Thursday, May 28, 2009

82 degrees in the shade!

And it's not even June yet - Yikes! We are very tempted to strap some ice cubes to our heads as we walk about the fields. All we can say is...if this keeps up, it is going to be a banner year for eggplant, peppers and tomatoes :-)


All this warm weather has us altering our plans a bit - we'll give it to Mother Nature, she sure teaches one to be flexible and adaptable! The cold loving plants simply aren't going to last this year with such a short and odd spring. So we are planting things like Orach and New Zealand Spinach which are great spinach substitutes, and do well in warm weather. Be on the lookout for them.
Things are continuing to grow here - we've got summer and winter squash, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes hanging out in the greenhouse waiting to get into the fields. This weekend will probably see the tomatoes and peppers transplanted. Cucumbers have to wait until the soil warms up a touch more. They are looking good!


The warmer weather brings out some unwelcome visitors to the farm...the pest have arrived. Flea beetles, which actually look quite a bit like fleas, love the heat...we've found them hopping out there, nibbling holes in tender young leaves. When they are finished the leaves will look like they've been shot full of tiny buckshot. Luckily they don't care for the older leaves, so if you can struggle through the early part of the season with these guys, it should come to no harm.


Cucumber beetles are another story altogether. Ever see a bug buzzing about that looks like a green ladybug with spots? Well, that's no ladybug! Cucumber beetles are bad news, carrying viruses which they pass along to the plants when they bite into it. Definitely do what you can to get rid of them.


Our two young chicks hatched out a few weeks ago are doing well, scratching up the soil with mom. It is amazing how fast they grow.
Try not to melt and have a great weekend!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Planting update

May showers bring June flowers? It sure has been rainy this month! Everyday we stand by the door, trowels in hand, just waiting for a break in the weather to run out and get some plants in the ground. We were grateful to Mother Nature this past weekend for several days of sunshine, which allowed us to get outside, till, and plant. The plants were grateful too, they were more than ready to get out of the greenhouse!

So far we have broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, radish, potatoes, lettuce, onions, cilantro, kale, endive, mustard greens and arugula out in the field, all happily growing. Many of them are under floating row cover, which helps to raise the temperature a few degrees, keeps the pests out, and provides nice diffused light to give them a boost early in the season.

This past weekend, we were able to seed our squash for the season - 8 types of winter squash, four types of pumpkins, and four varieties of summer squash. They are just starting to pop above the soil. Next week sees our beans and other warm loving plants getting a start.

Our chicks are all grown up now, enjoying their free time outside eating grass and bugs.

We have some other new additions to the menagerie...we let one of our Australorp chickens go broody and sit on eggs. The proud mama just hatched out her first chicks yesterday. She is working hard to keep them warm, and doesn't let them out much...we'll post pictures when they decide to venture out in the world.

Hope your May has been well. A few more weeks, and the food deliveries will begin!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Can you believe it is almost May?

April simply flew by! It has been a busy month here on the farm, as the season gets off to a start. We have been visited by all our spring friends lately, and have been happy to see them return. The first to arrive were the swallows, returning a few weeks ago from their winter homes down south. Shortly after, we were pleased to watch several flocks of cranes, at least 60-75 strong, flying overhead on their route north. Even a few flocks of geese made their way above. It was great to hear their honking again.

We have literally thousands young plants growing in the greenhouse now, awaiting warmer night time temperatures to go out into the soil.
The first batch of lettuce, arugula and spinach is already in the ground, getting bigger everyday

The great coconut experiment...
Back in March, our supplier for all the materials we need to make potting soil ran out of peat moss. They suggested we try another product, coconut blocks, to use as a pet moss replacement. Well, we thought we would give it a try. The blocks come as compressed squares of shredded coconut husk - just add water, and they balloon out to 3 cubic feet of material. Well, we are happy to report that we LOVE it. It retains moisture better than peat, is more sustainable (since it is renewable), and less expensive to boot. What could be better than that. So for all you gardeners out there who are thinking of using coconut blends instead of peat - give it a try! We're pretty sure you will like it too!

Well, the nice warm sunny weather over the early part of the week allowed the soil to dry out enough to get the plowing underway, and we hope to have the fields prepped and ready to go by the end of the weekend. Then, the transfer of all those seedlings into the ground can get underway, and the plants should really take off. It won't be long before the deliveries get underway!

Hope you enjoy the last week of April - we'll see you soon.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Spring is Here!

Here it is, four days into spring...can you feel the warm air just around the corner?
The planting has begun here "en force", and we have many of the cool-weather loving plants seeded in their blocks. This includes three types of broccoli, three types of cabbage, cilantro, endive, orach, and scallions, just to name a few. A week or two from now they should be poking their heads above the surface. Here is a picture of some of them:


We grow our seeds without the use of peat or plastic pots by using a little device called a soil block maker to create a mold of potting soil. The seed is planted directly into the block, which is basically held together by peat and water. It is a wonderful invention - it keeps the plants from becoming root bound in a pot, decreases transplant stress to almost nothing, and eliminates the need for pots (which gets rid of a lot of waste!) We highly recommend block makers for anyone who enjoys gardening from seed.


