Streaming Whatever Comes Up

Sometimes, you feel like there are things to share, but you don't feel like coming up with a theme or a thesis or.. whatever it is that sometimes hangs blog posts together.  So, today, we're just going to do the Genuine Faux Farm streaming service where you get whatever comes up at the moment as Rob's fingers hit the keyboard.  

This could be interesting....

 Or maybe disturbing, confusing or some other sort of "ing." 

So, just over a week ago, we had some cold weather that resulted in a frost at the farm.  This was particularly disturbing after we were celebrating some significant progress in our farm tasks in the prior week and a half.  

The problem with frost damage to crops is that you can't always fully assess the damage until a couple of days after the event.  Now that we're over a week out, the damage is clear.  The cucumbers did NOT fare at all well.  It looks like 75% of the crop is done.  We did have a few trays of back-up plants and we put them in already.  However, we have resorted to reseeding more trays in hopes that we can still run a long enough season to get the seed production we hoped to have for Seed Savers. 

This is actually a 'double whammy' because the cucumbers were a key part of our PFI research project for the year.  Well, we'll make things work, but it won't be what we wanted - that's for certain.

On the other hand, the snow peas are VERY happy right now.  They are glad we covered them and we pulled in 12+ pounds of snow peas on Sunday alone!  Hurray for the snow peas!

Sunday was a fairly busy farm day too.  The "Middle Earth" plot got a thorough cultivation pass with wheel hoes AND our newest named farm cultivation tool, "Millard."  More forthcoming about Millard in future posts.  We got drip lines down after cultivation and even finished putting in the rest of the butternut squash.  We also worked up the field just south of Valhalla and got irrigation going there.

You know, we really should come up with a better name for that field.  

Actually, we have.  More than once.  But, the names just don't seem to stick.  That's the trick with naming things on the farm.  The name can be clever and even entertaining.  But, if it doesn't stick...  it... um... doesn't stick.  I'm not really sure what else to say about that.

Moving on!

We are officially in THAT time of year.

You know.  The time of year where you have to let birds out pretty darned early in the day and they don't want to go in until pretty darned late in the day.  

It's also the time of year where we have to move the building for our two flocks of broilers every other day.  To be honest, it's not a horribly difficult task when the two of us work together.  But, it does eat up some time.  And, it is among the things that can kind of wear on you sometimes.  

"Hey, tomorrow is a bird moving day again."

"Oh... yay?"

It probably has more to do with how life on the farm works.  We both get it into our heads that we'll get X, Y and Z done "first thing" tomorrow.  Then, we realize it is a "bird moving" day.  

Never mind.  You have to move the birds first.  And maybe then you can get on that list of ten things you wanted to do "first thing" tomorrow.  Alas for us!

Hey, I told you I wasn't sure if I could hold a theme here and I certainly did not promise a logical flow or progression.  That's why I am showing you this picture.  It's the field(s) that is (are) south of Valhalla.  We need a name for them that sticks with us.  Thoughts?

I was just looking at the photos I have for this year and the last shots I took were right after the frost.  I really need to get out and take some new ones.  After all, things on the farm can change rapidly in June.  What is alarming to me is how green things look above and how much brown is beginning to show with our dry weather.  Hot, dry air with lots of wind tends to dry things out - and I guess that's what we're going to contend with for a while now.  

It's tough on crops like peas and lettuce and it can be hard on seedlings.  We'll just do what we can and move on from there.

Speaking of which - maybe I've amused everyone enough for one day?  If I have - excellent!  If I haven't... well, go look at this blog post and see if it is more amusing.  

See?  I've got you covered.  Have a good week everyone!

Almost the Way We Want It

We are still adjusting our expectations for this season because we are still learning what the new normal for our farm is going to be with the host of changes we have undergone in the past year. 

