We just put in about 100 tomato plant starts yesterday. These all went outside and are mostly heirloom varieties. The weather has not been the best for outdoor tomatoes with all of this rain and cool nights. Hopefully by waiting a little longer to put them in they will take off. In the past we have had severe problems with late blight. This year we are taking a number of precautions to try and avoid this problem. First off, we widend out the spacing. We went with 5 foot centers and spaced the plants out at 4 foot in row spacing to increase air circulation around the plants. We also layed down black plastic mulch to keep soil from splashing up on the plants when it rains. We'll also prune these plants hard to keep all of the foligae off the ground and allow for better circulation. Hopefully these proactive steps will keep the plants healthy and happy and produce a bumber crop. We are putting out a few more today at one of our satelite locations using the same method. I hope it works!
The recent rains have really helped things grow. It's also really made the weeds take off too. Right now there is an insurmountable amount of weeding and mowing to be done. We'll be working on that today.
Many of the first succession crops have been harvested, terminated and tilled under. New beds have been set and we'll begin sowing the second succession of crops in their place. We'll be sowing more beets, carrots salad greens, squash and beans. We'll also be sowing some heat loving crops like okra, pumpkins and winter squash as well as some fall and winter items like brussel sprouts and other brassicas. We should have our propagation greenhouse cleared out this week. All of the tables will be removed and we will set beds for peppers and eggplants. This is the greenhouse where we housed the chickens this winter. I have to say the weeds in there are about as healthy as I have ever seen. They have the darkest green color and are very happy. I hope the peppers will respond in the same manner.
It's time to start trellising tomatoes. Lot's to do. Lot's to do. better get a move on.
Keep well friends,
The Farmer
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It's been awhile since I've had time to blog. Sorry for the long delay. We simply could not be any busier. Harvest days are now taking up a good portion of our week. We harvest three days a week and it takes most of the day to get everything in, washed, bunched, sorted packed and delivered. Sales have been good which means the orders are consistently growing in size. We are coming into a slight dirth for a week or so. We are just in between on a few early season crops and our main summer producers. Peas and fava beans are just flowering and it won't be long before they are on. I fell short on space for sowing greens so it looks like we may have to back off for just a bit. I'm scrambling for time and space to get back into full swing. It seems to happen every year no matter how much space we have. It's something I will have to continue to improve on.
When we are not busy with harvest, deliveries or doing the Farmers Market we are concentrating on weeding and getting everything planted out. There is still lots to go in. We did get the first round of pumpkins and winter squash direct sown yesterday so we are on schedule there. A second round of the varieties that mature a little faster will be going in in a week or so, depending on how fast I can get a new area prepped. Indoor tomatoes are in and doing well. Outdoor toms will be going in this week. It's just been too cold to put them out yet. Melons are in in one of the greenhouse's. It's a gamble of a crop for here, we'll see how it goes. Beans are up and doing well. Corn is up and it looks like we had good germination. Weeds are also up with a vengance! The first direct sown summer squash are just coming up and we'll be putting more in this week. Strawberries will be on this week! Hopefully this coming week we will also be able to clear out the prpogation greenhouse, prep beds and install peppers and eggplants. Sadly this process will involve dumping hundreds of starts that we were unable to sell. Plant sales were off big time this year. I think we'll most likely cut way back on this service next year and just take care of producing enough starts for our own use. We also have a few rows of potatoes to get in still.
So as you can see, there's alot going on. My sights are set on July when we have some additional help arriving and I will be able to take a well deserved break. I can't wait.
Gotta roll for now. It's time to start getting ready for market. Hope we have a good day. The weather looks like it's going to be beautiful.
Keep well,
The Farmer
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Yesterday was a good day. We had a good harvest and I was able to get a handle on a couple of problem weed areas. There's still tons of weeding to do but at least you can see the rows now. The rain makes it easy to pull the weeds.
I checked out the potato field. They are just beginning to emerge, and so are the thistles! I'm not for sure how to handle them at this point. It could pose itself as a major problem. Why did it have to be thistles? they are so hard to erradicate.
I got started on the pea trellises on our second succession of peas at our westbeach site. I'll have an early morning mission before work to install the wire and netting. My aversion to and lack of motivation for trellising continues. I'll especially enjoy crossing that project off the list.
