Genuine Faux Farm: New Month, New Blog Entry

Welcome to a new month and we'll celebrate with a new blog! That seems like a plan, so we're going to do just that. And to start things off, we'll show you an August picture from the roof of the farm house just to remind us all that there are seasons in Iowa that are not Winter or Mud Season.

New product leaves farmers confused

Every year at the Genuine Faux Farm, we try a new product or two to aid in our food production. Sometimes the product fits our operation perfectly and it becomes a regular part of our growing system. Other times, it doesn't work out so well.

This past season, one of the new things was actually an old thing. We read about a company that sold recycled irrigation drip tape and after calling and asking a few questions, we decided to give it a try. Perhaps we should have asked more questions.

For those who don't know, drip tape is essentially a flat, plastic hose with slits cut into it every four or six inches. When connected to a water line, the water expands the line and pushes water slowly through those slits. Our biggest issue with it is that it eventually ends up in the landfill, like so many other plastic products. So, we balance our responsible use of water against the use of plastic. That's why we thought a recycled product would be a good idea.

Another selling point by the company was that, if you opted for it, they would not add extra packaging, like a surrounding plastic seal. That also sounded good. So, we ordered and went to pick it up.

Let's just say we were speechless and a bit too surprised when they threw what you see above into the back of the pickup. It took us a LONG time to untangle all of that. But, hey, we recycled.

Smart technology not so smart or too smart?

I am the sort of person who is not always pleased when a product I need ends up having extra features that I've never wanted. My current complaint has to do with my new "smart" phone. For those who haven't read between the lines yet, my prior phone took a tumble and was having some issues, so we went through the process of acquiring another. Apparently, I need to spend some time uninstalling some of the apps that came along for the ride with the new one.

I got an email from the Clean Your Desk app with a photo taken by my own phone from its perspective as it sat on my desk. After doing a little research, I found the promotion material for this product. The target audience is primarily people who dislike clutter and yet find themselves living with someone who is... um... more clutter accepting than they are.

So, either Tammy is not accepting of my desk clutter and she somehow stuck this app on my phone OR the artificial intelligence software on the phone has decided I need to clean up my act. Either way, that app is now uninstalled on my phone.

Introducing companions

It is pretty well-known by now that we like to use various intercropping techniques at the Genuine Faux Farm. And when it comes to transplanting young plants into the field, we do things to prepare them for their new life. This process is often called "hardening off" and it happens as you gradually expose the young plants to harsher conditions - a bit more wind, direct sunshine, rainfall.

Well, we are now adding an introduction process for companion crops. In the past, we would have trays of similar crops next to each other after seeding and up until the date of transplant. The result is that plants that don't know each other end up getting placed in the ground next to someone they don't know.

I don't know about you, but that would be shocking to me!

So, we're adding the process of plant introductions to our hardening off system. Young marigolds have a chance to mingle with the broccoli and melons (shown above). The tomatoes get to see the young basil plants with whom they will end up sharing space during the rest of the growing season. Let the kids play together while they're young so they can figure out how to cooperate when the real work starts!

We'll let you know how this experiment goes. If fighting breaks out between the hot peppers and the snapdragons, I'm not sure what we'll do. But, we're going to risk it and hope for the best.

Early season farm tours

Agri-tourism is often an option for small-scale, diversified farms that are looking for an additional income source. The problem with this is that it can be difficult to identify agri-tourism feature that both fits the farm, the farmers and interests people enough to visit.

At the Genuine Faux Farm, we often do not have enough person hours to farm AND provide farm experiences during the growing season. So, we are proposing the offering of farm tours prior to the start of the warmer months. Shown above is Farmer Rob giving a tour of one of our high tunnels just after the first planting of the season in that high tunnel.

Over here, on your right, is some soil. That soil has seeds planted in it. And next to that is... some soil that has some seeds planted in it. By my feet, is a hose. And... what?

Not riveting enough? Hey! What can be more exciting than the ability of a seed to grow into a full-sized plant.

No, you can't stay here and watch until the plant reaches maturity. Unless you work for the chance to do so, of course. But, you'll have to wait for food until the plants produce something...

Industrial strength paper weights

Speaking of people visiting the farm, it has long been our policy to remind the leaders of visiting groups to tell participants that temperatures at the farm are usually cooler and winds are typically higher than they are in town. This does explain - in part - why I often have more layers of clothing than most people when I do venture into town.

As far as the wind thing goes, it does become a problem if you want to do anything with paper outside - or if your windows in the house are open. There have been numerous times where I use an object to hold something in place, only to have the wind mock my efforts by flipping the heavier item over and taking the paper object for a ride.

This is where a recent harvest of old cement is going to come in handy at the Genuine Faux Farm. Worried about something blowing away? Just grab a slab of cement. If the piece you select is a little to large for the task, meander on in to the truck barn and find the pick ax. Knock off a chunk that fits your need and away you go!

New sunflower bush variety

Since we started some seed production at the Genuine Faux Farm a few years ago we've been playing with some plant breeding. We've found that the hardest part is getting different plants that aren't the same cultivar interested in each other. That might be another reason for the intercropping introduction program we mentioned earlier. If we can get the marigolds and the basil and the tomatoes to cross we could sell plants that provide a base for spaghetti sauce - all in one.

In any event, we apparently came up with some sort of mixture that resulted in a tall, bush-like sunflower plant. It was pretty prolific with the flowers and the Goldfinches loved it. It's really too bad that our goal was to select for a lettuce variety.

I think we may have missed the mark in this case.

Well, well, well... what day is it again?

Make a farmer (me) happy and tell me that I might have had you at least a LITTLE BIT convinced that some of these were true. And while you do that, take a look at the calendar and consider the date. The first day of April is always fraught with the danger when it comes to the Genuine Faux Farm blog.

Here are the previous April Fool's posts:

Annual April Fool's Posts