The lettuce, spinach, arugula and kale we seeded a couple of weeks ago are doing great - they are just growing their first set of true leaves now. A few more weeks, and they will be headed into the ground!

Last evening we began the tomatoes and tomatillos in their blocks, under some nice warming lights. They need a soil temperature of about 75 degrees in order to get started - since we probably won't see that outdoor temp until June, we start them all indoors now. This way they will be ready to go into the ground in June when things warm up. We've got 13 varieties of tomatoes seeded, including several heirloom types. Pictures will be posted when they finally sprout!

Enjoy the first week of spring!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Spring is just a week away!

Despite morning temperatures that hover around 24 degrees, the calendar tells us the spring equinox is just a week away. Warmth is on the way.

It's been another busy couple of weeks here at the farm. We began the first set of seeds, and are happy to announce that the arugula, kale, spinach, and lettuce have just popped their tiny heads above the soil surface. Another few weeks and they will be ready to go into the ground. These plants are cool loving, and can usually handle some dips in temperature (with a little help from row cover), giving them a nice early start in the season.

A new batch of strawberry plants, blueberry bushes, and asparagus crowns have just arrived at the farm, and we'll be working hard over the next few days to get them into the ground. Can't wait for these guys to take off!

Remember our little chicks? Well, here they are now at 4 weeks old. Pretty amazing how quickly they grow isn't it? They've discovered "perching" and have made many entertaining yet unsucessful attempts to jump out of their pen to see if the grass really is greener somewhere else. Just be patient chickies...you still need that heat lamp!

The barn wall has been successfully repaired, and we now turn our attention to building that cool room. Stay tuned for pictures as the project gets underway.

We hope everyone enjoys this last week of winter!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Introducing the newest members of the Many Friends Farm family!

We have added 13 new friends to our growing menagerie in the last couple of weeks, and thought we would share the news, along with some pictures here. First, our new little chicks...12 of them to be exact. They are about 2 weeks old now, and chirping up a storm under their red heat lamp.
We are looking forward to their yummy eggs, which they should start to produce sometime in July or August.

Second, our new pal Libby. She is our new golden retriever, a little over a year old, and still full of an amazing supply of puppy power. Our other dog Henry isn't quite sure what to make of her! She has proved herself to be quite useful in the rodent chasing department though, and we are hoping she will be just as good at spotting those pesky elk before they come near the field.

Speaking of elk, they finally threw down the gauntlet. Last year we put up fencing that was both tall and wide. The "wide" was supplied by crossarms that extended out horizontally from the fence itself in both directions. Well, several weeks ago we found a very damaged crossarm lying on the ground, ripped from it's support on the fence...with a pile of elk poop on top of it! The insult! We have taken their challenge though...and are in the process of erecting an 8 foot fence that will be electrified. For some reason this is starting to feel like that Caddyshack movie.

We have also been busy planting some new fruit trees - a nice variety of apples, pears, and peaches. The trees are about three years old and won't start producing for a couple of years, but we sure are looking forward to that day.

One last piece of farm excitement - as this is being written, the back wall of our barn is being rebuilt (it got pulled off during the winter storms). Although the huge panoramic view from inside the barn was beautiful, it will be nice to have it intact again. Thanks to the guys from Richards Construction for doing such a great job!

Well, that's the news from the farm. We will be starting our seeds in the next couple of weeks, and will add some updates as things get growing.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Thank goodness for moles!



It has been quite a busy week here at the farm. After some long days put in down in our greenhouse, we finally finished one set of shelving. We are pretty proud of our accomplishment, and are really looking forward to getting our seed blocks out there.



Mother Nature has been trying to convince us that winter is over...it has been sunny here for days, not a cloud to be seen in the sky. But it surely is cold at night, and frozen every morning, so we're just not falling for it! We are going to start some of our cold hardy seeds, like cabbage, onions, and kale and see how it goes, but we'll just have to be patient for the others.

Today we set about making potting soil for the seeds we will be planting. Last year this was a chore that took hours to accomplish. This year, we came across an inexpensive mortar mixer being sold on Craigslist, snatched it up and brought it back to the farm. If it can mix concrete, it can mix dirt! We put it through it's paces today, and are quite pleased with it's performance...we were able to cut our mixing time in half, and no back pain! Yeah for mortar mixers.

To top it off, we got a little help from those usually-not-so-helpful guys the moles. Field soil is an ingredient in our potting mix, and the daunting task of digging it up was not something we were looking forward to. That's when we took notice of all the little mounds of dirt that have been springing up in the past week...hey...somebody dig the digging for us...and we don't have to screen out any weeds or grass! So a big thanks guys!! Now if we could just convince them to leave our root crops alone! :-)

Speaking of help...we were wondering if any gardeners out there had any of these little gizmos (pictures) lying around that you would like to get rid of? Many nurseries and garden centers give them out when you buy a flat of flowers etc. They are incredibly helpful as seed flats here at the farm, and we would be more than willing to pick them up. Drop us a line or give us a call if you would like to get rid of some, and a big THANKS in advance!
Hope everyone has a great week!