Another "one day window" was taken advantage of yesterday. After sevearl days of freezing temps and a day before several days of impending rain,we were able to get in a planting of onion sets and direct seeding of a few beds of greens and early root crops. I also got in another round of tillage on the new potato field. Nice timing on that. It was just barely dry enough. We're supposed to get about 10 days of rain so I would'nt have been able to hit it again for quite awhile. I'm breaking new ground there so it takes quite a while and several passes with the tiller to break down the sod. I want that field ready to go asap as I intend to dry crop the potatoes and want to take advantage of the spring rains for irrigation.
Yesterday was the first chance to use the new Jang seeder. I'm impressed so far. OK so it's a little intimidating switching from a system even though imperfect but yet I know works to a completely new set up. It's quite a bit more complicated than the Earthway and I'm only able to use an educated guess on what rollers and settings will work best until I have some experience. So yestereday I trialed several different settings. We'll just have to wait and see how it worked. I'm hopeful that this tool will dramatically change our world. No more thinning? Doubtfully but less would be acceptable. Anyway, It just feels great to have some things in the ground. I've been feeling a little behind so this helps.
I'll post more details later. Gotta roll for now.
Take care,
Farmer
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
HR 875
Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. Good Grief! This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I'm not going into details today but do a google search and check it out for yourselves. Our good ol buddies at Monsanto are waiting on the side lines to completly control our food source and put small farms like MRF out of business. Like we don't have enough to do already so now we get to fight legal encroachment on our livelyhoods. Perfect! That's exactly what we need right now. If this one passes we're probably done. The fight is on. You know the drill. We do have a voice but only if you take action. Please write your representatives and tell them you are oppsed to HR-875. Tell your friends to get involved. We can stop this if we take action. This is on a fast track. It's possible there may be a vote without debate in as little as two weeks!
In other news it's business as usual. The weather is at least being consistently terrible for farming. The fields have been frozen solid for days and it looks like rain is coming. This will be a late starting season for sure. We don't have anything in the ground outside. The greenhouses are full of trays. Lots of things up and things germinating daily. It's starting to look like somethings happening. Perhaps we'll get some onion and leek sets in today? Hopefully I'll be able to direct sow some greens, peas, radishes and favas here in the next couple of days. Cross your fingers.
So off to a frustrating start. It's all part of the game. Once again it's where patience and experience payoff. Focus on the big picture. The bill will fail, the weather will warm. It will dry out and rain only when we need it to. CSA checks will arrive daily and my accountant will never call to ask for more money. The greens will be lush, strawberries plump, tomatoes full and ripe. Deer will never break in if they do they will not thieve. People will be nice.
Take care and action,
Farmer John
In other news it's business as usual. The weather is at least being consistently terrible for farming. The fields have been frozen solid for days and it looks like rain is coming. This will be a late starting season for sure. We don't have anything in the ground outside. The greenhouses are full of trays. Lots of things up and things germinating daily. It's starting to look like somethings happening. Perhaps we'll get some onion and leek sets in today? Hopefully I'll be able to direct sow some greens, peas, radishes and favas here in the next couple of days. Cross your fingers.
So off to a frustrating start. It's all part of the game. Once again it's where patience and experience payoff. Focus on the big picture. The bill will fail, the weather will warm. It will dry out and rain only when we need it to. CSA checks will arrive daily and my accountant will never call to ask for more money. The greens will be lush, strawberries plump, tomatoes full and ripe. Deer will never break in if they do they will not thieve. People will be nice.
Take care and action,
Farmer John
Friday, March 6, 2009
75th Post
This is my 75th Blog post. Thanks to those of you who follow. I've really enjoyed chronicling the activities of the farm. I'll keep writing. You keep reading.
Time is creeping up on us. The time changes on Sunday, spring is just two weeks away and the farmers market opens in seven weeks. Seven weeks... We hardly have anything in the ground. It's been wet and a little too cool to plant in my opinion. Sometimes it's better to wait. I's hard but I think the end result is better even if you're a few days later at harvest. After this next system rolls through I'll direct sow the beds that are ready to go. We may see snow here over the weekend.
