Tonopah Rob's Vegetable Farm

Last September an experiment was undertaken here on my farm by my website guru and photographer John Wise. John was given a 12 foot by 14 foot plot to plant whatever he chose. Over the next 10 months he had to prepare the land, plant seeds, weed, water (we helped on that front more than [...]

Strange thing happened on the way to the plow the other day, the economy jumped out and killed the CSA. No, this isn’t a pun nor is it exactly how it happened, but the fact is that my traditional weekly CSA is going the way of the dodo bird into extinction. It would appear that the [...]

There are many moments living with nature on a farm that delight one’s senses with the magic that only the earth and its varied creatures and plants can deliver. Today I was fortunate to have one of those truly exceptional events occur. It all started early this morning when Josh over at the Harquahala Generating Station sent me [...]

The veggie list for this weekend’s market is just below – scroll down if that is what you are looking for. And if you are considering visiting me this weekend, here’s some temptation to persuade you to visit the farm stand out on my farm in Tonopah on Saturday or maybe swing by the farmers [...]

As any of you who have visited my farm in the small desert community of Tonopah outside of Phoenix, Arizona, probably know – I grow weeds. I grow lots of weeds. Organic weeds as a matter fact. My fruits and vegetables are All-Natural, and I truly believe they are better than Organic Certified food but [...]

Today was a great day out here on the farm. For those of you who missed playing in the dirt or dropping pebbles in your hair, you can always come out to the farm another day and just try to have as much fun as TJ here, who went so far as to taste the [...]

Kneeling in the dirt, knife in hand I cut fresh cauliflower in the morning light as the rooster reassures his girls that indeed the new day is here. The white crispy heads of this brassica seem to grow more beautiful with each successive plant as I pull back the leaves before making the harvest cut. [...]

—- The Veggie list for December 5, 2009 is just below this entry Visitors who read the veggie list on my website regularly probably don’t notice that at the bottom of that bulleted list it says that I might have a surprise or two on offer for the Saturday market. Not that I expect anyone to get [...]

Well well well, summer is now truly over and our Arizona version of fall is here. There will be a posting soon telling the specific date and what I’m likely to have on offer for my grand re-opening in November. For today though, an update how things are going round here. We’ll start with the [...]

A busy day today here on the farm and in front of the computer. Not only have I found time to post here, I sent out an email update to my subscribers. You too can subscribe to my email list simply by calling or emailing your request to be added. My email can be found [...]

Today’s photo was taken a bit more than a week ago as I was watering a plot of beets that were just planted. Now,  the seeds are sprouting with tiny green leaves pushing their way through the soil. The cucumbers are coming up great as are most of the beans, although it looks like I might have to sow some more bean [...]

These flowers from May are but a reminder of what’s coming back. As you may remember from my last blog post, I have been busy planting for the upcoming season. The great news is that much of my seed stock is getting in to the ground early this year. If I’m lucky the seedlings will grow strong earlier and be [...]

Last week I planted okra and green beans, both are breaking ground. The bird netting is draped over the chicken wire fence, hopefully this line of critter defence will keep pests at bay and allow the seedlings to grow large enough that they might have a better chance of survival. On Monday the tiniest of [...]

This past Sunday a few friends joined me to go see the movie Food Inc. at the Camelview theater in Scottsdale. Although my blog is not a movie review site, it is such a rare occasion that a film comes out that deals with farming, and so in this instance I thought I might share [...]

The new chicken coop is nearly finished. The land where the chilies used to grow was cleared and with some help from Jerry and John we have a new place for the chickens to dwell – yeah, this was a bit of corny Elvis reference. Most of the work was done prior to my well-deserved vacation [...]