St. Johns Farmer Market Cooking Demonstration

I am happy to note that I, along with a friend, will be doing a cooking demonstration at the St. Johns Farmers Market tomorrow Saturday September 10 at noon. This is part of a series of cooking demos focused on healthy eating on a budget. This month we will make two dishes from melons.

Seed Production and Breeding

I have had a lot of fun this month learning more about seed production and breeding. I had the opportunity to take a class at Wild Garden Seed about growing seed for market. This class was a fantastic inspiration for me. Living in the Oregon all my life, I’ve seen grass seed and wheat farmers driving huge expensive machines through their fields. I had previously thought that seed production on an economic scale might mean investment in a combine or other pricey equipment. It was refreshing to see Frank Morton’s ingenious methods for seed cleaning using relatively simple and easily accessible materials. Some of the equipment he uses in seed cleaning are:
a pick-up truck and tarp for threshing,
screens (window and perforated steel of various diameters and slot shapes) for sorting grain sizes,
a box fan with a simple cardboard screen modification, and
some slightly modified tofu tubs.
It was amazing to see uncleaned seed skillfully transformed into a salable product. There was discussion of marketing ideas, germination testing, and other related topics.

I just got back from another exciting class on seed breeding for organic systems. The class was lead by John Navazio of the Organic Seed Alliance, Jim Myers of Oregon State University Department of Horticulture, and Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed. Several trials and breeding programs were toured and described. These included programs developed through the Novic program, OSU breeding programs, and Wild Garden Seed on-farm breeding programs. It was inspiring to meet committed seed farmers, plant breeders, seed company owners, vegetable farmers, and homesteaders working to improve our biological heritage.

Satellite Image of Farm

Google has uploaded an image of Two Forks from the air. I’m not sure exactly what date it was taken, but I think t is pretty cool to see the work we did from above.

Farm Furlough

We have decided not to grow during the 2011 season. Yesterday, we completed the take-down of the farm infrastructure we had put up on our leased plot on Sauvie Island. We were lucky to see some of the other tenant farmers at the farm, and pleased that the weather was crisp and clear while we moved our gear. Growing for the 2010 season was a wonderful experience, one that we may decide to try again.

Thanks to all of our supporters! You made the farm possible.

Last Montavilla Market 10-31-10

Tomorrow is the last regular season (weekly) Montavilla Farmers Market. We’ll be there (76 X SE Stark) from 10AM-2PM
Here’s what we have harvested for tomorrow:

Chard
Leeks
Daikon Radish
Turnips
Turnip Greens
Carrots
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers (Jalapeno and Czech Black)
Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes)
Collard Greens
Beets
Salad Mix
Lettuce
Broccoli
Cauliflower

Come see us at market!

Montavilla Market 10-24-10

I’m writing this note as we pack up for the Montavilla Farmers Market (76 X SE Stark). We’ll be there from 10AM to 2PM this morning.

Here’s some of what we harvested for the market:

Chard
Salad Mix
Czech Black Hot Peppers
Jalapenos
Sweet Peppers
Fennel
Turnips
Carrots
Kale
Napa Cabbage
Red Head Cabbage
Daikon Radish
French Breakfast and Plum Purple Radish
Leeks
Broccoli
Cauliflower

Hope to see you there!

Late Blight

I chanced upon this video about Late Blight. I found it interesting, and thought I would share. It is an interview from last year with an East Coast farmer. They had a horrible Late Blight problem last year. This year was our turn. I didn’t spray any fungicides on my tomatoes. I tried foliar feeding them with fish fertilizer, which has some anti-fungal properties. This didn’t prove successful. Here is a photo of my plants after blight took them.

