Hurdles

It's a symptom and it's a normal occurrence.  The belt on the mower deck was ready to give out.

The normal occurrence part is easy to explain.  Every year, especially in the Spring, we go through a series of problems with the various tools we use to work at the Genuine Faux Farm.  After a few months of storage during the coldest months, we start taking all of the hand tools, motorized equipment and implements out for use.

Sometimes we are able to give each tool a thorough once over and we can perform basic maintenance.  Usually, when we do that, we discover several things that need attention.  More often than I like to admit, we get pushed into using equipment before we can do the full inspection, so we uncover the things that need attention with a bit more drama.

This time around, the issue was actually the result of some chicken wire not being where it was supposed to be.  The mower deck found it for us (of course) and that probably resulted in the belt problem.  This sort of thing happens and you have to address it.

The issue?  I made it into a bigger problem in my head than it deserved to be.  It's a symptom of our state of mind.  When you're feeling overwhelmed, little things become big things.  Or maybe there are so many little things they become a big thing when they are considered as a group.

Suddenly, the whole FARM is a problem.  NOTHING works.  EVERYTHING is broken.  NONE of the crops are going to get planted.  We'll NEVER get caught up.

Of course, none of that is entirely true, but there was a grain of truth in each that we could build on if we were so inclined.

It didn't matter if it was entirely true.  Taking the deck off and replacing the belt FELT like a big deal.  And sometimes that's why there is a battle to make progress in the first place.  It's not entirely about reality.  It's about perception.

One of my favorite improvements over the years is this tool wall in the Truck Barn at our farm (thanks Dad!).  Seeders, shovels, wheel hoes, loppers and all kinds of things can be found here.  And, the tool wall works best if you follow through with putting the tools away once you are done with them.

We have found that it is difficult to put tools on the tool wall if you put a table and other hard to move stuff in FRONT of that wall.

This has been one of the symptoms that comes along with our move to more off-farm work.  You have less time, so you set a few things in bad places "temporarily."  Then, you reach over that stuff to get a few tools so you can do a little work in a spare moment.  After that, you realize you have to run to do something for your non-farm job and you can't easily get to the tool wall.

You all know what happens next.  

You set those tools down somewhere convenient with the words, "I'll put that away later."

The mismanaged tool wall and the mower deck are two symptoms of how we've been feeling this Spring.  It is really not that difficult a task to take some time and rearrange things so the tool wall is accessible again.  Changing the belt on the deck is something I've done before, so it's not the biggest mystery either.  Yet, we've let them grow into these giant hurdles in our minds that prevent us from getting much of anything done.

The good news?  We've continued to use the momentum our farm friends helped us find and the deck is repaired and the tool wall is, once again, accessible.  We still have a long list of things we want and/or need to do.  But, we are making some progress - as opposed to no progress.

We've managed to change our perception of how the farm is doing, which means we're doing much better - thank you very much.  And we expect there will now be some successes amidst the inevitable failures.  That's normal.  And we can live well with that.

Long Day

 Some days you just feel like the bell pepper shown below after a long day.

Sunday was the big day - the day I really buckled down to move as much as I could from the faithful old computer to this new, spiffy... annoying machine.  This has been a long time coming since I actually budgeted for and purchased the computer a while back.  But, new jobs, limited hours in the day and so many things changing found me putting this painful process off over and over again.  

Sadly, the blue screen of death has visited old faithful a few times recently and I know the signs that I cannot rely on it anymore.  That, and a couple of the keys stick.  But, I'll miss the little notch on the keyboard on the space bar where my thumbs have hit it many, many times over the years.  For that matter, you can tell what letters of the alphabet get used the least in normal English typing.  The label on those letters can still be read on my keyboard.  The common letters like "a", "s", "d", "n", "o" etc no longer have the label on them. 

Full disclosure - I was a computer scientist in a former life.  I am able to do this and I am not completely lost.  However... many of the trends for computer use and software development are leaving me behind.  Not entirely because I can't keep up mentally.  It has more to do with a couple of other factors:

1. Everything now assumes you have a constant, unlimited connection to the internet with excellent speeds.  If you don't - you have to work around everything.  And it just so happens that a large portion of rural America does not have reliable, fast internet.

2. Everyone now assumes that every individual wants to be fully connected to the rest of the world and we want all of our files on the cloud.  I don't.  Why would I want all of my files held hostage when the internet fails?  I want to work when I want to work - not just when the internet service says I can.  Besides, you can't access my personal data on the machine if I'm disconnected - so there's that too!

There are some fine pieces of software out there that you can purchase very reasonably that will move your files and even install your software for you (with a few hiccups of course - because, you know, computers).  But, these usually assume that you'll just upload everything into the cloud and then download it to the new machine.  

I'm sorry, but our internet contract would max out the data before I was a quarter of the way through the process.

Even if you do use this software, there is always a transition period where you figure out where everything on the user interface moved to.  The keys on the keyboard are a little bit different in spacing and feel, so the touch typist struggles too.  And, if you've been working with a number of software packages (some more than others), it is fairly major project just to be sure you have all of the files, settings and tools ready to go for when you need them.

I'm going to be mentally bruised for a while after this project.

Are We a Real Farm Now? - Look Back

This post was originally published on September 27, 2011.  I actually found this one somewhat amusing AND depressing.  Why?  Well, this particular hayrack represents one of our equipment success/failures.  We did a fine job building the deck, but we never did get the front wheels to turn left/right freely on this thing - which made it only moderately useful on a small farm where turning is actually an important feature for a trailer.  This running gear still sits on our farm.  The deck has some problems now and it still won't turn.  If someone wants to take a crack at it, we'll make a good deal for it!