One of the things that we are having the most difficulty with is the new normal for how much farm work we can accomplish. The new normal sees a significant chunk of available farm-time going to the poultry.  Why?  Because once you have live animals on the farm, you have to care for the live animals on the farm.  The net result is that we can't keep up with as much of the fields as we would prefer - and if you add additional projects to the mix?  Never mind!

Even so, we are managing to get some things to work, thanks to a little help once in a while (thank you Brenda & Nicole).  The southwest field is actually looking pretty good and we're trying to decide if we have the ability to put some new successions of veggies out there or not.

The sunflowers on the north edge of that field are just hitting their stride.  The coneflowers and the oregano are all in bloom.  The Queen Anne's Lace (not our favorite, but it's there) is everywhere we haven't mowed.  And, the clover has been a good place for bees.

The particularly nice thing about this is we can look out our bedroom window (2nd floor) and see all of this. 

Ok, it is only nice if you manage to keep things cleaned up so things like the giant ragweed and Canadian thistle don't take over.  Since we look that way often, it would be a distinct 'downer' if we had to see yet another failure to maintain the fields out our bedroom window.

Believe me, this has happened to us before and it really does have an impact on our attitudes.  So, we are grateful that this field is looking pretty good right now. 

The South side of the field is in very good shape, thanks to a nice weeding in the past week.  The purslane was really covering the ground and outpacing the peppers and eggplant.  The funny thing about purslane is that one plant can cover a pretty large area of ground.  So, it doesn't take much to have a good sized pile of weeds after a weeding (note the lower center of the picture below).

You might notice that the center does not have much other than some borage and one bold sunflower.  We've recently harvested the garlic (which is now curing) and the peas have finished their run.  We're trying to get the gumption to move the straw mulch and do an end of season planting here.

The North edge has our first succession of summer squash and zucchini, followed by more borage and our field melons.  The sunflowers anchor the North edge.

We are not terribly happy with how the melons are doing, but the zucchini and summer squash are doing fine.  While the borage blew over in a windstorm, they continue to bloom well and the bees absolutely love them!

Speaking of bees, we actually harvested a little bit of honey from our hives (for ourselves).  We have done this once before (less intentionally) and are thrilled with the taste and quality.  The honey bees are not on our farm to produce honey for sale or human consumption. They are here to help pollinate our veggies and flowers.  We prefer to leave most of the honey to them so they can survive for future years on our farm. 

I think we can say that the southwest field is almost the way we like it to be.  There is certainly lots of cover for beneficial wildlife.  Most of the crops are healthy - even if they are not absolutely busting out at record levels.  We certainly could work to get the next batch of crops in and we could always do a bit more weeding. 

There is a diversity of plants in the field, there is significant pollinator activity and the produce we have harvested thus far has been tasty.

We will call this one a win.

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.

Mulchable

One of the biggest 'knocks' on organic agriculture is the idea that organic fields rely on cultivation, which is not good for promoting organic matter and supporting micro-organisms in the soil.  It can also be argued that constant tillage increases erosion.  However, if you are certified organic, the list of herbicides you can use are extremely short and if you have any kind of scale beyond 'big garden' most allowed applications fail to control the weeds.

Winter squash soon after planting into paper mulch.

 Like so many arguments that are used to discredit (regardless of what the topic is), they make so many assumptions about what it takes to steward a certified organic crop/field/farm that I would be tempted to laugh.  EXCEPT...  People actually listen to these short and to the point arguments without looking any deeper.

Soil Health is a Key to Certified Organic

First and foremost, it becomes clear to me that many people who blindly support the 'organic is bad because they till/cultivate too much' argument have no idea how much territory a certified organic operation has to cover to be certified.  It's not just 'don't spray these things.'  Certified organic farms must have plans on how they will maintain and improve soil health on their farms.  They must also consider how they will control or respond to diseases, pests and weeds, among other things.

