Wednesday's Activities

Hello Again Farm-Landers,

Yesterday was a successful day at the market. I think we were helped out quite a bit by the UMD Stores Sidewalk Sale. Maybe this is something to remember for the future. We sold out of peas right away, sold out of broccoli and sold most of our kale. It'll be nice to bring more and more variety to the market in the coming weeks.

At the Farm, I finished planting the row of late brassicas. I filled in the spaces where things had bit the dust, and extended the row some. There are two packets of lettuce seeds in the greenhouse. These can be planted at the end of the brassica row, if anyone feels inspired. Linda and I had talked about how we didn't have any lettuce to provide to the farmies. Linda thinks there is still time. I hope to get to fixing up the pumpkin row soon! Attached is a picture from a few weeks ago at the market. We need some more pictures to make this thing interesting!

Weeds and More Weeds

Hello

Mr. Jeremy Beckman accompanied me out to the farm yesterday. We worked on weeding along the front of the rows (mostly Jeremy's doing). If I had a gold star to give out, Jeremy would get it. Also did some watering and farm chores. Tomorrow I am planning on weeding around the pumpkins, straightening the rows, and willing them to grow fast! I'll be doing the same with the Three Sisters plots.

As for the Farm Dinner coming up, Linda and I talked some more about what needs doing. I am working with the Scenic Cafe people to arrange a car pool option for the dinner attendees. We'll see how that goes. See you at the meeting on Wednesday!

Brian

Weeding, weeding... and weeding

That pretty much sums up my day. It was very wet outside (but it didn't rain while I was in the field). The weeding tools were not working well because it was sooo wet (the clay just clumped at the end of the tools and the hoes just stripped the weeds instead of cutting them off at soil level). So, I used my hands. They were stained slightly green by the end of the day, but the parsley rows look much better (the lambsquarters (a "weed") were past my knees). Hmmmm... rain is forcasted for this coming Tuesday. That would make it the third rainy Tuesday in a row. I have mixed feelings about that.

I think whatever munched up all the red cabbage came back and munched most our replacements (even though they weren't red cabbage). Some critter seems to like to eat at the same spot. At least it doesn't touch the other plants, such as our fabulous looking kale. Also, there's one random head of broccoli amongst some other brassicas (on the west side of the peas). It's about to flower, so some one should pick it and eat it quick!

To the Market We Go!

So today Leah and Brian and I manned the market, which started off rocky when it started pouring! However, we moved inside, made our table as cheerful-looking as possible, and proceeded to do quite well!

The peas sold like candy, the scapes and kale did well, and we sold almost all of Sarah's bags!!! In ONE afternoon!! Woo-hoo!

I'll try to get some pictures up here!

Fruits of Labor

Let me start out by saying that it's tough to beat a timeless summer Sunday at Grassroots Cooperative Farm. The toil and trials of cooperative market-gardening intertwined with a sense of place create a weekly experience I value as much as the crops we grow.

A three person crew and a loaf of monkey bread helped to get some solid amount of work in at the farm today. Sarah tackled adding more twine to hold up the tomatoes on the trellis, Galynn weeded between crops to stave off quack-grass infestation, and I ran the roto-tiller between the rows for combination quack-grass control and soil breakage - the roto-tiller offered an advantage to wipe out weeds at one time. But now comes a responsibility to maintain quack-grass free rows without additional use of the roto-tiller, which can compromise the soil structure.

More crops are reaching maturity! Today we got to bring home some member shares of kale, garlic scapes, peas, and parsley - it all looks delicious.

"new" sink and first deliveries

Yesterday was a very rushed, but productive day. Paul and I picked up a concrete sink from Don's house and brought it to Grassroots where we cut a hole in the white harvesting table and dropped the sink in it with a smaller table to support it underneath. It maybe sounds easy but I can promise you it was not. The sink had to be approaching 400 lbs. However, it worked out ok and now we have a sink WITH a counter. Kinda like a kitchen on the field.

The first deliveries of parsley, kale, and spearmint to the co-op and garlic scapes and kale to the New Scenic Cafe' were soaked in the new sink and delivered that afternoon. I didn't really talk to anyone at the Scenic,(just put it in their cooler and left the invoice on a clipboard) but I did talk with the receiver at the co-op and he was very impressed with the produce. Good work everyone.

