spring, and on April 30th, Brandon, my beau, will become my better half!

For your own berries pollinated by bumblebees, visit us at the Franklin Farmers Market and the West Nashville Farmers market on Saturdays! Until it's time for the berries we'll have your leafy greens, shiitake mushrooms, potatoes and winter squashes. I will keep you posted on the berry debut.

One REAllY BIG snow fantasy

2011-02-06T12:45:00.000-06:00

This has been an exceptionally cold winter for us Middle Tennesseans (I'm sure I don't have to tell you this), but despite the harsh cold, we farmers are have been weathering through! On Delvin Farms, we spent last Friday erecting another hoophouse that will allow us to extend the growing season. With hoophouses, we'll have tomatoes and strawberries earlier than the field crops and we'll have greens, onions, spinach, arugula later in the year. Our hoophouses have allowed us to continue providing produce at the year round Saturday farmers markets, Franklin at the Factory and West Nashville at 47th and Alabama Ave.
Despite our desire to bundle up and hibernate we've continued farming in this unusually harsh winter. A lot of people complain about it, but I wouldn't mind one really big snow- the kind that will make it impossible to leave the house- for at least a day! Before I joined the family farm full time I had my "DC Adventure" as I like to call it, and I taught middle school Literature outside DC for seven years. The adventure part is teaching middle schoolers..but besides that, my border collie, Luna, and I had many snow adventures living in Maryland. One year we got three feet of snow and I had to shovel a tunnel for Luna to go outside. She is a true Southern belle who loves her sweaters, even here in TN, and she managed to hold it for two days before she finally gave into that tunnel!
But I digress...my point is that farmers don't have the option to call in sick or take a snow day, and these days we are preparing for all the upcoming outdoor, seasonal markets that we will be attending such as the East Nashville Farmers Market, Woodbine market, Forest Hills market, Franklin market, West Nashville market, Vanderbilt market, and Nashville market! We're planting seed in our greenhouses and nursing tiny plants that will be transplanted in the fields in March and April, so that by May we'll be ready to provide amazig certified organic produce to Middle TN! Snow isn't going to get us down...but I'm serious, I would REALLY like one BIG snow like Luna and I had in Maryland, just don't tell anyone I said that..someone may hurt me for those wishes.
-Amy

This week in the news..GMO and stuff.

2011-02-01T21:20:00.000-06:00

I'm sure you've all read or heard about the latest in the battle against Monsanto and GMO foods. Even though my family and I are certified organic farmers, I am guilty of enjoying a processed food or two (ie, Velveeta shells and cheese- that stuff is addicting!). However, in light of the recent news about genetically engineered food, I decided to educate myself a little more and vow to make better food choices and at the very least, for goodness sake, I will freeze and can more of my own produce!
The first place I researched in my campaign to eat the organic food I grow ( I know, I know, it's crazy that I eat processed foods when I come home from the farm) was Monsanto.The Monsanto Company is a multinational agricultural biotechnology Corporation. They are the world's leading producer of Round up and of genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto is responsible for the development and marketing of genetically engineered seeds,and bovine growth hormone(used to increase milk production in cows). What does this mean for certified organic farming? I recently read an interesting article on commondreams.org that summed it up pretty well for me: with the exception of the “grass-fed and grass-finished” meat sector, most “natural” meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs. And using GMO alfalfa on organic farms guarantees to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S. (Common Dreams.org).
In short, I learned to be even MORE grateful that I share a grass fed cow with my family from a local farmer we know and trust and I have a third in my freezer. And even though it makes me sad every winter when we make our own sausage, pork chops and bacon from the pigs I feed and kiss all summer, I am grateful for knowing what those pigs ate (they eat all organic,which is more than I can say about my own diet).
What can you do? You can get to know your farmer! Go to a local farmers market, find a meat farmer for your cows and pigs, find a cheese maker, bread, milk, vegetables..it's possible to supply all your basic needs at a local market or grocery store (Turnip Truck, Produce Place, etc)! And the best news is..Nashville has three year round Farmers Markets! So this Saturday, get to a market- Nashville, West Nashville or Franklin, and get yourself a farmer! And if you see me at the West Nashville market, kindly remind me to lay off the processed food ( I do, afterall, have a wedding dress to get into in April!).
-Amy

A Successful Farmer is a Learning Farmer

2011-01-23T17:37:00.000-06:00

This past weekend the whole Delvin crew went to the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group conference in Chattanooga, TN. The mission of SSAWG is "To empower and inspire farmers, individuals, and communities in the South to create an agricultural system that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane. Because sustainable solutions depend on the involvement of the entire community, Southern SAWG is committed to including all persons in the South without bias." Pretty good mission statement, I think!
We always learn a lot at this conference, and this year we were honored to teach a few of the classes. Mom and Dad have taught classes in the past on CSAs, and they taught again this year on the subject. We also gave a talk titled, "Our Family Farm, Three Families, One Farm" in which we talked about our business, how we divide roles on the farm and our growing practices. I taught a class on social media and how it is useful for farmers, specifically for marketing purposes. We plan to expand our fruit production and I also attended a class on fruit production in the hoop house that will help us extend the growing season. This was the 20th anniversary of SSAWG. Mom said when she and Dad first started attending in 1996, the conference had only about 100 people. This weekend there were over 1200 people. That's a big step for sustainable agriculture!
When I was a teacher I used to say that we are all lifetime learners. That couldn't be more true. There's always a new method to improve our growing practices and we can all learn from one another, which is what makes conferences like SSAWG great! There's always something new to learn and a successful farmer is a learning farmer!
Last year I met Brandon at SSAWG. He likes to joke that it's a dating conference for farmers and he snagged the best looking farmer there. This year he looked around and said, "gosh there are a LOT of people here- it's amazing we met last year at such a big conference." I told him that I like to think it was God placing us both in the same classroom for different reasons other than learning about lettuce!
-Amy

Winter on the farm, or what do you mean I don't have winters off?

2011-01-04T20:20:00.004-06:00

What do farmers do during the winter "off" season? Well let me first start by saying that I was tricked when I said I wanted to join the family business and quit teaching middle school Literature. You see, I am used to having a job with set hours of 7-4, except for the few crazy months when I directed/choreographed the school musical, I would be home in time to make a decent dinner and I always had at least 8 weeks off in the summer...until I moved back home to TN from DC and my summers "off" were working on the farm. Farms don't have set hours- you work until the job is done, even if it's 10pm and you've been working since 6am. When I began work full time on the farm (not just summers) I stupidly assumed that I had switched one off season for another and that I would have winter as my new summer. Not so. Yes the days are shorter, and I'm not doing four Farmers markets during the week, but as Dad pointed out recently, the warehouse has electricity, and with electricity comes lights, so really we can continue working after dark! Darn. I have learned a hard lesson: farmers don't get summer OR winter vacations. This winter we have been busy with Whole Foods orders, restaurants, grocery stores and Saturday Farmers Markets. We planted in the hoop houses last Fall and yesterday I weeded the lettuce and kale in the smaller one while the farm crew put new plastic on the larger ones. It took about a week to complete installation of the plastic roof, doors and sides in the one acre hoophouse. Today we began construction on a new greenhouse. It will take a few more days to complete and then we have two more to build. By the time all the greenhouses are built it will be time to begin seeding the Spring and Summer plants.

