Tiny Farm Blog Organic micro-farming with two acres and some tools ~ a daily photo journal...

That was fun! Picked up the CHICKENS, wood shavings, and starter feed mix at the feed store. On this beautiful, sunny day, the airy, skylighted boxes looked like a deluxe place to be for a traveling chicken. Back on the farm, wood shavings were spread and waterers filled, and then the two-week old chicks were let loose. I lifted around 20 out by hand, a start on getting to know the guys. There are 50 in all (though I forgot to do the official count while unpacking), 40 White Rock Cornish X and 10 Frey’s Special Dual Purpose cockerels, all healthy, energetic, pretty much same-sized and apparently happy, running around like maniacs, jamming themselves into intense corner huddles, and PECKING AWAY at the feed and everything else in sight…

Yes, right from the airhole view, they’re definitely entertainment! I could watch ‘em for hours (and, sorta, did…could’ve been tilling…). Chickens… » The chickens unpacked...

The fan is oscillating and the grow racks are slowly filling up. Parsley—curly and flat-leaf—are underway, and there’s more lettuce and some herbs… Fanning the seedlings is particularly satisfying because it does a lot for such a simple thing. I forget where I heard about it, probably from a book, and I’ve been doing it since Year 1 or 2. The idea is that plants develop differently when they have to deal with wind, or rain, or otherwise being pushed about. Seedlings raised indoors lead an extremely sheltered life; providing a bit of a breeze toughens them up, and this sort of mechanical stimulation (brushing is another approach) also encourages stockier growth instead of stretching. It makes sense to me—seedlings definitely wouldn’t be so coddled growing out in the field! I don’t follow a particular schedule, just give ‘em at least an hour or two a day, sometimes more, turn the fan on and move it around every once in a while. It’s easy, sounds good, hasn’t hurt! (I couldn’t remember the arcane term for this, so I hunted it down online and wasn’t disappointed: thigmomorphogenesis! While at it, found an interesting article as well.) The fanning also dries the soil surface, which helps prevent damping-off, so you can’t lose!

As things slow down in the garden and crops finish for the year, there is more time for really tiny harvests of this and that. Fifteen bundles of chives, a couple dozen small but tasty red peppers—little hauls like these add variety and incremental sales at the farmers’ market stand. I imagine you can afford to spend time on this kind of thing only on a really small, hand-cultivated farm. The veggie line-up for today’s market: carrot, mesclun, potato, onion, garlic, beet, summer squash, tomato, green onion, parsley, a few eggplant, peppers, cabbage and cauliflower, a little spinach and chives…

A pointy English cabbage (Early Jersey Wakefield) and a hybrid 55-day cauliflower (Early Dawn), side by side on the harvest wagon—not too common a sight! The main crop brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale,…) are easy to grow but harder to maintain when conditions get rough. Vicious flea beetle attacks on seedlings (and occasionally, when they really swarm, on mature plants) last from spring well into August. Floating row cover is a must. This in turn makes weeding difficult: either the weeds build up under the cover, or there’s a whole lot of uncovering and recovering to do. Then, the effects of regular drought can be brutal on big brassicas, and our spot irrigation doesn’t always keep up with their thirst. When more permanent drip irrigation is in place, the brasscia situation will get a lot better (next year!). Right now, every successful haul is a particular pleasure!

As I check things out for the Friday harvest, it’s mesclun, mesclun, as far as the eye can see. Well, as far as fits in the camera’s eye, held down at leaftop over three new 50′ beds. But it feels like a whole lotta mesclun, after a month of tight supply of this mainstay tiny farm crop. After one really poor succession planting (the seventh of the season), things got steadily better. Now, we’re on a healthy second cut of five beds that look set for even a nice third trimming, and these new ones have sized up in time for harvest tomorrow… Sweet!

Although there’s still plenty of moisture in the ground from recent rains, there’s no harm in supplying a little more to take advantage of the relative abundance of heat and sunshine that we’re getting, even as the days get shorter. After a couple of near-zero nights last weekend, it’s all spring and summer conditions now, and forecast for the next week at least: warm, sunny days and oddly warm nights. More freak weather: it’s conceivable that the first killing frost, averagely due tomorrow, doesn’t show up for…another month! Weird…

It’s never too early to make sure you have enough garlic to seed next year’s crop. Garlic is kind of a cult item, people who want local garlic get quite intense about stocking up, whether for winter or to finally take a shot at growing their own. And it’s somehow hard to resist selling your every last bulb… I’ve chatted with independent garlic growers small and large, and overselling your stock seems to be quite common. It’s not a money thing, because it costs me just about exactly what I make to buy back the same quantity. And selecting seed garlic from your own harvest is likely to, at least eventually, result in an improved strain for your particular plot. Every year, I go through this same bit of reasoning…and can’t resist loading up another bushel for market… This year, I had the urge to check earlier than ever before, and a couple of quick calls to my garlic suppliers today gave me added incentive. Apparently, seed garlic is selling out fast, possibly because of a public aversion to garlic from China (that’s where much of the cheap supermarket garlic comes from). Last year, I was able to get garlic in November. Now, my big wholesaler of certified organic Music thinks he might be sold out by next week! Time to start selecting…

One side of the barnyard leads to the market garden field. At the other end is a somewhat rundown goat barn full of…goats. These gals have nothing to do with the organics and the market garden, they’re just kinda pets, around 30 of them now, kept by Bob and Karen. In earlier years, I spent a fair bit of time checking them out. More recently, it’s too busy on this side to pay ‘em much attention. But they’re there, a mixed breed lot, endlessly eating, wandering around, basking in the sun, sometimes pounding on one or another unlucky member of the herd for a day or two until the hierarchy is back in balance. Mostly, theirs seems like the laid-back good life…until a few get sold off for MEAT. For me, they’re an everyday reminder of how cool it’ll be when we finally get around to incorporating some livestock into the big garden plan. First, chickens?

With more people in the field this year, end-of-season clean-up is already well underway. Here, Midori, visiting after moving to France a couple of years back, removes weeds that’ve gone to seed from three older beds of mesclun. Ideally, finished beds would be promptly mowed down, spread with compost, tilled in, and then seeded with a new veggie or cover crop a week or two later. Things aren’t usually that efficient, finished beds sometimes sit for weeks, weeds pop up in the interim, and if they go to seed, have to be removed before tilling… Lying around: the green plastic garden totes are quite useful once the handles have been properly reinforced with rivets; the old builder’s wheelbarrow comes in handy for rocks, fallen tomatoes and the like. The grass in front, in need of mowing, is part of a wide path on one side of the greenhouse, the grass beyond is the magnificent oats! Oh, no frost last night, as you can see from the happy peppers at the top of the pic!