Feeling a little more overwhelmed than usual right now. I have a lot of tilling and cover cropping to be done at all of the MRF sites. It helps to just think about one at a time. Get one done and then move on to the next. Keeping a list helps so I can at least have the satisfaction of crossing a project off that list. (One of my favorite things to do) Those of you who know me well, kmow that I am a habitual list maker. It's the only way i cam keep my focus on all of the things that need to be done. I often joke that I would'nt be able to go to the bathroom without first consulting my list. It's true!
Heres a sample of my lst of things to do today.
check and reply to e mails
check phone message's and return calls
call to see if I'm working off the farm (if so the following items must wait until another day)
till and cover crop beds at lone cow farm
spread manure, till and cover crop beds at mrf 3
spread manure, till and cover crop at home farm
tll and cover crop potato field at Youngrens
clean chicken coop
buy chicken feed, restock bins, feed and water chickens cull flock
water greenhouses
harvest and deliver greens to Ship Bay
sort tomatoes
call accounts to see if they want to buy tomatoes
Call CSA accounts for harvest and delivery
clean out delivery truck and store pumpkins and winter squash
call mechanic to schedule truck for repairs and maintenance
clean harvest station
bank deposit
mail paperwork to accountant
mow
take down fence around pig pen till and cover crop
flip compost piles
rake leaves and put into compost piles
split fire wood and re stock woodshed
That oughta do it. Looks like a day to me!
Keep it real.
Farmer John
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Yes It's true. I am now known as the pumpkin dude. Folks have been driving by the pumpkin patch all season. The astute ones have noticed and commented on them from time to time. Up until harvest, it was a glorious site to drive by and see the pumpkins slowly coming into maturity. From the emereging plants, to the first sightings of the small greem globes, to the final stages of a plot of lovely orange pumpkins of all sizes and shapes exposed by the die back of the large spawling vines. Fall time is here and nothing reminds us of that more than seeing a large field of ripe pumpkins lying crisp in autum air.
I opted to harvest the pumpkins but what to do with them and where to store them is an issue. They are currently residing in the back of my truck. As I've been on my normal routes of deliveries and erronds I have run into people within the community who do good things or have helped or supported MRF over the years. It's great to see an old or new friend and be able to say hey, please grab a pumpkin and thanks for your help or thanks for being an active member in our community and making Orcas a special place to live. It's also a kick to see the looks you get when you drive around with a load of pumpkins. It's hard not top pick up a new moniker as the "pumpkin King". Last night I let the kids have free reign on the pumpkins for carving and painting. They were great. It's a gentle reminder to me of how special kids are. Their creations brought a smile to face and they had a ball. The moms were happy too.
So as you see pumpkins are good , pumpkins are great. we don't make much money on them but it's not all about making money. Sometimes making goodwill within the community or putting a smile on a childs face are much more valuable than any amount of money that would just slip through my fingers anyway. Of course we do need to make some money and we would be happy to sell you our beauties and then you will be helping support a small farmer in a small community. It's all good folks. It's all good.
Fall is a special time of year. Everything is so beautiful. The trees, the harvested fields and greening pastures. the feelings of a warm fire on a cold evening. The sensual experience of hunkering down for the winter and gorging on comfort foods. Our kitchens are filled with the unmistakeable flavors of apple cider, roasted tomatoes and peppers and all sorts of jams, jellies and butters. The air feels damp and there is a distinct scent about; of things rotting and mushrooms and woodsmoke. If you stop and listen, you can almost always here a chainsaw running in the distance. Someone putting up firewood for the season. A sense of preperation is underway. A slowing of pace from our normal hectic days of spring and summer. Transistion from one season to the next. Without doubt, it is my favorite time of year.
Keep well good people. We still live in a world of promise and hope. A good place indeed.
Farmer John
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Need Pumpkins? We got em! All varities, all sizes, all colors. Winter squash too. perfect for fall decoration and then eat them. Give me a call at the farm if you would like to place an order.
This has been a fantastic fall. We still have tons of produce for sale. Potatoes, greens, brussel sprouts, gourmet greens, squash, broccoli, kale, peppers, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots and tomatoes! Lots and lots of tomatoes. Best tomato year I've ever seen. There may even be one or two more havests of strawberries. They have been luscious beyond belief. I had to laugh when I saw the berries at the grocery. They are $5.00 / lb for non organic and look like garbage. Please!
New greens are on and the greenhouse's are now fully planted out or seeded with a new winter crop. The extended forecast is weighted towards a mild winter so I am hopeful we'll be able to deliver all winter.
Farm to cafeteria is rolling along nicely this year. The school kids and staff are enjoying the fresh vine ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and of course salad greens. Hopefully as time goes by we will increase the variety. I have been having lunch at the school occasionally. I find it quite interesting to see what the kids are eating. There's alot of behind the scenes politics and regulation on what the school can serve. I wish I could go in there and turn the kitchen upside down. The food in general is industrial and pre packaged. Some days are better than others. The tamale pie was good and the kids liked it and how can you dis curly fries? Eighty six the burgers though. icky! The salad bar kicks.
Any free time right now is spent on putting things to bed. Tilling, composting and cover cropping are the theme. The timely rains have helped the cover crop jump right up. There is still much to do. Slowly ( but not too slowly ) and surely. It will rain and the window will close for having machinery in the field. I'm trying some experimental mowing of fall greens to see if they will return early in the spring. It saves time , money and fuel by reducing the number of times I have the tractor in the field. Hopefully it will be a success.