Brandon, my fiance', began work full time on our farm this week. We wrapped up the cleaning of his farm and leased fields last week in Gallatin where his grandparents will take over the business. Brandon was terrific today in the building of the greenhouse. He brought fresh ideas to the table and ideas that he tried on his farm that were successful in greenhouse production. This evening after a long day we all went out to eat and afterwards Brandon said, "Amy, I love your family, they're good people." Yes, I agree. Maybe farming makes good people. You can't work the land and have such literal back breaking days that leave you sore all over and still want to get up the next day and do it all over again and not come out of it unchanged. You learn to love the land, despite the challenges nature sometimes throws at you (ie floods or droughts), you care for nature, you care for the work, you care for the people who will benefit from that work. That's what makes good people, and I'm proud to be a member of the farming community.
-Amy

Take that Mother Nature!

2010-12-09T08:43:00.002-06:00

Last year around this time we had just purchased over an acre haygrove high tunnel, or hoop house. We were anticipating a successful year in offering early tomatoes, eggplants, herbs, chard, greens and berries. The May flood took out most of the crops in half our hoop houses, but not before we were able to enjoy some early berries. We were successful in having early eggplants and greens, but the tomatoes were a disappointment, as we expected a lot more than we actualy harvested. However, we are not a family that gives in very easily, so this Fall in the hoop houses we planted thousands of strawberry plants, and a few weeks ago we planted lettuces, kale and other greens in order to have more of a year round production. Today we are securing the roof, ends and sides with the very large and heavy plastic that will protect the crops from the elements. Take that Mother Nature! It takes about 6 of us to get one roof on (there are 6 bays) and it will take a few days to complete the job. The farm crew is already on the farm this morning and my brother even roped in Brandon, my fiance' who left his farm early this morning to help out. I looked out the window, saw the ice still on the ground, poured another cup of coffee and decided to let the men get started while I blogged! I'll be out there in a minute....
-Amy

In the thick of it

2010-08-30T20:56:00.002-05:00

I keep meaning to blog about the happenings of our farm, but running four Farmer's Markets during the week and one on the weekend keeps me pretty busy. I guess you can say, I'm in the thick of things. This summer season hasn't been as dramatic as last season with Dad's accident, but the damages of the May flood are just now starting to make their mark. Since we had to replant everything afterwards, we got behind on regular summer crops. We've spent this whole Summer season playing catch up. However, Winter squashes are making their appearance and it's beginning to feel a little like Fall! My brother Hank says Fall is his favorite season- he says he's got Fall "down pat." Basically that means he knows what he's doing farm wise and he feels comfortable with the plantings that are going on right now and the future harvests that the plants hold. But really his favorite season is Winter. He celebrates the "Winter Solstice" because he likes the idea of shorter days, darker afternoons which pull us off the farm by 4pm and dark mornings which cause us to sleep till 6. Every year he celebrates with his wife,Liz with some new something- last year he bought a Wii. I haven't had the heart to tell him that the Winter Solstice actually means the days are getting longer and pointing more to Spring... I'll leave that for someone else to break it to him! As a former teacher I always enjoyed Fall for the new beginning feeling- new school year, new faces, new crayons and the whole new smell of everything! This is my second season of not teaching and I haven't even noticed the back to school happenings. I don't even know how it got to be September already! I do know that the Farmer's markets are on their way out- October will be the last. I will miss the camaraderie of the farmers and the community of customers. I will miss not having to go to the grocery store- milk, cheese, bread, veggies, you can get it all at the markets! At any rate, I need to start freezing and canning because Winter is on it's way! We'll celebrate the Winter Solstice with Hank..and not mention that it actually is a celebration welcoming Spring!
See you all at the markets!
-Amy

Delvin Farms after the Flood

2010-05-06T14:44:00.005-05:00

We hope you are all doing well after the widespread flooding and pray that you all are safe and unaffected by this devastating event. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

We have been very busy these past few months enjoying one of the prettiest and most productive spring that we have had in years. March and April allowed us planting weather that was like no other in years past. We got over 150,000 plants in the ground and they were growing by leaps and bounds. Just as the March and April months were like no other in the last few years, so is May! The rains started Saturday morning and did not stop until Sunday morning for a few hours; long enough for us to see the fields in daylight and pray that the rain would subside. By 10 a.m. it started again and in the end the 13.5 inches of rain had a devastating effect. Fields once flourishing with strong, healthy crops were now strewn with the mulch and drip tape that were to nourish them through the growing season. Our estimate so far, and it changes daily as we survey the fields is that we lost about 70 percent of the crops we so laboriously planted the last 2 months. The strawberry fields are closer to 90 percent loss. Though flood waters never reached them, it was the heavy rain, saturated ground, and the sheer magnitude of water falling in such a short period of time. The strawberries were covered in several feet of water not from the river, but from rain and water from our own fields.

I can't begin to tell you the lengths we went to in order to save the crops. We stood in pouring rain, lightning, and winds assembling pumps in the strawberries to pump water to drainage areas. We walked in waist high water in our greenhouses at 9 p.m. at night in total darkness pulling plants from the racks ( which thankfully had not been reached by the water) and moving them to trailers and out of harms way. Through it all we feel very fortunate. We still have crops that the water did not reach, our homes are not affected and no injuries.

Those of you who have been with us (and you are many!) from the very beginning have been through many trials with us. We've had floods in the past, we had droughts 2 years in a row with tempertures exceeding 115 degrees for weeks at a time, and last year, our largest and most devastating tragedy when Hank Sr., the patriarch of the family, came to close to death when hit by an airborne vehicle. It is in times like these that we realize the blessing brought to us by our CSA family. You all rally with well wishes, offers of manpower, prayer, cards, emails, and moral support. Thank you all for your undying faith in us.

Through all the calamities, tragedies and silliness such as birds carrying off the strawberries one at a time, we have cried and laughed with you all, but one thought resonates; you put your trust in us and we will not let you down. Through it all, even on July 25th from the trauma unit at Vanderbilt, the first words from Hank Sr. after being treated for a broken neck, broken ribs, crushed hip, broken leg, crushed knee and numerous lacerations, was "Did our CSA members get their boxes today?" The children were able to say "absolutely Dad". We take pride in the fact that through the years, come what may, our members get the shares they need to feed their families.

As of right now, the CSA will start on schedule thanks to good planning and abundant plantings. If there is any change, we will let you know, but we do not anticipate any. The last 2 days have been spent frantically re-planting with the greenhouse plants. The fields that we are able to get equipment in are being prepared and planted. There are still fields that are too wet to even start the cleanup of pulling irrigation tape crisscrossing the field, but soon we will get that done and disk the once vibrant crops into the ground and start over. This has set us back a few weeks on some crops, but in the weeks to come the fields will be full again and it will all be a memory.

Cindy

PS. Liz found her first arrowhead on the farm today while surveying the fields!! Her excitement was a treasure; she called it her symbol of hope!