 Use of a Broader Set of Tools
Another common argument people use to defend their choice to NOT convert to a certified organic operation is that the toolset is so restrictive and they don't see how they can use a limited tool set and succeed.  Ok, I'll grant that the fact that we can not use synthetically derived chemicals (which includes most herbicides, fungicides and pesticides) does limit the toolbox.  But, this is the equivalent of cutting the number of screwdrivers in your toolbox - they are all the same class of tool.

I tend to argue that those who sell themselves out wholly to using the chemical applications to solve all problems on the farm have limited their toolbox more than I have with my organic certification.  They've got every screwdriver known to the world, but they got rid of all of their saws, hammers and wrenches.  On the other hand, a certified organic operation is encouraged to explore the use of all types of tools available to them

One of the tools we are using more than we have in the past is mulch.

Two kinds of mulch, do you see them?  Keep reading and you will learn what they are.

What is "Mulchable?"
The first question we have to ask at the Genuine Faux Farm is "Is this crop mulchable?"

We grow enough crops with different requirements that we actually have to consider if the growing process for each crop will actually benefit from the addition of mulch.  Then we have to ask ourselves what kind of mulch will be the best choice.  And, after we've figured that out, we have to decide if we can actually implement this as part of our mulch plan and overall farm plan for any given season.

the Winter squash are starting to show some size.

What Type of Mulch Will We Use?
There are actually numerous mulching options available to us at our scale and there are others available to those who are either larger in scale or smaller in scale.  For example, you can use an organic based mulch such as straw or grass mulch.  The issue with these is that you must acquire the raw materials and then you have to spread it where you want it to be.  If the raw materials don't come from your farm, you have to ascertain that they did not have any chemical applied to them that will cause problems.   We have grass mulch in some of our green beans and in a bed of our potatoes.  We use straw mulch for our garlic.

And, we use dirt mulch on our potatoes as well.  If you can cultivate properly, the topic inch or so of soil will deplete the weed seeds in its seed bank.  That soil can become a 'dirt mulch' that could get hilled up against the base of the cash crop to help prevent further germination of weed seeds in the area that is hardest to weed.  So, there is your answer for picture #3 - there is grass mulch and dirt mulch there!

Larger scale operations often find that spreading grass would be far to labor intensive, though we are seeing some tools that could help automate spreading.  These operations also often find that straw mulch is also too labor intensive.  In fact, we (and other farms we know) have found that those who work on our farms tend to dislike spreading straw.  If you add in the fact that most farms who use straw as mulch do not have the space to grow their own, that adds an expense and all of the extra worries that come with sourcing off the farm.

Most operations of a decent scale will tend to use plastic mulch that is laid down by a mulch layer.  We fully understand this decision because the area in row with the cash crop is the hardest area to control weeds and it will often take more labor than the farm has in its resource pool.  However, we also made the decision that plastic mulch is not for us, which means we need to look elsewhere.

This year, we are using 3 foot wide paper mulch that comes in 500 foot rolls.  We have a mulch layer (the same tool that can lay plastic mulch).  The paper is put down in the bed, then we punch holes and plant into that mulch.  We increased the use of paper mulch this year and we are now using it in most of our vine crops, out tomatoes and much of our brassica.  These are all crops that are in the field long enough to warrant a mulch (whereas lettuce is not) and they are all crops we transplant.

So far, mulching has been working for us this year.  In other words, the plan has been a pretty good one for how this season has turned out.  The real test is in the next two weeks.  Can we keep up with the weeding cultivation of the crops that were not mulchable?  

We shall see!

Weeding Bandits

The farming year that was 2018 will likely be known for the year of the Rain of Terror.  Earlier in the year, we thought it might be known for the late start to snow season and the corresponding slow start for getting seeds and plants into the ground.  But, we should not forget that we also had weeks and weeks of buffalo gnats.

At this point, I am tempted to succumb to some biting commentary, but I will refrain. 

Instead, I prefer to focus on the blessings our farm had that came in the form of Caleb, Emma and Sophie.  Others came and worked periodically on the farm (we are looking at you Kennedy, Tucker and Jocelyn) and we are grateful to them.  But, these were the members of our summer crew in 2018 that kept coming back to work in conditions that were less than ideal.

