CSA enrollment now open!

2014 season about to begin!

So, I can admit that I dropped the ball on the blog last season (the last update was in early May before the peas really even needed that trellis!!). I don't think I need to tell anyone that farm work is hurried work, and between juggling the expanding CSA, weekly market demands, and the challenges of weeds, pests, and diseases something usually has to give. I apologize to the faithful supporters of this blog that you have drawn the short stick, maybe a few pictures of last season will make up for it?

Cabbage and Kale with flowering peas in the background

Close up of those peas. I experimented with varying the number of rows planted tightly in each bed. It was a great pea year, although they came on a bit later. CSA members enjoyed coming out to the farm for pick-your-own!...

 

 

...when it wasn't a monsoon.

 

It rained a lot last season! In fact, the CSA pick-up at the farm seemed to trigger the downpours. There were many days "off" from working in the fields because of the wet conditions and mud. It was hard to stay on top of the weeds and disease was always on my mind.

Tomatoes thrive on the black plastic but this year we had some crazy grasses to deal with in the aisles. We decided, instead of trying to cultivate them we would just keep them mowed. It's cheaper than mulching, although we will have to deal with them at some point. This season, the peas will use the same bed structure at the tomatoes, so we can keep mowing these aisles. Then some heavy cover cropping to choke out the grass for 2015. 

 

So there you are, the annual "year in review" in pictures to make up for an absentee blogger. I can't promise this year will be any better, but I do know it will be a better, brighter season on the farm! I am so excited about some new, exciting crops we are growing and will share them with you all soon. 

 

It's also Daily Harvest Farm's 5th Anniversary!

It feels like such an important milestone for me and I am determined to enjoy and celebrate it.

April came and went, first plants and seeds went in.

 The focus these days has been to get the plants and seeds into the ground and time it just right that the rain can water them all in! So far things have worked out well, although overall the soil has been on the dry side and we have been irrigating quite a bit already.

 

 We'll take a break from planting (and plowing, spreading compost and amendments, laying drip tape and securing row cover) to do some weeding and clean-up over the next few days. Then,it's full steam ahead to empty the greenhouse of all the summer crops!

 

Tomatoes looking strong and spending increasing amounts of time outside the greenhouse in the bright sun and wind to get ready to move to the farm.  

 

 Basil and Celery

  

 It looks like a sea of peppers in the greenhouse! Sweet bells of all colors, Jimmy Nardello, and a variety of hot peppers!

 

The dogs have been enjoying the warm, sunny Spring days, and I love how they remind me to pick my head up from my lists of never ending tasks and just enjoy the farm!

Spring thaw

With the snow finally gone, I have been able to work out at the farm cleaning up the harvest supplies, sharpening tools, adding to the rock heaps, and obsessively plan where all of this season's crops will go. No matter how much I work on crop rotation during the winter, there are always changes to be made depending on cover crop growth and which fields are drying quicker than others. There is also the need to make room for new crops to trial and the last minute must-have seed purchases. In my efforts to make the farm as efficient as possible, I am always cycling varieties in and out of production. I grow a lot of crops on the farm, 50 is a safe number to throw out there, and many different cultivars of each. It's an interesting puzzle that fills me up.

Part of gearing up for this season is unpacking and laying out the irrigation lines that serve as the lifeblood for the farm. Last year was a dry year that devastated crops we were not able to keep irrigated. With sharpened pencils, I did some serious farm math this winter to make sure we have enough drip tape and hours in the week to keep everything irrigated should this year be even worse than last. However, I don't think Einstein could come up with an equation to keep me sane should this happen!

Farm kitty checking out the irrigation. 

I love Spring. It's not the intense colors of a season winding down, but dull, muted colors of a season just beginning. I let feelings of renewal wash over me in the bright greens, blues, purples, reds, and yellows that will soon be in abundance on my small farm.

Agriculture Works

Every Spring I sow seeds either in flats in the greenhouse or outside into the soil and hold my breath until the first germination. Why should I be surprised when the little white shoot just barely breaks through the soil, slowly turning into a bright green seedling? It's what is supposed to happen! It reminds me of a quote, "The person who entrusts the seed to the sun and the rain is a person of hope", or something like that. I can't find who said it, but I know we all think it.

I plant the seed, and care for it of course, but that's it. Its the seed that is enacting its genetic destiny. Upon sprouting, the leaves start to develop the capacity to absorb nutrients from the soil and air. Roots develop to further support the plant growth. This photosynthesis in the leaves is used to produce the chemicals secreted through the roots as they grow. The specific fungi and bacteria beneficial to plant growth feeds on these secretions and cells sloughed off by root growth, in turn providing nutrients to the very plant it's roots attracted, by being consumed by larger microbes. Plants are orchestrating this whole process by controlling the chemical secretions and hence attracting the specific bacteria and fungi they need during their growth cycle. It's a completely natural system that doesn't need me at all. Great! I'm taking a vacation!

No, it's not time to hang up the Carhartts just yet...somebody has to plant that seed!

Not quite Spring

I was told an old weather proverb today: "Warm weather is not here to stay until Winter song birds freeze three times.
I feel sorry for those birds because I actually think they froze three times today alone! It was an interesting day with sunny skies and wet, snow falling simultaneously. Then the skies turned scarily grey and snow was blowing in all directions. I was hiding out in the greenhouse all day so was protected somewhat from these almost-Spring-temper-tantrums. I am heating only half of the 40' greenhouse right now, to reduce my propane costs, and to maximize growing space the seeding station is in the unheated section.

By hanging a curtain with extra greenhouse plastic I am able to 

reduce the heated greenhouse space and cut costs. 

The smaller space is filling up fast as Spring seed starting is well underway and I am already tempted to move the curtain back a bit. But cooler weather is predicted for the next week. 

My eagerness to get things started is calmed somewhat by the weather and I know that Winter will move over eventually to make room for growing food.

Seeds!

That's a LARGE box of seeds!

It's full of mostly tried and trusted varieties and some new ones I am expecting become mainstays. In the next couple weeks I'll be firing up the greenhouse, picking up the potting mix I use, and preparing to start thousands and thousands of seeds. The 2013 season is right around the corner!