Oh Well - Nonsensically Speaking

Part one of the saga is here.
Part two is here.

By now you may have heard a little bit about a particular farm.  On this farm lived two people, five cats, some chickens, ducks, turkeys and a whole bunch of earthworms.  There were many vegetable and flower plants and even some fruit trees. The two people worked hard to be farmers and they even hired people to help them grow the vegetables, raise the poultry and tend the farm.  Sometimes, they asked others to join them on the farm to do a little work and then celebrate the day with good food.

While the farmers and the workers accomplished many things on the farm, they were visited by a Snort and a HAAAACK.  The Snort ate the farm's well and created holes that were big enough to swallow Durnik, the farm's small tractor.  The HAAAACK and its mate were kind enough to replace the well, but the ensuing mess was a bit slimy and caused the farmers, the workers, the cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys and even some of the earthworms to wonder what else could possibly happen.

Some things didn't work out.  For example, many plants in trays were no longer good enough to plant in the ground.  So, the farmers pulled them out of the trays and decided to turn them into compost, which is a good thing even if it wasn't the reason they planted these things in the first place.

And, wheels on the carts broke.  But, the farmers knew these sorts of things happened, so they moved one wheel to another so only one cart remained broken instead of two.  They expected that they would replace the wheels soon.

One of the things that reminded the farmers and the workers of the good things in life when bad things happened were the flowers on the farm.



And so, they continued to do things to make the farm a better place to live and work.  Mr. Jim helped organize all of the tools in the truck barn by making a farm tool wall.

And Mr. Tyler created a drip tape dispenser that dispensed, of all things, drip tape.  The farmers, Mr Tyler and the cats all agreed that "dispense" is a silly sounding word.  But, the farmers, Mr Tyler, Miss Rachel and Mr Denis all agreed that, despite the silly sounding word, the drip tape dispenser dispensed drip tape well, so they all suggested that the farm should not dispense with the dispenser.

Then, another good thing happened.  The ground was dry enough to plant for a few days and the farmers and the workers did their best to plant things in the ground.

Durnik the tractor avoided the Durnik sized hole made by the HAAAACK and he helped prepare fields for planting.  Some areas were still a little wet and made the ground a bit pebbly.  But, all agreed it was necessary to get the plants into the ground.

Trays and trays of plants went to the fields to be planted.

Summer squash and zucchini were planted between rows of garlic.  Some of the plants were planted into paper mulch and some were planted without paper mulch.  The farmers were doing some research to see if the paper mulch made  difference.  They even polled some of the earthworms to see what they thought.  The earthworms were too busy deflating their water wings and putting them in their closets to respond.

Hundreds of tomatoes were taken out of their plots and planted in rows.

 The farmers and workers even spent time weeding the beans and potatoes.

And many cucumber plants were given homes.  The farmers were pleased to see that the plants seemed healthy and the rows were almost straight!

But, the farmers and the workers were a little chagrined when they realized they would have to use the drip tape dispenser to dispense drip tape so the drip tape could dispense water to the new plants.  They found this ironic.  The farmers, the workers and the cats all agreed that "chagrined" and "ironic" were also funny sounding words, but not nearly as funny sounding as "dispense."

Mother Nature noted the dispensed drip tape and decided to dispense alot more rain.  The earthworms had to run to their closets to find where they had placed their water wings.  The farmers had to make more decisions about changes that would need to be made in order to keep growing good food on the farm.

The farmers received more dirt to place in the two raised beds Mr Denis built.  The truck driver that delivered the dirt looked at the biceps on the farmers and found them wanting.  So, he placed more dirt in each bed than was necessary.

"There, you can build up those muscles by shoveling," said the truck driver.

The farmers removed excess soil and added some peat.  Then they planted lettuce and onions.

But, the little cat named Mrrranda continued to look away from the farm. 

She continued to watch....  the SNORT!

One of the chickens said,
"Hey Mr. Snort, would you leave our new well alone?  We need the water it provides for us.  While the rain leaves us puddles, the puddles do not always stay."

But, the Snort did not answer.

The ducklings said,
"We love our water..."  slurp slurp splash splash
They were so distracted by their water that they didn't finish whatever it was they were going to say.

The turkeys said,
"Mr Farmer, will you please tell the Snort to leave our well alone?  We need the water from the well too.  Did you bring us more food?  What was I saying?  Did you bring us more food?  Food? Food!?"

The farmer realized that when turkeys talk, either the farmer needs to seek professional help OR he should do something to honor their request.

So he gave them food.

Then, he tried to scare the Snort away!

But the Snort did not respond.

So, the farmer asked Sandman, the cat, to talk to the Snort.

Sandman said,
"Mr Snort, your presence is no longer welcome here.  If you want water, we will pour you a large tub of water to drink.  But, we do not want you eating our new well.  So, we would like you to leave.

I, the Sandman, have spoken."

And so, the Snort took a cool drink.

And called for a cab.

So it could go home.

The Snort left the farm.  It left the farmers.  And the workers.
It left the cats, the chickens, the ducks and the turkeys.
It even left the earthworms to float in the fields wearing their water wings.

And once it had gone, they all started to wonder.

Did we remember to close the high tunnel door?

Yes.

And everyone was happy.

Farm Report June 24

We had a productive week on the farm last week.  Fields finally were dry enough to work, so that's what we did.  We worked.

Our last blog post provided a list of tasks we hoped to complete in a week.  Our last update to that post just went live.  You may go here to see it.

If you've looked out the window or listened to weather reports, you know we've been getting rain again.  We thought we were going to get through it pretty well until the early AM rains.  Now, we are very wet again.  Not to the point of standing water in the fields, but we may have to delay putting more in for a few days.  That's hard to take when we knew we were already four weeks behind on our planting.  On the other hand, we are painfully aware that there are people who received so much rain that we are looking at near record flooding again this year.  We are, in particular, worried about the New Hartford area that has been hit by so much adverse weather the past few years.

Nonetheless, we forge onward and will continue to make progress.  Sometimes, that means we will need to decide to let a crop go.  Other times, it means we will do work in the fields even though it is not the best conditions to work.  And, in all cases, we will do what we can to keep our attitude positive.  In every case this year we have made the best choices we could make given the conditions, resources and information we had at that moment.  Sometimes, we chose poorly, others we chose well - and in most cases, it is hard to tell which way the chips will fall.  Tammy and I are both certain we're giving this our best go.  We have more knowledge and more tools to work with this year - and that has helped.

Broilers (chickens)
   These are growing well, despite our inability to move them to the proper locations when we wanted them moved.  They should be right around our normal weight ranges when processed (4-6 pounds).  They will be available second week of July.

