Potatoes are looking good, all weeded and hilled, around seven weeks after going in. There’s been a Colorado potato beetle watch on for the last few days, the little guys are out in some force this year, more than in the last couple, although not a major problem so far. Control is time-consuming (what isn’t ! :) but easy: they tend to congregate conveniently on the topmost leaves, munching away, so we pick them or shake ’em off into a small bucket of water. A simple end.
Hi Mike, are those 12″ walkways between the rows? And are those raised beds? It looks fantastic.
By the way, where in the country are you? I’ve clicked all over your site trying to figure out what state you’re in!
-Krystle
I’m growing on a considerably smaller scale, but I noticed a couple beetles on my Yukon Golds a couple of weeks back. I snatched them up and squashed them and (fingers crossed) I haven’t seen any since. I’ve seen a few Japanese Beetles in the past few days, but they never seem to bother the taters.
I found your site by chance in another blog’s comments and I have a feeling I’m going to be reading here a lot.
Hey, neat blog and the farming operation looks like fun! Lots of great info. I just moved to Fort Worth, TX so am getting used to a different climate than what I left in Southern California. I’ve got a small garden going–so far its organic(if BT is considered organic!), and I’ve got the fever…and I see what you mean by the “gamble” with Mother Nature–here in the lower Midwest prairie the weather can be torrential and freakin’ hot! Oh yah, like the previous post asked–where are you located?
Hey, Krystle: i started reading bits of your sites, it’s an interestingly well-thought-out path you’re on! I’ll read more… I’m positive small farming can be financially viable, it seems to me, if your orientation starts out right, that is, if you’re concentrating on food quality and the seed-to-harvest-to-market process (which probably means selling mostly direct, like, CSA/farmers’ market/farm stand), tiny farming is kinda self-correcting. When you’re tiny, you have to go out of your way to spend foolishly, it’s almost impossible to stop always trying to improve and be more efficient, and so forth. Good habits and practices are built in! If you’re looking to expand endlessly, build a thriving Business, that’s something else entirely. Staying small takes care of itself.
The paths are about 12″. The beds are 5′, and originally were strictly 42″ bed area, 18″ path, but I’ve loosened up, planting some stuff wider, and reducing bed sizes for some crops.
Where am I? Well, quite north of you! I originally made this site “anonymous” as to me and my location, I think the idea was that this could be any tiny farm, anywhere, but I think I’ll update the About… soon with a little more info!!
Hi Mike! Thanks for checking out my stuff. I’m definitely oriented towards high quality food and direct marketing…Basically, offering and emphasizing everything that cheap food can’t! Quality over quantity.
Anyway, before I digress, I’d hate to call you out on your anonymity; It’s just that I’ve become very conscious of farming locations ever since moving from NY to NM and realizing that the local environmental and cultural landscape can have a HUGE effect on how a farm successfully operates. So I’m just curious, a general region would suffice, especially when I read about weather and things like that and wonder “Someone else is getting these cold snaps, too? Where??”
i’m glad to see that i wasn’t the only one who searched the site high and low to find out exactly where the farm is located! the info is there if you look hard enough. i’ll give everyone a hint, it’s in canada!
Hey antitext: Yeah, it’s not too hard to figure out if you really look around. :) I’ve forgotten EXACTLY why I started it off “anonymous”, but I did go to some pains to keep it…place neutral. For example, I spent extra minutes cropping the CSA sign-up sheet so that the farm name didn’t appear, but you can find the town of Lindsay in the text. All this mystery doesn’t make much sense, since for one thing, the crops and growing season are pretty specific to where you are. Anyhow, the farm’s in southern Ontario, about 75 miles north of Toronto, Zone 5 Canada (Zone 4 US)! I’ll update the About… when I get a minute!!