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Now that we have a deck on the running gear - making a functional (if not perfect) hay rack.... are we real now?

The running gear was picked up at a late summer auction.  It has a few problems - one of which is the simple fact that the tongue/front wheels will NOT turn.  That's the next task.

But, the lumber came from the old building that came down several years ago.  The lumber has been salvaged and some of it put to use here.

While we realize it isn't a fine piece of furniture.  Painting this thing *should* make it last longer.  We really don't want to pull it apart and replace boards any time soon.

And it is always easier to paint lumber before it is assembled.

Ready to put the planking on the deck.

 

And...there it is. Okay - you might notice there are unpainted boards on the side.  That's the result of an error on two levels.  First, I selected a board for the deck that had a bit too much of a dogleg in it.  So, I have a painted plank with nowhere to go.  Second, I can't count.  An odd number of boards - you start with the center of the first board in the center of the crosspieces....  Even number is different, you start with an edge at the center point of a cross piece. 

I know this.  Therefore, I must not be able to count.

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Back in the present again (2020).  I still see much value in the process that was this hayrack.  We learned, without too much money invested, how to inspect a running gear to determine if it will do what you want at an auction.  Yes, we learned the hard way.  But, we learned.  Since that time, other running gear have come to live on the farm and we have gotten much use out of them.  

We also learned that we are perfectly capable of working on and repairing various farm equipment.  Up to this point, we had done little with "larger" items.  You might not recall (as I do) that we had just gotten our first category 1 sized tractor in 2010.  This was a bigger step for us than it might seem to everyone now.

Good job us!

The hardest thing to think about when I see this blog now is that I know what the deck on this hayrack looks like now.  I still remember putting that deck on like it was yesterday.  It is hard to believe that the deck is no longer in perfect repair.  Amazing how things change and time flies!

Different Kinds of Tires - Look Back

Rob is taking a short break from writing new blog posts.  Instead, he has selected a few posts to republish this week that he thought you might enjoy.  The first selection is from September 4 of 2012.  I have added a couple of pictures and made a couple of smaller edits.  But, if you see something that is 'out of date,' well....  that's why it is a 'retrospective.'

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The original title was "Different Kinds of Tires" but it apparently also made me think of "different sorts of tired."

Tireless
We've been hearing a clicking noise on the front left wheel on one of our green carts the last couple of days.  We had an idea that the weld wasn't holding.  But, of course, this was the cart that had the correct pins for pulling behind the lawn tractor during picking today.  Since Rob was the only person on the farm today, he may have been a bit more focused on doing and less on things such as.......well... keeping an eye on how the cart behind the tractor is doing.

The wheel is now resting somewhere between the field and the packing area.  Happily the swiss chard that was picked was not also strewn along the path.

I did kind of wonder why the cart snagged the hose as we went by.

Retired?
These green carts are important tools on the farm.  But, they are also representative of what seems like persistent shoddy work on equipment such as this that a small farm, such as ours, might want to purchase and use.  This was a "new" wheel that replaced an older wheel that had also lost its weld.  So, in a way, it has been re-tired twice...

In any event, if you rate a cart at 800 pounds, then the cart AND the wheels should handle 800 pounds.  Now ask the question.

How many times have we actually put 800 pounds on these carts?
Answer: never.
Hmmmmmm.

Attire
I was not prepared for today to be as warm as it was.  And, it was a bit more humid than I expected as well.  The result was a three t-shirt day (of course).  Needless to say, I attempt to clean up my attire just a little bit for the CSA distributions.  But, sometimes I wonder if I should even bother.  Today, being a prime example.

Setting the scene:   It's been dry (yep, again).  Our road was just graded with some new gravel in places on one of the roads we take to get to Waverly.  We have a new truck and the topper has even more places to let dust in than it did before.  It was hot and humid.  I had to load what probably turned out to be half a ton of produce into the truck, then unload it and set it up for distribution.

I was wise enough to try to change shirts AFTER I loaded the truck.  But, if you've worked outside on days like today, you'll understand what I mean when I tell you that I didn't see much of the loading today.  Hey - my shirt was soaked through.  I had no dry place to wipe the sweat out of my eyes.  So, I was just guessing.

I guess the truck is here.  I guess I set that crate with cucumbers on the tail gate.  I guess I'll pick those cucumbers up since that wasn't the tail gate.

Then, of course, I had to take OFF the offensive, wet shirt and put on a new shirt.  I was in a hurry by then.  But, how do you put a nice clean shirt on when you are still stinky AND damp?  The A/C was not on in the house, so I went and stood in front of the fan.  Sorry kitty cat, I know you were downwind.

Once you arrive at the distribution, you have to unload.  Containers are NOT any lighter at this point.  So, you work up a sweat.  Once you get a bit sweaty, all of the dust that has accumulated all over your truck finds you more attractive.  In any event.  Water + Dust = Mud.  Suddenly, the nice clean shirt is sweaty and a bit muddy.  Whatever.  Please take my word for it.  I tried to improve my attire for the CSA distribution.

But, it begs the question - should I retire from improving my attire or should I tirelessly work to improve it?

Just Tired
This is perhaps the biggest reason for this silliness.  I am tired.  There are a number of things that could be done.  But I don't want to do them.  So, I wrote a blog post!