If you recall there I have made mention many times this year the situation of the honey bees. The experts were talking about the almond pollination and how healthy the hives would look after their winter break and long travels to California. I saw a program on the BBC yesterday in regards. Unfortunately it does look like they are still seeing a good deal of colony collapse disorder. We are at a tipping point. There is still no one answer. Most of the scientist are now saying it's a combination of everything. Envioronment, travel, stress, monoculture cropping, gmo, etc. We are asking the bees to do alot within an unnatural set-up. Hope for the best. The one bright spot I can see is it appears at least on Orcas more people are getting into bees. It's a difficult, but worthwhile and fascinating hobby.
Lots of farm clean up going on. I'm getting ready to add to the chicken flock so Im re-doing the coop and run and we are getting pigs again this year so I have a new pig pen going up. We're going to try one of the wooly pigs this year along with some others. The're a european pig, higher fat content but with omega 3 fatty acids. Supposed to be divine. We'll find out. One thing for sure is they are cute. You can check it out at www.woolypigs.com.
The prop house is getting full. Adding flats daily. Going to need to move into one of the other hoop houses here soon. Things are looking good. It's so nice to walk in and see new life happening right before your eyes. I'll get some new pics up soon.
Soil tests are back and I have begun ammending fields as neccessary. Things are looking fairly normal as expected. Really interesting to see the numbers and critical to know how and what to ammend with. also It's nice to see the history and evolution of the fertility increase over the years. I feel like we're on the right track there.
Should be nice today. Cold but sunny. Colder through the weekend. Planting Tuesday!
Farmer John
Time is creeping up on us. The time changes on Sunday, spring is just two weeks away and the farmers market opens in seven weeks. Seven weeks... We hardly have anything in the ground. It's been wet and a little too cool to plant in my opinion. Sometimes it's better to wait. I's hard but I think the end result is better even if you're a few days later at harvest. After this next system rolls through I'll direct sow the beds that are ready to go. We may see snow here over the weekend.
If you recall there I have made mention many times this year the situation of the honey bees. The experts were talking about the almond pollination and how healthy the hives would look after their winter break and long travels to California. I saw a program on the BBC yesterday in regards. Unfortunately it does look like they are still seeing a good deal of colony collapse disorder. We are at a tipping point. There is still no one answer. Most of the scientist are now saying it's a combination of everything. Envioronment, travel, stress, monoculture cropping, gmo, etc. We are asking the bees to do alot within an unnatural set-up. Hope for the best. The one bright spot I can see is it appears at least on Orcas more people are getting into bees. It's a difficult, but worthwhile and fascinating hobby.
Lots of farm clean up going on. I'm getting ready to add to the chicken flock so Im re-doing the coop and run and we are getting pigs again this year so I have a new pig pen going up. We're going to try one of the wooly pigs this year along with some others. The're a european pig, higher fat content but with omega 3 fatty acids. Supposed to be divine. We'll find out. One thing for sure is they are cute. You can check it out at www.woolypigs.com.
The prop house is getting full. Adding flats daily. Going to need to move into one of the other hoop houses here soon. Things are looking good. It's so nice to walk in and see new life happening right before your eyes. I'll get some new pics up soon.
Soil tests are back and I have begun ammending fields as neccessary. Things are looking fairly normal as expected. Really interesting to see the numbers and critical to know how and what to ammend with. also It's nice to see the history and evolution of the fertility increase over the years. I feel like we're on the right track there.
Should be nice today. Cold but sunny. Colder through the weekend. Planting Tuesday!
Farmer John
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Tool Time
You all Know about tools and guys right. What is it? Why do we lust over them so. I for one am always on the lookout for tools. Mostly tractor implement stuff for me these days; especially if its old and usable and will work on one of my vintage tractor set ups. Don't get me wrong, I like shiny new tools as well. Yesteday I finally got around to ordering a new seed. I fiigured it was time to step up to the plate and stop using the ol stanby $100.00 twenty year old earthway and get myself a single row Jang ap-1 preciscion, hand push seeder. I'mpretty stoked about it. The whole reason you by a tool is to make your job easier and more efficient right? Well if the Jang works like most people say it does we will all but eliminate hand thinning because this is a preciscion seeder and that means as opposed to just laying down a trail of seed as the earthway does, the Jang places the seed at the interval you dial it into. This will be especially helpful with crops like beets, carrots and onions where in the past we had lost sowings or dimminished yields just because we could'nt get to the thinning in a timely manner. (the truth hurts but sometimes it happens) Anyway, It's a trick looking tool I hope it works. If so, I'll be seriously looking at the tractor mount units they offer. Very reasonable compared to the other seeders available. So for about $700.00 to my door I will have a tool that should pay for itself in increased yields and lower labor input not to mention they are much more economical on seed usage. Now that works in my world.
