I decided today the easiest way to give you a farm update is to take a stroll around the farm with my camera.
First a quick update on our ground water situation. Our family is now back into a routine of personal activities and farm work. We still have water flowing under our basement which is kept under control with the heavy duty septic pump running full time 24/7. The inside basement floor is remaining steady at about 1/2 to 1 inch of water covering approximately 2/3 of the floor space. When the river accross the field from us rises, the water coming into our basement ususally increases a little too. But we haven't seen it go over 1 inch for about a week. Meanwhile, we still aren't able to use any of the conveniences that go along with a septic system. No toilets, no showers, no hot water, nothing down any of the drains. I'm VERY glad to have electricity and running water! I'm also thankful for the port-a-potie, though not necessarily enjoying the process of using it.
Alright, lets start with greenhouse #1 (please ignore the weeds):
Home to our first crop of cabbages and second planting of Japanese Turnips and Arugula. Left to right: pac choi, head cabbages, a half empty row where the Chinese Cabbage was, Japanese Turnips, and two rows of Arugula. The pac choi has taken off nicely and formed some very nice large heads. The cabbages are finally starting to head up. Turnips are ready to harvest and we are hoping the weavels don't get them before they go in your shares. The aurugula is big now, almost too big, and has started to bolt. We cut a lot of it today, which is hard to see in this picture. We don't think it will make it to next week, though we'll wait to see how it takes this week of warmer weather. Flea beetles are coming out now too and this is their favorite!
Greenhouse #2:
Just last week this greenhouse was full of old arugula and salad greens. The second line in from the left was a row of Japanese Turnips which we took out completely for this week's CSA shares. This greenhouse has now been planted with French fillet beans and zucchini. We've had troubles getting a good crop of zucchini and squash the past two years (due to the cooler weather) and decided to bring them inside this year. Squash and zucchini have a tendency to grow out-of-control-huge inside greenhouses, but we put these down the middle for maximum ventilation and are hoping for the best.
Greenhouse #3, the new BIG one:
From left to right: Swiss Chard, two rows of beets, kale, cauliflower & brocolli (growing in holes through black plastic weed block), pac choi/Chinese cabbage, and two rows of carrots. This greenhouse is turning out to be very helpful after all. It's a lot of space to grow a lot of food and we would be in an entirely different situation this year trying to grow produce in the cold and rain without it. Unfortunately it looks like the Chinese cabbage wants to bolt so we'll probably end up harvesting that early as smaller heads. Otherwise, all is well in greenhouse #3.
Greenhouse #4, the small tomato greenhouse:
We try every year to have tomaotes to sell at the very first farmers market or at least sometime in July. As you can see, it's not going to happen this year. We started these 21 tomato plants very early, grew them under wall-o-waters, even used a heater inside the greenhouse to get them outside and growing as soon as possible. This goes to show that sometimes no matter how early you plant some crops, they will not grow until the conditions are right (enough sunlight and warmer weather). I think the tallest tomato plants are only 1 ft. tall. We will continue to cover them every night for another week or so, until the night temperatures are in the 40's on a regular basis.
Greenhouse #5, the big tomato greenhouse:
Left to right: seedling trays with many of our herbs and other "back-up" plants. Then rows of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. The basil will be transplanted in here eventually too. This is our main crop of tomato plants and they are nearly as big as the first crop. Again, this is a great example of how weather is the real factor in plant growth. We often see a second crop be ready nearly the same time as plants we put in a few weeks earlier. One good thing to note is that the rodents mostly left all these plants alone. They did very little damage in any of the greenhouses this year.
Greenhouse #6:
My favorite greenhouse right now because it is so beautiful to look at. We've weeded it several times and it has really paid off. Left to right: several rows of carrots, onions, and beets (golden and red). I wish all our farm looked this nice.
Now outside to a section of Field 1:
I'm pretty sure I talked quite a bit last year about our nemisis weed - thistle. It's quite a headache for us. We've tried torching it, spraying it with an organic weed spray, and digging it (over and over and over again). Thistle is a very invasive and stubborn week. The only method we've found to be even semi-successful at beating it is to smother it completely with thick black plastic. This is a section of field 1, larger than the size of most people's entire garden. We decided it wasn't even worth planting this year due to the thistle. There are several more patches throughout the farm that could use this treatment.
Field 2 (again, please ignore the weeds):
These rows are planted with yellow onions, a few shallots, and leeks. I mentioned before that our supplier for leek starts had a crop failure and we were unable to find a substitute. These leeks are planted directly from seed. They are tiny. I wonder if they will ever get bigger than scallions. Even then, we'll enjoy the taste. This is a new trial for us, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Field 4:
This year we divided our largest field into two smaller and more manageable sections, now know as fields 3 & 4. (Are keeping track of all this?) This section is planted with our yukon gold poatoes. They are planted under a thin black plastic for weed block. Using weed block is a new for us this year and we are hoping it cuts back considerably on labor. I welcome anything to help cut back on the weeding.
Field 5:
This is now our largest field, which we only started clearing to plant a few years ago. It's got a lot of rocks and weeds, but over time we'll get it in shape. So far this year, we have this field planted (left to right) with our new garlic, a first row of peas, spinach (under cover), our first crop of outdoor salad and then our second crop of outdoor salad. Thanks to a few days of intense weeding, these greens should grow nicely now. They'd be ready even sooner with some days of sunshine.
We got out little piglets this past week. They are already eating well from what we pulled up in greenhouse #2. The little piggies don't know how good they have it here. We take good care of them and in return they make us a very nice pile of compost. Oh, and we eat them too.
This is our first batch of meat chicks for the year. They are pretty cute, for now. We plan on raising three batches of meat birds over the coming months. Meat birds are a good match for our farm. When they are older, we will move them to chicken tractors. These birds will help us clear our fields of older crops, weeds, and bugs and be eating very well all the while. They will be slaughtered and sold around the first week of August. More to come on that later.
My goats are also living a good life. The three spring babies are growing quickly. This mama goat is keeping her triplets fed well which is quite an accomlishment. The two kids in this picture have been sold to a farm in Utah. They'll leave in the middle of July. The third buckling is yet to be sold, but will probably also leave the farm around that time. We really enjoy their company while they are here.
There you have it. A virtual tour of the farm.
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