Both Tammy and I hate asking others to do things for us when conditions are rough.  Certainly, we accept that work on the farm can be difficult and those that work for us should expect a few challenges.  But, if conditions are such that even the two of us are struggling?  Even so, these three didn't leave us stranded.  They did not complain (at least not in our hearing) but they did commiserate.  They even posed for pictures on a very hot day when they were wearing long sleeves, bandanas, gloves and goggles so they could avoid being eaten by a very healthy and aggressive gnat population.

I've heard others complain that people do not know how to work hard anymore.  In particular, I've heard the age-old saw that 'young people don't want to work hard' from multiple people.  This is not true.  There are plenty of people who want to put in honest labor for reasonable reward.  These people care about results and the well-being of the whole.

There is hope yet, folks.  We just need to keep encouraging it.

Running With Scissors

One of the most common topics of conversation for veggie growers other than the weather is weed control.  We have attended numerous farming events over the years and there has yet to be one such conference that does not address this topic in at least one session.  And, before someone tells me it is my fault for "being organic," let me assure you that it has so much more to do with the diverse crops we grow than the organic certification.  If you are unwilling to subscribe to a monoculture and/or you wish to grow a crop that is sensitive to most herbicides, then you have to consider other methods of weed control.  It is merely a fact of growing.  Mother Nature prefers a diverse set of plants covering the soil (at least at our farm, she does) and she isn't really on board with a farmer's plan to have 'clean rows' where one can only see the crop being grown.

Onions - mostly clean?

 One of the tools we very much appreciate is the Williams Tool Bar, which is a flex tine harrow.  We can attach some squash knives or other cultivating attachments as needed.  You can actually see some of our earlier work with onions on this blog post from 2014.   The onions you see above were approaching harvest stage a the point the picture was taken.  We had, in fact, run the flex tine on this bed twice much earlier in the season.  We got one pass in during May and somehow snuck in another one in June.  The second is amazing given how much rain we had, but it was earlier in the month before things got silly.  So, considering this bed (four rows of onions per tractor bed) had not been cultivated since early June and this photo was taken in late July, it was doing pretty well.

Uh oh.

 Despite the successful use of various tools, we still "run with scissors" every year on our farm.  The scissors I allude to is the weed pressure in our fields.  Typically, there are some fields that are much easier to control and others that we still have not unlocked the most efficient processes to handle all of the variables that get thrown at us from year to year.  For example, a drier year tends to result in cleaner fields because there is less persistence in weed germination.  The moisture delivered to the field comes from our drip tape irrigation, which severely limits the areas weeds might germinate.  A wetter than average year tends to have an opposite effect, encouraging more flushes of weed germination while making it harder to get out in the field with our cultivation tools to eradicate them.

Failure to control weeds one season can lead to weed issues in future seasons if you allow the weeds to go to seed and replenish the 'seed bank' in your fields.  All it takes is one fall with the scissors and you can be wounded with five to ten years of increased weed pressure.  We are still fighting the weed bank left behind in 2008 and 2010 when we had significant issues with wet fields combined with very few tools to deal with them.  To give you perspective, we did not own a tractor on our farm until 2010 and it didn't really help us much until 2012.

I have heard the argument that if you have problems with weeds, you are doing something very wrong.  A couple of sources suggest that you have over-extended yourself if you can't keep up.  Others make the claim that you need to make better investments in tools.  Yet others suggest that a weedy field needs to be taken out of production and put into alfalfa or something else for two to three years.  And, of course, every one of these suggestions have merit.  In short, they aren't wrong.  But, they aren't always right either.