Saturday market is done for the season. Look for us in town on days when the weather is semi cooperating. the MRF mobile will be laden with fresh goods and ready to roll on a moments notice.
New Shirts. I still have a good selection of MRF shirts. Would love to see them go. $20.00 100% cotton. very nice. call me.
Farmer Lou needs a truck. You know the deal. $500.00 island rig. Got one? Trade?
Farmer John needs interns and one kick ass farmer for next year. Anyone?
Keep it fresh,
John
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My theory on planting squash later in the season to be able to offer the freshest product late into the season has appeared to have failed. It's the first week of fall and we are still harvesting some lovely squash. The only problem here is that zuchinni does not appear to hold alot of sex appeal. Even though we are having a lovely indian summer, people's minds are more set on the fall crops and the coming of winter. Of everything we have produced on the farm this year, squash remains as the only vegetable that we have had too much of and have had to discard. Even the chickens don't care for it. Oh well at least it's easy to grow. Squash just may be one of the products I discontinue next year to make more room for more salad greens.
When will I ever learn? Our reputation was built on growing the best greens on the island. I can never seem to have enough. Sometimes I think we could just exclusively grow greens and still not be able to supply the demand. I just may do that next year. It's the product we make the most money on too. It is very labor intensive but I must say I have it down to a near science. people ask me "would'nt you get bored just growing greens?" No way, I love growing greens. There are so many differnt and seasonal items that can be included in the mix. I find it very captivating to experiment with differnt things that grow well at differnt times of the year. From season to season our salad mix changes and I am always finding new items that compliment each other. The only thing that would stop me from growing just greens would be that I love offering such a wide variety of specialty crops.
I'm just starting to think about next year. I am anticipating a labor shortage again so I'm thinking of things that I can grow and harvest with less labor while still turning a profit and keep up on all of the chores and maintenance and still have some faction of a life. I can't keep up with growing on so many different plots next year so I will be cutting back a little. I just commited to supplying salad greens to Rosario Resort next season. They go through about a hundred pounds a week in the summer so I will need to drop some things to be able to meet that demand. The obvious things to drop would be corn, squash and beans. I love all of those things though! Sometimes farming can seem so brutal. Just like when you are thinning. It feels like you are playing God when you are ripping out the tiny seedlings. You just have to remember there would be no harvest if you did not tend to the needs of the plants. You can't grow everything. Narrow the product and go deep in what you decide you will specialize in. right? brutal!
Things are starting to slow down quite a bit. just two more Farmers' Markets. Come on folks, step right up and get your zuchinni!
bye bye
Your farmer
John
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I love the early days of fall. There is still so much to harvest in the field yet things are winding down at the same time. It gives us some time to think about things a little more than usual and catch our breath. The crowds of summer are gone and the island is returning to a slower daily pace; Sort of. (what did happen to that kick back island pace anyway?)
Right now I'm thinking about fire wood. I have a mountain of logs, several dump truck loads, that are waiting to be bucked, split and stacked. It's a bit ominous feeling. There is enough wood there for several seasons if I could keep it from rotting. The autumnal feel in the air creates somewhat of a rushed feeling to get the wood in for the season. I feel like a rich man when I look out and see several cords of dried, seasoned wood neatly stacked and ready to burn. I am slowly getting to it. It does'nt help when your chainsaw blows up on you right in the middle of the job. Doh!, there's
another $400.00. $400 dollars that was to go torwards another project like siding for the barn or getting one of several of my broken down vehicles repaired. That's the way it seems to go. Just when you think you're good to go something breaks or an unexpected bill comes in. Could be the theme for the year. It's been impossible to get ahead. It seems like I've just been scrambling all season putting out little fires like that. Being in the middle of a divorce has'nt helped either. Sorry, don't mean to get off on a woe me tangent here, not my style. My life is great and I'm having the best time ever.
So what's happening on the farm these day's besides harvesting? We've been busy starting greens in flats. These will soon be transplanted into the greenhouses for winter production. There's a timing issue here. There are still things growing in the hoop house's now. So we want things to go as long as possible in there but we must also have a quick turn around. Once current production is over we will pull out the old plants, reset and ammend beds and immediately transplant greens. They have to get good growth on to be able to withstand the winter and allow us to get a continual harvest through fall and into winter. It's not rocket science but there is a very short window to pull it off. We are also still direct sowing outside and cover cropping and cleaning up in general. Pulling all of the drip tape and irrigation lines out of the field is another project we'll be on soon. Ther's a never ending list.
I'm also thinking about next year. What will we grow? Who will we sell to? What new equipment do we need? I would like to buy a vacuum seeder for starting flats. It's a simple device that could really cut out a lot of time. They cost about $700.00. It would pay for it's self in one season. I would also like to fine tune some tractor cultivation equipment and pick up a device called a sub soiler which is basically a shank mounted on a tool bar that hooks up to the three point hitch on a tractor. The shank penetrates deep into the soil to break up hard pan and plow bottom. This gives the roots of plants the opportunity to grow deeper and also aids in drainage and allows nutrients and minerals that are locked up in the sub soil to become available for the roots to feed on. I feel it's important to re invest in equipment for the farm each year. Anything that can increase effiency and production is money well spent in my book.
Sometimes, just being able to take a step back, breath and think is worth it's weight in gold. Coming up with even one small change, tool or idea can change the bottom line for the seasons to follow. Time spent reflecting, planning and implementing ideas can be priceless.
Keep well,
Farmer John
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