There are other tools I could use, It's on a wait and see basis. Money is tight right now. Sure would be nice to have a fertizer spreader. It could also double as a cover crop seeder. (I prefer multi-tasking devices.) Still looking at a disc and generally can't believe I don't own one. I use my big roto-tiller in lieu of and it has worked well for all of these years. Having a disc would perhaps be a little faster but more importantly just another arrow in my quiver for having the right tool for the right task at the right time. Another smaller 4ft tiller would be nice, I have my eye on a used one in good shape. Oh and don't forget the combine!
Trying a new recipe for seedling mix these days to and so far I'm liking it. Basically I make my own mix as opposed to buying it bagged from an off island source. It saves money that I can apply to additional soil ammendment. Its a mix of rotted/composted cow manure with some hay residue, leaf mold and course building sand for drainage and texture. I throw in a couple of scoops of 4.4.4. for every 8 cubic feet. I mix this all up and run it through a 1/4" screen. I normally have used peat moss in the past. I'm trying it without this year for a few reasons. It's expensive, a non island source, it's acidic, it's hard to wet and it dries out fast in the shallow cell trays. Some people like to use perlite. I have in the past, it's OK I don't like working with it. You are supposed to wear a mask when you use it to avoid inhaling it. I think the sand is a reasonable substitute. It works fairly well. Your first question is what about weeds? There are a few but generally it's not a problem. To me the cost savings is worth it. We use tons of seedling mix and potting soil and I can use it freely and copiously this way without feeling funny about seeing four dollars fly by everytime I open a new bag. Plus I don't have to make an all day trip to Tacoma to get the stuff. Again, it works for me.
Time is sneaking up us. Just eight weeks till the first farmers market. Holy moly!
Take care,
John
There are other tools I could use, It's on a wait and see basis. Money is tight right now. Sure would be nice to have a fertizer spreader. It could also double as a cover crop seeder. (I prefer multi-tasking devices.) Still looking at a disc and generally can't believe I don't own one. I use my big roto-tiller in lieu of and it has worked well for all of these years. Having a disc would perhaps be a little faster but more importantly just another arrow in my quiver for having the right tool for the right task at the right time. Another smaller 4ft tiller would be nice, I have my eye on a used one in good shape. Oh and don't forget the combine!
Trying a new recipe for seedling mix these days to and so far I'm liking it. Basically I make my own mix as opposed to buying it bagged from an off island source. It saves money that I can apply to additional soil ammendment. Its a mix of rotted/composted cow manure with some hay residue, leaf mold and course building sand for drainage and texture. I throw in a couple of scoops of 4.4.4. for every 8 cubic feet. I mix this all up and run it through a 1/4" screen. I normally have used peat moss in the past. I'm trying it without this year for a few reasons. It's expensive, a non island source, it's acidic, it's hard to wet and it dries out fast in the shallow cell trays. Some people like to use perlite. I have in the past, it's OK I don't like working with it. You are supposed to wear a mask when you use it to avoid inhaling it. I think the sand is a reasonable substitute. It works fairly well. Your first question is what about weeds? There are a few but generally it's not a problem. To me the cost savings is worth it. We use tons of seedling mix and potting soil and I can use it freely and copiously this way without feeling funny about seeing four dollars fly by everytime I open a new bag. Plus I don't have to make an all day trip to Tacoma to get the stuff. Again, it works for me.
Time is sneaking up us. Just eight weeks till the first farmers market. Holy moly!
Take care,
John
Monday, March 2, 2009
Let's Go!
