Picture This

Welcome to June and our first "Picture This" type post of the month.

What is a picture this post?  Well, this sort of post happens when Rob can't come up with a cohesive theme, but he has some new pictures that he is willing to share on the blog.  He uploads some that look interesting and then writes around them - whatever they are.  It can be a bit 'current event - ish' in nature.  We hope you enjoy.

Even a Poor Iris Year is a Good Iris Year

We're not entirely sure what the reasons are for it, but many of our iris decided to either not have bloom stalks OR the bloom stalks withered away this year.  The exception to this rule are the iris in our newer perennial bed and some that re-introduced themselves to us from their locatios in our old perennial beds by the high tunnel.

We believe the name of this iris is Sing Out.  Or - you can just call it pretty.

In any event, we don't like to be greedy - but we do love our iris and can't help but be disappointed when some of our iris friends don't show up for the party on a given year.  Now we have to wait another year to see their flowers (we hope).  But, those that did show up have been gorgeous - as always.  And, we're glad we get to see them.

Could it be the year of the carrot?

Carrots can be a difficult crop for us on our farm since the window for successfully planting them is very short.  This is why Jeff Sage works with us.  He's got the technique and the soil type to make it work better.  But, that doesn't mean we don't try every year.  Last year, we didn't have much success.  The year before, we harvested about a half ton of carrots and actually left some in the field.

Carrots are the triple rows in the center

Same carrots, right after their first weeding.

Carrot seedlings in the high tunnel

This year, it looks like we hit the timing just right for the field carrots.  And, we are experimenting with a Spring planting of carrots in the high tunnel.  Both are looking good right now.  The field carrots are weeded and they took off once we got rid of the competition.  I suspect a rain would double their size fairly quickly at this point.  The high tunnel experiment is part II.  Part I occurred last season where we had trouble getting them to germinate.  Part of the issue is we planted too late and the soil temps in the building were too high.  The other issue was the irrigation technique - it just didn't get the coverage necessary to encourage germination. 

The Little Columbine that Could

A while ago we took a picture of a columbine plant that is growing right next to the Poultry Pavilion.  It doesn't seem like the most hospitable place to us, but this plant is entering its second year in this location.  In fact, it has some offspring attempting to take hold in cracks just inside the building now.  We meant to take a picture of it in its full glory (covered in flowers).  We missed the peak, but it still was looking pretty good for this picture.

Yes, that is ONE plant.  It likes to say hello as we walk by it every day.

A Raised Bed Experiment
We built three raised beds a couple of years ago in response to wet fields.  We used old barn roofing boards that were already showing signs of decay.  But, it was supposed to be a temporary solution.  One of the beds got a facelift (thank you Darrell and Sue) with some corrugated steel.  We'll see how this works out.  The biggest issue was the sharper edges, but it looks like the old garden hose should address the problem.

Onions and spinach, together again.

The Fork of Damocles?
The first batch of broilers are maturing.  One way we can tell?  Well, they come out much further form their trailer when they see a human coming.  The human might have food, treats or water.  They must check it out.
Processing date is June 30.  So, if you want to reserve some birds, we'll be able to get them to you that week.

You might be wondering about the Fork of Damocles.  Ok, I would be if I were reading this instead of writing it.  At one of our farm lunches with our workers, we were discussing the idea of a Times Square type ball that would slowly drop towards the broilers as the date of their "Trip to the Park" approached.  We all agreed that it might be better to make the item that slowly drops over birds a FORK.  Then we can stick a fork in them when they are done.

Ten Thousand Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
The original plan was to have the new high tunnel up by mid May at the latest.  The original original plan was to put a building up a year ago.  The new plan is the most solid of the batch.  We'll start the high tunnel build on June 12. 

Rob inspects the trailer loaded with about 7400 lbs of metal.

The building arrived on Tuesday morning at 8AM.  We don't have a fork lift - and even if we did, the pallets were heavy enough that it would have taken a sizable forklift to move the pallets.  So, we had to unload the trailer by unbundling the whole thing and removing it one piece at a time.

Everyone had an opportunity to carry plenty of pieces of the building to a staging area and we got it done by 9:15AM.  Unfortunately, the crew couldn't quit for the day at that point.  After a start as forklift substitutes, we had to pick, clean and pack for our first CSA delivery of the season.  Oh - and we planted a few hundred tomato plants.

We're a pretty good team.  But, I bet Jamie and Andrew, who were at the farm for only their second day, are wondering what they got themselves into.