Fun February

2010-02-04T16:06:00.003-06:00

This month we are gearing up for the CSA and the return of Spring! The last few weeks have been spent with planting seeds in the greenhouses in preparation of transplanting them to the fields in March and April. The rainy/snowy weather has made us want to stay indoors, but there is much work to do in preparation of another busy season on the farm. The fields are resting with cover crops and soaking up valuable nutrients from vetch, rye and wheat as the rest of the world hibernates from the cold weather. We have two large greenhouses already packed with small sprouts of lettuces, kale, broccoli, onions, beets, collards, peppers and tomatoes. We are in the process of preparing another large greenhouse to house more flats of seeds. We are also preparing logs for shiitake mushrooms. We take oak trees from the farm, cut them into logs, drill holes in the them and inoculate them. The leftover wood we use on the farm for buildings or firewood, so nothing is ever wasted! I hope everyone is having as fun of a February as we are!
-Amy

"Blackberries" in the Winter

2009-12-19T14:00:00.002-06:00

Winter may try to slow us down a bit, but we have been busy wrapping up our CSA and harvesting for grocery stores, Farmer's markets and restaurants. We have two hoop houses in which we are able to harvest lettuces, spinach, carrots, arugula and kale for restaurants and grocery stores. The other day as I was cutting some arugula for one of the restaurants, my blackberry alerted me of an email for a Whole Foods order. I was thankful to have such great technology at my fingertips! Instead of going in the house to check emails on the computer or voice mails on the answering machine, I was able to keep working on one order and go straight into the next one without any time wasted. Outside the hoop house that same day, the farm crew was busy working in the blueberry and blackberry patch getting out the weeds, mulching and making sure irrigation would be ready for the Spring. It made me ponder that this new generation of farmers now have two definitions for blackberries, and perhaps I enjoy one of them a little bit more than the other! My family says I am on my phone way too much- texting, twittering, talking...I just say I am marketing and keeping the business in order. That's my kind of blackberry!

In other news, Dad (Hank, Sr.) is home from the hospital and goes to physical therapy five times a week. This week he started walking without his walker and progressed to using a cane. We have really enjoyed having him home! On the day he walked without his walker I had just come in for lunch when he and Mom got home from physical therapy. Dad walked in front of the TV and I craned my neck to see around him...then he walked back in the other direction (very slowly) and again I craned to see around him. Finally he stopped in front of the TV and looked at me. It took me a minute and finally, "OH! You're walking! Without a walker!" I am so very observant sometimes, and apparently one great daughter for trying to see the TV around his slow walk in front of it! ha ha!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
-Amy

Preparing for Winter on the Farm

2009-11-09T22:33:00.000-06:00

As the leaves continue to fall from the trees we begin preparing for Winter on the farm. The hoop houses are being planted with new seedlings that will provide lettuces,radishes, kale, carrots, and arugula during the cold months.The fields that once housed abundant summer vegetables now have the cool weather crops of turnips, turnip greens, kale, broccoli, tatsoi, cabbage, sweet potatoes and winter squashes. We also plant cover crops of vetch to give nutrients back to the soil. Even though we continue harvesting for our CSA, grocery stores and restaurants, the winter months give us the opportunity to concentrate on some of the things that get tossed to the wayside during the busy summer months that are filled with Farmers markets and CSA. Today we planted garlic, weeded the blueberry bushes,harvested for several grocery stores and continued planting new crops in the hoop houses. Even though animals (and some humans!) hibernate during the Winter months, we continue to harvest cool weather crops and prepare for Spring when new seedlings will immerse and the abundance of Summer will shine again!

The End of an Unusual Season

2009-10-29T18:08:00.004-05:00

Today was the last day for the weekday Farmer's Markets and this is our last week for the regular season CSA. We start the winter CSA next week. It has been an "interesting" season to say the least. I recently read in the Farm Bureau magazine that this has been the wettest October and has caused harvests to be three weeks behind schedule. We certainly have felt behind schedule on our farm too! Despite the constant rain Fall is a beautiful season on the farm. The sugar maple trees on the walking trail drop color to the ground and the leafy green vegetables are in full vibrant green bloom in the fields. Fall gives us a small taste of leftover summer in bell peppers and eggplants, and a glimpse into the impending cold weather in the leafy greens and winter squashes. For today's market we harvested bell peppers, eggplants, arugula, turnip greens, tatsoi, red kale, lacinato kale, green curly kale, red turnips, collards, radishes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, acorn squash and spaghetti squash.
Besides the rain that has made our season interesting, Dad's accident has caused quit a bump in the road, but one we are thankful to be getting over. He is home for a few weeks until his hip surgery on November 12 and it has been great being able to pop in and say hello when I get to the farm in the morning, and eat lunch with him at noon. The other day when the potato digger broke, Dad got in his golf cart (that our neighbor brought to him when he got home)and went to check out what needed to be done. He talked Hank, Jr. through fixing it and the potato digging commenced in no time. It's terrific having him and Mom back on the farm! After his surgery Dad will be in the hospital for a few more weeks, but we hope to have him home for good by Christmas. I know I have said this before, but we are so grateful for the support, prayers, cards, meals and volunteer work that our CSA members have provided this trying and unusual season!

Falling into Fall

2009-10-12T19:51:00.003-05:00

My drive to the farm every morning brings new observations. The leaves in the trees dotted about the hills on my drive are starting to turn vibrant colors. I noticed them on I65 this morning and I thought to myself that I really need to get up to Gatlinburg this year to see the changing colors, but then as I got closer to the farm I noticed the hills with their multi-colored trees and like Dorothy, I came to the conclusion that there is not place like home! Fall is a beautiful time on the farm. The summer vegetables make way for the winter ones as fields are plowed up and re-seeded. Pumpkins grow in vibrant orange and the brown corn fields remind us that the nip in the air is here to stay- it is Fall!
We have had a busy and productive Fall season so far. This past Sunday, October 11 we had a benefit dinner on the farm in partnership with Tayst restaurant to benefit Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee. Jeremy Barlow, chef and owner of Tayst prepared a wonderful meal! Dad (Hank Sr.) was able to leave the hospital for a few hours to join us for dinner! It was a great surprise. This Sunday, October 18 at 2pm is our annual CSA picnic. We will have live bluegrass music, hotdogs and notdogs (for vegetarians), face painting, pick your own pumpkin and Noble Springs goat farm with their goats!
We are making preparations for the Winter CSA which starts on November 4th. The Winter shares will have sweet potatoes, radishes, turnips,winter squashes and various greens such as turnip greens, kale, and arugula.
We are also making preparations to bring Dad home! His hip surgery is scheduled for November 12th, and then he will be on his way to rehabilitating at home. It's hard to believe that an entire CSA season has come and gone without him with us. My brother, Hank, and I have managed to keep the business going, but we welcome the day when Dad is back with us full time!

The End of Summer

2009-09-07T09:03:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe that September is making it's way in already. The cooler summer has fooled us all into believing that it will eventually get warmer and maybe prolong the carefree summer days, but life has a way of moving on when we least expect it. The signs of Fall are appearing on the farm, too. Leaves are starting to turn slightly brown, fields of once bountiful produce are starting to dry up and the cool weather crops we planted a few weeks ago are starting to make their way into the world.

