hi, i'm Linda and this is my first blog.  i've been watering watering watering watering watering watering and more watering - in the greenhouse and the lathe house and Brian's pumpkins, all three!  i'm also trying to keep up with Alex and the other farmers.  kate is done with school now and will be at the farm alot more.   the brassicas' are doing well. the quackgrass is basically under control; theoretically, that is.  Paul and Gaylen, along with Sarah and Lucy are the Sunday crowd.  Leah and Serena are the wednesday gang.  Eddie is the crewleader on saturday.  he is pest control replacement for Peter Karsh (by the way peter, your squirrels are still nailed on a board in the garage!  Yesterday, monday, i moved the echinacea to the field.  a perennial field needs to be designated, but in the meantime...Melanie is the queen crewleader on tues - she tills, she plants, she weeds, she built the lathe house and she always makes a truly delicious lunch (with rice).  Lupita, single handedly, hosted the fundraiser at the thirsty pagan and, according to Adam, we raised $400-$500.  way to go Lupita!  Jim hall played at the fundraiser and raised a lot of fun with the new song he learned for the farm -  The Garden Song.  he continues to be very chatty and is also playing every tues. at the new club, Live.  we should support him!  Congratulations to all the farmies that make grassroots possible.  well, back to watering......................

Windy Day at the Farm

Hey Y'all!

I spent a couple hours at the farm this afternoon.  Planted some more pumpkins I had started at home, along with a couple plants from the Coop.  I also planted the rest of the corn from the greenhouse (all 3).  On Wednesday, I am planning on extending the drip tape to the pumpkins.  I'm also going to figure out how to set up drip tape in the Three Sisters plot, something I hadn't considered when making it a crazy shape.

On a side note, I bought an extra Rain Barrel at the sale last Saturday.  It can potentially be used at the farm!  I was thinking we could put a downspout on the tool shed and rig it up there, for a nice proximity to the field.  Thoughts?

Brian

Early Today I started out quietly attempting to finish the tomato trellis. Unfortunately, productivity caught a snag and I ran out of trellis poles. Either asking farm friend, resident, and local troubadour, Jim Hall to cut some more; Farm friend and mentor Don Kinnunen to offer some lumber scraps, or find something around the house to finish the row and a half of tomatoes left. The rest should go fast since all the holes are dug using Don Kinunnen's magnificent hand drill.

After the trellis, I went to weeding. While weeding the wind from the West went wild! Fortunately, the previous day's rain kept the soil intact. Some of the drip tape not yet fully installed got a little messy, but remained tied to posts until it can be connected into mainline and staked in - nothing blew away. The pea and unfinished tomato trellis confidently took a stand against the wind. Most important - all the plants seemed unharmed.

Weeding revealed some openings for additional planting. Two prepared rows and a half- finished row of peppers may just be the spots for the last of the greenhouse transplants, more peppers anyone?

On my way back to the green house to fill out the farm's logbook (Yippee Book), I found some beautiful manure that looked in need of shoveling . . . maybe I should have left it for Laddie and another "farm freeze" dance move.

Hip Hop & Weeding

                                                   Philip the Swede weeding.

Yesterday we had lots of help at the farm.  First there was Laddie, Jenna, & Sarah who came all the way from the twin cities to help weed our carrots (which are coming up and looking great).  Kate, fresh out of her first year of med school was also there to tear our the quakegrass.  Later in the afternoon "The Boys" came out.  That is the Woodland Hills boys arrived and did some landscaping around the greenhouse.  In between rain showers, we planted a row of Costata Romesca Zucchini, a row of buttercup winter squash, a half row of pickling cucumbers, and a half row of delicata squash.  The irrigation tape is out but needs to be tested before the straw mulch is put on top of it.  

At the end of the workday, Linda organized a hip hop dance off.  Listening to Linda's ancient hip hop music blasting from the Subaru,  Laddie from the cities and Corey from the boys showed off their best moves. 

 Corey started out with a bang as he pulled off a smooth backflip.

But Laddie countered with a "farm Freeze" in the manure pile. 