Hens
 The young hens are now integrated into the flock.  Laying rates are reasonably good and the birds are being bird-like.  Therefore, all is well.

Turkeys
  The normal early losses are over and the birds are curious about things and growing.  Can't complain about that.

Ducks
  Are also being ducks.  Again, this is a good thing.

Potatoes and Beans
   This field looks good as long as you skip the north part that was under water for a while.  The dry beans are good.  The green beans still need replanting.  About 75% of the potatoes made it through the early wet issues and are on target for a decent year of production.  The German Butterballs are gone.  But, we have Carola (another yellow), Mountain Rose, Purple Majesty and Rio Grande going strong.  They are on target for August/Sept harvest.  Of course, the weeds are now becoming an issue, but we'll do what we must on that front.

Winter Squash
   These are still in trays.  The field was very nearly ready to be planted before we got more rain.  The long season winter squash are now unlikely to have enough time to ripen.  That means butternuts are unlikely to make it.  We may opt to fill in with shorter season items and drop them entirely.  This assumes we get into the field this week.

Brassica/Onion
  We were able to put in 500 feet of broccoli, 200 feet of cauliflower and 100 feet of romanesco.  We also put in 100 feet of white onions.  The onion plants are still progressing in their trays, but we're not sure what sort of results we can get out of them now.  At the least, we hope to pick alot of them as green onions for you later in the season.  To give perspective, there are still approximately 1200 feet of onions left to go in the ground. Assuming they go in the ground.  The brassica listed here are likely to be August/Sept crops now.  The early crops just didn't make it.

Pea/Cucumber/Carrots
  the cucumbers like this rain as long as it doesn't pond on them.  The peas are also fine with it.  And, the carrots are big enough now to handle it.  We expect the cukes to begin showing solid growth about 7-10 days after transplant.  We're still a few days away from saying they're going to develop into the plants we want.  But, so far so good.  We usually figure about 30-40 days for cucumbers.  So, July 20 is a reasonable guess for a first trickle from them.  Peas may be a week away.  Carrots?  3 weeks for smaller carrots is our current guess.  But, they also sing theme song "Weed Me" along with other crops.

Tomatoes/Basil
No basil in the ground at this time.  Tomatoes are in and are getting roots set.  We expect alot of new growth starting about midweek.  We will need to look to the high tunnel for early production, but they are still a ways off.  Not likely to see any July tomatoes this year.  We still hold some hope for early August tomatoes from the high tunnel.  Likely late August for field tomatoes this year.  We are in the same boat as many in our area.  Lots of gardens just now getting put in - regardless of size.  I am guessing we are all hoping for late frosts!

Summer Squash/Zucchini/Turnips/Garlic
  Garlic is late - yes we planted it on time.  The scapes are just now getting going, so we can begin harvesting them.  Turnips look good and need thinning.  We are about 2-3 weeks from small turnips to harvest.  Summer squash/zucchini successions 1/2 are starting to show serious growth on the West end of the field.  The east end was planted later and gets a bit wetter, but the plants are still growing.  Succession 3 is still putting on the roots to grow.  We often hope for our first summer squash and zucchini July 10 or so.  That is likely too optimistic - we're hoping for July 24 this year.

Peppers/Eggplant/Okra/Beans
We put some green beans in this plot and they are germinating.  That puts us with green beans in late July or early August assuming all goes well.  Peppers and eggplant that the deer and rabbits haven't devastated are starting to take.  The field needs another cultivation, but we should be ok.  Move the dates for these about 2-3 weeks back from normal at this point.  Okra has germinated.  We will see what they do, but we expect little from them.

Melon/Watermelon
These are still in trays.  We're very disappointed in this since this is one of our favorites to eat in the summer.

Greens
Regardless of how you feel about greens, they are the bulk of early season production.  And, we're having a rough go of it this year.  Our first arugula planting bolted before it got any size to pick.  Thursday CSA got all we had for mustard greens in succession I.  Succession II is getting ready to pick, but we're watching it closely as it may decide to bolt in the heat.  We have radish getting ready in the next week or so.  Kale is spotty, with many still in trays.  Chard is starting to get somewhere but needs attention.  Our field spinach planting didn't make it so we will till that in.  Chinese cabbage looks like it is starting make a run of it, as are some kohlrabi.  Both are 3-4 weeks away.  We're trying to get more lettuce in and filled a raised bed with lettuce. 

===============
There is likely more to report, but that is all I can think of at the moment.  We hope you find these reports useful.

Rob and Tammy

Can They Do It?

Rob and Tammy spent time today working on a priority list of items they hope to complete THIS WEEK.

We'll update the progress here each evening.  Let's see what the farmers, the workers, the chickens, ducks, turkeys, cats and earthworms can accomplish this week!  Completed tasks are in green.  In progress tasks are in purple.
Alas - we are in a rain delay.  Most of the field work will now need to roll into next week's list.  But, we made a valiant effort this week to complete all we could. 
 ========================================
End of week update:
 Farmers, workers, volunteers, cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys and even the earthworms all agree that we put in a good week at the farm.  A number of the items not completed were postponed due to rain.  Can't control that.  A few others changed due to circumstances.  Some items were added and completed, a few others stayed but were placed at lower priorities.  In other words, a normal work week.

Our thanks for positive thoughts.  We may do this again as we found it motivated many of the workers to turn items on a list "colors."  We hope you found it interesting as well.
========================================

Broilers

• Finish new shelters
• Mow Field E1   
• Move shelters to E1
• Fences to E1
• Modify current buildings to let in more air
• Move 1st batch broilers to E1
• Move 2nd batch broilers to E1
• Set up water reserve by E1
• clean up red building for ducks

Hens

• Move metal nest box into hen room
• move henlets in with hen flock
• move fence away from henlet area
• move triangle shelter to intermediate location
• Make another roost for hens
• straw in nest boxes
• take old fence down W side hen pasture

Turkeys

• clean out room
• straw into room
• Turks out of brooder and into room

Ducks

• Move older ducks into bigger brooder
• clean out smaller brooder
• remove smaller brooder from room
• mow pasture for ducks
• move building to duck pasture 
• move ducks to temp pasture location

Garage

• Finish scraping 
• and sanding
• Prime 2 sides

CSA

• Message to Tue/Wed CSA members
• Message to Thu CSA members
• Pick/Clean/Pack for CSA
• Deliver CSA Thus 
• Clean up after CSA

High Tunnel

• cut down weeds along sides of building
• repair line on north side roll up
• set up irrigation lines
• weed north edge
• lay fabric north edge
• plant rest of peppers
• plant second bean succession 
• clean out old plants
• staple down south fabric
• pull out bolted lettuce 
• Harvest last of kohlrabi and lettuce