This is my first Fall to be part of the family business full time. As a teacher, I always marked my years not by the conventional January to January, but August to August. Fall has always been a new beginning for me and a time for new resolutions, much like January 1st. The new beginnings are evident in the fields as the Fall crops begin to make their way above ground and we make preparations for our Winter CSA.

I was recently thinking how providential it is that I chose this of all years to join the family business full time. When I made the decision at the end of the last school year, I never imagined that Dad would be in the hospital until December,that Mom would be staying with him and that Hank Jr. and I would be running the farm. I idealistically thought that our family would be working together in the fields and at the markets, and although it has not worked out to be the way I imagined, I am thankful that Dad is still here with us and will eventually be home again! He recently had his knee surgery and the doctor was pleased with the results. We are waiting now to see if the bruising goes down, because if it doesn't he will have to have skin grafts. His hip surgery will be in the next few months but we're not sure when. He will be at NHC for about 3 more months and we hope to have him home for Christmas!

Our CSA and market customers continue to lend their support and for that we are grateful! Recently some of our customers made a beautiful quilt for Dad with handwritten messages which they gathered from people at the Franklin Farmers market. It was amazing! Another one of our customers hand painted a beautiful picture of our vegetables for the hospital room, and it really does brighten up the room! Our friends and neighbors are making deliveries for us and we are overjoyed with the love and support from the community. Thank you all again for your prayers and support. Here's to new beginnings and the end of Summer!
-Amy

Gettin' in the Groove

2009-08-27T22:33:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago after Dad's accident I mentioned that my other brother, Eric, brought the calm from his home in Olympia, WA., and at the time my brother, Hank and I really needed him! Lately Hank and I have finally gotten in a groove. Hank is staying behind on the farm to plant, irrigate, weed and maintain the farm while I am running the Farmers markets on Wednesdays and Thursdays- including driving that big 'ol truck! Mom has been able to leave Dad for the afternoons to help me out at the markets and make deliveries. It's comforting now to wake up every morning and not feel so overwhelmed and know what needs to be done and how to do it. Of course Dad has played a big role in that comfort as he has been giving us orders from his hospital bed! The other day when I visited he said, "Amy, I need to talk to you about lime." I responded with all the lime things I could think of.. I mean I can talk to a wall on a variety of subjects, so I said, "Ok, Dad, well there's lime in key lime pie, or lime in margaritas..mmm.. that sounds good..." But he cut me off before I could elaborate and said, "No, no, the lime Hank needs to put in the soil." Uh, perhaps I need to learn a little bit more about farming, because I was WAY off with that margarita comment! He was concerned that we weren't preparing the soil for the Fall plantings and he wanted to make sure we were on track (we are- whew!). That conversation got me thinking about how much I need to learn and how thankful I am that Dad is here to teach me. Regardless of whether or not he is on the farm with us, he continues to run the business he and Mom built over 30 years ago.

Tomorrow morning (Friday August 28) Dad will have the first of his surgeries, that is, if all goes well and his knee is not too swollen. We are keeping our fingers crossed and our hearts praying that everything will go as planned and he will be one day closer to coming back to the farm! Maybe I will have a key lime pie and margarita waiting for him when that day comes.
-Amy

A Trying Summer

2009-08-19T23:07:00.002-05:00

Besides the obvious (Dad's accident) this summer has been a tough one on the farm. Fields which would normally be producing an abundance of eggplants in different varieties are bare,save for a few plants that have spit out an eggplant or two! The many weeks of rain early on caused the tomatoes to either have blight (of which not much can be done) or have caused the tender fruit to split.

A few weeks ago my brother, Eric and I were discussing the benefits of joining a CSA. I was voicing my concern that not much is producing on the farm in this strange cool summer we've been having (well, cool until lately) and I was worried that our CSA customers were unhappy with the lack of variety thus far in their boxes. Eric pointed out that people don't join a CSA to buy vegetables that they can just go purchase at Whole Foods, rather what they are buying in a CSA is the farmer's trials and tribulations. A CSA is more than picking up a weekly box of vegetables. It is participating in a community that supports the land and the farmer who lovingly raises the food from seed to table. It is knowing where your food originates, and it is a way to know and care for the person who grows the food that will nourish your body. Literal blood, sweat and tears have gone into the boxes that our members take home and with which they feed their own families.

Three weeks have passed since Dad (Hank,Sr.) was life flighted to Vandy's trauma unit. It feels so much longer, but one thing that strikes me as truly awesome is the true community in our "Community Supported Agriculture." Our members have really come together, prayed, sent cards, food, well wishes and visits. At the Farmers markets, CSA members ask about Dad and tell me they are praying(prayer works!). They come by at the end of the markets to help us breakdown and load the truck, and they tell my brother and I what a great job we are doing in keeping the farm running (always good to hear!). Lately Mom (Cindy) has been able to leave Dad for a while and help us out at the farm and markets. I have really missed working beside her and every time she is able to leave him to come out to the farm I am reminded that it's one day closer to Dad being home again. Thank you all again for your prayers, cards, food and thoughts sent our way! Dad's knee surgery is August 26, and two months after that he will have his hip surgery. Everyday we are one day closer to having Dad and Mom back with us on the farm!
-Amy

The Latest News on Hank, Sr.

2009-08-11T23:44:00.001-05:00

This is the latest news on Dad, written by my Mom, Cindy:
12 hours of our Monday was spent at Vanderbilt with Hank on a stretcher going from one doctor's visit to x-rays, to MRI's to ultra-sounds and back to doctor's offices. At the end of the day, the news was disappointing. We thought Hank would have his hip surgery in the coming week, one week later his knee surgery and then back to therapy and perhaps home by the end of October. Yesterday his surgeon changed plans. Hank's knee sustained multiple fractures in the wreck so Dr. Kregor feels it would speed his recovery time to operate on the knee first and hip last. The disappointing news is that he is waiting 2 more weeks on the knee because it is still so swollen, and 2 to 3 months more before replacing the hip. At this rate it could be late November before he will be back home, perhaps later according to how therapy goes.

He is working hard, trying to master getting from the bed to a wheelchair with a very heavy metal bar and splints on his leg, but he seems to get better at it on each try, so the little triumphs will soon develop into much larger ones and we'll keep taking and celebrating each one until he is able to walk again.

Cindy

An ER visit and Channel 5 News

2009-08-05T22:42:00.004-05:00

I think my brother Eric is more than ready to get back to his calmer life in Olympia, WA.! Today as he and I drove to the East Nashville market (he was teaching me how to drive the big delivery truck!)we were laughing about the fact that in the past 48 hours we have had two ER visits (besides the obvious trauma unit with Dad). At this point, it's almost comical, and that old adage, "things come in threes" by now is more like "things come in fives."

