Growin' in Spring

Finished seeding for a week or two :-)  This was a view of my end gate while seeding was still going on.  The round discs are seed plates designed to seed specific varieties. Some of them work really well, many of them didn't. 

Before the wind took over today and the rain came pouring down (finally!) I moseyed out to my garden plot while feeding cattle to see what was cooking.  Have you ever gotten that slightly desperate feeling after planting seeds that nothing is going to grow?  *panic!* It's too dry! It's too wet! Cutworms! Not enough fertilizer! Too Much Fertilizer! Seeded too deep! The seeder killed the seed! *panic!*

That's why it's always Such a Huge Relief when you walk through the garden and all you see - are nice, neat, long rows of Green! Wonderful Green! The tally of vegetables through the ground and growing today, includes: Red Norland, Warba, and Irish Cobbler potatoes (which were actually touched by frost a few nights ago), three varieties of Beets, Two varieties of peas, bunching onions, onions sets, two varieties of lettuce, and two varieties of radish.

It's hard to see in the picture, but this potato was touched by frost. 

In the greenhouses, the peppers are growing gangbusters and if all continues as it should, will be setting fruit in the next few weeks.  They seem to grow so painfully slow, but when I look back on the pictures I took of when they were first set out, they have really improved.  A few weeks ago, the temperature dipped down to 1.9 degrees Celsius in the pepper house, and 0.9 degrees in the eggplant/tomato house.  I was dismayed to find all the peppers and eggplants wilted and falling over.  You could practically hear them gasping out their last breath.  Quickly, I opened all the vents to get the air temperature down from 20 to ambient which was about 6, installed shade cloths (raided the linen closet for old blankets...) and by noon every single plant had stood back up.  I'm not taking anymore chances with the heaters so every night they're getting set just about as high as they'll go.

This is one of the hot peppers. It's been pruned to two shoots and the fruit removed up to this point in order to facilitate vegetative growth, but it's just about ready to fruit for real now! 

Aerial photo of --- Epic Eggplant! Awesome isn't it? Well, really, it's Epic... because it's Epic. 

In the other house, the tomatoes are doing fantastic, and the eggplant are starting to really spread out.  The strawberries have rooted in really well and when the weather clears up they'll get transplanted outside.  I had a request for some early radishes, and the first two handfulls were harvested today (yay!) and will be delivered tomorrow. It was a new experience for me growing radishes in the greenhouse, and so far it's been interesting.

And as promised, I'm going to include a picture of the water collection tanks that capture water off of the garage roof!  3000 gallons of storage and, right as of this minute, it's all full! 

Happy Spring to Everyone :-)

Spring is Here

The last month has flown by in a blur so fast that I could have sworn it was the Enterprise at warp speed.  However, I was able to accomplish a lot of things that are vital to the operation of growing vegetables! Awesome! I owe my brother and my Dad a huge debt of gratitude (and free food) for all the help they've given me, without them, this project would be much smaller.

Dad and I built a watertower between the two greenhouses, so I can gravity water.  I can run a pump for fifteen minutes and put in 60 gallons of water, then use that water throughout the day, without having to run the pump. It is quite handy, and hopefully, better for the electricity consumption. 

Bet you can't guess where I bought the tank from can you....

The water for the watertower is stored in two 1500 gallon poly tanks inside our garage.  Last summer we plumbed in a collection system, so we can collect the rainwater and snowmelt off of the roof.  So far this year I have collected 2300 gallons.  That should be enough to do me quite awhile!  I'll try to remember to post a picture of the collection system in the next blog.  It's something that took a day to put together, and has it ever made a difference.  It's like a rain barrel on steroids. 

I had three parcels arrive last week as well.  One contained strawberries that will be planted as soon as it stops freezing every night and the other two contained gooseberries, currants, tart cherries and honeyberries (haskap) which will hopefully be planted tomorrow.  However that plan may have to wait as it is currently raining. (Which is ok, because we were quite dry.  I'll never turn down rain!)

Speaking of honeyberries, the ones that I planted two years ago have come through the winter fantastically and already have visible flower buds.  Since this species of plant originated in Siberia it's likely going to be a very good fit on our farm, since it has the tendency to freeze every month of the year.  The great thing about honeyberries is that they fruit in June! I'm quite excited to try some this year!!! 

This past week I sealed off Greenhouse #2 and prepped it for pepper planting.  So, that means that I built a sliding energy curtain to help contain heat, drilled a hole for the water hose, and one for the power cord, helped build the power cord, mixed up the media (Peat moss, coir, vermiculite and perlite.) and installed an electric heater.  Then, on Friday the peppers went out.  I'm not a mother, but if the separation anxiety over putting my peppers outside is anything like raising a child I'm not sure if I can hack it.  The first day they were out I was working in Greenhouse #1 and every 15 minutes I caught myself looking over the cat doors, peering down on the babies and asking how they were doing... My dog thinks I'm crazy. 

Cat doors. 

To keep the critters out, because cats really, really, really like the warmth of greenhouses. I'm contemplating building them their own greenhouse.  I have a piece of poly that was destroyed in the windstorm last year that would be perfect for the job! 