As for the rest of the week the tomatoes definitely need to be trellised again and weeding weeding weeding. The quackgrass is trying to overrun the farm again. Unfortunately, we may have to run the roto-tiller through again when it dries up a little. I say unfortunately because every time we use the tiller we break up our aggregate matter and that results in the hard-pan we are starting to see on the field. However, the quackgrass is rampant and must be dealt with. Jennifer, the lady that is loaning the tiller, suggested we roto-tilled first and than wheel hoed religiously afterwards to keep the weeds down.

Once again, good work everyone. The deliveries were beautiful and as Jahn the assistant manager of the co-op produce section commented, "I would pay cash money for that (kale)."

Have a great weekend and if there is time, try to spray out the gunk in that watering tank by the garage so we can start using it!

Beans, Brassicas, and beautification

A dry, sunny day on Sunday. Galynn thinned out and weeded half the bean crop. I got to planting some remaining brassica transplants into the field, mostly cauliflower. A couple flats are left and there is still room to plant them.

The Grassroots Cooperative Farm is preparing to host a special dinner event called Tour de Farm. Some "farm beautification" tasks are taking place. I helped Linda get fence along the road in order. Woodland Hills came by later and helped finish the landscaping around the greenhouse.

Frida and the return of Philip!

Today Frida (former co-op employee and master of thai yoga bodywork...if your soar she charges very little...) and Philip the swede came to the farm with Kate and I.

We finished trellising and mulching the tomatoes.  All the "suckers" were taken off the tomato plants to encourage vertical growth.  Suckers are the "branches that grow out of the armpit of bigger branches."  I would have taken a picture so all could see but the battery died.  In a future posting I will post a picture so all know to pluck these little guys off the tomato plants.  A proper pruning will help them grow large enough to support the giant heirloom fruits in the future.

Fixing the trellis proved more difficult than originally thought as we had to tamp some in with the maul and redo some others that were broken/too small/too skinny.  We went with the horizontal trellising as the looks of the vertical trellis looked in need of fixing.  It was very droopy.  The horizontal trellising went well and was done quickly as Kate and Frida learned how the process worked.  To fix the vertical trellis, we pounded metal fence posts on either end for reinforcement.  It seems that will help but keep an eye on all the tomatoes for signs of problems.

Philip is staying the night and likely going to be put to work on the garlic weeding and parsley weeding tomorrow morning.  

On a last note, next week will be our first big delivery week!  We should be able to sell parsley, mint, kale, garlic scapes and more to the Scenic Cafe, UMD Farmer's Market, and Whole Foods Co-op.  Maybe we'll have a production meeting before Wednesday to talk about all these deliveries?... 

Seemingly unproductive day ends on a productive note

I don't know if others have this problem, but every week when I go out to the farm I make a long (probably unrealistic) list of things to do. I never finish the list. Lately I've been making my list shorter and shorter so I'm not so disappointed. I don't know if it's because we're a cooperative and there's lots of people (tools in different places, not sure what to do or how to do it or if people will like the way you think you can do it etc). Don't get me wrong, I love going out to the farm and there's never a day I wish I didn't go out, but things seem to go a little slower than expected... maybe it's the nature of a farm.
Anyway, Tuesday began with a lot of hope and a not-so-long-but-long-enough list. But after I installed the last six rows of drip tape (yes, allllll the drip tape is in now. I forgot to test it though) things started to get a little crazy on the farm, Don Kinnunen was there with potatoes he wanted to plant and a water tank to fix. These people showed up with bobcats and other heavy equipment to move around wood chips, pea rock and brush. It was kind of a zoo and I decided to just accept that it was not going to be a very "productive" day (productivity measured by how many items I get to cross off my list).
After a long lunch and good conversation (with Kate, Alex and Don), I went back to work. Kate came out and went to work on thinning beets and carrots (another item on the list). I finished side dressing the tomatoes with compost. Yay! And Kate was a thinning machine and finished the beets (our first planting, which look very good, by the way) and had finished a good chunk of the carrots by the time I left (there may be a few rows of Mokum carrots left to thin). It turned out to be a great day!