Wednesday full and half share CSA days are a little hectic, to say the least. We start early with harvesting for the 400 shares that we will deliver, plus the East Nashville Farmers market. We have an overly ambitious goal of starting to put the boxes together by 9am, but that never happens. Instead it's a lot of last minute throwing produce on the truck for the East Nashville Market and praying that we haven't forgotten something important such as the cash register (which we have forgotten before) or worse, the CSA boxes. We started out at 7am (well, more like I started out at 7am- the rest of the farm crew began much much earlier). By 10am we were well on our way to beginning the assembly line of the CSA boxes and by noon we had a little over half finished, which unfortunately was not good news since we needed to be on the road at 1:30 (forget lunch on these days!). I was in the front of the warehouse sifting through watermelons for the market when George, one of our farm crew guys, came out of the bathroom looking pale and sick. I sat him on the front porch and stupidly gave him crackers and a diet coke(because that's what every organic farm has to drink- what was I thinking?!). He began complaining of his left side feeling numb and tingly. uh oh! I ran to get Hank, but really, I should have known better. If you knew Hank Jr. growing up you would know that the guy is about the most unlucky guy around when it comes to injury, and when he does get injured (as inevitably he will) he usually finds a bit of duct tape lying around and just tapes it on up! So he looks at George, looks at the panic on my face (and now Eric's face) and says, "Oh he's fine! He had too much caffeine,just sit here George and relax man..." and to the rest of us, "come on let's get this line going we gotta get moving!" Finally as the poor guy is getting more and more sick and things are NOT looking good, I take him to the ER. Long story short, I hate to admit it, but darn it Hank was right- too much caffeine, not enough water. The hospital gave George an IV and I made a mental note to get more water on the farm and to stop drinking diet coke. As all this was happening,channel 5 news came in the warehouse wanting to interview the Delvin children on how we have continued running the farm in Dad's absence. Well this Delvin child was in the ER with an employee...obviously things are NOT running smoothly in Dad's absence!! Never a dull moment on Delvin Farms! Hank did a great job with the interview, and by the time I got back from the hospital the truck was loaded and ready to go.

You may have noticed that I mentioned that we had been to the ER twice in the last 48 hours. The first visit was Monday morning for Hank,Jr. Luckily (again) Eric was here for that because I was at my house across town in Sylvan Park (though lately I have been crashing at Mom and Dad's house on the farm). According to Eric, Hank's wife, Liz, burst in the guest bedroom at 2am and told him Hank needed to go to the ER. He was doubled over in pain and the Tums was not helping. It turns out that he had some stomach lining inflammation (can you say stress?). Eric called me the next morning to inform me that he had to take "my brother" (not his brother!)to the ER. My first response was, "oh no, don't tell Mom'" who was currently staying in the hospital with Dad. Eric and I are now just trying to dodge the bullet and get through this week without an ER visit, because we are certain another Delvin is going down!

Dad's own hospital stay is going well. Tonight he had ribs for dinner! NHC in Coolsprings is a great rehabilitation hospital where he will stay until his hip replacement, and then he will return after his surgery for a few more months. Mom is able to sleep in the room with him, which is good, because according to her, nights are the roughest time for Dad. He is still on a lot of pain medication and it is helpful to have someone there to help him with things in the middle of the night.

The news tonight showed the children of a well known Farmer keeping his business going while he recuperates after a near-fatal accident. It looked like we were pulling it all together with no problems at all- but had that camera been a fly on the wall during the course of the week it would have picked up a different story. There is no doubt that Dad has been the pillar of our business, and after this week's events in his absence,it is reaffirmed that he is also the pillar and the rock of our family. In his absence, nothing is the same. Our minds are flustered as we think about his health all day, and our hearts are broken that he isn't farming beside us. Our goal now is to keep the business going as well as he would if he were here, so that, in his return, he will be proud to see that his children have continued the tradition of farming on his behalf.

Four Men in One

2009-08-04T22:36:00.002-05:00

With Dad being out of commission, my brother Hank and I have come to realize that he is not only the founder of the operation, but the work he does on the farm is actually the "work of four men" as Hank puts it. There have been many things that have come up that have made us say aloud, "Well, if Dad were here..." And to make matters worse, we have also lost Mom on the farm too, since she spends her days in the hospital with Dad. Luckily our brother, Eric, has come home for a little while to help out. We also have an amazing farm crew that has worked overtime to get us back on track.

One thing that needs to be done this week (at the latest) is planting some of the Fall crops. Normally the tractor work that is needed for planting is done by Dad, but in this case, Eric stepped up to the plate. Now Eric (obviously) grew up on the farm where we all learned at some point in our lives to plow. My plowing experience is marked in my mind as the time I scalped a baby bunny and in crying over it managed to plow up a row of freshly planted kale...but that's another story. Yesterday Hank showed Eric what fields to plow to prepare the ground for planting. I was working in the warehouse on grading tomatoes and Hank was feeling under the weather so we sent him home to relax for a while. An hour after he started, Eric comes in the warehouse and calmly says, "I broke the plow." Turns out he not only managed to break the plow, but he ran over four water hoses for the irrigation. "If Dad were here..."

Eric is the calm one of the siblings. Hank and I blame his living in the Northwest for that, because there is no way he would escape the Delvin dramatization if he lived here with us! If Hank or I had broken the plow the week we needed to plant, we wouldn't calmly stroll in the warehouse and say it, we would freak out, yell it, and all of College Grove would be aware...but that's why we love Eric and are grateful that he's here- he brings the calm! Hank ended up calling a welder, the plow is getting fixed, and if it would only stop raining, the planting will get done.

Today Dad was moved to a rehabilitation hospital in Cool Springs until his hip surgery around August 15. He seems to be in better spirits, and today was the first day that his only grandson, Ryder, was able to visit! Everyday we get 10-15 get well cards in the mail. We are all so amazed at the outpouring of love and support from the community, and I think it is really helping lift Dad's spirits! There's something to be said for the power of prayer, too! I can't say enough, thank you all for your well wishes and prayers! Now we need to pray for a dry day to get that planting done. "If Dad were here" there would be one more dramatic Delvin to stress out over all the rain :)
-Amy

A Good Weekend

2009-08-02T14:20:00.004-05:00

We had a great comeback to the Franklin Farmers Market this past Saturday. There was definitely a feeling of void without dad with us and we were humbled by the amount of people who brought cards, food and well wishes. We set up a video camera for people to share their thoughts of love and support and last night we shared the video with him. He loved it!

Dad's progress is amazing. It's hard to believe that one week ago we were unsure if he would even be with us and now he is sitting up and giving us orders on what needs to be done on the farm! It is truly a testament to his determination and strong will. We found out some great news this weekend. Dad does not have a bacterial infection in his hip, and the surgery has been scheduled for sometime the week of August 15 with his knee surgery scheduled a week or two later. He will be moved soon to a rehabilitation hospital until his surgery, and after the surgery he will return there for a few months. His white blood count is still a little elevated, so we've been careful about the amount of visitors he has had so that he can continue to fight off infections. He has a bladder infection now, but his spirits are high and he said today that although he is out for the season, he felt that Hank and I have a handle on things. I talked mom into going to my house for a few hours to shower and regroup, and Dad and I talked "farm talk" the entire time she was gone, mainly how our CSA is going, how the restaurant orders and wholesale orders are going, what needs to be planted in the next few weeks or so..