Truck Barn

• boards on North wall
• set up tool wall organization
• organize and clean prior to Thus CSA

Poultry Pavillion

• Set up outside door for hens
• Fix South door to hen room

Supplies/Errands

• Acquire drip line, feeder lines and parts for irrigation
• Acquire new picking tubs to replace worn out tubs
• Vet for cats 
• Pick up new flair box trailer
• trash run
• wood mulch
• sandpaper
• barn lime
• wheels for carts
• part for hose reel
• excess plants to Food Bank
• gasoline for equipment
• cardboard recycling 

 Equipment

• Fix hose cart feeder line
• Adjust new tool bar to row spacing
• Find parts for between row cultivator and fix
• Adjust mulch layer, 
• replace set bolts - broke another one...
• put up calendar, clock, field map for worker area
• put up white board
• Build drip tape layer for cart
• Get a 2nd cart working (pirate a wheel from one)
• Clean out a cart and put power washer in it
• learn to use new irrigation feeder line

Field Work

• E2 - Prep/Plant Beets/Radish
• E2 - Prep/Plant succession III summer squash/zucchini
• E2 - prep/plant melon succession
• E2 - weed garlic
• E2 - weed turnip
• E2 - lay drip line
• E3 - disk east third
• E3 - chisel lines for rest of tomatoes
• E3 - plant 250 tomatoes
• E3 - cultivate with Barty between rows
• E3 - drip line down
• E3 - Irrigate
• E3 - straw mulch
• E4 - Prep/Plant Succession I cucumbers
  
• E4- Prep/Plant Succession II cucumbers
• E4 - Irrigate 
• E4 - weed/cultivate peas/carrots
• E4- replant pole beans
• E4 - pea fences up
• E4- hog panels out to E4 for pea fence
• E5 - disk field
• E5 - prep beds in middle of plot
• E5 - plant onions/broccoli/cauliflower
• E5 - side dress brassica with fertilizer
• E6 chisel field
• E6 mark out beds
• E6 lay paper mulch
• E6 plant winter squash
• E6 plant cover crop strips
• E7 cultivate and weed beans/potato
• E7 replant north 3 beds
• E7 drip line down
• E7 begin mulching
• T1 transplant kale and chard from hightunnel
• T1 till beds, put in transplants
• T1 chisel hardpan areas
• T2 prep field for melons/watermelons
• T2 lay paper mulch
• T2 plant melon/watermelon
• T2 plant cover crop strips
• T3 Drip line down
• T3 cultivate
• T3 Irrigate
• T3 replace any plants that have failed
• SW prep field for planting
• Sw weed asparagus
• SW transplant new asparagus
• Raised Beds - prep bed 1
• RB - plant lettuce/onion in bed 1
• RB - add soil to bed 2
• RB - plant as above
• RB - remove excess soil
• Waverly plots - prep beds 2 and 3
• WP - weed bed 1
• WP - replace failed plants
• WP - plant leeks, cabbage bed 3
• WP - plant cabbage bed 2
• WP - plant onion bed 2
• WP - water all twice in week 

Other

• Dig up dead trees
• plant 5 trees 
• pictures of new t-shirts
• post pictures of new t-shirts
• take plants out of trays that are no longer viable and dry trays
• update website

Oh Well - and More Nonsense

to see Part I click on the link here.

Once upon a time, there was a farm.  On this farm lived two people, five cats,
some chickens, ducks, turkeys and a whole bunch of earthworms.  There were many vegetable and flower plants and even some fruit trees. The two people worked hard to be farmers and they even hired people to help them grow the vegetables, raise the poultry and tend the farm.  Sometimes, they asked others to join them on the farm to do a little work and then celebrate the day with good food.

Sadly, a SNORT came and visited the farm and ate the well.  There was no water for the farmers, the cats, the chickens, ducks, turkeys or people who visited the farm to eat good food.

Perhaps the SNORT felt that the farm had sufficient water since the earthworms were wearing water wings.  After all, the SNORT had evidence that there was plenty of water on the farm when it watched a truck get stuck trying to deliver a load of black dirt to the farm.  But, it still might have felt a little bit guilty and it helped pull the truck out.

Work on the farm continued.  Mr Tyler found a way to put in an automatic vent for the high tunnel.  The farmers agreed that a vent that opened and closed without electricity would be excellent, and so they found a product that did just that.

There was so much work to do on the farm that one of the farmers was caught telling someone that his head was about to explode because there was so much to accomplish in very little time.  Or perhaps he was trying to imitate the sun in hopes that the plants would grow for him.

Miss Rachel and Mr Tyler helped the farmers complete building a small structure to help small plants to grow in trays.  The ground was still so wet that most of these plants could not yet be put in the ground.  But, they seemed to be happy in this building.

Then, a good thing happened!  People came to the farm and they put on gloves.  Gloves could mean several things.  Perhaps it was cold outside?  It is possible that it was a fashion statement.

But, happily, these people, and many others, came to the farm to help with some projects for a while.  This made the farmers very happy.

The helpers weeded some of the flower beds around the house.  Flowers help remind the farmers and the workers to enjoy beauty.  But, no one was entirely certain if the cats, the chickens, ducks, turkeys or the earthworms cared one way or the other. 

The raised bed frames that Mr Denis built were moved and dirt was placed on them.  Perhaps with a little more dirt the farmers would be able to put plants in these frames.    But, while the farmers and workers were happy with this, it was again unlikely that the cats, chickens, ducks or turkeys really cared.  The earthworms, however, decided to move in.

Suddenly, an ettercap crawled from the stump in the front yard.  A whole host of visitors on the farm worked feverishly to prevent the creature from escaping, efficiently placing the very things that will stop any self-respecting ettercap from terrorizing people ever again - grass and twigs.  A tragedy was averted.  The farmers and workers rejoiced.  The earthworms continued to move their belongings to the raised beds.  The cats, chickens, ducks and turkeys ignored the whole thing.

Then, a miracle occurred.  One farmer discovered some of the land was dry enough to till and plant, if only barely so.  And, a whole host of people helped to plant chinese cabbage, kohlrabi and pok choi. 

In fact, the people who visited completed many items on a whole list of tasks.

The next day, when all of the glove wearing visitors had left, the farm was invaded by the giant HAAAACK and its mate.  The farmers, workers, cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys and earthworms looked on with concern.

The HAAAACK began to make a noise.

Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowwwwwwwwww
Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrowwwwwwwwww
Rukrukrukrukrukrukrukrukruk

And it made that noise ALL day long until....

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

Now the farmers, workers, cats, chickens, ducks, turkeys and earthworms understood how the HAAAACK got its name.  None of them were pleased to have learned this.