Enjoy.

note: The pictures all came from August/September 2012.  They were not included in the original blog post.

2020 Practical Farmers of Iowa Presentation

Once again the Practical Farmers of Iowa Annual Conference was a quality event and we were pleased that we were able to get there despite some very questionable weather.  In fact, attendance was actually quite good despite the storm that hit right around the time the event was scheduled to start.  It is amazing to think that there would likely have been more activity if the weather had been nicer!

The link above will take you to the current conference page that includes access to presentation slides and videos of sessions that were recorded.  So, if you missed the conference, you can still pick up some of the ideas and knowledge that were freely shared between farmers of all sorts during this event.  While there, Tammy and I attended sessions on establishing cover crops in row cropping systems, selecting plants for seed saving purposes, bush berry production, mechanical cultivation options and techniques and several others.  The staff do a fine job of identifying topics and presenters so that there is something for everyone.  Livestock, commodity crops, horticulture?  There is something of value to be had for each.

This year, Rob was honored to be able to give a presentation on mulching techniques in a vegetable production system.  Even better, this session was recorded.  Since we have had a few requests for slides from the presentation, we thought we would do one better and provide a direct link to PFI's You-tube channel and the actual presentation.

We think it went pretty well and we hope it will be useful to others.

Reasons for Optimism

I had a conversation this Winter with an individual who was very aware of our weather struggles last year and is also aware that changes will likely result in difficult conditions on a fairly frequent basis in the future.  After some discussion, they asked me, "So what makes you think this coming year will be any different from last year for you?"

The easy first answer is that we have to believe this coming growing season WILL be different than the last.  Otherwise, what would be the point of even trying?  Even if the weather gives us a similar level of challenge to last season, our farm WILL change how it does things in an effort to persevere regardless of those conditions.

In other words, if we focus on what we can control, rather than the things we cannot, there should be plenty of reason to be optimistic for the 2019 growing season.  Now that I have your interest, shall I give you some examples?

Vince Knows His Place
A full season with a tool that responds to a bottle neck in our labor stream.  That alone should be enough to provide a reason for optimism.  The power harrow (which we have named Vince) will be with us the entire season and that alone is reason for some celebration.

Our windows for soil preparation have always been on the smaller side, but they have gotten smaller over the past several years.  Vince gets rid of some extra steps and actually will result in less tillage (which is better for healthier soil) despite the fact that it is a bit of a beast.  In the past, we have found ourselves using a combination of tools to prepare beds for planting.  The tool depended on the crop, the location, the soil conditions and a few other variables.  In the end, while we didn't want to, we often found ourselves over-using Barty with his roto-tiller attachment.  That's not great for the soil, but if you get backed into a corner, you sometimes find yourself doing the less than optimal thing.

Here we are with the very first FULL growing season with Vince at the farm.  We have enough experience to now know how he works and what he is best at.  Knowing your tools and feeling confident about how best to use them is one good reason to feel some optimism.

Happier Plantlings
Last year featured a disastrous foray into a soil starting medium that caused us no end of problems.  The medium itself was probably fine in other circumstances, but it did not fit our operational procedures at all well.  The net result was that we had some poor quality plant starts for some of our key crops.  The onions, for example, just didn't put on bulk.  In fact, very few of the onions we started made it to harvest.  But, we were lucky enough to be able to pick up extras from our friends at Grinnell Heritage Farm last Spring.

The photo at left shows one of our onion beds just after it was weeded by our flex tine weeder.  The bed looks pretty clean and the plants look fine, even after they got beat up by the weeder.  We had a decent onion crop - even if we had half of the plants we were planning on putting in.  Many did not store as well as they normally did because of the late, wet conditions.  But, we still had high quality onions in reasonable numbers.  If this years starts are anywhere near our normal quality and conditions are the same or better than they were last season, those onions are going to be great!

Yes, I know it is dangerous to count chickens before they hatch, onion starts before they germinate and season results in March.  But, this blog post IS titled "Reasons for Optimism."  We need some optimism so we can get into this year with a good will to make our hopes reality.  This does not mean we fully expect everything to go exactly as we planned, nor does it mean our mental pictures of success will align perfectly with the reality that will be the 2019 growing season.  It would be foolish to expect the Winter time mental picture of perfection to be a daily reality for us in June (or pick a month).  We are realistic enough to have a picture of 'reasonable success' that resides super-imposed over both the 'perfect success' and 'imminent failure' that are in our mental files.

Raised (Bed) Expectations
There are other techniques we have used in the past that have had some success to combat very wet weather and we expect to use them even more going foward.

Last season, we raised the planting area for more of our crops than ever before.  However, if you will recall, we mentioned that planting bed preparation has been a labor bottleneck that we needed to address.  That leaves us in a bit of a quandry.  Many of our crops survived the wet simply because we DID raise the planting area.  So, you could argue that we're adding time back onto that bottleneck and we won't have made any real progress.

Well, argue all you want.  We're still going to raise all of the beds on our farm for next years crops.  You could argue some of our shorter season crops might not need it, but we can't predict when (or if) we will get excess rains that could cause us problems.  Heavy rain events are not just for Spring anymore, so we need to be prepared with all of our annual crops.  The great news is that Vince can help us with this by preparing the soil a bit more evenly for hilling.  And, our other processes have been adapted fairly well to these raised planting areas.  It should work out just fine!

