This week we ran out of irrigation water at two of our sites. This has been the driest summer I think I have seen since I've been growing. On our main site we irrigate from a pond which contains aprox 500,000 gallons. Some of that is lost to evaporation and root uptake from the surrounding vegetation but the majority goes to the field. It is normal that we run out of water. This year it just seems to have happened a good three weeks earlier than usual. Part of this is my fault. I was late in getting everything set up on drip thus we overhead watered quite a bit earlier in the season which is way less economical. It would be a good time for me to go in and clear out some of the alder trees that have come up around the pond edges too, I'm sure they are grabbing a good bit of the water and taking them out now would be lot easier than later. Anyway, at this point I am just hoping it rains soon so we don't lose the crops that are in. My primary concern is salad greens. I can water them in a little with our well to keep them alive but that's a last ditch alternative.
When people hear that we are out of water they always ask " what are you going to do?" Answer: Nothing. Well, almost nothing. One thing that we are doing is starting a lot of greens in flats. We can water these with the domestic water and hopefully we will see some rain in the mean time. This buys us 30 days or so. We can then make a descion where they will be transplanted. Fortunatly, we still have water at two of our sites and some open beds available. It'll be OK.
Our water woes pale in comparison to what's happening in the corn belt of the country. In Mitchell South Dakota There is an iconic American landmark called the Corn Palace. Perhaps some of you have been there. Basically it's a tribute to all things corn. Every year, the exterior of the building is re sided in these amazing artistic displays and themes using all different types and colors of corn. It's really cool. Sadly this year for the first time ever, there is no corn to harvest due to severe drought and the palace will not have a new facade. Imagine that. Being a farmer, doing all of the work and sowing all of those acres and not having a harvest!? Damn. It's a scary thought really. they are comparing the conditions to those of the dust bowl era of the 30s. It makes a pit in my stomach to think about it.
Yes we are out of water and it's hot and dry but we are just fortunate, so fortunate to live in this great place where we can really have a bountiful harvest of a wide selection of crops. I thank my lucky stars. Most folks take for granted what we have here.
Things and times are changing. We should all try to better prepare ourselves for events like this in the future. Our economy will change with it and we will need to adjust our lifestyles accordingly to adapt. I was reading an article in the New York Times yeaterday. The auto industry is finaly acknowledging that $4.00 gal fuel is here to stay. There is no going back from here. Peak oil is here. It's time to seriously re consider our driving trends and thoughts on fuel effecient vehicles. It's time to buy foods that were grown and raised within 100 miles of where we live. It's time to plant your own garden and depend less on the outside world. It's time to be a farmer!
Your Farmer
John
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This past weekend I had the good fortune to visit Seattle. As always I made a visit to Pike Street Market. I love to see the vibrancy, hustle and bustle of a thriving market. This trip, I was interested in checking prices on fresh produce and fruit. I was curious because I have been thinking and talking pricing issues for a long time here. I have worked hard to increase our effieciency and streamline our procedures to improve our economy of scale. For the most part I think MRF has done a great job in holding our prices at a time when we are paying more money for inputs ans supplies than ever, especially fuel! We are just getting hammered like everybody else. (for you off island friends, we are paying $4.00 gal for diesel)
I was more than surprised to see just how reasonable our prices are. I left with a sense of satisfaction but also with a sense of realizing that our prices are going to be changing. We are simply not charging fair market price on some of the products we grow. Here is a brief comparison.
MRF Pike St. Mkt.
Strawberries $4.00 pt $5.00 pt
Raspberries $4.00 1/2 pt $5.00 1/2 pt
blackberries $3.00 pt $5.00 pt
heirloom tomatoes $5.00 lb $6.00 lb
baby squash $3.00 lb $4.00 lb
gourmet salad mix $10.00 lb $11.00 lb
There were a few items that we were higher on. The most notable of those was green beans. Most venders had them for $2.00 lb We sell ours for $4.00 lb. I will say that our quality looked superior and our size at harvest slightly smaller which normally translates into a more tender bean with less yield. On a side note I did see hairicot verts AKA french filet beans for $5.00 lb. That's a good price. They are tiny and take forever to pick. I for one have never understood the pricing on beans, here's why. For the last four years we have charged $4.00 lb for peas. Up until this year, beans were priced at $3.00 lb. In my opinion beans and peas are about the same as far as growing and labor to harvest are concerned. Why the lower price on beans? That was my logic on raising the price this year. I sell all the beans we can grow.