Baby beets are on! We will have a thinning harvest available for delivery beginning on Thursday. They look great. The turnips are sizing up too and there is a second and third variety just coming on.
This should be a busy weekend at the market and our Thursday restaurant orders are looking like they are gearing up for a big weekend too. Needless to say it will be a big harvest day on Thursday and Friday. Having our walk in cooler will help me spread things out a little so we don't have to scramble too hard.
That's all for now I need an early start today so I can be back on the the farm by 8:00 to prep for my off the farm job.
Take care,
John
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Thank goodness it's raining. Things were beginning to be so dry i thought that it may never rain again. I am so thankful. It's saving me a lot of worry. Our potatoes are dry cropped and this will really make them come alive. We just sowed corn too and I have not been able to get it irrigated yet so now I can have a little breather. It should be up in about a week.
There is just so much to do right now it's completely overwhelming. I have to admit that yesterday I had a bit of a breakdown. I am realizing how far behind we are and I got completely discouraged. So many things need to be cultivated and maintained. Weeds are completly taking over in a couple of areas. We are in danger of losing a few sowings simply because we have not had the time to weed the beds out. We maybe have some extra help coming today so maybe we'll make a little progress. The rain may slow us down a bit, we'll see. It's hard to keep your chin up sometimes. A pint of Ben and Jeryys Cherry Garcia for Dinner offered little respite.
Somedays I think it's just better to walk away from the whole thing and forget about it for a day. I normally don't work on Sundays but yesterday I felt there was no way I could not try and get few things done. I mostly walked arround in a stupor and ultimately didn't get much done at all. Shold have just rested instead and come back fresh today.
Today is a new day though. I got an e-mail from out intern Abby, She will be here June 5th and thats not a day too soon. I hope she's ready to hit the ground running. I was happy to hear she's on her way. The list of things to dao is long and tedious. I think I'll start with the things I want to do the least ( as they are the most important ) Hopefully we'll get some of them done and I'll feel alright. Thers nothing more exciting than crossing completed projects off the list.
On the brighter side, We have had many success's and I am trying to focus on the bigger picture. We will prevail in the end. My defintion of farming continues to be a never ending series of success and failure. We will not give up!
It's beautiful outside right now. The dawn of a new day. Frogs croaking, birds chipping, first light misty morning, all is quiet, warm rain falls. The earth smells of a desrt rain. I'll take solace in a new day.
Keep on keeping on,
Farmer John
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The farmers market Saturday turned out to be really slow. It was a windy, cold day so when that happens attendance is usually a little on the slow side. By 1:00 PM the wind had me wore out. We packed up and came home early. We did manage to sell just about everything we had except a few pounds of greens which can go out on Monday. I had full intentions of doing some work around the farm but took a nap instead. I was dead dog tired and really must have needed some down time. I'll pick it back up today. Normally Sunday is a rest day but right now there is just so much to do I need to keep up the momentem. I knew there would be days like this. It's a little hard to motivate but once I get going it's fine. I be able to slow down a little after we get everything in the ground.
Today most of my time we be spent mowing, weed wacking and doing tractor work. The farms a mess right now so i'll spend some time organizing and straightening up. We'll be prepping one of our greenhouse's for plant out of melons. I'm hoping to dial in the Allis cultivating tractor to do some serious path maintenance and bed cultivation. The weeds are starting to get the upper hand in a couple of places and if I get a jump on it I can keep it under control. Theres lot's of hand work that needs to be done where the tractor can't get to and in the plant rows themselves. One block in particular where the onions are is in serious need of hand weeding. I must get pea trellis up today too. My window is closing fast. Soon the plants will be too big to get in there. I have to admit I have a mental block about putting up trellising. even though it's not a hard job just thinking about it makes me want to move on to something else. I'm experimenting this year with variety of pea that is lower growing and does not require a trellis. If that works out I'll be thrilled.
There's lots of transplanting to be done too. We are tight on space right now so hopefully I can get some new beds cleared and re set for plant out. It never ends folks! Just thinking about all the things that need to be done gets me going though. We are having a great year and I am pushing hard to make this season a profitable one. So far I feel like we are pretty close to being on track. I've been able to keep our expenses down and revenues are on the rise. It's all good.
Gotta get rollin
Keep it real,
Farmer John
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