It's only been a week since our world was turned upside down yet it feels like a month. We've gone through several highs and lows- some in the same day, and all in all we are so impressed by Dad's determination and strong spirit! Thank you to everyone for the prayers!
-Amy

Keeping the Business Going

2009-07-31T23:27:00.003-05:00

My brother Hank and I have been working to keep the business running while going between the hospital to visit Dad and the work on the farm. We have an amazing farm crew that has worked overtime to help us keep on track. Without even being told what to do next they anticipate what needs to be done and Hank and I are blown away when we look to see that what we think we still have to do has already been done! Yesterday my other brother, Eric, and his wife, Rain, flew in from their home in Olympia, WA. to help out for a little while,too. I know Dad is grateful to have all three of his children at his bedside. We have been humbled by the number of people who have wanted to visit him and the outpouring of love and support that we have been given by our friends and customers!
As I said yesterday, I feel as if we are on a roller coaster- we have a good day, then a bad day, then a good day. This morning when I visited Dad he was in a lot of pain and the pain medication is making his stomach upset. However, his spirits remain high and he is persistent in trying to build his upper body strength with the "trapeze" bar above his bed despite his three broken ribs. This evening his stomach was getting better- the bloating is subsiding some, and when I asked him about his pain without as much pain medication, he simply said, "Well, Amy, it hurts a lot, but I'll make it." I know that he's probably in more pain than I could ever imagine, but I know he's determined to get through it.

Strength and Determintation

2009-07-30T23:18:00.003-05:00

Last night's surgery setback left us all a little stunned and depressed. Today on the farm getting ready for the Vanderbilt Farmers Market was all a blur. We have markets back to back on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and usually I spend a little time the day after each market reorganizing the baskets, signs and other items we use, but today we got to the Vanderbilt market with credit card machines not charged, a missing apron and missing signs. I was only able to grade through a few boxes of tomatoes this morning and by the first hour of the market we were almost sold out. I wasn't surprised by our disorganization though, given the circumstances. But even as Hank and I were feeling frazzled and out of sorts all day, Dad was gathering strength in the hospital and determined to get back on his feet-literally. He surprised us all today by sitting up and moving himself with the trapeze to the side of the bed! Even the physical therapist said she knew he was strong, but for someone who has been in the type of accident he was in and immobile for so many days, she couldn't believe the strength he had to pull himself up with broken ribs and neck and not complain about the pain! He told her that he was going to walk soon, and with that attitude and determination we know he will. The doctor suggested today that Dad might be moved soon to a rehabilitation hospital for physical therapy while we wait out this infection for his hip replacement and knee operation.

Today's events were certainly different from yesterday's. We were all so depressed to learn that Dad would be bed ridden for two months, but today he showed us that it won't slow him down a bit- I don't know why we ever doubted that it would! My other brother, Eric, and his wife, Rain, flew in from Seattle tonight to help out on the farm for a little while. Dad's spirits were lifted to see all three of his children at his bedside. I told my brother that I feel like we are on a roller coaster- the emotional highs and lows day to day are as wearing on us as the lack of sleep. Luckily we have had tremendous support of our community- friends, customers, family. Dad is exhausted from the many visitors, yet we his children see it as a wonderful testament to the life he has led and the number of people whose lives he has touched.

Bump in the Road

2009-07-29T23:31:00.003-05:00

Today we had another setback. Dad's surgery did not go as planned. When they started the hip replacement they found bacteria around the broken bone. They took out the broken part and put a spacer with antibiotic in place. He will be bed ridden for a possible two months until they can get the infection out and surgeries complete. Telling him the news after he came out of anesthesia was very difficult. When going in to surgery early this morning he was hopeful to have some of the pain subside with the hip replacement, but after today he is in even more pain than before. It was heartbreaking for us to watch. We are all praying that his body will heal of this infection quickly and he can have the surgeries he needs to be on the road to recovery. As always, he was worried about the farm and apologized to my brother for leaving it all on us. We assured him that things were going great- we had a successful market today and all the CSA deliveries went as planned. We even showed him a picture of one of the CSA boxes we made this morning. Most importantly we tried to ease his fears. It will be a long time and it will be painful, but we tried to assure him that he will get through this.

2009-07-28T23:32:00.002-05:00

The 10th floor at Vanderbilt hospital is a busy and sad place and I admire the doctors and nurses who have chosen the trauma unit in which to work. Last night many more traumas came in which resulted in Dad's surgery being postponed. It is now scheduled for 8am tomorrow (Wednesday). He is a little grumpy about lying in bed because he is not one to just sit around, and I know he really wanted to get this surgery out of the way, but when the doctors came in to tell him why his surgery would be postponed he told them in his typical humble fashion, "Well I guess someone else must be in worse shape and needs it more than I do."
After this morning's hospital visit I went to the farm to help out with some more orders and get things organized for tomorrow's East Nashville market and CSA. The farm must continue as usual, as my brother, Hank, says, "the crops don't stop growing." I think it is comforting to Dad that we're carrying on as usual with the CSA and markets. I felt torn today- I wanted to be at the hospital, but I needed to be at the farm,too. Hank and I worked all day before going to the hospital for evening visiting hours, and when Dad said, "Well it sounds like ya'll have got it all together," I felt better about being on the farm and not at the hospital. He and Hank did a lot of "farm talk" and I told mom that it seemed to make them both feel better to talk about what needs to be done.
After the hip surgery Dad will need to have knee surgery in two weeks and many months of physical therapy and rehabilitation. Hopefully he will be back to farming in the Spring!

"Nothing I Can't Endure"

2009-07-27T23:11:00.005-05:00

The soreness and pain from the trauma that dad endured from his accident is starting to set in. Despite all the pain medication that is administered, we can tell that he is not getting full relief, yet he never complains. When the nurses asked him today if he was in any pain he responded, "well, it's nothing I can't endure." I have had many people tell me over the last few days that my dad is a strong man and he will get through this. The nurses who have worked on him have said he is a wonderful patient. I know he is strong, yet it astounds me how little he complains with the extent of injuries he has. The external metal rod running the length of his leg to hold his knee, hip and femur in place until they can finish all his surgeries is a gruesome sight, and I can't imagine the pain that comes with it, yet he never mentions the discomfort nor the pain. I hope he's this good when mom has him at home by herself!

After spending a few hours at the hospital this morning to visit with dad, I went to the farm to lend a hand to my brother. There was so much to do to get back on track that it was a little overwhelming. I wanted Hank (Jr) to feel supported and not abandoned so I had big plans to jump right in and start working, but once I got there I felt my wheels spinning. It became apparent quickly that dad is the cornerstone of our family operation, not because Hank didn't have a handle on things, but because we were both stressed (and not hiding it well) and things on the farm felt disorganized. When I first got there I checked in on baby Ryder (that's always a must) who proclaimed, "Aunt Amy's here with Luna!" Hank told me some of the Whole Foods orders that we needed to get out, so I would work on that while he got the farm crew on picking squash, tomatoes and digging potatoes. He made some phone calls regarding the truck insurance and renting another delivery truck for a while. I started to leave his house to drive over to the warehouse and low and behold- my car won't start. Of course not!! So another call that had to be made- tow truck and auto care place.
I spent the whole day going through all the produce that we harvested for last Saturday's markets and CSA. A few CSA customers stopped by to pick up their shares, and one member, Sadira, said, "ok, I'm ready to help, let's go!" She wouldn't take no for an answer, so I accepted her help in cleaning and organizing the overflowing cooler of produce. As fast as the crew was harvesting we were pulling pallets in and out and setting aside the ones that would go to charity while the farm crew brought in fresh squash and tomatoes for Tuesday's orders. Sadira had a great strategy of "first in, last out" and we put the date on the pallets so we would know what was picked today and what was charity. She was amazing and I was glad that I didn't let my pride get in the way and accepted her help. Many people have called or emailed asking how they can help, and I don't know what to tell them or what we need help with. Sadira left the farm dirty and probably sweaty, and though I felt bad about that, I was thankful for her company in an otherwise overwhelming situation. With friends, family and wonderful customers such as these, there really is nothing we can't endure!