There was a big mess to clean up, and there still wasn't a working well.  The farmers looked at each other and realized they didn't have many resources to help with the cleanup.

Then, they noticed that the little cat named Mrrranda was not paying attention to the mess left by the HAAACK.  She was looking in the other direction.
 

 

Something was lurking just on the other side of the farm...

 

This thrilling story to be continued...

Oh, Well - and Other Nonsense

Once upon a time, there was a farm.  On this farm lived two people, five cats,

some chickens, ducks, turkeys and a whole bunch of earthworms.  There were many vegetable and flower plants and even some fruit trees.

The two people worked hard to be farmers and they even hired people to help them grow the vegetables, raise the poultry and tend the farm.

Miss Brittney helped fill seed trays with starting soil mix.  Once the soil was packed down, she put a seed or two in each round cell.  After all the cells in a tray were full, she covered them with more soil mix and packed it down so the seeds would germinate.

Miss Kailey helped transplant peppers and tomatoes from seedling trays to small pots.  This allowed the plants to get bigger and stronger so they would do better when they finally were put into the ground.

Mr. Elliot worked diligently to scrape and sand one of the buildings on the farm.  He worked hard to make progress on this task because he knew paint helped the buildings last.

Miss Rachel helped the farmers work in their high tunnel.  Even though the building had flooded about a week ago, the soil had finally dried enough to allow them to plant tomatoes and peppers.  They even prepared a seed bed for green beans and carrots.

Mr. Tyler began work building portable poultry shelters.  He found some cattle panels and some old lumber and made a hoop building.  With a little more work, tarps were found to provide shade and wind shelter.  Soon, these buildings will be used for some of the broilers that lived on the farm.

Mr. Denis knew that the rains had made it impossible to plant in the fields.  So, he began work making raised bed frames.  The farmers could put dirt in these frames and plant into them.  Because the beds are higher than the surrounding areas, they would dry out quicker and allow the farmers to do work sooner after a rain.

The farmers were pleased with this work.  Even if the efforts made everyone a bit tired.

But then.....

 A SNORT came and attacked the farm.

The snort was thirsty and it wanted water.  It dug and it dug until it found the farm's well.  Once it found it, it consumed the well, pump and all.  Suddenly, the farm was without water for the two people, the workers, the cats, the chickens, the ducks, the turkeys or the plants in pots.

But, because it rained and rained and rained, plants in the ground and the earthworms had more than enough water.  

The SNORT felt some remorse for its actions, so it filled the hole back up. It left tracks so the farmers could see where it had been.  But, the well was gone.  The farm still did not have water for the farmers, the workers, the cats, the chickens, the ducks, the turkeys or the plants in pots.  But, the clouds still brought rain and the earthworms and plants in the ground still had too much water.

What will the farmers do?  How will the workers help?  Will the ducks rebel and petition the government with a bill?  Do you think the earthworms will begin wearing water wings?

Stay tuned for part two of this riveting story.

Crop Report for our CSA members

Here's a quick report so our CSA members can see where we are at.

First - Tammy and I have taken time to assess whether we've missed any opportunities as far as planting is concerned and feel we've done pretty well with the limited chances we've had.  That doesn't mean we're not making more efforts.  And - here they are:

Steps we're taking
1. We have adopted one plot (10'x30' or a bit smaller) in Waverly Community gardens - it is planted.
2. We have received permission to plant in a second such plot (perhaps a third later).
3. We are seriously considering building raised beds on the farm this weekend and planting in them.  Likelihood this will happen is very high.  The possible issue is getting black dirt (it may be too wet for people to load and bring to us).
4. We are working to expand the time plants can stay in trays and pots.  If we have to, we'll order more soil and pot more of the plants in 3.5" pots than we usually do.
5. The high tunnel plan has been modified to include more green beans than originally planned.
6. We're dropping sweet corn from production so we can move other crops around.
7. Our best drained field is in the Southwest (not certified organic) and was slated for corn and pumpkins.  We are likely going to move other crops in there just to get them in the ground.  This is going to take some serious thinking to avoid any issues in the rotation and health of these crops (and future crops).
8. We are preparing our workers (and others) for a massive planting fest WHEN the ground is ready to plant. 
9. We are looking at ways we can still get the CSA started without compromising the entire season.  Tentative plan right now is this:  We'll do our first Waverly CSA next week on June 11.  ASSUMING we have something ready to pick (see notes below).  We will skip June 18 for Waverly and start Cedar Falls on June 20.  Tripoli will go June 12 and skip June 19.  We hope that by the time we get to June 25-27 all distributions will run - and continue from there on a weekly basis.
10. Continue to maintain a positive attitude.  We refuse to let this beat us.

Crop status

High tunnel - some kale, lettuce, chard and kohlrabi remain in the tunnel.  Not enough for distribution.  In fact, the lettuce is largely past peak.  The chard and kale need to be transplanted out so the summer crops can go in.  It is now just about dry enough to plant after it was flooded some days ago. 

Field E7 - Potatoes and Beans.  The south rows had standing water.  As a result, the green beans took a significant hit, but the dry beans in the other rows are looking reasonably good.  We will have to replant the green beans.  Potatoes are mostly fine except the south 2-3 rows.  That likely means no German Butterball potatoes for us this year (unless there is a surprise).  Weeds are starting to grow, so we'll have to find a way to cultivate even if it is a bit too wet to do so.  The lawn is growing, so we'll start to catch the grass and mulch as much as we are able.

Fields E6, E5 - nothing in too wet - these fields hold brassica (broccoli, etc), onions, winter squash.

Field E4 - Peas look good with exception of spots that had standing water.  Carrots - same.  Pole beans - 75% need replanting.  cukes haven't been able to go in yet.

Field E3 - too wet to plant - tomatoes and basil field

Field E2 - garlic looks good.  turnips at about 75% (low spots too wet and seedlings rotted out).  Rest of the field waiting to be planted.  Summer squash, zucchini, melons, beets

Field E1 - too wet.  Cover crop and meat birds. 

Field T1 - First batch of short season crops planted May 1 - most did not survive.  Some small kale and some lettuce is ok.  But, slow.  Second planting occurred a little over a week ago.  Chard germination is good, as is mustard greens, arugula, radish.  Spinach germination may not cut it.  Wet spots lost seedlings in all cases.  Turnips failed. 

Field T2 & T3 - too wet - melons, watermelons, peppers, eggplant, okra, beans

Field SW - has some radish that are about a week or so away.  Also some arugula and mustard green that are also about a week or so away.  Field plan being changed to take advantage of better drainage in this area.

