Contact us

We practice sustainability at the farm. Crop rotation, use of drip irrigation and re-using the flower water each week are some of the ways we are being kind to the earth.

We have two harvest boxes available for this coming 2019 season as of May 19th. If interested please email Lorrie at shadymaplefarmcsa@gmail.com and leave me a note. I will send you information. 18 weeks of fresh produce, herbs, berries and tree fruits when they are in season along with a weekly bouquet of beautiful flowers for $500.
We do have just flower subscriptions available.
A Full Flower Share is 18 weeks of gorgeous bouquets for $230 or a Half Share, every other week for a total of 9 weeks of flowers for $115.
Please email Lorrie at shadymaplefarmcsa@gmail.com if you are interested.

Pick up would be on Tuesdays between 4:00 - 6:00 pm at Shady Maple Farm, 8005 Portland Rd. N.E. Salem, Oregon. Our season lasts from May 28 to September 24, 2019.


Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Week 17 Carol as Guest Photographer & Drona

Carol, who has helped us pick several times this summer, is very good with a camera. I turned her loose with mine for part of today. It was sweet of her to take  photos for us. Thanks Carol.  The majority of photos on today's blog are her's.
A few of our winter squash. These are storage squash unlike summer squash that won't store.

Carol on the left, without a camera, and Rosa on the right. They are washing the winter squash off.

These are the summer squash for the day. Zucchini: green, yellow, long, and some are round. We also have yellow crookneck squash, delicious sliced, tossed in a little flour/garlic salt and fried. Yum.

I surprised Muffy while she was concentrating on picking the cherry tomatoes. We have short gardening stools to help when picking low crops. They have curved bases so when you lean forward they rotate with you. 

A beautiful blue sky to work under today.

Pretty, clean winter squash. Top to bottom: acorn squash, delicata squash and butternut squash. All will store well in a dry, non-freezing location for a few months (if not eaten sooner!).

Ethan exiting his lunch delivery gator. Little brother in tow. Thanks kiddos. 

Levi trying out the gravel ramp up to the concrete slab. Lisa's water filled buckets of flowers are towed up the ramp on our carts on a regular basis on harvest days.

Today's sweet peppers await their box locations. So delicious to snack on.

Pie pumpkins are fun to carve and also to bake. 

Serranos are hot, they will be in a different labeled bag than the sweet orange peppers.

Muffy's collection of cherry tomatoes. Once we see how many there are for the day we gently blend them together.

Round yellow zucchini along with smooth and knobby yellow crookneck summer squash.

Purple, green and yellow tomatillos.

All Blue potatoes. So tasty.

The selection table. Box holders pick out one of each of these. The boxes are so full today, everything doesn't fit.

Lavender attracts many beneficial insects as well as going in the boxes a couple times a summer.

Our Dad's golf cart comes in handy transporting heavy squash and tomatoes from the far end of our 300 foot long rows.

The zinnia patch.

Bumble bees don't mind our presence.

Muffy still picking cherry tomatoes. Thanks Muffy!

This is our family's very old transplanter. Lisa, Angie and I remember planting strawberry fields (at one time we had 22 acres of strawberries) while riding on this machine "back in the day". Hours of riding backwards feeding new, young strawberry crowns just so into the rotating "v" that would let the plant go at just the right time to be gently covered by the rolling wheels behind. Ahhh, memories.

The flower house is filling up. Buckets and buckets of flowers and greenery (scented geraniums in the foreground) await Lisa and her bouquet making prowess.

Statice not used today will be hung up to dry with these to be used later. 

Cheery, bright yellow sunflowers.

A bucket of red zinnias soaking up water.

Pale yellow zinnias with varying petal counts.

A sweeping view of the zinnia buckets.

Anna with her two boys. Ethan holds tightly to the buckets on the back of the golf cart.

Angie is chauffeuring the golf cart crew. Louise looks up at her Auntie, patiently waiting to go. 