Love and Prayers in the Time of Tragedy

2009-07-26T19:23:00.003-05:00

The Delvin family has had a roller coaster ride for the last 24 hours. On the way to the Franklin Market on Saturday at 5:30 am, dad was in a life threatening accident in his delivery truck. Another driver fell asleep at the wheel and his car became airborne and slammed into the cab of dad's truck, trapping him in the cab and causing serious injuries. He had to be cut out and air lifted to Vanderbilt, and if you saw the truck you would wonder how anyone could have survived the accident. Dad suffered three broken ribs, a fractured neck, broken left leg, knee and hip, but he is alive! There were some scary moments Saturday morning when we thought we would no longer have our dad, our rock and cornerstone of Delvin Farms. Yesterday he had surgery on his femur and did well. He will have to undergo some more surgeries, including a total hip replacement. Today he is alert and talking, but mostly worrying about the farm. He told my brother and me we needed to rent a new truck for a while because he didn't think his would run anymore- wow! He told mom maybe she should consider postponing the CSA for a week and extending the season. We eased his worries with stories of our customers, farm crew, friends and family who pitched in and took care of every detail on Saturday. With the help of friends and farm crew, dad's truck (which had been towed to the farm) was unloaded of produce and the CSA shares placed in the warehouse. An email was sent to the CSA members to pick up their shares on the farm. Word was spread around the market and "get well" posters were made by my friend, Hannah, who stayed all day with friend and CSA member,Dale to inform customers of the accident. We are so thankful and humbled by everyone's support and prayers, which have obviously worked. Dad has a long road ahead of him and will most likely be in the hospital for many months, but he is alive and broken bones will heal. Thank you thank you for your prayers!!

The Need for Energy Bars...Without Dog Saliva

2009-07-07T21:46:00.004-05:00

Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)is set up so that customers can choose to pick up their box of produce either weekly (a full share) or biweekly (a half share). On the weeks in which we have both full and half share holders picking up their produce, the farm is a busy place! Today for instance, we began preparing for our Wednesday Farmers market in East Nashville, and the 409 CSA boxes we will be delivering to various locations. At 7am we were all spread out on the farm. I began making pints of juliet salad tomatoes in the warehouse- I needed 500 pints of tomatoes to cover the CSA and the market. Mom made a delivery to the Turnip Truck (a local organic grocery store), my brother, Hank, was....well, I don't really know what he was doing- he tends to move around a lot supervising the farm crew and no one in the family can keep track of where he is. He wakes up at the crack of dawn and before you know it, 500 head of lettuce have been cut, the blackberries have been weeded, the squash has been picked... all by the time I arrive. Anyway, Hank was supervising the farm crew whom I think were picking squash. Dad was planting tomatoes with some of the other farm crew. By the time mom got back from the delivery, time again had escaped me and it was pushing 10am. Had it really taken me that long to make those pints of tomatoes? agh! I took a small break on the swing with my energy bar and I was ready to go. Next on the agenda- bagging potatoes. We needed, again, 500 bags of potatoes washed, bagged and weighed out to be 5 pounds. When we begin jobs like this it seems like it won't be a big deal. When an hour passes and we've only gotten through 50 or so bags...oh no. This could take forever. In my head I was secretly hoping the guys who comprise the farm crew would come in from the field and declare that all the squash had been picked, all the blackberries picked, the tomatoes were finished and the farm was completely weed free, so we needed to give them something to do! No, that was a fantasy in my head..it was back to the reality of it being just mom and me and huge bins of potatoes to wash and bag. At noon we took a lunch break and after lunch we worked for another 4 hours before mom suggested we go sit on the porch and have an energy bar. My faithful assistant, Luna, followed us outside and sat at moms feet hoping for a bite. Mom looked down at her and said, "Sorry Luna, not this time. I'm too tired and hungry to share." I heard a small gasp and then, "oh no! I dropped the last bite!" We watched as Luna sniffed, took it gingerly in her mouth as if she wasn't quite sure it was good. Finally mom said, as serious as can be, "Alright, alright, if you're not going to eat it, spit it back out so I can!" We burst out laughing after realizing what she said - now THAT'S desperation for an energy bar! Sometimes farm work will get to you like that.

Time and Place on the Farm

2009-06-28T18:14:00.003-05:00

It occurred to me this weekend that several weeks have flown by without me posting anything on the blog. We laugh in my family about how time seems to whiz by on the farm and sometimes one of us will say in disbelief- "what? today is Friday?!" when we discover that one of us was supposed to be somewhere or do something.
The daily chores of the farm keep us occupied from early in the morning until late at night and weeks pass us without us ever having any notice of how many days and hours have flown by. One observation I have had recently is how quickly the farm changes overnight, yet being there day in and day out makes us miss the subtle changes that nature produces. A couple of weekends ago I went on a short vacation to Key West. I missed a Monday and a Tuesday on the farm- only two days, yet when I returned I noticed that the once tiny squash plants were now ready to harvest, and the grass that I had cut before I left was now ready to be cut again. The cucumbers were ready and the tomatoes (the very same ones I said were not to be found at a Farmers market any time soon) were suddenly ripened and ready to be eaten.
The summer season seems to take an eternity to grace us with its presence, yet it flits by us in a hurry to turn into Fall. We seldom get to complete all of our fantastic summer plans we conjure up in our heads in the cold winter months, and the same is true on the farm. Plans we made in the greenhouses in January for new varieties of tomatoes or eggplants, etc., are sometimes cast to the wayside when the summer season decides to laugh at our ambitions and refuses to give us rain- or maybe it gives us too much rain (too much of a good thing can be detrimental in life, I'm sure of this we are all aware!). So this vow, I will make again- not just on the farm, but in my life, that I will gaze determinedly at my surroundings and soak up all that time and place offers me so that nothing will pass me by without notice.