In trays/pots waiting to be planted: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, cucumber, basil, melons, winter squash, pumpkins, broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, cabbage, kohlrabi, onion, leek, lettuce, collards, brussels sprouts, pok choi, chinese cabbage, kale, etc etc...   Looks like we should consider container gardening!

Making Small Investments

Tammy and I spent a little bit of time at Newton's Cafe in Waterloo for a late lunch.  Why was it late?  Well, things like this are always late because we have to do "just one more thing" before we actually get out of Dodge, so to speak.

In any event, we took a quick trip as one of several small investments we made today with a bigger picture in mind. 

Investment #1 - A late lunch at Newton's Cafe
This little trip was taken as a chance to have one of Newton's fabulous tenderloins, of course.  But, we took along date books so we could make sure we both were aware of appointments for things related to Tammy's job with the college, bird processing dates, farm festivals, 50th wedding anniversaries and whatever sundry things that are a part of our future this Summer.  We also took along the notebooks to try to figure out what things we both felt really needed attention sooner rather than later.  The trick is to attempt to not think about it too long.  Otherwise, our list of "Priority One" items gets to the point that we might as well admit defeat before we begin.

We saw this as an investment towards the success of this season.  It's been a rough start, and you would think we should grind through it every moment of every day.  But, a person's ability to do that is limited.  So, this break was an investment in our upcoming week by buying some direction, some motivation and, most importantly, some perspective. 

Even better, we both feel like we're ready to pull in the same direction.  Usually, the two of us do pretty well at that.  But, when you don't take that moment away to talk about what each person thinks we should have as priorities, you can begin pulling against each other without meaning to.

Investment #2 - Community Garden plot in Waverly
First - if any of you garden in your city yards or in a community garden plot, please do not take anything typed here wrongly.  We're pleased that all of you work with the soil and we aren't making judgements.  What we are doing is contrasting what we experienced today with what we are used to experiencing on the farm.

We actually invested in a 10 foot by 30 foot garden plot in Waverly.  And, today, we planted romanesco and leeks into that plot.  For those unfamiliar to it, romanesco is a light green brassica that looks a little like cauliflower - except for the whorls that come to a point on the head.  And, they taste great.

The question you might ask is - "Why?"

Well, most of our 'plots' are 200 foot by 60 foot.  And, they are all still too wet to do anything.  We asked to see what was available in Waverly and found it was dry enough to work.  We felt like we needed to do something, so we put the money down and went today and planted these two items.  We have 120 families that are investing in us as their personal farmers.  We need to make choices on their behalf.  A choice we made today was to secure some dry ground and get SOMETHING...ANYTHING growing. 

While this may only get a few leeks per person and maybe romanesco for a fraction of our members, it still gets something in the ground and growing.  And, as to why we chose these two items, there are several reasons.  First, leeks and romanesco are very good companions.  Second, both were needing to go into the ground. 

And, third, both are longer season crops.  This may seem odd at first.  After all, if we are behind, shouldn't we plant short season crops to try to get things to people earlier?  Well, maybe, but we have to be in this for the long haul.  Even if we put a few things in this plot that were short season, it would not produce enough to get us going faster.  In fact, we've come to the conclusion that we need to focus on making sure we can go later in the year so we can make up for the late start.  These two items fit that bill.

While this plot, on its own, may not provide enough of either item to give a whole lot to each member, they will contribute.  And, these contributions bring options that have value.  At this point in time, we're happy to have any plot of land working to the positive for us.  

And, we need to budget our time and energy.  Two long season crops can be weeded quickly with short weekly visits.  We don't have to monitor them for harvest until the Fall, at which point, Tammy is back at school.  It was simply the best choice for the way things are at this time.

Investment #3 - Top dressing trays and trays (and trays) of plants
We spent time putting a compost mix on many trays of seedlings today.  It is clear that they must continue as they are longer than we intended them to be in these trays (or pots).  They need food in addition to the water they've been getting.  So, the top dressing of compost mix feeds them and buys a little more time.  This effort is an investment in keeping crops healthy until that moment we can get to the fields and put them in.  We've done this more this year than we ever have.  So far, so good.  But, we'd really like to plant them very soon.

Investment #4 - Weeding a perennial flower bed
At one point in time, Tammy and I were avid perennial flower gardeners.  We still like them very much (especially iris and day lilies).  But, they take a back seat to the vegetables.   However, we try to maintain some beds around the house, but often get discouraged by how quickly they get "ugly." 

We invested some time in weeding one of those beds today. 

Could we have spent more time on farm related things?  Of course we could have.  But, when these beds are maintained, they give us (and others) pleasure.  Happy farmers tend to work better.  Happy farmers tend to keep farming and tend to be able to fight through difficult growing seasons better than unhappy farmers.  So, do perennial flower beds make us happy?

Yes.  When they are maintained.  No.  When they are overgrown.

One of our favorite iris is Proud Tradition.  Tammy did not know it was ready to bloom and Rob found it first.  He cut one stem and kept it out of sight until he could present it to Tammy.  Her reaction was worth every bit of effort.  We are both enjoying that flower in the house now.

Does it make sense?  Maybe not.  Does it have to make sense?  Definitely not.

Consider this:  We spent 2 hours weeding a flower bed.  We traveled to a place for lunch and had a 'farm meeting' together (another 2 hours).   We still completed all of our farm chores, planted more seeds in trays, moved seed trays to various locations for the next stage of hardening off plants, we top dressed a bunch of seedling trays, we planted romanesco and leeks, picked up some materials from a generous person who thought of us when they had extra they wanted to get rid of, started preparation for workers that arrive tomorrow AM, washed towels we use for veg, cleaned out some containers and got them put away and cleaned out the truck...twice.   It may be a shorter list than some days, but we hardly consider it a failure.
  

New Date Iris Fest/Tom Sawyer Day

Due to the weather conditions, we will not be able to hold the Iris Festival tomorrow.  It is still pretty damp and we haven't had a chance to do any preparation for the gathering.  But, we noticed a Tom Sawyer Day was scheduled for next weekend.  So, here is the new plan.

Saturday, June 8 - the first ever Tom Sawyer Day AND Iris Festival combined event! 

This sounds so good, we wonder why we didn't plan it this way anyway.

Details:
  From 1pm to 5pm we hope some of you might like to do a little volunteer work at the farm.  Some of that volunteer work may involve helping us prepare for the gathering (food prep, setting up tables, etc).  Some of it may involved moving plants, putting plants in or cleaning up areas around the farm that we just haven't been able to get to.   You may arrive at any point during this time period if you are feeling like you might like to do a little work on the farm.  All we ask is that you tell us roughly when you intend to arrive and how many will be coming with you so we can prepare tasks that are appropriate for you and yours.