Well hell, all of a sudden here it is March 2nd. I was feeling mostly on top of it all until yesterday it hit me of all the things there are to do. Yikes mister! I gotta get some seed in the ground and those 2 cases of onion sets that came on Friday need to get in the ground and to do that I need to go fertilize and rake the beds out and oh shit!!! what about the tomato plants...... I said I was waiting till March 1st this year no matter what, well that was yesterday! ahhhhh.
Ohhhh, sorry...... sor, sorrry. Thats how my manic side functions at times in the spring. Slumbering days of feeding the woodstove and reading seed catalogs and dreaming of this year being the most kick ass ever are over. It is time for action, not that there has'nt been action but March brings it on just a notch higher.
It's wet outside and looks like it'll be wet for awhile. I have beds ready to go so thats good. Main focus for the next couple of months anyway will be greenhouse work. Lots of sowing and shuffling flats around, table building, lableing, watering, potting up, transplanting etc, etc. Making space for things to go into will be a challenge as always, hopefully it'll dry out enough to get more beds made before it all hits at once.
I'm trying to re-think things this year. Planting different crops and taking into consideration the harvest times to avoid any gaps in production and to offer a wider selection throughout the course of the year. Spreading production out makes our lives easier and gives us a sane course to run on. That means getting some things like potatoes in the ground a little sooner which will allow me perhaps to dry crop them so I can avoid the expense and hassle of irrigation. Harvest time comes sooner and fills a void and the remining spuds can get harvested as we go as opposed to all at once in October. Thats one idea anyway. Anything I can do now to plan for a smoother harvest pays greatly when summer rolls around. I Just cringe when I feel like we run short on product in the summer. It happens and when it does it's a blow not only to profit but to ego. I do take it personally so good planning now can really pay off, literally. How can it be so hard? All you gotta do is scuff up some dirt and throw the seed in the ground and come back and harvest right? yeah! lol. Don't screw it up dude.
There's alot to write about. I don't want to make it a long one today. Come back soon and we'll talk equipment! yes..... the real reason we farm.
Take it easy,
Farmer John
Ohhhh, sorry...... sor, sorrry. Thats how my manic side functions at times in the spring. Slumbering days of feeding the woodstove and reading seed catalogs and dreaming of this year being the most kick ass ever are over. It is time for action, not that there has'nt been action but March brings it on just a notch higher.
It's wet outside and looks like it'll be wet for awhile. I have beds ready to go so thats good. Main focus for the next couple of months anyway will be greenhouse work. Lots of sowing and shuffling flats around, table building, lableing, watering, potting up, transplanting etc, etc. Making space for things to go into will be a challenge as always, hopefully it'll dry out enough to get more beds made before it all hits at once.
I'm trying to re-think things this year. Planting different crops and taking into consideration the harvest times to avoid any gaps in production and to offer a wider selection throughout the course of the year. Spreading production out makes our lives easier and gives us a sane course to run on. That means getting some things like potatoes in the ground a little sooner which will allow me perhaps to dry crop them so I can avoid the expense and hassle of irrigation. Harvest time comes sooner and fills a void and the remining spuds can get harvested as we go as opposed to all at once in October. Thats one idea anyway. Anything I can do now to plan for a smoother harvest pays greatly when summer rolls around. I Just cringe when I feel like we run short on product in the summer. It happens and when it does it's a blow not only to profit but to ego. I do take it personally so good planning now can really pay off, literally. How can it be so hard? All you gotta do is scuff up some dirt and throw the seed in the ground and come back and harvest right? yeah! lol. Don't screw it up dude.
There's alot to write about. I don't want to make it a long one today. Come back soon and we'll talk equipment! yes..... the real reason we farm.
Take it easy,
Farmer John
Thursday, February 26, 2009
What's New?
A little snowy today. Nothing major, Just a dusting. Thanks to Rufus at the Weather Cafe we saw this one coming for days. His forecast was spot on. All of the other guys (you too Cliff) did'nt see it until it was upon us. I was hoping to direct sow some of our outdoor beds but decided to hold off until this system passes through. Because of the Weather Cafe forecast I was able to get some beds made. Now that it has rained it will be awhile before we can get equipment back in the field. This happens almost every year. It's a good time to be watching the weather so you can hit these micro windows of opportunity. This year they were few and far between and were "one day" opportunities. We are fortunate to have about 20 beds ready to roll.
