Late May farm update!

The Deer fence is almost done, all the posts are in and most of the insulators are on.

Head lettuces are ready to transplant, once the fence is up of course!Direct seeded spinach is getting its first true leaves,

Lettuce mix coming up,Green onions are chooglin' right along,

A shot of the long row, plastic mulch garden just after it has been packed
And this is a picture just a little farther down on the same garden. The lighter colored earth farther down the field is newly turned sod, planted to a cover crop for this year. The darker earth in the foreground has had 2 years of cover crops planted and tilled into it. Then 4 days ago in a 14 hour marathon stretch we hauled, dumped, loaded and spread 30 tons of compost, 1 ton of alfalfa pellets, 600 pounds of pure wood ash and 100 pounds of kelp meal on the garden to prepare it for this years duty growing all our transplants. You can really see the difference that kind of attention makes in this photo.

Then tonight, after much tinkering, it was time to start laying biodegradable, corn starch mulch.


Every day is filled, sunup to sundown on this farm.

Spuds away!

Now in the ground:
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions (seed and Set)
Chard
Beets (Red and Gold)
Radishes
Lettuce mix
Mesclun Mix
Ovation Greens mix
Spinach (Melody and Sardinia)

Rockpiling

Our glacial till soils are liberally peppered with these babies,

Every year the rockpiles rise higher, but the stones keep on coming up.
I get rather philosophical about these stone piles, started long ago by another family. In some ways they are a link, continuity across generations of agrarian life. When I pick up a stone from the old pile, I'm conscious that I'm touching the same thing that the last farmer touched when the land was last cared for 100 years ago. When I add to the piles, its like I'm carrying on the same timeless task, building the stonepiles they began. When this land passes into other hands, and if they care for it, then they too will add to the piles, and so on down the centuries.
People come and go, we are so brief and transient, but the land is always here. The stones are always waiting.
It puts me in mind of a quote from Elias Contrerez

"There are stones which are still silent. When they speak the secrets they keep, nothing will be the same again, but it will surely be better for everyone. The being and not the having will be valued. Another hand will raise the flag, and the world will be scented, will be heard, will know and will feel as it should be: the honourable home of those who work it."

Spreading compost

Seeds and Snow

We have been working our typical 14 hour field days lately, so time for posting text has been slim. However today's wonderful weather has given me the chance.
Much like last year, this years May Long weekend is snowy and sub zero. And while May has been relatively cool, it's not quite as bad as last year. In the last few days we finished the roof of the barn and moved some of our equipment in.Unlike last May, this year we have had some sun and wind action that allowed the soil to dry out. With the new 3 point mounted rototiller we got a large section of the garden tilled last week which further dried out the seedbeds. Then, when we had unloaded a 5 ton load of manure (mostly by loader and shovel because the "dump" truck wasn't too "dumpy" and getting the truck stuck in the process)
and the 4 tons of Alfalfa pellets had arrivedwe were primed to amend the rows and plant.
Which is what we did yesterday, getting in the first succession for the CSA.
We planted:

Spinach
Baby Lettuce Mix
Green Onions (sets)
Beets
Chard
Radishes

The seeds will take a few days to germinate, so we're not to concerned about the snow. Like all things in farming we must do what we can, when we can and leave the rest to providence.
Needless to say, we've been busy, and this next week we're moving on to the next big project, DEER FENCE!!

Barn Raising & Rototilling

Barn Raisin' 3

Barn-rasin'

Going up!

The pole barn started taking shape today, from peeled trees on the ground, to a rough outline of the future structure.
Also going up, head lettuce seedlings!