Keeping Up With the Weeds
The last couple of wet seasons have shown us that we cannot keep up with the weeds with things the way we are.  We've got good cultivation tools now and we know how to use them.  But, if it stays too wet to use them, the weeds don't wait for you to cultivate.

We've been trying paper mulch (Weedguard Plus) at some level or another for several seasons now.  The product has shown marked improvement and we are getting better with adapting our systems to the use of paper mulch.

Last year, we focused on paper mulch in the field tomatoes and were were duly impressed with the results.  We have used straw mulch every season prior to this and found the amount of labor to be significantly less with the paper mulch.  In fact, our workers generally do not care for spreading the straw anyway, so they aren't crying about this change.

This season, we expect to go back to paper mulch in the vine crops since that was our Achilles last year when it came to keeping crops clean.  The tomatoes will get the same treatment as last year and the peppers will likely join them.  This is not to say that paper mulch solves all of the weed problems, nor is it without risks.  But, we think this is one of the correct responses we can provide that will result in a better season.

Better Blooms
There will be flowers.  Lots of them.

There will be zinnias.
There will be borage.
There will be sunflowers.
There will be marigolds.
There will be nasturtium.
There will be 4 O'Clocks.
There will be calendula.
There will be alyssum.
Lots and lots and lots of flowers.

How can you not have some optimism when you see flowers in your future?  Even last year, there were flowers.  Perhaps they weren't what we were hoping for when the season started, but they were present.  The zinnias bloomed until it got so wet that they drowned.  But, this year, they will be in raised beds.  That should help them.

And, our reasons for optimism are often linked.  If we increase the number of vegetable rows with paper mulch in them, there will be more time to keep the flowers weeded.  Yes, there is still a great deal of work involved, but we are talking about reasons for optimism, not reasons to ignore reality. 

When the Lettuce Was Good It Was Really Good
It felt like everything was a failure at times during the 2018 season.  But, that is actually a long ways from the truth.

Our CSA customers had a pretty good season until we got to the end of October.  We had to pull back from several potential sales to make sure they had product, but that's not the point.  The point is - we had some pretty darned nice produce last year.  It just wasn't what we wanted or needed.

The point here is that we still produced some quality veggies in a year that was among our most difficult.  If I can show you pictures like the one to the left from a year we both feel was a tremendous struggle, then imagine what a year with adjustments (and hopefully less weather extremes) could provide!

Another example of success in a difficult season would be the poultry.  The turkeys and broiler chickens were good sized and high quality all season long.  Other than our first broiler batch, we did not lose very many young birds.  Our laying hens continued to lay consistently all year long despite poor pasture conditions starting in September and cold weather this Winter. 

Despite 2018 being what it was, the Genuine Faux Farm produced some quality food for some wonderful people.  Now, the Genuine Faux Farm farmers have ideas about how to address some of the biggest issues that raised their heads during a difficult year.  They have more tools, even more experience and energy to make it happen.

Will some things go wrong?  Of course they will.  But, we intend on making MORE things go right.

Here's to a positive attitude going in to the 2019 growing season! 

Just Tooling Around

Every year, we make adjustments to the tool set we use at the Genuine Faux Farm.  Sometimes, we make a batch of minor purchases or perhaps a major purchase.  Most years, we make some repairs or adjustments to tools that we already have in our possession.  And, every year, we work on optimizing how we use each and every one of the tools at our disposal.  Sometimes, the result of our efforts to optimize is to remove a tool from the process.  But, usually, it is just a matter of taking the experience we've built over time to get better with the tools we have.

Big Purchase for 2018
We did make a decision to go through with a major purchase for the year when we acquired a Maschio power harrow for Rosie (the tractor).  We'll try to take video of it working some day so every can see exactly what it does.  But, for now, let it suffice to say that a power harrow does not treat the soil the same way a roto-tiller does.  We are hopeful it will make our work more efficient while reducing damage we do to the soil structure when we work it.

Welcome the GFF power harrow

Believe it or not, we have been farming five acres of vegetables since 2007 and we have never owned a tiller any bigger than the walk-behind tractor.  Most farms our size are likely to have access to a roto-tiller for the back of the tractor, but we have not had that tool at our disposal.  On the plus side, this approach has encouraged us to learn the value and proper use of the disk harrow among other implements.

We came to the conclusion that one of our biggest bottlenecks was bed prep for planting throughout the season and we agreed that addressing this problem would be worth the investment in a roto-tiller, a spader or a power harrow.  We estimated that the return on investment would be realized in between three and four years by saving hours of effort - specifically in Rob's work hours.  That means the most efficient planter on the farm (Rob) can be putting things in the ground for a higher percentage of the time.

What?  Were you thinking he would get to sit in the hammock instead?  I suppose that would be nice, but we have a ways to go until that happens.

Adjustments
There have certainly been (and will be) more than one adjustment made this year in tool use, but we thought we would feature one in particular.  The picture below shows one of our S-tine cultivators that has been built to cultivate the wheel tracks of our tractor.

S-tine cultivator at GFF

Why is it called an S-tine Cultivator you ask?  Your answer is in the picture at the right.

This is a tool that has actually been on the farm since about 2012 when we were trying to figure out how to use Durnik, our 1942 (ish) Ford 8n/2n tractor.   We were able to purchase a 30 foot long cultivator and cut it into smaller sections that fit our operation's (and our tractor's) size.  The second S-tine we put together (with Band Saw Man, Jeff Sage's guidance and help) covers the entire area behind the tractor and gets used infrequently.