This year, we have been losing the overall battle against the weeds.  The net result is that we're stuck with some of the more drastic weed control efforts (such as mowing things down) in an effort to prevent them from going to seed.  Sometimes that means giving up on a crop.  You could say that part of the reason for our problems is that we ARE stretching what we are able to do with the number of worker hours and tools that we have.  But, if you aren't pushing the edges a bit you aren't really trying.

The main reason we're fighting the weeds more this year than most?  We had twice the normal rainfall our area gets in June, which is our most important month for cultivation and getting ahead of the weeds for the season.  We fought hard to catch up in July when things dried out a bit (we ran about 1/2 inch below normal).  But, now we have had an August that has twice the normal rainfall for the month - and we still have a few days to go as of this writing. 

Could we have done some things different?  Yes.  Should we have?  Yes, in retrospect, we could have made some different decisions that would have given better results.  But, need I pull out that trite saying about hindsight and 20/20 vision?  Oh, I did already?  Never mind.

So, here we are, running on uneven ground with a scissors in our hand.  Or perhaps it's a butcher's knife or some other sharp object Mom would strongly recommend against our running while we are holding it.  Let's just see if we can't keep the pointy end away from us this time around.

Weed 'em and Reap

July is very much weeding season at the Genuine Faux Farm.  We certainly cultivate and weed in other months, but July always sees us pulling out the most volume of vegetative matter for our compost piles.  Some people might suggest that we should do better at staying on top of the weeds than we do and we would certainly agree.  However, if fields are too wet to work, then fields are too wet to work.  The net result is usually more weeds than you would usually like to see.  And, with a June that saw twice the normal rainfall on a schedule that rarely gave us time to cultivate, we were going to pay in July. 

A row of red cabbage (and napa cabbage on the far end), weeded and cultivated!

Typically, when we go out to do weed removal, we take one of our hayracks/carts out with various tools including wheel hoes, hand hoes, rakes and, of course, something to play a little music.  Rosie the tractor often makes an appearance with one of the cultivating implements and Barty (the BCS walk-behind) may come out to play as well.  The selection of tool depends on everything from the condition of the soil, size of the weeds, type of crop, available workers and inclination of the farmers.  Hand pulling always makes an appearance on the farm every July, despite our intentions to reduce that need.  All you have to do is look at the bed to the left of the cabbage.  There are supposed to be onions in there.  Ups.

There are always challenges in farming that have to do with the weather.  It's simply part of the job to deal with it.  But, sometimes you just look at things and ask if you even had a chance in the first place.  The fields above have melons and squash in them.  We had a small window in June to cultivate and we took it, using the Williams Tool Bar with squash knives to hit each bed as best as we could.  It was a hot, sunny day, which is usually a good time to cultivate as the weeds will die more quickly.  Sounds good, right?

Well, a thunderstorm popped up and dropped a whole lotta rain just after cultivation.  Yes, we knew there was a chance it would rain.  But, it rained buckets close enough to the point of cultivation that it just packed a bit too many of the weeds back on in so they could live.  This wasn't an issue for the between row weeds because the tines on the cultivator was able to work them all the way out of the soil.  But, the weeds in row?  Ya.  That's where hand-weeding comes in, I guess.

Even so, we continue to plug along and make progress.  Three of the six fields in the East are largely "under control" and the North and Southwest fields also fit the "under control" description.  Essentially, we'll get there.  Or we won't.  And, if we don't, we just mow it before weeds go to seed and tell ourselves there is always next year.  But, instead of letting that bother us, we go and look at some of these:

Yeah.  We feel better now.  And, we're looking forward to harvesting more from the fields we weed.

Before and After - Taters

 Potatoes and beans have been one of the more difficult fields for us to handle for the weeds.  There are a number of reasons for it, but rather than dwell on that here, we'd like to just show what we feel is a success story (thus far) this year.

Ok, that's not looking too bad.

William Tool Bar (flex tine harrow)

 We've been using our flex tine weeder on the potatoes more than we have in the past.  Part of the sacrifice has been to wait before putting the bush beans in to the adjacent rows.  As you can see above, the ends of the rows have some problems, but that makes sense when you consider Rob has to slow down on the ends and the cultivator is less effective.