Montavilla Market 10-17-10

I’m on my way out to set up for the Montavilla Farmers Market (76 X SE Stark). I’ll be there from 10-2 with a bunch of nice produce. Here is some of what we have harvested for today’s market:

Radishes (Daikon, French Breakfast, Plum Purple)
Napa Cabbage
Corn
Eggplant
Summer Squash
Swiss Chard
Broccoli
Turnips
Carrots
Salad Mix
Sweet Peppers (Sheep Nose Pimento, Doe Hill Bell, Jimmy Nardello’s, Sweet Italian Sunset)
Hot Peppers (Czech Hot Black, Jalapeno)
Cucumbers
Beets

What delicious fun!

Is It Too Early for a Review?

The CSA is over for the year, and the farmers’ market’s final days are approaching. These things have made this quite a week of contemplation.

A few days ago I tried to take a bunch of photos (check out the flicker photostream) that show some of the things that I love about farming. I haven’t been able to figure out how to photograph the sound to the birds rustling in the beans or the smell of the clean farm air.

This year has been full of challenges. The weather has been primary among them. The cold wet spring didn’t allow for tilling as early as is typical. The plot of land we chose to farm is relatively rich, but it is also low lying and holds water almost too well. In order to get the early subscriptions and farmers market delivery dates met, we did quite a lot of hand preparation of beds and manipulated drainage around the beds into deep paths / trenches. The rain kept coming. Planting dates on the calendar kept passing us by, due to the land not being workable. A prime example of this is winter squash. Many winter squashes need between 70-100 growing days to ripen fruit. If you don’t get the squash seeds in the ground by mid-July there is little hope of getting a harvest before the October 18th average first frost date. We fortunately had chosen a diversified list of crops, so inability to produce of one or two wouldn’t cause us to not make our commitments.

We also experienced plant stunting and death due to water logged conditions. We attempted planting some crops at ground level without raised beds or special drainage considerations. I believe many of these crops died or were stunted due to the absence of an adequate root zone in the soil. The roots were submerged in water, and were unable to uptake oxygen.

The tomatoes went in really late this year. We put a few in sheet mulched beds while it was still raining in mid May. Some of these died due to being water logged, but many performed better than their counterparts that were planted later in tilled soil. We finished putting in the main crop of tomatoes on June 29. This was significantly later than our planned late April planting date. Because of their late planting date, the fruiting date for the tomatoes was significantly delayed. Rainy weather again hit us in September. The warmth and humidity were a perfect breeding ground for fungal pests. The tomatoes largely succumbed to a fungal disease known as Late Blight during mid September.

Time management has been a big concern this year. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working on the farm. In fact, I found that I spent 7 days a week out at the farm for several months this spring and summer. When Nate was not at his day job, he was at the farm with me working in the field. Work / life balance is something that I tend to struggle with (I’ve always taken my work seriously). At first, I felt healthier and stronger than ever. Digging the beds and hoeing the weeds had made my muscles bulge. But, at some point in late July, my health declined. I developed an inexplicable ear infection that I was only able to fight off with two separate courses of antibiotics. We got the majority of the crops planted, and by mid-August I was able to start taking a few days off. I determined that to make the farm physically sustainable in the long term, I would either need to get more help in the field, or significantly change other aspects of the business model. We still haven’t figured out exactly what the business model changes will be for the future.

Working on this dream of a job has been one of the best and most challenging experiences of my life. This project is one of the items listed on my short list of things that I want to try in this lifetime. It has been worth every penny and every minute we have given it.

Montavilla Farmers Market – October 10th

We will be at Montavilla Farmers Market (76 X SE Stark) from 10AM – 2 PM tomorrow, October 10th. We are looking forward to getting back to this market.

Here’s what we harvested for in the morning:

Radish (French Breakfast)
Turnips
Beets
Chard
Kale
Carrots
Squash
Cucumbers
Sweet Peppers (Chocolate Sweet, Sheep Nose Pimento, Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet, Doe Hill Golden Bell, Italian Sunset)
Hot Peppers (Czech Hot Black, Jalapeno)
Leeks
Green Onions
Salad Mix
Fennel
Basil
Eggplant
Broccoli
Green Beans (green Blue Lake)
Napa Cabbage

Yeah!