But, starting last year, the wheel track cultivator finally got fixed up and adjusted to work in our system with Rosie as the tractor, instead of Durnik.  The tool bar has a bit more clearance than some of our other implements, which allows us to get around larger crops without beating them up so much. 

Note the new attachment on the back

After replacing some rusted and broken parts and adjusting the tool a bit, we now have an fairly easy on/easy off implement that can get the paths behind our vegetable rows cleaned up quickly.  It doesn't cultivate too deeply so we can weed without messing with the soil structure AND it is shallow enough that we shouldn't be unearthing any new weed seeds from deeper in the soil. 

One of the best parts?  It's a fairly low-tech solution that isn't too hard for this farmer to fix if something goes wrong.  We like that.

Smaller Acquisitions and Other Adjustments
Barty the BCS (walk behind tractor) has been with us for a while now (new April 2011).  Long enough that we needed to replace the tines on the tiller (badly).  That change, in and of itself, has already paid us back with fewer passes to make a seed bed for onions, carrots, peas and beans so far this year.

We added a removable wheel for the back of the BCS so transporting it to and from the fields has become MUCH easier for us.  And, we went ahead and purchased a furrowing attachment so we could create shallow furrows for plantings things like potatoes.  We also can use this to hill potatoes if we so desire.  However, we have made adjustments to the disk hiller created by Wade Dooley several years back so it serves that purpose with Rosie in a much more efficient manner.

Perhaps the biggest adjustment has been in attitude regarding equipment.  I have not been terribly confident in my abilities to maintain, repair and efficiently use equipment.  It is not part of my background prior to farming and I have never professed to particularly enjoy changing oil, etc.  However, I took a moment and signed up for a Practical Farmers of Iowa mini-course on equipment safety and maintenance with Shane LaBrake.  I attended the first of two days and came away believing that while I am not an expert, I was (and am) sufficiently competent to do this work.  It is amazing how easily we can talk ourselves out of doing something when we don't believe we are very good at it. 

Do I believe I am a mechanic now?  Pffft.  Of course not.  I don't always remember all of the proper terminology.  Repair and maintenance work will usually take me longer than it will others with far more experience, skill or inclination.  The tools in my 'shop area' wouldn't fool anyone into thinking I do much with this sort of thing.  But, I am not going to let uncertainty stop me any longer.  I've got this - just as long as I can be allowed to "cry uncle" when the task goes beyond what I know. 

Besides, I want these tools to work for us and work well - for a long time.

On Time for Taters

Considering we have been dealing with the Winter that would never end, it seems odd to be able to report that we actually put our potato crop into the ground when we scheduled them to go in.  In fact, we put them in on the front EDGE of the scheduled time slot.

Realities of a Farm Schedule

Given the multiple variables that can impact any schedule we might develop for any growing season, it is remarkable to us when we actually hit something *right on schedule*.  In fact, our schedules actually reflect our own recognition that we rarely hit the optimal date.  For example, my schedule for potato planting says "April 28-May 5 is optimal."  April 15 to May 30 are the outside edges.

Beds with the initial tilling complete (April 30)

Frankly, we were expecting that the fields would not quite be ready to go during the optimal period this year.  But, we had warm, sunny and breezy days that helped dry out the fields.  Usually, we are later putting in potatoes than nearly any other veggie grower we know in Iowa.  That has to do with weather and the heavier, wetter soil we have here.  The physical nature of potato planting may also play into it a bit.

Hard, But Not As Hard

Last year, Tammy and I needed two days to put in our potato crop.  That doesn't necessarily mean two FULL days, mind you.  But, there has usually been at least two planting sessions to get all of the planned beds put in for the season.  

Further proof that Rob DID fix Barty up properly.

What was so different this year?  After all, Tammy was only involved in the whole process for a few hours, instead of full days.  How could we possibly get things done faster with fewer person hours?

First, let me make something perfectly clear.  Many growers have tools that are specialized to help speed potato planting.  It just happens that we have never really targeted equipment specifically help us with this process.  And, in some cases, we actually HAD the equipment, but we didn't have a system that worked with that equipment.  Let's also not ignore the benefits of experience with some of these tools.

And, there IS one more thing.  We decided to drop back from 12 beds of potatoes to nine (but more intensively planted).  We haven't been terribly happy with our potato crops in recent years, so it is time to revamp the process so we can see more success.  One of our strategies for crops like this is to reduce how much we plant so we can improve the quality of what we do have.  If we need to, we scale back up once we feel we have a better approach for our farm.

Not Quite What We Wanted

Sadly, the seed potatoes for many of the varieties we prefer were not available this year.  At least they weren't available through the supplier we have relied on for the past several years.  We could possibly have gotten the varieties we wanted from other suppliers, but the seed might not have been certified organic or, more likely, the seed would have cost multiples of what we had been paying.  If you are trying to improve crop results through technique changes it may not behoove you to spend that extra money until you feel you have solved those problems.
 

Trenches ready in the beds for the seed potatoes

That means we don't get to harvest Purple Majesty, Carola, Rio Grande, Sangre or German Butterball this year.  Actually, German Butterball has under performed, so it was due to be removed anyway.  We thought Purple Majesty and Rio Grande might re-appear after their disappearance last year.  Sadly, that did not happen.  But, we had no clue that Carola and Sangre would go away this year.  Now what?

The good news is that Mountain Rose does return to the farm.  Canela will be our russet potato again as it has replaced Rio Grande in our grow list.  We don't like it quite as much, but it has been fine.  We're trying Red Norland for our earlier potatoes and Kennebec comes back to the farm after being away for nearly ten years.  We had some Carola potatoes left over in storage that we put in the ground and we are trying a bed of Harvest Moon again this year.