Sadly, we didn't take time to show the middle sections of the rows with our camera, which would have made things look ever so much better.  It's one of those cases where one angle makes it look worse than it is and the other makes it look far better than it is.

Ok, we'd better get in there and do some weed control

The truth of the matter is that we did a very good job of sneaking the taters in right on time this season.  We made adjustments in planting that reduced the labor load and we were pretty pleased with ourselves.  But, it is clear that some adjustments must be made.  Isn't that always the truth?

Potato germination has not been as good this year as it normally is.  The Kennebecs have been awful with only about 15% germination.  The Mountain Rose's were around 75%, so we'll take that.  Canela is worse at about 50%.  Red Norland, Harvest Moon and Carola seems fine.  Perhaps conditions this Spring have had something to do with it.  However, we have heard from others that there have been some germination issues with certain seed.  We'll deal with that later since we're more interested in keeping the plants that are growing happy.

Oh! That's better.

 We did some in-row hand weeding and were pretty pleased with how quick most of it went.  This indicates to us that the early cultivation with the Williams Tool Bar worked.  The exceptions were the end of the beds and the southern most bed.

What's wrong with that bed?  Well, we planted these before we had our new power harrow and the 13th bed was a bit close to the path.  Weed pressure is higher there and the flex tine couldn't really find purchase in that area. 

This was supposed to be our 'throw away' or 'extra' bed.  We didn't expect it to do well.  Except - it was the first to germinate - and it germinated well.  Hmph.  So, we're working on it.  

Beans need a little attention still, but the rest is good to go.

Otherwise, things are looking pretty good.  Here's hoping for a nice tater harvest this year.

Time Machine

This is sort of a Before and After type of post - except we're going to go backward in time.  Why not?

Ok, ok.  Why?  Well, because I want to, of course!  Need there be any other reason?

The most recent picture in this chain is actually still a couple (maybe a few) weeks old already.  But, it shows the goal we were working towards.  We wanted to get our potatoes hilled, but weather (and all of the other work we needed to do) just kept getting in the way.

The final product.

We used a tool bar with two discs to hill the loose dirt in the paths onto the potatoes.  The purpose is to keep the tubers covered so they are not exposed to the sun.  If we had done this sooner, it might also have encouraged more tuber set and size.  But, we know we missed the right time slot this year.  That sort of thing just happens and we make the best of it when it does.

Just before hilling

The ground was still a bit damp and the weeds were sizable, so we removed the weeds so they wouldn't re-root.  They went to our compost pile (Mount Evermess) and will one day become some nice nutrients for some other crop.  Rob did a quick run down the paths with the tiller to loosen the soil up so we didn't end up with large chunks of dirt being thrown on the plants.  Tammy made sure to get the irrigation lines in place in hopes that the hilling would cover them and hold them in place.

Just about done with the in row weeding

Our flex tine cultivator helped reduce the weeds that were directly in the rows of potatoes in MOST cases, but there were still tougher weeds like Canada Thistle and some grasses we missed that had to be hand pulled.  We also got closer to the plants with wheel hoes and we called on the flex tine weeder with the knives to get as close as we were comfortable with tractor cultivation.  For more on that, keep reading.

Conservative passes with the flex tine weeder

We really wanted to run the flex tine weeder much, much earlier than this.  But, when it gets too wet and stays too wet, you can't do it.  We put the squash knives on the tool bar with the flex tines and ran a conservative cultivation to get used to how close we could get without damaging the potatoes.  Clearly, after the first two passes, we could be a bit more aggressive.  We played with that a little bit and used wheel hoes to knock down as much as we could as well.  Next year it should be even easier to respond.

And there you are, pretty close to the same chunk of our farm in pictures after some good work!

