High Desert Farmers

End of August

Steve — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:23:21 +0000

Gardens and farms everywhere are experiencing this end of the summer rush of growth. Here are some photos of the greenthread crop as it goes for broke before the fall weather sets in.

Rows of greenthread in late August

Panorama of the farm in mid August

Sunny flower and characteristic meandering stem.

Grower-direct Plateau™ brand organic

Steve — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:01:29 +0000

I have transitioned my business from a sole proprietorship DBA High Desert Farmers to a New Mexico LLC called Farm Wonder. This corresponds to the new tea box for my products and the national market for herbal teas I am looking to tap into.

Plateau™ brand organic greenthread tea bags

Electric cutter bar an improvement

Steve — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:22:38 +0000

This Little Wonder electric hedge trimmer is hooked up to an 800W inverter by an extension cord. It is being used for the WSARE trial harvest samples, which benefit from having a switch to turn on and off the cutter bar. It is also much less noisy than the gas powered cutter.

Thedeous Tah helps with weighing the sample rows' harvest

Fresh seed sprouting

Steve — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:35:53 +0000

Seed that is gathered the same season is sure to sprout in a week of rains as we have had this week.

Fresh seed sprouting in the rain.

After first harvest

Steve — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:26:59 +0000

After the first harvest it’s convenient if the weather stays dry so the herb dries quickly and there is no anxiety about losing any of it. If not, I turn it daily so air is moving around all of the pile. The Little Wonder electric cutter bar has had it’s grease replaced with food-grade grease and is only used for organic greenthread on farm.

Greenthread farm after first harvest 2010

Dry, chopped herb is stored in large poly bags until shipped

Electric cutter bar is used to shave off small pieces from the pile