New Tools and Approaches

We added an attachment to Barty, our BCS walk-behind tractor that we might call a hiller/trencher.  We used it to make the trenches for the potatoes.  Unfortunately for Rob, he actually tilled the beds first and he probably should not have done that.  Or, better yet, he could have turned off the tiller while he was trenching.  It would have wore him out a little bit less if he had.

Even so, the trenches were made much more quickly and with less effort than previous years.  And, the even better news is that we expect it to be even easier next year (and years thereafter) now that we are a bit more used to the tool.  I think I can be forgiven for thinking I had to till more because we DID just replace the tines on Barty.  We were used to a certain amount of tillage in one pass last year.  (a hint - it wasn't very good)  So, it was a bit of a shock to get a beautifully prepared bed in one pass.

We understand that a middle buster on the back of Rosie, our tractor, would have done a fine job as well.  But, we don't have a middle buster at this time AND we're trying for a little more precision within the bed for intercropping reasons.  The smaller equipment gives us a bit more precision, so we'll go with that for now.

Once trenches were placed in the beds, we just needed to drop the potatoes in.  We just load up 5 gallon buckets and walk the row, dropping in the seed potatoes.  Yes, there are potato planters and other mechanized ways to do this.  But, we really don't mind walking 200 feet and dropping in some taters.  It's the simplest part of the process and it encourages us to observe what is going on with the seed and the field.  Clearly, I would have a different viewpoint if I planted much more than 1800-2000 row feet of potatoes.  But, I don't - so there you have it. 

Potatoes dropped in the trenches

The last step is to cover the potatoes.  The old method?  Rake the trenches in.  Usually it happened at the end of  long day.  We were tired and we really didn't enjoy raking that much dirt in.  This is where Rosie came out to play with the simple 2 disk hiller that we have.  The potatoes were covered (maybe a tad bit deep, but the soil is lose and will flatten out just fine) in about five minutes.  Celebration (and dinner) followed.

Why haven't we used this hiller before?  Well, we originally got this implement when Durnik (Ford 8n/2n) was our primary tractor.  Sadly, the hydraulic lift on Durnik couldn't be set to a desired height/depth on that tractor.  So, the result was that the disks would either be pushed in all the way (resulting in ridiculously high hills) or they would float out of the dirt - hilling nothing.  We tried to make the darn thing work two seasons in a row with no success.  I guess we rake it in, eh?

Picture added May 12 - rows hilled.

Frankly, those results soured us on using the hiller and we actually forgot we even had it in our arsenal until last year, when we hilled potatoes mid-year.  Ok, we sort of forgot it.  We also had trouble getting to it when we wanted it a couple of years ago.  That was one of the events that encouraged us to do a major farm 'cleaning' that corresponded with finally building our walk-in cooler.

We may not be the fastest at adapting, but we do get there eventually.  Here's to what we hope is a fantastic potato crop in 2018.

Mekanikle Ineptitude

Neither of us has ever said, "Boy howdy!  I'd really like to do some routine maintenance on our small engines.  And, while I am at it, I would really ENJOY making a few repairs as well!"  Of course, that's because neither of us is prone to saying "Boy howdy!"  Otherwise, we have been known to make a statement that we would LIKE to have routine maintenance done on the small engines and we would always prefer to get the repairs done as well.  It's just that neither of us is likely to pick these tasks over other tasks.

Would you like to replace some tines on the tiller?

Are we incapable of changing the oil, cleaning the filters and adjusting the throttle cable on a small engine?  No.  We can do that.  Of the two of us, Rob is more comfortable with this stuff than Tammy, but we can both figure it out.  It is safe to say that neither of us is brimming full of confidence and we both know these things take us much longer than it would other persons with more experience with this sort of work.  Hence the tendency to pass the task on to others who seem more inclined to enjoy it when they come around.  This is especially true during the growing season when there is so much to do.

Half of the tines are on (lower half) - almost there!

Sometimes, there just isn't a person who you can pass the work to.  And, sometimes, you realize you really should just get over yourself and improve your own skills (and your attitude while you are at it).  After all, it's not like I haven't done anything like this before.  

Well, ok, I haven't actually replaced the tines on a tiller before.  So, this is a new one for me.

Old tines at left and right.  New in the middle.

 So, why were we replacing the tines on Barty (our walk behind tractor)?  The picture above doesn't do it justice because you can't really see the curved part of the blade on the new tine in the center.  Let's just say the tine on the right is missing half of what it is supposed to have and leave it at that. 

Barty was also treated to the full "spa treatment" with new oil, filter, lube, etc etc.  He's one happy walk-behind tractor now.  We even adjusted the throttle.  Hurray for us.

Ha!  I put it back together with NO extra parts AND it appears to work!

The lawn tractor had better watch out, because it's next.

Rough Start

A quick blog post to celebrate the end of May and beginning of June - if celebrate is exactly the right word.  If I felt like we were caught up on everything, I might be more willing to celebrate, but we are not.  So, I'll just roll with the calendar because there isn't a choice in the matter.

Spring Sprang Sprung?  Not quite.
We had some nice weather in April that got everyone thinking "Spring," then we had this patch in May where things got pretty cold - including a freeze and a couple of frosty nights.   They had us scrambling to move plants to places where they could handle the temperatures.  Tomatoes got put into a high tunnel with a double cover of remay.  Even then, some of them got bit.

