Our Perpetual Farm
Our first year living at the farm is proving to be very productive. We have enjoyed great customer support, fantastic friends and family, and a general sense of well-being. We are finally settled in after refinishing the original fir floors on the upper level of our 1902 farmhouse. The 2012 farming season was a success! But as farming goes, it was not without challenges.
We had a few crop failures which we weren’t expecting during the summer, most notably our onions. They were all over taken by downey mildew or something similar and they turned grey. This was probably due to foggy weather and not enough airflow (wind). But the fall storms were a bigger test of our patience. Right before Thanksgiving, several spots of our lower fields were invaded by river water. We picked veggies from this area just hours before it being taken over by the water. Unfortunately we lost several hundred pounds of produce which was no longer marketable. There isn’t much one can do to prepare for the power of the river. The flooding was not nearly as severe as years past when the river took livestock and damaged a number of homes in the area. We are extremely fortunate that our home sits high above the rivers reach.
We took a short one-week tropical getaway from the farm in January to the big island of Hawaii where we visited a few farms and an aquaculture operation hoping to gain some practical knowledge to apply to our ponds. Upon our return we jumped right back into our Seattle deliveries. We are grateful that we’ve been able to sell root crops and greens all winter long. Living on site has helped us to become more efficient and we’ve managed to extend our growing potentials well into the winter season.
We seeded lettuce in our hoop house on Valentine’s Day and recently started lettuce, kale, parsley and Swiss chard in our seed starting house. The new season is upon us and we will be full throttle again before we know it. Josh plowed a section of the field with sandier ground this week in hopes of planting some carrots when it is dry enough to till. Josh also took our basket weeder through this years garlic crop to eliminate weeds interfering with growth. We were quite pleased with the results.
We’ve been making way for additional seed starting room in our tropical greenhouse this winter while still trying to maintain some of the amazing plants that are growing. We have 6 oranges starting to ripen on one of the trees. We are struggling with our emotions as we remove more and more plants to make way for efficiency.
We have our chicken coop finished now and have four very happy chickens enjoying their new home. We are looking forward to letting them roam the yard, but will have to keep a close eye on our cat. He’s an avid hunter and has already prowled around their run waiting for a little action. There are also resident eagles perching nearby.
Next up is fixing up a shelter for a few brush-eating goats. There is a seemingly unlimited amount of food for them right around the riverbank. We are hoping the goats will keep the brush in check.
In Full Swing
The season is in full swing and we are having a grand time living on the farm property. Keeping up with the pond systems and the many flower gardens is proving to be a task in itself, but thanks to the help of friends and family we are starting to settle in.
Construction seems to be a theme on the farm as of late. We have improved our wash station area with a small shed roof and plumbed in new water hydrants for a more functional system. We also just completed a new high tunnel thanks to a grant from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service who provided the financial assistance for us to construct the new structure. The program is part of a trial which will determine the effectiveness in conserving water, reducing pesticide use, maintaining vital soil nutrients, and increasing crop yields. We have decided to plant a crop of cucumbers inside it to supply the market with cukes in the fall.
We are also experimenting with the greenhouse on the property which houses a number of fish ponds. We’ve been feeding the fish waste water to our potted heirloom tomatoes inside. So far they seem happy and are quite green. We are hoping for a smaller but delicious crop of late tomatoes on top of the 800 plants we are growing indoors and out.
We are planning on floating trays of basil and lettuce to experiment with what we can grow hydroponically. With most of our tillable land already in production, we are trying to maximize the land and greenhouse space potential in a variety of ways. We hope to trial some trout next year in the outdoor ponds.
We put a lot of extra care into our garlic harvest this year. It has been a task hanging everything and laying it out to dry in our seed starting house. So far it appears that our garlic is curing perfectly and will be sell-able well into the winter.
We have again planted about 3 acres of potatoes. Unfortunately, some of the spud plants on our home turf have become ridden with blight and won’t be good producers. Fortunately we have a field planted just across the river in downtown Adna. A friend who Josh has known for years offered up 1.5 acres of ground for us to plant potatoes and it is looking beautiful. We are optimistic that it won’t be a total bust this year.
Two new pieces of equipment have joined the line-up this summer. The basket weeder we purchased is turning out to be instrumental in keeping the weeds controlled in our later plantings. It is a very old implement, but works perfectly on our Super A tractor. We also had a root digger constructed. The four foot knife sucks under the soil and lifts the soil to allow the crop to be harvested with great ease. So far we’ve had success with garlic and carrots. We are looking forward to using it on parsnips and salsify this fall. Both pieces will save us many labor hours.
Next on the agenda….cleaning the old chicken coop to prepare for our baby ducks! We quite enjoy duck eggs and are looking forward to having our own. Apparently they love eating slugs and we’ve got a buffet of them to offer around the ponds!