The festival begins at 5pm.  It is NOT a requirement that you attend the Tom Sawyer Day in order to attend the festival, nor is it a requirement that Tom Sawyer participants leave after 5pm.  In fact, we hope TSD participants stay to enjoy the food and the praise we will heap on you in front of those who arrive later!  The current plan is that we will make sloppy joes, providing the meat, lettuce and rolls.  We typically have water, iced tea and lemonade for drinks.  We ask that you round out our feast by bringing something to share.  It can be a desert, a veggie dish or any number of sundry things you think would be good to share with others.  If you do make something, having a notecard with ingredients will be helpful to attendees who might have allergies or food intolerance issues.

RSVPs for the festival are requested since we are hoping to provide some of the food and would like to know so we can make plans.  It is recommended that you bring lawn chairs.  We have plates and a reasonable amount of silverware for gatherings.  If you have an outdoor game you want to share/play, feel free to bring it along. 

We hope to see many of you at this gathering!

Best,
Rob & Tammy

Other quick news to keep you up to date:
1. We are NOT starting the CSA this week.  We are pushing the start back 1 or 2 weeks depending on what the weather does to us.  We intend on getting you 20 weeks of produce for the season, we're just going to have to start that process later than we wanted.  More details soon.
2. We still have not heard from some people regarding payment for reserved shares.  If you are in need of a payment plan, all you need do is ask.  We let persons who need a payment plan tell us what fits their budgets and we are happy to work with them.
3. Instructions regarding the CSA will be sent out again early next week.  Stay tuned.

Liquid Assets?

The recent rains are on all of our minds right now.  People are worried about wet basements, flooding rivers and gardens that have yet to be planted.  We are also struggling with the rains on the farm and wanted to give you a quick look at what is going on here.  We're dealing with it.  But, sometimes, the sharing of a story is both therapeutic and educational.  So, we'll take a moment to give you some observations as to what is happening on the farm.

 This first picture is West of our farm.  It shows the lake that was our neighbor's corn field.  This is the picture that shows the most dramatic impact of the rains.  For many of our fields, there is greenery, etc that obscures how wet they are, so it is harder to see.  Some of the lightning strikes in this storm were hitting these new ponds instead of the taller objects in the area. 

This picture is blurry, we know.  But, we were trying to take pictures when the light was fading.  This shows some of the water in our cold frame/seedling area.  The cement slab in the back had water as high as 8 inches.  That's where the cold frames (and many seedling trays) were at the time this photo was taken.  Soon after they were moved out.  We've never really considered this an area where water would pond.  Why?  Because it never has before this storm.  We know of several other spots, but this wasn't on the radar.  It was still very damp today, but it was less a pond and more a muck and mire area.

We didn't get to other pictures, but we have more stories that fall into the "I never thought THAT would happen" category.

Our high tunnel is essentially an artificial desert environment.  The pathways are always dry and only the places we water with drip irrigation get wet.  Apparently, this offended the storms enough that they rained hard enough to cause waves of water to roll down our lawn and through the high tunnel from East to West.

Here is a March picture to help visualize this.  The high tunnel is at left.  As near as we can figure, the water from the buildings at right had nowhere else to go with the soil being completely saturated.   As a result, they followed the slight decline to the West and through the high tunnel.  We really thought we'd go work in the high tunnel today because it would surely be the only dry place on the farm.  We were wrong.  It was too wet to do work.  Absolutely amazing.

An acquaintance a couple of miles to our East installed a couple of ponds on his property with berms that might even exceed the recommended height to hold back water during heavy rains.  Each of his ponds overflowed in this rain.  As we discussed this with him all any of us could do was shrug and admit that nature has her way when she wants it.  But, it is still up to us to find ways to work with nature where our efforts do less harm than is currently the case (yes, that is the collective "we" and it does include our farm).

One of our workers is trying to do some horticultural farming on land by Dumont.  He reported that the beds he had planted and put plastic mulch on were destroyed by the torrential rains.  What a quick way to literally and figuratively dampen someone's spirits as they try to do the very thing they really wanted to do for a living.

We hope the next week or two is dry.  It will take at least one week for our fields to dry up enough to work.  We know there are people who are worried about flooding.  There are many frightened and worried people in Iowa right now and we must be prepared to provide support to each other.  And, once we get through this, we need to remember.  And, in remembering, maybe we can make some changes that help reduce the pain weather extremes can cause.
 

Farm Report

A quick farm report to keep everyone up to date.

Farmers Market in Waverly 
We will be attending this Saturday's market in Waverly.  We will have plants one last week.  We will also have lettuce, asparagus, kale, eggs and chard.  This will be the last gasp from the Spring high tunnel planting (for the most part).

Cedar Falls Sales Friday?
Who is interested in us coming down with some lettuce, asparagus and kale on Friday?  Maybe some plants if they are still needed?  We are considering it.

Why selling stuff now?
The high tunnel is a 30 foot by 72 foot piece of real estate.  It is about the only thing, other than the asparagus patches, that can produce right now.  There isn't really enough to do regular season shares from this, but there is too much for us to just sit on.  So, we'd like to sell it.  And, it won't just sit there and wait either.

Iris Festival?
We're not sure.  We planned to reschedule for Sunday of this weekend.  But, if the rains don't stop anytime soon, our place will not be fit for visitors.  Please bear with us as we wait to see what Mother Nature has in store.  We'd like to hold the festival, but we also would rather not hold it when conditions make the entire event difficult and unpleasant.

Staying in Touch with Everyone
 We apologize if we aren't reaching everyone in a timely fashion.  We're currently struggling a bit with all of the rain.  Weather extremes wear us down and make it hard to have the energy to do everything.  We'll get there, but we ask for patience AND for reminders.  Do not feel bad if you are reminding us of things, we will appreciate kind nudges if they are needed.

Ducklings
The ducklings arrived today.  They are pretty cute when they're this age.

Broilers and Hens
We're having a difficult time getting the broilers out on pasture - and once they are - we're having fun keeping them dry and avoiding hypothermia.  We built a new shelter and have been modifying both that we have to handle the excess in rain and wind.  We did some crawling around spreading hay a couple nights ago and managed to save the day.  Today's rains, however, has water creeping up to the shelters.  We've made a few more modifications and hope we won't be forced to do an evac of the whole thing.

Workers on the Farm
We have had a chance to have Brittney, Tyler, Elliot, Kailey and Denis on the farm so far this season.  Thanks to all of you for your efforts so far.  Rachel and Chase will join us next week if all goes as planned.  All of our workers are part time and have varying schedules and they all bring various talents.  We are honored to have them join us.