Before

After

Wheelhoeroebics

It must have rained here for a while

Prior to the rains that started in late June, we were feeling pretty good about how our fields looked with respect to weed control.  We weren't as happy about the growth of our crops, but rain can help with that.  But, since weeds are also plants, they liked the rain as well.  So, our peppers, beans and eggplant between our tomatoes in the East field weren't looking as photogenic as we would normally like last Wednesday.

It's amazing what you can do with a wheel hoe.

 We do have some tractor cultivating tools that we use on the farm.  Sometimes, they are the best tool for the job.  And, at other times, the trusty wheel hoe is our choice.  Personally, I like the viewpoint I get as I walk the rows while I run a wheel hoe.  Yes, yes... I know.  I walk back and forth many times in order to get these results.  I get that some find that to be inefficient.  But, I also get exercise AND a detailed appreciation for my crop status without performing a field walk.  I put the two things together this way. 

Oh, now that's looking very nice.

Will I need to cultivate this field again?  Of course I will.  But, we should be past the bulk of the grass germination stage, which is our worst enemy in this field right now.  The wheel hoe is a shallow cultivator, so we aren't bringing up a bunch of the seedbank that can be found deeper in the soil and I make sure to overlap my passes so I can be sure to turn roots up to the sun for all of the small and newly germinating weeds. 

I like to get the blade moving fast enough so soil comes up over the blade in a bit of a cascade.  This won't work so well if the soil has a crust on it or if the weeds are too big - and that's why you have more than one kind of tool.

I mentioned the exercise component earlier.   We're actually beginning to wonder if we should teach a 'wheelhoeroebics' class at our farm.  Anyone up for it?  We have other fields to wheel hoe.

See?!

Music to Wheel Hoe By

One of the things that keeps me going when I have just "a few thousand more row feet" to wheel hoe is some good music.

Don't know what a wheel hoe is?

Hey!  There's one leaning on the cart!

It's a walk-behind cultivator where you are the engine.  Sometimes, when the soil is right and the weeds are small, you can cover a good deal of ground in a hurry.  Other times, when the weeds are bigger - it can be a bit of a struggle.

Like the taller weeds in the potatoes this year

Running a wheel hoe is "serious business" folks.  You have to have your game on to be successful.  So, I find some good upbeat music to get me going.  Maybe a little TobyMac and "This is Not a Test"

And you've got to wheel hoe like you mean it.  Getting a couple of songs with a good beat always seems to help keep you going.  In fact, I've been thinking about starting a class of wheel hoeroebics.   Who's with me on that one?  Well, maybe you'll be motivated by Switchfoot's "Say It Like You Mean It."

Once you get to the end of a row, whether it is 50 feet, 200 feet or 800 feet, you have to have some more bouncy music so you can turn around and go after it again!  Maybe "Spin You Around" by the Choir will help with that?

Then, once you have completed your task, you can celebrate a little.  Maybe you'll feel like you're "On Top Of the World" (Imagine Dragons).

So, why did I make this particular post?  Someone asked me how it was I could wheel hoe for as long as I do.  The key is the music.  Some good, upbeat music goes a long ways towards encouraging me to run just one more row.  And, then, just another row.

I suppose another key is that my body type is probably one of the better ones for plowing along with a wheel hoe.  But, I'd rather just say it's the music. 

And now you know.

They're Real!

Our farm (the Genuine Faux Farm) has been in operation since 2005.  In other words, we've been doing this for a little while.  Our name has been the Genuine Faux Farm since the beginning - so it's not like the name is new.  But, I am still surprised by people from the area that are surprised by the name and perhaps misinterpret it.

For example, I had someone (using a very confused tone) tell me that they were surprised that I actually DID farm.  After all, our name says we're a 'fake' farm. 

I guess it comes with the territory.  If you want to use word play, you're going to sew some confusion.

In an effort to show you that the Genuine Faux Farm IS real, we thought we'd show you some REAL WORK on the farm.

Emma and Kristel put the baby tomatoes in.