Some of our brassica went into this trailer and were covered with what we could find

We were glad we hadn't pushed much into the fields at this point, even though it might have been nice to get a few things seeded.  But, you get done what you get done and there isn't much more we can do.

We pressed some moving blankets and tarps into service on the cold frames.

While we didn't lose many plants, we did lose momentum.  Essentially, a cold snap like that one makes you move things backwards.  Plants that had graduated to various stages of hardening off were backed up one level.  It also means we spent that much of our time and energy just trying to get everything moved and/or protected.  And then moved back to where they belonged after the danger had passed.  That's alot of hours and effort that should have been spent moving forward.

The good news?  We are better prepared each year for events such as this.  We lose fewer things and the process gets more efficient.  And, we know what the next steps need to be - but that always takes time and resources to get there.  Sound familiar?  Just like everyone else we are.  We have ideas as to where we need to go and how to get there - now we need the things we need to get it done.

Mekanikle Ineptitude
Ok, we do NOT claim to be mechanics.  We can do what must be done when it has to be, but we admit we are not the most proficient at it.  That's why we pay others to do certain work.  They have the tools, shop area and expertise to do these things more efficiently than we do.

So one of the JD lawn tractors went in because it wouldn't start (at all).  Then, the tie rod on the other one broke.  So, we have no mower on the farm.  Uh oh.  We got a loaner mower - the belt to the blades stretched and came off - so it's down now.  So, we fixed the tie rod on our tractor ourselves.  It worked until it blew out a tire.  So, had to get that tire off and get a replacement.  Now that tractor is stalled out in the middle of the North fields and won't start again.  Each time we have a small mekanikle viktorie....

If it were just the lawn tractor issue, we wouldn't quite feel like there was some sort of hex working here.  But, it's been email issues and other computer things.  Various other tools have odd breaks or issues that we've had to address as well.  We're used to some things breaking as we start to use them in the Spring - but this has been a bit over the top.

And, who ordered this Spring cold that both of us caught this year?  Not fair!  "Piling on" foul!  Even the Sandman has been fighting an infection of some sort this Spring.

I am annoyed by this situation.  I, the Sandman, have spoken.

Masked Bandits and other Varmints
This is turning into the year of the VARMINT on our farm.  Look, we want to be friendly to nature - but when it gets this unfriendly to us and what we're doing...  We have to find ways to fight back a bit.

Short story is as follows.  We've seen more rabbits, raccoons, woodchuck, deer and other critters than normal this year.  With fewer options to tame areas that tend to get overgrown (dead lawn tractors - see above), these critters are feeling more welcome than usual.  We had some of our kohlrabi (about three trays of them) get nibbled by an unknown critter in our coldframes.  We moved things out of that and an adjacent cold frame until we could try and trap the culprit (never happened).

Things were placed on pallets in the cold frame area and seemed final until, one night the culprits attacked again.  We lost 90% of succession I of broccoli, most of the cauliflower and all of the cabbage.  Only things we had pulled and put on a hayrack were spared.  So, what was left got placed onto additional hayracks until we could address the issue the next day.

So, it only figures that raccoons would then climb onto the hayracks and dig into our plants and throw them around for a bit.  Why not?

Now, we have an electric fence around the area and no further issues have been encountered.  But still - that hurt.  Many of these plants were going to go into the ground the next day or two, so I suppose it could have been worse.  We could have spent the time transplanting into a field and had them all destroyed after that effort (that's me - always looking on the bright side!)

R.I.P. little plants.

Whether Wythards
Too warm, too cold, too dry and then too wet - in that order.  We farm, therefore the weather is always an issue.  'Nuff said.

Looking on the Bright Side
Ok, we will now follow my own advice and look on the bright side - because there have been several.  It can be hard to think about them sometimes when you are feeling a bit put upon by circumstances.  But, they are there, nonetheless.

We do have the onions in, which is no small task.  We have the option of putting in a bit more, but may opt not to do it.  Still, it is nice to have that choice available to us.  they probably have shown the least transplant shock of any season to date because we got the drip tape on them pretty quickly - despite the very dry soils we planted into.

Lettuce in Valhalla is looking great and the next succession in the field is on schedule.  The chard in Valhalla is also looking pretty good, so that is encouraging.  The next set of broccoli is getting closer to transplant stage and are looking good as are the plants in pots and trays that are waiting for ground to dry out enough to put them in.  And, the asparagus has been producing pretty well.  A good weeding of the taters will help them out (they are all in) and the germination has been good - if a little scattered.

And, despite the rain arriving earlier than forecast, we had a good day getting things done on the farm.

Building blocks.  We'll use this one as a solid base and put another good block onto the pile tomorrow.

Happy June everyone.

What Is It About Tractors?

When people visit the farm, there are just certain things that seem to attract them more than others.  Things such as... kittens.

Well, ok, we don't always have kittens on the farm and people seem to be attracted to kittens anywhere.  So, never mind.

But, seriously, people love to see baby chicks, they like to see the turkeys, they'd love it if our cats didn't run away from them and...  they love to see Durnik the tractor.

Tractor lover at the wheel

We suspect that Rosie (our newer tractor) might be interesting as well.  But, there is something about older tractors that we all love. 

Not quite a hay ride, but they liked it.

I suppose part of the attraction is that it is something different than most people who live in town will see.  And, the other part is that when you go to a farm - you're supposed to see a tractor.  What's a farm without one?