So days will be spent in the greenhouse starting flats to be transplanted later. Check out the calendar on the web site and you can see what is being sown. I've made a deciscion to hold off on sowing tomatoes until at least March 1st. I normally go a little earlier but it seems to work out all the same in the end. Start them too early and there is not enough light and you wind up with a spindly albeit sometimes big plant. I'll take a shorter, stockier, healthier plant any day over a big ol spindly thing. Most important, it all gets down to the varieties that do well here. The pacific Northwest is not an easy place to grow toms. Trust your farmer when buying your plants. We have alot of experience with varieties that perform as well as ones that don't.
Hopefully more people will be having home gardens. You might think this is an odd thing for me to say since I make my living selling vegetables. The bottom line for me is I think it's a big part of the overall solution to begin to turn the tide from decades of dissconection of our food sources. Overall it's good for us if there are more home gardeners. People get enthused about eating better and eating local. That want to buy starts from local growers who know the ropes and lets face it. You can't grow everything, so people will still buy from us. I'm a perfect example. I buy stuff that I don't grow from my fellow farmers all the time.
We are still taking CSA memberships. We seem to be down to a trickle. Happens every year at this time. Late February and March always seem to fall off. Unfortunately It's our toughest time of the year. This year will be hard going into April since we lost our overwinter crops.
That'll do for now.
Keep well,
John
So days will be spent in the greenhouse starting flats to be transplanted later. Check out the calendar on the web site and you can see what is being sown. I've made a deciscion to hold off on sowing tomatoes until at least March 1st. I normally go a little earlier but it seems to work out all the same in the end. Start them too early and there is not enough light and you wind up with a spindly albeit sometimes big plant. I'll take a shorter, stockier, healthier plant any day over a big ol spindly thing. Most important, it all gets down to the varieties that do well here. The pacific Northwest is not an easy place to grow toms. Trust your farmer when buying your plants. We have alot of experience with varieties that perform as well as ones that don't.
Hopefully more people will be having home gardens. You might think this is an odd thing for me to say since I make my living selling vegetables. The bottom line for me is I think it's a big part of the overall solution to begin to turn the tide from decades of dissconection of our food sources. Overall it's good for us if there are more home gardeners. People get enthused about eating better and eating local. That want to buy starts from local growers who know the ropes and lets face it. You can't grow everything, so people will still buy from us. I'm a perfect example. I buy stuff that I don't grow from my fellow farmers all the time.
We are still taking CSA memberships. We seem to be down to a trickle. Happens every year at this time. Late February and March always seem to fall off. Unfortunately It's our toughest time of the year. This year will be hard going into April since we lost our overwinter crops.
That'll do for now.
Keep well,
John
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Daily Factoids
Farm Census: The 2007 farm census is out. The number of US farms is up by 3.5%. This is mostly due to an increase in small farms like ours and really large operations. More farms is good right? Yes but there are some disturbing trends. The average cost of land went up to $1900 which is about 55% higher than it was in 2002 and 95% higher than 10 years ago. (damn wish we could buy land here that cheap) There's a re-occuring trend of go big or get out happening. Growers need to spread the cost of equipment and capital investments over larger acerages to reduce the per-unit cost of production. An offset of the higher cost of land is the fact that the market value of ag products increased by nearly 50% over the last five years. The average age of the farmer continues to rise and is now at 57.5 years old. Younger farmers are not taking up the slack fast enough. In 2002 the average age was 55. A fact that more directly relates to a farm like Maple Rock is that we are part of a fast growing movement of farms that markets specialty crops. Organic farms grew in number from 12,000 to 18,000 between 2002 and 2007 and sales more the quadrupled from about $400 million to $1.7 billion. This is due to organic farms becoming more effiecient and acquiring more expertise. Nationally the number of farms who sell dierct to the consumer increased from 116,733 to 136,817. Here in Washington the number of farms went up 9% to 39,284 from 35,939 in 2002. The average size of farms decreased by 11 percent to 381 acres. Maybe this would be a good time for congress to kick down some of the stimulus package to help young farmers get a foothold in the Ag biz?
