The North Field—I think that’s what I’ve taken to calling it; there’s also the South Field and the South Slope—somewhere around two acres including the sloping perimeter, is the main market garden at the new farm. It looks suitably inscrutable under more than a foot of unbroken snow: what does the soil under there have in store? My look-around in November didn’t turn up anything immediately alarming, and that’s mainly what I looked for, things that could make farming these fields really tough. The few handfuls of soil I dug up were a nice clay-loam similar to the old farm. I didn’t find any super-invasive and tenacious quack grass, and the equally troublesome Canada thistle showed up only here and there in the strips beside the fences and paths. So far, so good, but that’s only the most obvious stuff. On the list of a million things to do over the next three months to get ready for the May plant-out, beginning to know the soil and the lay of the land is way up there. We’ll soon find out. For now, I have to wait…
Month: February 2009
New seedling room: doorknobs and AC plugs
More building the seedling room at the new farm. Bob came by on Sunday, and I stayed on to work solo for a couple of days. This is where we get down to details. What gets me here is the number of PARTS that suddenly come into play near the end. Where initial demolition and framing are really simple, with few tools and materials, now, there’s tons of stuff. Door handle kits, latch kits, electrical receptacles, switches, receptacles covers, electrical boxes for receptacles and switches, door kits, window kits, shims, low expansion foam, screws of different types and lengths, and then there’s quick-set concrete for patching the floor, drywall mud, caulking, paint, and more still to come. It’s interesting how the convenience of buying endless products eventually takes over, even when it’s rough carpentry, in a barn! OK, I’m going on a bit, it’s not all that complicated. Guess I’ve got FINISHING THE SEEDLING ROOM on the brain as the calendar flips…
Anyhow, the insualtion is now going in—that’s quick—and as soon as plywood is on the walls, I’ll be able to start setting up! You can see on the left of the photo the handy twin 250w indoor/outdoor halogen lights-on-a-stand, lighting the scene—last gig, they were lighting the barnyard for rinsing beets and carrots after dark… :)
Greenhouse overgrown
The greenhouse is still snowbound. I cleared away the east-side door to get in and check out what’s left to pack up for the new farm move, coming soon! Usually, I do a bit of greenhouse clean-up in the fall, and then around February, prep half the area for some early greens. This time around, I’ll take out the small stuff—there’s tools, the big industrial fan, a few plug sheets, and tons of plastic pots stored under the tables—lots of good gear! The tables will probably be left till March, after the melt-off, when we come for the greenhouse itself. Once the bubble is removed, this little winter oasis will merge into the rest of the field. The pleasantly golden-brown dead stuff is mainly arugula allowed to go wild…
Village general store
When I came to the farm six years ago, there was a second, slightly bigger store, actually called the General Store. It was sold, managed badly by the new owners, and soon went out of business, and Isabel’s mini-emporium of necessary stuff became the last store standing for 10 miles around. It’s a three-minute walk down the road—the farm is right on the edge of the village—and I’ve gone there for this or that, including picking up the mail, most of the days that I’ve been here. It doesn’t have a particularly quaint, rustic country store look, but it does the job! Isabel had been running it for decades, knew everybody, and her easy blend of diplomacy, discretion and informative chat made it a news hub for the area (no small thing: you find out the rural life is all about what people are up to). And she had a sharp eye for country retail. As I slowly found out with some amazement (coming from a land of endless stores), she managed to pack just about everything you had to have NOW into one small space. A 3-inch drain plug, gear clamp, 2-stroke motor oil, Kikkoman Japanese soy sauce, photocopies, if you really needed it, chances are it was in there. I used to joke (well, I was serious) that on one tiny, 2’x4′ section of wall, she had 90% of the most useful stuff in the giant hardware store in town. Her strategy was pretty simple, keeping tabs on exactly what her customers, farmers and cottagers, and the more “city” type commuting folk living in the village, needed again and again. Combined with my not driving, Isabel’s efficiency encouraged the growing make-do-or-do-without part of my tiny farm experience. It’s startling how much extra junk you don’t really need to buy. For minimalist one-stop shopping: 4 stars! :)
New seed started!
This is it, the official start of the new growing season (since there wasn’t time to plant out garlic in the fall at the new farm)! I seeded a fresh packet of 1,000 Red Wing red onion seeds in three 72-cell plug sheets. That’s 4-5 seeds per cell—after the good results last season, I’m going the multi-plant route again, 3-4 onions in one spot, instead of singles. There are lots more onions and leek to come, including sets, this is the beginning. I’m still at the old farm, the new seedling room is not quite ready, so I’ll be starting a few more things here in the next couple of days, and take them along on the move! For the Red Wing, I hung a couple of lights on one of the light racks. As usual, the trays are covered in plastic wrap to hold heat and moisture. This tiny farm marches on!
Fully enclosed, at last
A 10-hour day with Bob, and plywood is up on the four walls of the new seedling room. It’s rough work, with an uneven floor and really uneven joists to cut around, either spend forever measuring and marking, or recut by increments for tight fits, or do the cut-outs generously and get things done quick. We took the rougher, faster route…and got done. There’s still the ceiling to go, but the room is already snug enough to heat, so the move is next! This feels like a weekly installment TV show, it seems to be taking so long. No wonder, we’ve only been averaging a day or two of building a week. But other things are moving forward as well, and the end of this little project is really just around the bend. That’s good!
See ya, goats and chickens…
Doing the last rounds on the old farm, saying farewell to chickens and goats. Here, a bunch of the girls (goats) are chomping away on hay, and the eight cockerels are enjoying a day in the cold sun. They seem to be getting on well, there used to be usually one low guy running a little scared, but since they’ve been kept in for a bunch of supercold days, all has apparently been worked out and they stick togther now. Of course, who knows what’s going on in the chicken mind?! The goodbye is not any formal thing—a little ceremony, perhaps?!—just something in my head. Ends and beginnings are weird, before and after we can make as much or as little of ’em as we like, but the actual fact happens in a blink. It looks like I’ll do the big main farming move on Sunday. The farm sale doesn’t close for a couple of months, so I’ll be back here in March (hey, that’s only next month already!) for the greenhouse and to dig up some herb transplants. Meanwhile, I’ve given Bob the chickens (the girls are laying away, the guys, well, they’re past their tender meat-bird prime…and looking good), so they’re be well taken care of. And I’m looking around these last days with slightly new eyes at the familiar stuff I’ll be leaving… :)