Lessons Learned

Hey Gang,

I have been beaten by my enthusiasm, impatience and lack of planning. The Three Sisters plot is alive, but struggling. While watering today, I had some time to reflect. From my mistake, we can learn the importance of planning. I was going to set up drip tape in the area, but it would waste a lot of water in between the groupings of plants. By the way, there are beans and squash planted in that area too. I saw a few little plants coming up, and hopefully more will come with more water. So, here are some main points:

- plant in rows for easy watering and less wasted water

- plan before planting

- Don't let me get ahead of myself again, please

My watering solution is to attach a hose on the end of the main line at the end of the field. Water with both the hose and a bucket to get done a little faster. Any help watering that area would be appreciated. Also, pray for rain.

Thanks!

The Moon Hath Risen

Hey all,

Just adding a few pictures from out on the farm on July 5th with Paul... note the evil bugs on the cabbage pictures!

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Here are some pictures of the tomato trellises (or trellii? how would one pluralize that???) that we set up. We could keep doing them this way (they seem to be working well), or we could even mix up the trellis styles a bit (a few rows horizonal, a few vertical), and then evaluate them at the end of the year... thoughts?

Also I just wanted to say that Sarah made 4 super-kick-ass grocery bags and 4 adorable coupon-holders and we will be selling them at the Farmer's Market this Wednesday! Go Sarah!!!

Have a Farm-tastic Day!!!

Full Moon Risin'

The day after the 4th of July started out a tad slow, but ended well as the an almost-full moon reached its final height in the clear sky, helping us to find our way back from the field.

Tomato Trellis: Not complete. Eric "The Great" stopped by for a visit and helped with cutting trellis posts. Unfortunately, the saw petered-out halfway through the stack of lumber. All outlets in the garage work - the saw should be o.k. after cooling down. Their may have been too much stress on the motor caused by excess extension cord use - using too much extension cord can be hard on power tool motors. Also, excess pressure or stress from the cutting itself may have done it. Nevertheless, more wood to cut, more trellis to put in. On the bright side, Galynn and myself began tying up tomatoes to trellis already in place.

Later, Galynn weeded some stray quack-grass around the potatoes while I tried to finish the irrigation on the East side of the field. With jazz music softly playing from Galynn's portable radio, I cut and bent stakes out of metal wire, untangled drip tape, and eventually got a section of six lines in. Only one more section of six lines remains. The stakes seem to hold the tape well, but for extra security I would make them longer next time. As we left the field we turned the water on to give the potatoes, beans, and beets a drink.

The Roto-tiller is fixed!

At the farm thursday was Kate and Ruth, her med school classmate.  Mike Anderson also came to help me fix the clutch on the roto-tiller, a project long in the waiting.

Over the winter the roto tiller was stored with the clutch in.  Because of this, a thin layer of rust formed around the cone, essentially locking the clutch in gear permanently.  To fix it Mike and I had to take the engine off to remove the clutch.  After spraying lots of WD-40, we put the cone in a vice and squeezed it until the layer of rust of broken.  A very loud POP audibly signaled the clutch was fixed.  People who use the roto-tiller can now enjoy the luxury of stopping!

Also, we fixed the hitch on the cultivator so that we can rip up the south side of the field (next years garden patch).  The only problem is we need more to somehow put more weight on the cultivator so the shanks dig into the earth.  Mike and I (and later Ruth and kate) stood on it for the day, but something might have to be done for later to apply the weight.

In the meantime, Ruth and Kate were weeding machines.  They essentially finished the weeding for the rest of the field. Nice work!  Everything looks great now.

At the end of the day, we planted a row of pie pumpkins, one over from the other squash rows on the south side of the field.  We applied compost and laid mulch over the seeds and we were thinking the same should be done for our tomatoes.  Apparently, most of the diseases tomatoes can get are from the leaves touching the surface of the soil, so the mulch really helps prevent that.  Also, a little compost could go a long way in getting our tomatoes up to size.

We noticed that the east side of the field is going to need some work in the area of irrigation.  Maybe that could be done Sunday?  Also, good luck with the tomato trellising.