CSA Regular Season
We are certain we will be starting at least one week later than our normal start.  It is possible it will be later than that.  OR, we may do one week and skip one - or alternate between Cedar Falls and Waverly.  We just have to see what survives this deluge and figure out what we are allowed to do by soil conditions.  We appreciate your patience.  Either way, we still intend to get you 20 weeks of produce - and we fully intend to do our best to provide you with our best effort to bring you excellent vegetables.

Lake Front Property
 
First - our normal disclaimer - we are not trying to say we need to be the focus of attention and we're not trying to bring all of you down.  But, we feel we need to report what is going on to you.  It is all part of being a local producer of food with a connection to the community.  So - hey community!  We're having a rough time of it - but we intend to deal with it, move on and do our best to succeed anyway.  We appreciate your support, we may need to lean on you a little so we can stay positive on days like this when it is very hard to do so.

We'll show some pictures later.  But, you likely knew our fields have been very wet all Spring.  We've barely had a chance to get into them to plant.  The recent batch of rains leaves us surrounded in water. Our cold frames (where we keep many seedlings) were under water at 8:30pm today and we had to go pull out all of the the trays and put them on carts, etc to get them out of the water and under shelter.  Too early to tell if we have some losses on that front.  The old hog pit in front of the Poultry Pavilion is actually overflowing.  We've never seen that before - not even in 2010 or 2008.  On the plus side, we have yet to have the erupting toilet and water seeping through our basement floor that we had in 2010.  NO!  That is NOT a challenge. 

What are we doing about it?
We are working at finding ways to extend plant ability to stay in trays.  We may even find ourselves transplanting things we normally don't transplant into pots or larger sized trays just to keep them going.  We're planning on digging up and transplanting some of the kale and chard plants in the high tunnel if the fields dry out to allow it.  We're also looking at changing our field rotation to allow us to use the fields that dry out fastest for crops that need to get in. 
It is likely we will not plant sweet corn this year, we simply can't give it the space.  And, frankly, we may not find the time to put it in. 
We're beginning to look and see if there is a source for more seed potato in case the current planting rots out on us.  We did plant most of the potato seed as whole potatoes in part to try to avoid more opportunities for rot.  We hope that works.  And, we're modifying plans to figure out what trays of seedlings should be planted to adjust for the weather and to adjust for losses up to this point.
Assuming this weather pattern has to have a stopping point, we will get into the field and we will get things planted.  We're doing what we can to be prepared for that moment.  Until then, help us to hang on.

Life on the Farm

Rather than cry a river about all the rain - we thought we'd show you some pictures of things going on at the farm right now.  Besides that, if we cried a river, it would only get wetter!  Don't want that now, do we?

This year, the apple trees were covered in blossoms!  Last year, they started a bunch of blossoms that were frozen off.  As a result, there were no apples (but we got one peach!).

 This year we had blossoms and we had warm enough weather during the bloom period.  We did not, however, see much for pollinators on our trees.  We're not sure if we just weren't looking at the right times of day or we didn't look in the right place.  Either way, we hope there were pollinators and we are dreaming of a wonderful apple, plum and peach crop in 2013.  The trees you see here are in the pasture just north of the barn.  They are old enough now that we should be getting some fruit off of them.  Since we both like apples - this is a good thing.

We had a pretty nasty POOOF of wind come through the farm a week (plus some) ago.  We had just put everything under cover and shut it all down when the poof came through.  Rob witnessed arbovitae trees bent over so that they were horizontal and heard some odd grating and groaning noises coming from the barn area.  He did NOT go looking at that point.

This is what we saw the next day.  The first picture is the North side and the second is the South side.  Yes, our barn got shorter.  The peak fell in and is mostly resting on the first layer of crossbeams.  In the top picture, you can see a large section of roof that blew onto the next part of the barn.

 The henlets (as we like to call them) are now outside just South of the Poultry Pavilion.  This is their first step to learning how to day range properly.  We'll move them into the North pasture after a while and begin to integrate them into the main flock.  For now, they get a bit more shelter here.
That was a good thing with some of the recent weather events.

The picture you see below is an oddity for this May.  It is a day where some of the fields were workable and we...um... worked in the fields.

You will see some cages and other things that were an attempt to keep critters out of our very early May planting in the small area that was able to be worked then.  Most of those plants have not survived, for various reasons.  Closer to the camera you see beds tilled that were soon after seeded with spinach, radish, turnip, swiss chard, arugula and mustard greens.  Of these, we see evidence of all of them emerging despite the wet weather.  But, there is a bit of a pond in the center right at present.  We'll try to take a picture or two tomorrow.

Since we can't plant in the fields, our seed starting facilities are getting stretched quite a bit.  Below is one of our seed starting shelves with trays we just seeded to get the seeds to "pop."  We want to get them started in the trays in hopes that they will be able to be transplanted in the next two weeks.  We shall see.

Above is a picture of some of our eggplant in trays prior to our transplanting them into 3.5" pots.
And below are some peppers plants awaiting the same treatment.  The problem with that?

We have to find places to put all of the plants.  With the severe weather, we've been putting them under shelter.  For now, most of our production tomatoes, peppers and eggplants reside in the high tunnel.  They like it, but it makes it hard to plant the next crops in the high tunnel.

And, most horizontal surfaces are dedicated to seeding, transplanting and storing these little plants until we can get them in the ground.  We've found that it is easier to leave some of these on tables or in carts so we can roll them in and out of buildings (morning out, evening in). 

We do alot of this in part because of the possibility of severe weather.  You might argue that once they are planted, they have to handle it out there - and you would be correct.  But, at this point, we have control over where they can stay.  And, when they are in trays, they are more likely to get washed out of their pots and trays than they would be if they were planted in the ground.

And, consider this - we have the ability to protect them at this stage, so why not?

If that isn't enough, we'll give you one more piece of data.  Raccoons like to dig in these pots and throw them around.  They do not tend to dig them out of the ground.  'Nuff said.

Hope you enjoyed the nickel tour!

Farm Festival Postponed

Iris Fest, scheduled for tomorrow, is cancelled. The farm is a giant puddle and is certainly not conducive to a farm gathering. The forecast is calling for more rain tomorrow. We are tentatively rescheduling for NEXT Sunday, June 2, starting at 4pm. Here's hoping the rain has stopped by then.

Rob & Tammy

Date Night and Other Stories

How we do Date Night at GFF

At one point in time, Tammy and I saw Friday as the gateway to the weekend, just as so many people do.  But, since we started this vegetable farm thing, Fridays just don't mean the same thing they used to.