The other big price difference was on corn. You can buy it normally 3 or 4 ears for $1.00 We had corn at the market this week and sold it for $1.00 an ear. Sorry folks That's a terrible price and I am fully aware of it. However, It was some damn fine corn. Very sweet and tender. It was picked the morning of market and it was all gone by 11:00. The 4/$1.00 corn had to be more than a day out of the field. If you know anything about corn it's that it's sugars begin turning to starch as soon as it's picked. That's why people in the know who grow corn, get the pot boiling first, then pick the corn.
This would be a good time to talk about quality. I will say the majority of the produce at the Seattle market looked lovely. Obviously some of this produce was local and some not. Most of it was not certified organic. Niether are we, but rest assured we grow using organic methods and do not use chemical fertilizers or herbicides. With us you have the advantage of knowing exactly where your food is coming from. (priceless) I left the market with my head high. Our quality was superior and so were our overall prices. Do our customers know just how good they have it here?
If you come visit us at the Farmer's Market this Saturday, we will have some more of that highly over priced corn. The heirloom tomatoes are in thier prime. We most likely will have some lovely melons, not a common crop here. They are not easy to grow here and often fail to mature and they take up alot of valuable real estate on the farm. Ours are grown in one of the greenhouse's. Oh yeah, they'll be over priced too! Just kidding. I paid .69 cents lb at pike street market which equated into a $9.00 watermelon! It was they best melon I have had in a really long time and worth every penny. I'll bet ours is even better. I don't know what we'll be charging yet, probablly .80 lb.
Take care friends. Enjoy the low prices on quality locally grown produce while the getting is good. Prices are going up. Really.
Farmer John
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We are just enetring the period of the season that we all yearn for. Everything summer is on and the harvest is bountiful. This is the time of year when it all seems to click. The village is busy with people which translates into the restaurants being busy which means we are busy too filling orders. The Saturday farmers' markets are bustling and our customers are excited to see the true bounty of summer, especially the vine ripened heirloom tomatoes! Thet are just fabulus right now. We get this for just about six weeks of the year. It's the best time of year for us as far as sales go and then we begin to see a gradule decline as we enetr fall. I am looking forward to a busy shoulder season this year. We are working hard to continue producing into the winter months. The pumpkins and winter squash are looking good and the brassicas we are transplanting out now are taking well. We'll be putting out the remainder of the fall and overwintering starts this week and also sowing radishes, turnips, beets and salad greens. It just seems to keep getting better every year. Learning the timing and varities that do well in the winter here is really helping us even out our cash flow and work load.
It looks like we'll start harvesting sweet corn this week. This is a crop I don't normally grow and frankly most likely won't grow commercially in the future. Corn takes up a lot of space and requires alot of water and time. The return is dismal if you are just looking at it from a financial side. It is fun to grow though and there is nothing like fresh corn on the cob. That said we are growing a variety this year that I find to be rather interesting. It is a black corn. Sidney Coffelt of Coffelts Farm gave us the seed. I think it is a variation of a variety known as Hookers Black. Sidney has grown this corn many years here on Orcas so I believe it has regionalized it's self a bit. It grows on a very short stalk so it puts more energy into the ears as opposed to foliage. Sidney says it has been the most reliable producer for her over the years and now it is the only corn she grows. As with many heirloom's It's not the the most beautiful thing you've seen but the flavor is exceptional. Corn is difficult to grow here in our cool maritime climate so when you find a variety that does well you should stick with it. We have a small patch that we are growing out for seed stock. We may have a small amount for the market.
It's time to get going here. It's going to be a big day of field prep, transplanting and sowing. These are good kinds of days. Tangible days. Days when you can look around and see exactly what you've accomplished and give yourself a pat on the back. There's something undescibablly satisfing about putting life into the soil. It reminds me of the reasons why we farm and gives me the encouragemant to carry on with the tasks at hand.
Live and eat well my friends.
Farmer John
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It's Fair time again folks. This is the centennial year.
We love the fair. We enter our vegetables evry year. Sadly for the last couple of years there seems to have been a decline in the number of entries. I would just like to urge all of the gardners and my fellow farmers of the county to enter thier goodness. It's such a quality part of the fair. I just love looking at the beautiful display and unique varieties that are shown. We have some great growers around here.
We had about 35 entries this year. 10 blue ribbon and a few seconds. Proudly we took best of class in tomatoes and won a best of show with one of our new queen watermelons. I am already looking forward to nexy year!
If you hav'nt been to the fair, it's great fun. grab yourself a corndog and check it out.