The Data above was obtained from The Capital Press.
Weather: The oddness continues. This has been the driest mid January thru mid February period on record in 117 years. Since we've been keeping a record. But... We had large amounts of precipitation in December and early January so it is less pronounced. Oddly, I only had one day that was dry enough to be able to do some field work. Often we get a break in February that will allow a few days of getting on the ground. So it's still pretty wet now. To complicate matters, forecasters are now saying that we maybe shifting out of our La Nina into an El Nino pattern that will likely cause us to see severe draught conditions this fall and into the winter of 2010. This is global climate change in the works. It's going to be a big challenge for growers in the future.
For those of you whom received my newsletter you will recall the situation about the bees and the almonds. As it turns out California is experiencing a serious draught and it looks as though many of the almond growers are deciding not to go for a crop this year. Apparently they need to irrigate and there is just not enought water? The Bee guys on their forums are not saying anything about CCD but only making reference to not as many hives being placed and having lots of difficulties getting bees across the border into California. The almonds are in bloom now so you may start to hear something.
Legal Battles: An Important case against Monsanto's roundup ready GM sugar beets is set to be argued in April. One of our seed suppliers is a plaintiff in the Case. Frank Morton, owner of Wild Garden Seed in Oregon is having his livelyhood threatened by the GM beets. Frank produces seed for chard, table beets and other vegetables in the willamette valley. The Gm beets can cross pollinate thus forever contaminating the true seed and ruinning Franks business. the biggest problem here is that the GM seed was planted on the sly for the last two years. Fortunately the judge in the case denied the petition for Monsanto to join the lawsuit and a precedent was established in 2007 in a similar case against the USDA regarding GM alfalfa seed.
We'll have to wait and see what happens. We send all of our best to Frank and good luck. It's hard enough to make a living as a grower and to have to add the stress and time of a lawsuit is aggrivating and sad.
And Last but not least. To the asshole that stole my daughters snowboard off of my front porch. You suck and I hope you enjoy the special seating section in hell.
Take care people it's a crazy world we live in.
Farmer John
The Data above was obtained from The Capital Press.
Weather: The oddness continues. This has been the driest mid January thru mid February period on record in 117 years. Since we've been keeping a record. But... We had large amounts of precipitation in December and early January so it is less pronounced. Oddly, I only had one day that was dry enough to be able to do some field work. Often we get a break in February that will allow a few days of getting on the ground. So it's still pretty wet now. To complicate matters, forecasters are now saying that we maybe shifting out of our La Nina into an El Nino pattern that will likely cause us to see severe draught conditions this fall and into the winter of 2010. This is global climate change in the works. It's going to be a big challenge for growers in the future.
For those of you whom received my newsletter you will recall the situation about the bees and the almonds. As it turns out California is experiencing a serious draught and it looks as though many of the almond growers are deciding not to go for a crop this year. Apparently they need to irrigate and there is just not enought water? The Bee guys on their forums are not saying anything about CCD but only making reference to not as many hives being placed and having lots of difficulties getting bees across the border into California. The almonds are in bloom now so you may start to hear something.
Legal Battles: An Important case against Monsanto's roundup ready GM sugar beets is set to be argued in April. One of our seed suppliers is a plaintiff in the Case. Frank Morton, owner of Wild Garden Seed in Oregon is having his livelyhood threatened by the GM beets. Frank produces seed for chard, table beets and other vegetables in the willamette valley. The Gm beets can cross pollinate thus forever contaminating the true seed and ruinning Franks business. the biggest problem here is that the GM seed was planted on the sly for the last two years. Fortunately the judge in the case denied the petition for Monsanto to join the lawsuit and a precedent was established in 2007 in a similar case against the USDA regarding GM alfalfa seed.
We'll have to wait and see what happens. We send all of our best to Frank and good luck. It's hard enough to make a living as a grower and to have to add the stress and time of a lawsuit is aggrivating and sad.
And Last but not least. To the asshole that stole my daughters snowboard off of my front porch. You suck and I hope you enjoy the special seating section in hell.
Take care people it's a crazy world we live in.
Farmer John
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