Today's 'date night' began with a wild flurry to get the truck loaded with vegetables, eggs and plants for our plant sale down at Hansen's Outlet in Cedar Falls.  We were also delivered egg orders and our Spring CSA shares to our Cedar Falls members.  While we were at it, we delivered a few other orders for lettuce and asparagus.  Nearly everyone who placed orders showed up, many plants were purchased and we were able to converse with many wonderful people.

Once the truck was reloaded, we did manage to go somewhere for dinner.  But, we did so with the knowledge that rain was coming *and* we still had to pick and prepare for the Waverly Farmers' Market tomorrow morning.  We ate fairly quickly and rolled home watching the clouds in the West.

Veg Cleaning by Candlelight

While days are long, dark clouds in the West make it hard to see much earlier.  Of course, if you start cleaning your veg at 9:15 PM, you probably are asking for some problems with available light outside.  So, we grabbed a trouble light and an extension cord and hung it up in the cleaning area.  Tammy thought it was romantic to be cleaning veg by 'candlelight.'

Ok, maybe she didn't think it was romantic.  But, it was still part of our date night.

To make a long story less long, we were still outside cleaning veg when it started to sprinkle about 9:30 PM.  It's moments like that where we are both amused and a bit irritated by the situation.  It's better if we emphasize the amused part.

What is it about 9:30PM and RAIN this Spring?

It seems that 9:30 PM is time for rain over the last week or so.  If we could count on this schedule, I suspect we could find some way to deal with it...

But, we're finding it difficult to deal with the amount of rain we are getting again this Spring.  It is terribly frustrating for us to see that some of our fields might be ready to work in the next day or so, only to have it rain again.  We might have been able to get into some of the fields tomorrow afternoon.  But, all you have to do is look at the forecast to see that we will not do so.  Ah well, we'll make it work.

It Huffed and it Puffed

One of our 9:30pm rains packed a wallop.  That wind that knocked down trees in Waverly gave us a pretty good poof on the farm as well.  The arborvitae trees were bent over so that their tops were horizontal to the ground. 

There was some loud noises I couldn't identify for awhile, though the back of my brain told me it was the barn.  It seems the peak of the barn decided to get a bit lower during that Poof.  It did not, however, do us the favor of falling all the way down.  I wonder if we could ask the Port Authority to help us?

Blue Cars and the Port Authority

One of the best things about having new people work on the farm is that Rob can teach them all about farm-related things - even if some of those things might fall under "creative writing."

For example, every weekday at about 3:45pm, a blue car speeds down our road.  About 2 minutes later, it comes back the other way.  I've already got our workers looking for that blue car every day.  We're trying to come up with the best reasons for this behavior.   Some that we've discussed over the past summer + this Spring are:

• this person is rushing home to get his 'super suit.'
• they fall for the phone prank "Is your refrigerator running - it's running down the street" every day and have to go check to see if their appliance is all right.  Their friends must think it's a real hoot to get them to take that drive every afternoon.
• the GPS in the car has a glitch that takes them down this detour every day.  It takes them a couple of miles to realize that they've followed its mistaken directions yet again.  It must be that Army Corps of Engineers turn that reminds them of this.

Then, there is the Port Authority.  Did you know that the cars you see on rural roads where the person is driving while sitting in the passenger side are Port Authority vehicles?  They're checking to see if there need to be tariffs placed on things in your mailbox.  It doesn't have to make sense.  In fact, it is better when it doesn't.

Nuggets sans Wisdom

These are not nuggets of wisdom.  Instead, they are chicken nuggets!  The broilers are at nugget size right now.   Old enough to be past the 'cute' stage and well on their way to the 'annoying' stage.

They are growing well and we're trying to get them outside on pasture.  There are several issues - among them is the weather.  It has been hard to find a day to put them out when the night won't present challenges.  Eventually, you give up and get them out there anyway.  The problem is, it means you spend an inordinate amount of time finding ways to tighten up the shelter to keep them healthy. 

Planting Progress

We try to do a little of this every season to keep everyone up to date with where we are at with getting things growing.

As stated before, we are feeling like we're under the gun right now.  Fields continue to be too wet to do much and the windows we've had for planting have been short.  Nonetheless, we've got some things in!

Short Season Crop plot:
450 feet of spinach went in just this week.  Also, 150' radish, 150' turnip, 150' arugula and 150' mustard greens and 150' swiss chard. 
On the negative, we have to report losses of the earlier planted swiss chard, pok choi and kohlrabi due to numerous circumstances.  It just was not meant to be.  But, the early lettuce crop has started to show positive growth.

Melons/Watermelon plot:
nothing in the ground.  Seeds in trays.

Pepper/Eggplant plot:
most plants transplanted from trays into pots.  Beans and okra for this field have yet to go in.

Garlic/Summer Squash plot:
Garlic is up and looking reasonably good with all of the new seed we bought.  Our retained seed only had about 5% germination.  Good thing we only planted 15% of the field with them.  1st and 2nd summer squash/zucchini planting in trays.  None in ground at this point.  But - we did get a turnip row in.  And, these aren't just any type of turnips.  these include Scarlet Ohno - we'll tell you more about them assuming they germinate and grow well.

Tomato/Basil plot
Nothing in the field, tomatoes all transplanted into pots and waiting patiently.

Pea/Cucumber plot
Peas all in the ground.  Pole beans for this plot all in.  Carrots are all in.  Cucumber succession 1 is sprouted in trays and waiting for a drier field for planting.

Brassica/Allia plot
Entirely too wet.  Lots of brassica (broccoli, cauliflower, etc) in trays.  Lots of onions in tubs waiting planting.  Lots and lots.  this could get nutty.

Winter squash plot
Nothing in.  Seeding in trays tomorrow.

Potato/bean plot
All potatoes in.  All beans in.  Companion flowers still need to be planted.

Corn/pumpkin plot.
We're not sure if we'll get to this one this year.  We might have to make adjustments if certain fields don't dry out.

Farm Festival on Monday!

Come join us for our annual "Iris Fest" this Monday starting at 4pm.  We usually begin eating around 5pm.

We'll have room for kids to roam.  Bring games to play, chairs to sit in and jackets in case the weather is cooler than you expect (it is always cooler and windier in the country). 

We'll have sandwich makings available (either sloppy joes or turkey depending on time available) as well as lemonade and ice water, glasses and plates, forks, etc. 

We invite people to bring a dish to share (if someone is willing to provide s’more makings, let us know and we’ll get a bonfire going if the weather permits) – salad, dessert, etc.  If you bring a food to share, please consider also bringing a recipe or ingredient list taped to your dish so those with food sensitivities can easily see if they can eat the dish.

Rob & Tammy
Genuine Faux Farm