Things are kicking in fairly well here. the tomatoes are really coming into their own right now. They have been taking their sweet time in ripening this year. Right about now is when they seem to taste the best though. Some of the heirloom varieties we are growing are the ones I appreciate the most. They truly have that old time taste that we all remember from days past. Yum!
green beans are coming on strong. We have one pole variety that we are growing from seed that we got from Sidney Coffelt of Coffelts farm here on Orcas. It's not the prettiest been i've seen but the flavor is to die for. They are real green beans.
We have some real good lookin melons too. i can't wait for them to ripen up and the chile's and peppers are starting to mature. i can't wait for chile rellenos.
We planted our summer squash late and then followed that up with an even later sowing which is just now coming on. I like having squash later in the season. All of the other growers have squash before us so I try to have ours coming on strong just when theirs begins to wane.
That's a general theme around here right now. Summers are a little rough on me with pollen allergies and heat. it's definately my low energy time of the year. Since we grow year round I am learning not to fret about it. Instead I look for ways to make it work to my advantage. Coming into the shoulder season with large quantities of late summer crops is something that works well for me. We'll be following up soon with corn, pumpkins and winter squash. Also experimenting with a late sown crop of basil in one of our greenhouse's where we had to remove som un- wieldly tomatoe vines.
Our highly anticipated acre of potatoes has been the biggest dissapointment of the season. Too many damn deer eating the tops off the plants. this was a new field for us this year too and I think it needs a little more work and tilth and a fence. I do not intend to give up. We can hopefully have enough of a harvest to cover our and fuel cost's. I'll plow, disc and till in a soil building cover crop. Perhaps we can get a fence Up this year.
We've been able to get some of our fall and overwintering transplants in the ground. We have alot more to put out and I really need to get a big crop of greens in. My window of opportunity is fading. Hopefully sometime over the next few days I can make some time.
Overall things are going pretty well. We've had a few slip ups but that's just the way it goes. We've had more than our fair share of wins. Lot's of publicity right now. Look for our story this week In Sunset Magazine. Is farming sexy or what?
Take care all.
Farmer John
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It's early August and we are just starting to harvest tomatoes. This year we are seeing them come on just a little bit later than we normally do. I don't have an explanation fot this. The weather has been so hot and dry one would think we would have seen them earlier. We have plants growing both inside our 20x 100 greenhouse and outside. So far just the indoor plants are producing.
We are growing about 30 different varieties, mostly heirlooms. It's a glorious sight to walk into the greenhouse and see the neatly prunned and trellised plants standing tall and just loaded with huge fruits of all different colors, size's and shapes. As we all know there is nothing like eating a fresh vine ripened tomatoe still warm from the days sun. So much so, many of us refuse to eat the tasteless off season fruits we get at the store. If there is one crop that optitmizes summer, it's tomatoes.
We happen to live in an area that lends it's self to growing a large variety of crops throughout the year. Tomatoes however are quite difficult to grow here. We've been skunked more than once. This year we gambled a bit by planting mostly heirloom varieties. (global warming's not all bad right?) In my opinion they have the best taste and are the most beautiful. They are also harder to grow and you take a greater risk of not getting a harvest.
Due to the fact that they are harder to grow they also command a greater price. I have to admit I struggle with that more than a bit. I just cringe at the thought of a customer paying $5.00 for one tomato! Sometimes I feel like people think we are gouging and are overpriced on everything we sell. On that note please do compare our prices with the grocery store you'll see we are very competively priced and our quality is far superior. We have had many a discussion about what to charge this year. I really try not to be influenced by what other growers are charging or by what the grocery store sells them for. I just consider how much time and effort went into the crop and try to come up with a fair market price that makes it worth our while to tie up valuable greenhouse space for such a long period of time and to cover our labor and input cost. Just as a reference though, heirloom tomatoes are anywhere between $6.00 and $6.50 a lb at the store right now. We will be starting at $6.00 lb.
We started most of these in late february and early March. So we are talking five to six months of coddeling before we even see a tomato!. Trust me when I tell you it is a long road and they take a lot work. We are constantly prunning and trellising to keep the plants active and healthy. We can normally keep our harvest going into late September or even October depending on the weather. Considering how long it takes the plants to yield this is a relatively short harvest window.
That's the news on toms. It's prime time for squash and green beans right now too. Cucumbers are coming on strong and we have peppers and eggplants on the vine. The corn is forming ears too! yep, summertime.
Keep well my friends,
Farmer John
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