After it was all said and done,  Linda (the judge) called it a tie.  But not before she got her own lesson.

The Pea Massacre of June 16th (a delayed entry)

Yes, it is as bad as it sounds. I went out to the farm today. There was volunteer that offered to help me on the field. My plan was to weed the peas and put up the pea trellis. I gave her a stirrup hoe, demonstrated how to use it and emphasized avoiding the drip tape. I worked at the other end of the row with the wheel hoe where the weeds were much thicker. Half an hour later we began examining where to put stakes for trellis. I then saw a few peas that had been cut by the stirrup hoe. Then I looked down the row and saw that all the peas were cut... I had not shown her what a pea plant looked like. About 75% of the pea plants were dead.

The trellis was another disaster. It was so tangled in one spot that we had to cut it. But the bottom string is cut (or chewed?) through in some places making the trellis ineffective until you get up 2ft or so. I ended up not securing the trellis (it is strung around the posts up to the point where we had to cut it) because I didn't want to invest any more time in it with the likely possibility that we would have to take it down and redo it. There is some hog fence that could be used but it won't go the whole lenth of the field. Any other ideas?


One last sad thing- some animal (vole? ground squirrel?) ate a bunch of the pumpkin seeds in the flats. I'd say it ate about 1/2 of the seeds planted. There are still some in the flats, but none have germinated. Oh and some little critter seems to really like the red cabbage out in the field- it selectively munched on every plant.

One positive thing: the brassicas were transplanted into 2 inch blocks today. So, as far as I know, nothing needs to be transplanted in the greenhouse (into larger blocks).

Soon I think Linda would like help transplanting basil (into the field) and spearmint (into the metal tub outside greenhouse). Positives: The spearmint looks really great. And our field is almost full.

(Pea update: Alex replanted peas so it's still possible that we'll get more that 10 pea pods each.)

Fairwell Phillip

A young Swedish gent named Phillip visited the farm over the last two days. Fueled by massive amounts of food and root beer, Phillip added a hard-working hand to the Grassroots Cooperative. His hard work and politeness made him an exceptional representative of his country. YAY SWEDEN!

What a difference two days make! Weed growth reduced significantly; bean, beet, and cilantro seeds sowed; squash rows prepared for planting; and additional irrigation added to the field.

The irrigation is almost caught up with the plantings. Finding used pieces that worked in the field took some time and patience, but it's all ready to go - just needs to be inserted into the mainline that's in place and some stakes to hold in.

The infamous tomato trellis still in limbo - I think we have a good method for putting it in, just need to finish. Tomatoes look great also!

Hopefully the winter squash gets on it's way, the seeds have beautiful composted rows waiting for their arrival.

Last and certainly never least, quack grass. Lookin' good thus far, let's keep it up.

Potatoes, Peas and Basil

The infamous Don Kinnunen has helped us solve the tomato trellis dilemma.  He built a hand drill to loosen up the soil enough to jam a trellis pole in and tamp it down.  I had time only for a couple but took photos for the next person (Paul possibly...) to see how it's done.

First Measure out the trellis pole to approximately 6.5 ' - 7'.  Chop or saw (hatchet is available in garden shed).  Drill a hole every 3 plants and place the trellis pole in the loosened and pound in 1-2'.  Once you are finished, tamp the soil around the trellis pole with Linda's large, black ash tray.  I would post a picture of it, but it takes forever to post these pics!

The peas are replanted and ready for the trellis to be reinforced.  The carrots are just starting to peak through the soil.  ALL the potatoes are planted but need drip line, and the rest of the basil has been put in the ground.

Everything is ready for the rains to come, I pray they actually do come!

The weeding was a bit overwhelming by the onions.  Especially on the south end of the rows.  Maybe Paul can run the roto tiller over them?

That's it for now!  I will have to take smaller picture next time so they don't take an eternity to upload.

