Month: April 2007

CSA shares…

7 Mar 20161 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

This single printed sheet is the other farming thing on my mind this time of year. It’s the CSA sign-up form, filled in by new members and past shareholders renewing their stake in the harvest. I don’t do any advertising, just word of mouth and leaving off sheets at a handful of local spots. The goal is to have near 100% renewals, but we’re still expanding, aiming for 50 shareholders this season. I don’t think of this as the “business” end. Like the farm stand and farmers’ market stall, it’s another equal part of tiny farming, same as planting, cultivating, harvesting, sharing, eating. By buying into the whole season in advance, and picking up their weekly shares, CSA members become as much a part of growing veggies as if they were out weeding in the field (which some of them are planning to do as well this year).

Chives

1 Sep 20112 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

More tiny greenery from the trays! Chives are doing well, they’ve already been out in the sun and wind for a few days to toughen them up, and will be heading to the greenhouse soon to make way for others under the lights. Also in the herb collection this year: sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, cilantro, dill, oregano, basil, and possibly fennel, marjoram and savory.

First direct seeding of the year!

9 Apr 20093 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

O the excitement and satisfaction. The first 400′ of snap peas (Sugar Ann) are in! This is the first seed to hit the field this year!!

It’s a low-risk gamble for two-three extra early bushels for the market. With over a week of cold days, subzero nights and even snow ahead till mid-month, the peas may germinate unevenly, and there’s little more annoying and unproductive than picking a not-dense-enough pea planting (you pick forever to get relatively little).

Last year, I seeded out this early with two varieties, and neither worked out as well as the next seeding 10 days later.

Here you see the results of my current bed marking technique: using a 100′ reel-type measuring tape, I mark the path centers on both ends with a label stake, walk ’em out, and pull up the stakes. Presto!

These beds are 4-1/2′ wide. The spacing between the double rows is a little wide to what I usually do (4-5″), but the freshly tilled soil made maneuvering the Earthway seeder close to the first row difficult (tight double rows for bush peas let the plants support each other and you don’t have to weed between).

It’ll work out! Delicious edible-pod peas in 60 days?!

Rosemary cloned

7 Sep 20234 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

The little gamble on propagating rosemary from frail cuttings paid off at 20%. Out of about 40 starts, eight took root, this without any sort of rooting compound. I put them in 3″ peat pots yesterday. They’re headed for the summer herb garden.

The rhubarb debacle

1 Sep 20115 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

Debacle may be a little strong, the future of my newly established rhubarb patch is not absolutely dire, but it’s not looking perky just yet. I’ve so far managed to spot only half a dozen of the 50 odd transplants I set out last year in spring. I’d ambitiously dug up part of an ancient patch in the house garden (it needed thinning anyway), divided out a ton of roots, and planted at least 50 on 3′ centers (hopefully, I’ll be able to count ’em in a couple more weeks) in a permanent spot in the garden field. I can’t quite remember what I was thinking: eventually, rhubarb for an entire village?! Problem became the low priority of rhubarb in the busy year, upkeep of the patch got away from me, and it grew over quite heavily with grass and other weedy items. Also, fewer, denser plantings might’ve been a better idea. But rhubarb is tough, I dunno if it can be smothered by mere other plants… We’ll soon see!

Ah, the weather

6 Dec 20076 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

It looks a lot different than it did yesterday! This overnight dusting of snow didn’t stick around for long (the ground’s still warm enough to melt it off), but the zero days and way-below-freezing nights for the next week or so, and nearly as cold temperatures forecast well towards the end of April, aren’t the greatest. Totally unlike the warm and workable Aprils of the last four years. Is this latest extreme another result of global warming, or simply…the weather (after all, cold Aprils aren’t anything new)? The lifelong farmers I’ve asked all agree that the consistently wild swings of the last three-four years is something they have never before seen. For me, going into only my fifth year of farming (my fifth year of paying real attention to the weather), extreme weather is all I’ve known! It’s…normal!

Germination test

16 Oct 20117 Apr 2007 by Mike (tfb)

For some reason, I have 250 grams each of Ramrod and Summer Isle bunching onion seed from two years ago. Onion seed is supposed to be good for only a year or two, I’m too anti-waste (and curious) to just toss it, and I don’t want to find out if it’s viable when it’s in the field and I’m counting on the crop… So, my first ever germination tests! Pretty simple: count out a good sample (I went for 100), roll ’em up in a damp paper towel, stick in a plastic bag, wait, then count and figure the percentage. Both varieties were marked 88% germination in 2005 when they were fresh. Anything close to that and I’ll use it, around 50% and maybe I’ll double seed, lower and I’ll give it away… How scientific!