Sweet Ethan in the back of the golf cart. 

Maybe close to nap time? For Levi, not Anna. We need her help!

Angie sporting her cute hair band. 

Golden zucchini all lined up and ready to be placed in their boxes.

He may struggle to move this bucket of lemon cucumbers.

Drying lavender.

Drying baby's breath.

The boxes are starting to fill for the day.

Filled flower pots outside the potting shed. We grew all these from seed in our greenhouses. Everything in our harvest boxes is grown right here on our family farm.

My wonderful husband, Bryan, has retired from a lifetime of working in education (teacher, coach, administrator). He now helps us out on the farm in many ways. Zucchini sorter to fix it man. Thanks dear.

Red storage onions. Shiny and bright. They are very firm, have a low sugar content unlike Walla Walla Sweets (which we also grow) and will store all winter in the right conditions.

The "extras table" is filling up.

More extras. This time of year, if we are fortunate, the boxes are jam packed and we have extras for box holders to take home.

Pears are ripe, too.

The onions are drying inside an unheated, shady greenhouse. Air flow is important for this to take place. 

More onions await cleaning since they are dry.

Lemon cucumbers prior to washing.

Slicing cucumbers.

Ethan helps with lunch delivery. 

Many colored carrots for today.

Of course he wants to make sure the whipped cream is available for our iced coffees. 

Lisa cutting flowers right up to lunch.

Looking past some young dahlias towards the herb beds.

Ethan by the "extras table".

Wouldn't you just like to bite into one of these pears? So crisp and juicy.

The tomato table. Cherry tomatoes have been gently mixed and boxed. We love all the different colors and tastes.

Carrots are counted and bunched.

Angie and Rosa hold up a huge sunflower head. Each seed was proceeded by an individual flower. As the light colored part is brushed off the seeds can be seen underneath.

This one is about 17 inches across. Very heavy, too. It was hanging with its seed side facing downward.

Angie took it over to show Lisa. It's so huge!

Muffy has finished picking the cherry tomatoes and is now helping Lisa in the flower department.

Today's contents. Each box gets one bouquet of flowers, but I couldn't resist showing two.

So busy I forgot to take lunch photos. This is a delicious pumpkin dessert. Not much left!

Ethan drives while Louise looks on. They are kindly taking in the lunch dishes at the end of the day. Our old sign from our fruit stand days leans up against the back of the garage.


The Monday night before was a beautiful night to fly my drone, affectionately named, Drona. Our mom's name was Mona. She grew herbs, fuchsias, and scented geraniums along with other things in her nursery. She passed away in 2004. We are always reminded of our parents, especially here on our family farm.

Anna walking in the field between the tomatoes and the row of broccoli. This is looking north.

Kiddos at the bottom left, Lisa walking out the cart path to go pick zinnias.

The flower fields.

Anna and her cherubs picking a couple boxes of cherry tomatoes.

The orchard in the foreground, looking east over the fields.

Looking south, Lisa is picking zinnias for tomorrow in the waning light. Her side kick, Cody, is sitting near the cart in the pathway.

Another view. You might notice orange and yellow marigolds scattered throughout a few rows. This helps draw in beneficial insects to the garden.

Looking directly down on Lisa as she picks the pale yellow zinnias.

The red plastic mulch is under the tomato crop to increase production. We have olive green and black plastic mulch under other crops. All of these rows have drip irrigation under them with the capability of fertilizing through the drip irrigation.

Ethan rides his bike out towards Drona along the cart path.

An overhead view of our flower beds modeled after the Quad at Oregon State University. Our dad graduated from OSU after WWII, I earned my Masters there, Scott, Anna's husband is getting his Veterinary degree there and other family members went there or are going there. We are a Beaver family!

Back in beds by the flower house a bumble bee near the lavender. (Not a Drona photo.)

Morning glory reaching toward the light. 

Black eyed Susans amidst other flowers. They almost glow in this light.

See you next time on the blog.
Lorrie

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