Linda Chores, Pumpkins and Kids

Howdy,

Leah and I were at the farm on Wednesday, the 17th. Leah busied herself with fixing drip tape and shoveling some new rocks for around the greenhouse. Once I finally got there, we began planting some pumpkins in the south side of the field, beyond where the beans will be. With the help of our friends Dustin and Alexis from down the road, we managed to complete 6 mounds with three little pumpkin seeds each. I plan on planting more at some point soon, as well as finishing up work on the three sisters garden plot. Leah requests that everyone remembers to water the plants in the Lathe House, because they get dry and people forget they are there. That's it for now. Let's hope for some more rain!

Brian

Sunny Day. Happy Corn. Need Water.

Hello All!

I started planting a three sisters garden plot today.  The plot is located next to the hops, at the far end of the field.  I intend to get more corn from seed in the ground in the next couple days, as well as beans and squash.

Here is a simple explanation of a three sisters garden from a Kids Garden website: 

http://www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/PROJECTS/MARCH02/mar02-pg1.htm

There is lots of good information out there!  I'll keep everyone posted on the process.

". . . with a little help from my friends"

Beautiful Sunny Sunday. I fired up the tiller, cut those 3rd leaf sprouting quack-grass bastards where they stood.

GRF member Emily showed up and we planted a row of parsley - finally all the parsley is in the ground!

Drip tape got laid on all rows without irrigation, we could use some metal stakes for future drip tape installation.

Did I mention Beautiful Sunny Sunday?

Some extra tillage and close weeding of carrots closed out the day . . . oh yeah, Adam stopped in and began cultivating the South end of the field with his tractor, Thanks Adam.

Up Next: well, there's still spearmint in the greenhouse trying to make it's way to the trough just outside for planting. The tomato trellis; there's a stack of poplar branches next to the garden shed . . . if anyone can get those in the ground among the tomato rows go for it! I did not attempt any trellis today so it's possible the ground will allow for someone to drive in the branches with a post pounder or mallet. Also, the are two rows of parsley on the farthest West end of the field that need the drip tape flipped so seam side of the tape is exposed.

Well, no pictures today ( I need a camera), but the field looks good - All plants well on their way and the weeds not overrunning the field. Emily job well done today and special thanks to Adam for donating his time and tractor.

Paul

Tomatoes set!

Today Paul and I planted 5 rows of tomatoes. It was a little difficult determining the varieties as the labels were either lost or washed away, but we managed 4 of the 5 rows to be identified with the remaining 5th row labeled "Mystery Row."

We were not allowed in the house because Linda's daughter and sister-in-law were having a spa or something involving silk kimonos, but lunch was good. Mike the photographer came over and dropped off pics of the farm which hopefully will be posted later.

After lunch we planted the peppers and brassicas located in the lath house. We laid drip tape for the tomatoes and would have put the trellis poles in, but it proved difficult to actually pound the posts into the ground. Either the post pounder is too long and skinny or we need new trellis poles. Don K. has donated 10 very nice poles that will fer sure work, but we need at least 40 more!? Any ideas? Maybe we can make do with what we already have and a day with drier soil will prove easier for pounding poles in....? If you have any ideas please write to the google group.

The brassicas and peppers were hand watered and Paul will lay the drip tape out tomorrow for those respected rows.

This next week we will hopefully have all the potatoes put in the ground and the pea trellis put up. The 3rd leaf quackgrass method has been somewhat succesful, but there certainly is a lot coming back up and will need to be taken care of very soon...:( especially by the onions...)

Linda has a new dog, a dingo ish dog named fast eddy. He will be on squirrel patrol for the farm so watch out for him.

For everyone reading this (likely for the first time) this blog will hopefully evolve as a functional and entertaining place to get updates on what's happening on the farm. For myself, I will be bringing my camera out to give visual updates on happenings for the day I am crew leader. Paul and I were thinking this blog could be a great tool for crew leaders to keep everyone up to date and involved in day to day activities at grassroots. Inputs? Ideas? Please use the google group account still for less public and more organizonal issues but look forward to entertaining blog posts to come!

The fundraiser last night was a great success. Lupita and Jim Hall did a great job doing the bulk of the organizing. Lots of great art and gifts were auctioned off and great pizza and beer were enjoyed by all. Thanks to all farmies and farmie supporters!