February 2010
February, and officially (for me anyway) the 2010 season is underway. No more lying in bed until 8 or 8:30 am. 7 a.m is the new "up" hour because now the days will be full. Oak logs have to be inoculated with Shitake mushroom spawn today and I'll be picking up my first load (3 cubic yards) of compost for the season and unloading it (45 minutes with a large scooping shovel). This load will go into what will be the future asparagus, celery and celeriac bed. The seedling operation has to be completely set up in the carraige house today which entails hauling in the big plastic shelving units, flourescent lamps and fixtures, and then making seed blocks to start the onions, leeks, hot peppers, artichokes, cardoon, herbs and others. These tiny 1/2" square blocks go into platic trays which are then moistened and covered with saran wrap and placed on top of the flourescent lamps so they get heated to around 85 degrees and quickly germinate. Then they go under the lamps for a week or so... depending on the variety, some will go into the as yet uncompleted hot house for a cooler environment (50 to 60 degrees), some will go into the first hoop house which will go up the weekend of the 20th. and those that need high temps will stay in the carraige house as they grow, to be put into larger soil blocks and eventually pots; the artichokes for example. The artichokes, in order to fruit the first year, have to be tricked into thinking that they've gone through a cool season... once they are big enough and in pots, thry have to be moved outside when the temps are in the 50's during the day, then moved back in for the evenings. This will go on for 5 weeks befor they can go outside permanently. This year their bed will be the 300 ft long raised "salamander" bed which just happens to be slithering down the mountain side. Each year we are going to raise it's raised bed a little higher so the salamander will seem to be gradually pulling itself out of the ground.
Lots of outside work to do. First, while the ground is still frozen, hauling in a few loads of compost a week and ordering a delivery of 5-10 tons of yellow sand will get the soil improvement regimen off to a start. We have a PASA (Pa. Assoc, of Sustainable Agriculture) conference to attend of Friday and Saturday (4th, 5th Feb) where we listen to keynote speakers, attend lots of workshops and make new connections, etc. Before and after that, the lower field needs to be cleared of brush and young weed trees so that the earth can be tilled, compost added and that area's use planned. Where to put the chickens has to be worked out and on the weekend of the 20th, a mini-excavator will be rented to fix the upper irrigation pond (which is leaking to the point that it doesn't hold water), install the small vineyard (by digging 6ft deep by 3 ft wide trenches, removing the clay, adding drainage, then a combination of screed [ground limstone] and clay so the soil will drain well, dig holes for the various fruit trees that will be planted in mid April, excavate the fish "tanks" for the tilapia fish operation, move the topsoil from where the hoop houses will go (compost and sand will be added to the topsoil and put back in minus all the perennial weeds) and level out the area where the large herb garden is going to go. All in two and a half days. Of course I'm hoping that the soil is only frozen down the first twelve inches or so at that point, and that we're not in the middle of a blizzard. When I'm not in the machine, I'll be working with Beth and Olivier (CSA members) who are going to show me how beer is made, and to further excite the schedule, we are going to attempt to make some kind of cheese since we can get raw milk from a neighbor.
Last night I worked out how many cubic yards of compost we need for this year. I drive a Ford F-150 with a long bed and if you fill the bed entirely and add a heap on top of that you get 3 cubic yards. Well, we will need at least 90 cubic yards which means 30 trips. Since working outside is still something of a challenge considering the frozen ground, etc. , at least half of these trips will have to be made this month. I could have it hauled in by a tracker trailer, but they charge alot for the haulage and it would all have to be dumped at the entry to the farm. so I make the trips with my pickup (adding some chores on the round trip) and run the loads out to the various needed sites around the fields. Fortunately I don't have to load the pickup- unloading (a shovel operation) takes about 45 minutes.
February 5-6 PASA conference
Once a year, farmers and many others involved in sustainable agricultural practices attend a two day conference at the Penn Stater. Last year I was very excited to attend; this year I wanted to continue field preparations I had started during the week but since there was a rather large snow event on the way dragged myself to the conference hoping it would be worth the 300 plus dollars we had spent in admission, etc fees. It was well worth it. What I learned was worth a great deal more. Two of the highlights were workshops on preventing Downy and Powdery Mildew (and possibly Late Bight) and Biochar.
The workshop on Biochar in particular was very exciting. Biochar is another name for activated charcoal and without getting into the details too much here, when you add it to the soil, there are many, many benefits. It is not a feritlizer at well but makes the soil more microbiologically rich which in turn makes plants thrive more readily. It also has a sponge like quality, reducing the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus from the soil. You can't buy it... but it can be made on site. More about this later. It should make a huge impact on the quality of what we grow this year. I will be adding a pound per 10 square feet to start and expect to be able to create about 100 lbs a week minimum. It has to be "inoculated " first. This is done by putting it in some compost and letting the compost/biochar mix "assimilate" for a few weeks before incorporating it directly into the raised beds. Since you are adding carbon too the soil (where it will remain for 1,000 plus years) you are also reducing your carbon "footprint".
The third workshop on cheese cave construction was also very informative and currently I am trying to figure out if I can build one sometime during the spring of this year. Since I have no extra time that might proove be something of a pipe dream until next year.
February 26
Seedlings are doing very well thus far. The artichokes look large, healthy, impressive and will soon need to be transplanted into individual containers so their tap root will have room to grow. Kiwi fruits are up; asparagus, all the onions, rhubarb, peppers, tomatoes... only the thai papaya refuses to show but I am told it could be three weeks for that seed to germinate. the hot-house is coming along and, though behind schedule, should be ready for seedlings in a couple of weeks or less. Running out of room in the carraige house. The heat from the flourescent lamps keeps the place at 70 degrees- no other heat source needed except at night when they are turned off.
The ground is beginning to thaw so the excavator work will be scheduled for the first weekend in March. A bit later than ideal to set up hoop houses so beets and broccoli will be started indoors so as not to get behind. Picked up an antique cheese press which, once it's rebuilt will take its' place in our arsenal of tools... also purchased a 130 year old cider press in good condition which can be used to press cider, grapes and other berries and cheese as well. Got a 10 gallon crock at that auction too for pickling or making saurkraut.