Sadly, this has not been our best year for taking photographs of the farm.  It has also not been the best year for consistent blog posts and it has been noted that I have displayed some inconsistency in my punning in the CSA newsletters.  All I can say to that is that I just haven't been 'feeling' it this season.  Nonetheless, there are some pictures that actually show activity on the farm.    

Chelsea and Emma - it might have been a warm day, but we still got the garlic hung up!

If over three thousand garlic isn't enough to convince you that we're a real farm, then you'll have to tell that to Emma and Chelsea.  They worked pretty darned hard to help us get them hung up to cure.  

We have noticed that showing the garlic harvest is a favorite picture for farms such as ours.  We can certainly understand that.  It's a major event in June - a time of year when many of the crops aren't all that big and most of the work pictures would show people weeding.  And weeding some more.  Not only that, but it's a harvest that results in some big changes in the way things look on the farm.  It took us several days before we could get used to not having garlic standing proudly in the field.

Caleb cleaning the onions

Have you ever wondered why our produce is cleaned up when we get to a CSA distribution?  Well, while Rob is running around picking, Caleb is trying to clean things up for you!  We can't always get to everything - and some things we opt not to clean so you get a better storage result.  But, we know how hard this job would be without Caleb's help.  And, this is not all Caleb does on the farm.  He may have pulled a weed or three as well. 

Bryan measures twice before cutting once.

It is entirely possible that our farm will finally have an operating walk-in cooler.  This has been on the agenda as a major item for the past several years.  We just always run out of time to do it.  Something about having lots to do and with having Mother Nature as the task-mistress.

Well, sometimes good things work out.  Bryan likes to work with walk-in coolers.  He is new to the area and wanted something to do.  All I can say is that I am greatly relieved to see some progress on this front.  A working walk-in cooler could be a huge game-changer for us (for the better).

Rob's favorite farm tool - the wheel hoe

I suppose you should probably see some proof that Rob and Tammy also work on the farm.  It's just hard to get pictures of them since they are usually using the camera and we're not really into selfies (per se).

Tammy says, "Thank you for reading the blog!"

If you ever really want some proof that we do work on the farm, ask to see our hands.  There's usually enough evidence there to back up our claim. 

Before and After

It has been too long since we've actually posted here, so we're going for some "low-hanging" fruit and posting some picture before and afters for you to peruse.  Please believe me when I say there are a number of posts in the brain or in the writing pipeline.  but, finding the time to do them has been problematic.

Cucumbers!
We just went through the cucumber peak over the last couple of weeks and, sadly, they are already in decline.  But, it's always fun while it lasts.
 

It does not take long for cucumber to cover an area once they decide to sprawl and this year was no exception.  For those who need orientation, there are peas on the fences to the left.  They are finished producing (in both pictures) and since the last picture, those fences have been taken down.  The plants to the right are pole beans.  As you can see, we added fencing there in between the two pictures (about 10 days between the two pictures).

Some lovely A&C Pickling cucumbers

Melons!

There is usually a need to get in a weeding just as the melons start to sprawl.  We hit that field this year during one of the warmest days of the season. 

Remember, if you need to see a bigger version of these pictures, you can double click on them and a window will open with the larger version.  Since this time, the vines have sprawled and the flowers in the companion plants (borage, zinnia, phacelia) are now open.  And, of course, it looks like we should weed again.  What else is new?

Broccoli!
This field is actually broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco and onions.  But, who's counting?

It may look like the rows are very short in the second picture, but please believe me that it is a perspective thing and the area with no plants is much shorter than the area with plants.  This has been a tough field this year, but we're fighting it with some success.

Tomatoes!

There always seems to be a period of time in the Summer where EVERY field feels like it is getting away from you.  We put in a great deal of effort to try to clean things up and had some good results.  But, once again, it is mid-August and we're looking at areas that need attention again. 

It's a never ending cycle - so I'd better to get some weeding done now.