Those of you who have a bit longer history with us will realize that we have been on the farm since the summer of 2004 and started GFF in 2005.  It wasn't until 2010 that we added anything bigger than a lawn tractor to our farm tool list.  And, it wasn't until the following year that we got any tools to go with the tractor.  Since that time, we have added a number of tools and a second, newer tractor.

We know exactly what we had to do without these tools and we are grateful that we now have tools that fit the scale of our farm much better. 

Top Ten Business Decisions - Part I

Earlier this year, Rob was involved in a Practical Farmers of Iowa event in Cedar Falls called the Next Generation Retreat.  Beginning farmers attended and were working on budgets and business plans for what they hoped would be new farm businesses in Iowa.  Rob's job was to share some insights for potential vegetable and CSA growers.

We felt it might be enjoyable to share various "TENS" as a part of our "Ten Year Tenure" celebration.  This will be one of several series we hope to maintain throughout the second half of the 2014 season.

This will, of course, be a Ten Part Series.  We are not putting them in order of importance as that's just too much work.  Instead, we'll do them as we feel like writing about them.

Adding the tractor and various implements to our tool set.

That is one daunting task....

Up until 2010, the largest tools we had on the farm were the lawn tractor(s). Our model was to try to build equity before making farm purchases and it took a few years before we really let ourselves begin investing capital into tools.  In fact, one of our favorite early photos (2005) is above.  Other than a lawn tractor used to mow and pull a small cart, our big tool was the walk behind tiller you see here.  Our first crash course about needing good tools occurred soon after this picture when the tiller 'threw a rod' and was down for the count when we still had things to do.  Our first response at that time was to have a new engine put on this tiller.  The second was to purchase a tiller attachment for our lawn tractor.

At this point in time, the old tiller still runs if needed.  The tiller for the lawn tractor has been down for the count for a few years now.

Durnik the tractor - resting after a little work

Of course, there were intermediate steps that lead us to 2010 and the purchase of the 1949 Ford 8n/2n you see above.  But, the purchase of this tractor represents a significant change in how we performed work on the farm.

It's amazing how much more efficient moving straw can be with the right tools.

This was one of those 'serendipity meets just enough daring to try to pull it off' moments.  That year was not, by any means, a great year for us.  And, we'd already expended significant capital on the high tunnel.  But, attendance at a recently deceased neighbor's auction brought us face to face with the possibility that we could own a larger piece of equipment that would have some people who were knowledgeable of the tractor's past.   So, we took a run at the tractor and landed it.  Members in the neighborhood, including the family, were pleased it stayed nearby.

We weren't able to use the tractor much early on because we didn't have any equipment that worked with it.  But, one of the first additions was a hayrack.  And, this purchase provided us with a crash course on 'why used equipment isn't always the best choice.'  Essentially we purchased a running gear that had no deck.  Rob was pretty confident in building the deck (and it looks great by the way) but he didn't notice that the darned thing didn't turn.  The front wheels were frozen in place.  Ugh!

Disk Harrow

Rotary Mower

Potato Digger

Two Bottom Plow (Moldboard Plow)

Since that time, we have added various implements and done a good bit of learning about how to work with and care for this tractor.  In fact, it is safe to say that we've learned what it is particularly good at doing.  And, of course, we've learned its shortcomings.  But, let's be honest, for the price of purchasing and paying for repairs on this tractor, we've had a an excellent course on how this sort of tool can be a key asset on a farm such as ours.  In short, I am not sure we would have learned as much as well as we did if we had made a leap to take out a loan and acquire a new tractor immediately.  In fact, I'll go out in a limb and say we would not have learned as much, nor would we have learned as well.  Further, we would not have been willing to invest money in several of the other tools that are used with the tractor.  A new tractor with a bucket might be nice, but if you don't have other tools for tillage, cutting, cultivating and planting - it is one-dimensional and wasted money.  Purchasing a less expensive, older, but fairly reliable tractor that had a traceable history was perfect for us.  We had capital to experiment with different tools to learn what we could (and should) be doing.

And, if we made a mistake, the loss wasn't nearly so great.  In fact, we've already removed some items from that farm that didn't work for us.  We've even replaced some items that worked, but we saw the repairs looming on the horizon.

Sometimes an auction purchase didn't work out.

This year, we took another step and added a much newer tractor to our tool lineup.  This time, financing was required.  But, we couldn't ignore the fact that it would address a long laundry list of issues we had with getting things done on the farm.

Rosie the tractor - We Can Do It!

The jury, of course, is still out on whether this, by itself, is a top 10 item.  But, we can assure you that we do not purchase things for the farm without a fair amount of thought and some wringing of hands.  It's no small thing to do this.  But, then again, consider what it will do for us:

• turning compost piles (something we have been unable to do since they got too large for hand turning)
• Using the tandem disk (Durnik just couldn't quite run the disk for much longer than 15-20 minutes at a time)
• better fuel economy.  We figure what we did with the disk and chisel plow soon after purchase used 1/3 the fuel that we would have with Durnik
• More flexibility and less time taking implements on and off (we can leave the flex tine weeder on Durnik and have the disk on this beast for example)
• The ability to add a transplanter to our arsenal of tools in the not too distant future
• Use of the rotary mower is no longer the adventure it is with the older tractor - and we don't mean adventure in a good way this time.
• A warranty during the break-in period so we don't get delayed by break downs...

Keep checking out our blog and see how our new tractor gets along with the old.