A Kubota, a dog, green paws and nature

2009-06-09T21:39:00.006-05:00

In an effort to keep the soil from eroding and to keep the crops clean during harvest, we plant grass between the rows. It also makes it easier to drive down the rows to pick up boxes with the freshly harvested produce. However, one downfall is that grass needs to be cut. Yesterday I got a lesson from my brother on using the Kubota (a really powerful and big mower, almost like a bush hog). We set out at 7am to get the blackberries and blueberries weeded, irrigated and the grass cut. Luna followed me, as she does everywhere I go, to the blackberry patch. However, she did not stop there and nap under a shaded tree as any normal dog would. Nor did she go down to the Harpeth River and rest her paws in the cool water. No, she decided she would continue following me up and down and back and forth as I cut the grass. One discovery I made about the Kubota is that it goes fast! I looked back at Luna and noticed that she was no longer walking behind me but was now having to run to keep up. The poor thing ran behind me for over an hour. Finally I had to stop mowing for fear she would collapse of heat exhaustion and take her (and her now green paws from the freshly mowed grass), back to mom's house. I tried to wash her paws, but today they still remain green.
Besides cutting the grass between the rows of crops, Hank and I decided to cut all around the fence rows to make the farm more presentable for a film crew from channel 4 that came out to the farm today. They were filming a segment in coordination with Farm Bureau's "Farm Fresh" that strives to educate the public about supporting local farmers and eating locally. They arrived around 10am and interviewed each of us about our role in the family business. Look for it this month on the TV show, "Better" on channel 4 during the day!
Before the film crew arrived we were busy harvesting produce for the day. We didn't know how long the filming would take and we knew we had a lot to do, so we got an early start. I thought I was doing well getting to the farm when I did, but dad already had the majority of the cabbage cut all by himself. As we were working on the cabbage, dad pointed out a deer on the edge of the field. Normally the deer mean less strawberries, apple trees, or more recently, shiitake mushrooms. We make great efforts to keep them out of our fields, but there's something beautiful and majestic about seeing one or two as we're out there in the field working. We always pause to enjoy the nature or animals around us, whether it's the blue herons, the rabbit that jumped when I pulled back the cabbage leaf, or the deer that stood and peered at us. So dad and I stood there a moment and gazed back at it and then went back to work. I thought for a moment how thankful I am to be able to work beside my dad, a man who takes the opportunity, no matter how rushed he is to get a job finished, to enjoy a beautiful moment in nature and point it out to me.

Farmers Market- no tomatoes

2009-06-06T18:22:00.004-05:00

Today we had another successful market in Franklin at the Factory. It was perfect weather that drew a large crowd. I know it's summer and people expect tomatoes in the summer, but they're just not in season yet in TN. However, we had some yummy juliets and Prudence Purple heirloom tomatoes from our hoop house for sale (but not many). I had several questions regarding tomatoes, melons, blackberries and blueberries. People are often out of touch with what is in season. It's kind of funny, too, because when I say, no, I'm sorry, we don't have watermelon, not until July...I sometimes get a mean look or an exasperated sigh, as if it's my fault I can't control the climate enough to grow a watermelon in early June in TN! I like to recommend the book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It's about our relationship with food and eating locally and in season as our ancestors did.
Yesterday was busy on the farm getting ready for the market and the CSA delivery today. Mom and I started the morning with bagging the green beans for the CSA boxes. After a lunch of fresh vegetables we got busy with washing and bunching the onions (over 1000 onions!), washing the beets, bagging the spinach and filling out an order of kale and collards for Whole Foods. The onions took the longest and has always been the job I despise! My hands get dried out from the water and the scrubbing away of the dirt then the cutting off of the scraggly green ends to make them appear perfect, not to mention the heavy onion smell that seems to linger on my clothes. Onions also take the longest to prepare. At 4:45, with only 15 minutes to get the promised order to Whole Foods, I was frustrated to realize we had 200 more bunches of onions to make (4 onions to a bunch) and we had not even begun to put the CSA boxes together (165). In the back of my mind I was also wondering how we were going to finish up the task at hand, get the CSA boxes together, the order to Whole Foods on time and how I was going to make "girls night" at 7pm. So when mom proposed I go ahead and leave for Whole Foods and continue on home and not worry about coming back to help with the market items and CSA boxes, I took her suggestion, but then I felt guilty the whole way home knowing that they would continue working until late to get the job finished. I made it to girls night 30 minutes late, but with a fresh salad made from ingredients picked from the field on my way out the door.
Tomorrow(Sunday) is the one day we don't work (at least we say we don't, but in reality we inevitably end up planting something, or irrigating, or weeding). We'll go to church and then eat out or maybe have dinner at Hank's house. I for one will not work on the farm tomorrow- the one advantage of not living on the farm is that I can, from time to time, "hide out" so that I can get a break until Monday morning when the market and CSA preparation begins again. :)

Crazy Weather!

2009-06-04T21:00:00.004-05:00

Are we in the South?
Today it was a cold rainy day for our Vanderbilt market. I mistakenly brought a clean linen shirt and shorts to change into after harvesting the produce and I ended up freezing at the market (yet another reason I should build a house on the farm with the rest of the family and not live 25 minutes away- so I don't have to worry about making it out the door in the mornings with all the proper attire). When I left this morning for the farm I thought, wow, it's cold now, but I know it will be hot, hot, hot in the field today! I was mistaken. On the one hand, it was a nice day to harvest lettuce and get the 150 CSA boxes and all the vegetables needed for the market. On the other hand, without sunshine we're behind on what would normally be producing in a hot June month! I am sure in a few weeks I will be wishing for this cool climate.

Today was also my first full day on the farm after closing out the school year and ending my teaching career to join the family business full time! I'll be in charge of school tours on the farm in the Spring and Fall, and of course, will be helping with the harvesting, deliveries, CSA, markets and everyday work of the business. Luna, my border collie mix, has always been excited about my teacher summer vacations since that meant more time to be outside and by my side (she's a little attached to me, to say the least). When I moved back home to TN after being in the DC area for seven years, she especially loved my summer vacations because that meant she could play all day on the farm with her cousin, Mindy, the yellow lab. Something about the way I got ready for "work" this morning must have tipped her off because she wouldn't eat her breakfast and ran circles around me anxiously. I wondered, how does she know I'm going to the farm and not to school? I couldn't take her with me today since I had to go to the Vandy Farmers Market straight from the farm, but tomorrow I will take her and not have to see her sad little face looking out the window and watching me drive away without her.

Don't let the rain get you down!

2009-06-03T21:44:00.003-05:00

Today we had a successful East Nashville market despite the brief bout of rain. If you haven't been to any of the Farmers markets in the Nashville area, you should check one out this summer! We at Delvin Farms sell to four markets: East Nashville, Vanderbilt, Nashville and Franklin. If it happens to be a rainy day and you had plans to visit one of the markets, don't let the rain scare you away! We farmers love rain and we continue to sell our freshly harvested produce come rain or shine!
It's always fun to see how the markets progress from week to week. On opening day in May farmers had plenty of greens (kale, lettuces, collards) asparagus, strawberries and onions. And now as each week of the season progresses mother nature treats us to one or two more crops to be harvested for the market. Today we were able to add swiss chard (the colorful rainbow variety), broccoli, green beans and squash to the table! We even had a few pints of tomatoes out of our hoop house (those sold quickly). As the summer progresses we'll have tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, melons, corn and all the vegetables and fruits that remind us of summer! Come visit us at one of the markets and say hello to me (Amy) my brother, Hank, his wife, Liz, baby Ryder, and our mom and dad (Hank and Cindy).