So the next topic I'm going to explore here is the Peat Moss verses Coir debate.  This year I've used a 30% peat to 70% Coir media that I prepped myself.  Peat Moss comes from peat bogs that filter a lot of fresh water and that take over 200 years to grow, not to mention they're home to countless species of flora and fauna.  Coir comes from the fibre of coconuts, and is hyper renewable.  There are peat bogs within 100 miles of my farm, and we have a peat moss processor in my local town.  Coir is packaged and shipped from Sri Lanka, Vietnam or Thailand. So the debate is - which is better to use? Something that is not quickly renewable and that's harmful to wildlife and plants, but that's local, or something that is hyper renewable but has to be shipped from overseas?  (For growing purposes I prefer a mix, but I'm still in a conundrum as to the environmental impact.)

Last Friday, the 27th of April, I planted the peppers as I mentioned above.  The day was cool, rainy and I strongly questioned my sanity as I lovingly placed each pepper in peril of perishing. (Sorry, couldn't resist a little poetry)  Shortly after planting them, they all fainted on me with little gasps of displeasure. That was masked by my own jaw dropping silent scream of horror that I'd killed my babies.  I cranked up the heat, shut the door and prayed that the sun would come out for about an hour to warm things up.  Lo and behold, the sun came out, the soil warmed up, and the peppers jumped back with a joyful smile.  *Note - Peppers really dislike the following: cold roots and being transplanted.  What did Sarah do? Transplanted her peppers into cold soil.  Genius. The sad thing is that I knew that before hand... but they had to go out or they'd die on the bench. This was a 'calculated risk' that turned out ok! 

My first row of peppers variety "Ethem" 

That is all for now :-)  I will update again when I get a rainy day during seeding, or when I'm finished.  If it's not too wet tomorrow I'm hoping to plant some potatoes! (Irish Cobblers, Warba, and Red Norland) and in the greenhouse I'm going to get a head start on some radishes... Time to get to work! Talk to you soon! 

~Sarah 

Seed Arrival and Weekly Delivery Information

SEED ARRIVAL
Winter is swiftly passing us by, and even though it's February, I find myself thirsting for the smells of spring.  Today, when I wandered out to my greenhouses, I thought that I caught a whiff of that elusive fragrance, but it was gone so quickly it had to have been my imagination.  Compounding the problem of spring fever, parcel #1 arrived today, carrying the seeds for my garden plot! How exciting is that!?  It's just about like opening up your favorite cup of coffee shop coffee and smelling that uplifting smell. The only thing is, the parcel smelt like post office... but that's besides the point.

In this gigantic box of goodies were eggplant, pepper, cucumber, bean, beet, radish, lettuce, squash, pea, spinach, herb, marigold, snapdragon, sweet-pea seeds, among  many others. I'll be planting peppers and eggplants tomorrow, for transplant into my greenhouses in a few weeks. It will be really nice to see some fresh, new green growth!

If this nice weather we've been having keeps up, I'll have to prune my cherry trees soon as well.  I was hoping to prune them in later March, but this warmth will spur them into early growth. I will not however, dig them out of a snowbank to prune them.  Once the snow is gone, then I'll prune.

WEEKLY DELIVERY INFORMATION
I'm still looking for a few interested families who would like to have some fresh produce during the summer months delivered to a location near to where they work or live.  If more than one person wants a delivery, and if the employer is ok with it, I'm more than willing to deliver to a workplace.  For quite a few people, it's difficult to make it from work to a farmers market, so I'm hoping to be able to provide a service for those people.

Unlike most CSA's, I don't require you to pay upfront for the entire year.  I've been a traditional cattle/grain farmer my whole life, and the number of unfair contracts that farmers have to sign is atrocious.  So I want to make this process as painless as possible for both parties involved, in which both accept some of the risk.  If my crop is entirely wiped of the face of the earth by a massive hail storm (which happens every 10 years or so)  or droughted out, or some other natural calamity occurs, I don't expect my customers to pay for that.  Most CSA's do, but to me that's not fair.  As a farmer providing a produce to my local community, I know that if I'm cleaned out because of a hail storm, massive June blizzard, or rain-induced flood my customers will likely be hurting as well.  We're all in this together, let's do our best to be fair and equal across the board.

I do request that a monthly amount be paid, but you will only be charged for what the produce is worth.  Included in the price will be: cost of seed, labor, equipment and delivery.  So, depending on the time of year and the amount in your weekly tote, the price you're paying will fluctuate on a per month basis.  You will get an invoice listing the cost/unit of what you are receiving, so you know exactly where you're money is going.  Any feedback on this idea would be appreciated.  From people I've talked to, everyone appears to be more in favor of this, than a lump yearly sum.  So let me know what you think!

Happy Growing and Here's to a Wonderful Spring! (After the March blizzard of course - but we do need the moisture!)

Sarah

Welcome!

Hello Everyone!

It might be close to the first day of winter, but a Chinook blew in tonight and brought with it tidings of spring.  Yes, I know it's not even Christmas yet (Christmas shopping! Oh dear...) but my seed catalogues arrived about two weeks ago and I'm ready to dig my hands into that nice, warm, fresh spring soil. There's about eight inches of snow on the ground though, so that dream may have to wait for a little while yet.

I'll start with a bit of an introduction here.  That's easier than just launching headlong into everything and hoping for the best.  My name is Sarah, and this coming year (2012) will be my first full year dedicated to growing fruits and vegetables.  I've grown a variety of vegetables over my lifetime, and my education from Olds College, was in the horticultural field.  Growing up on the family farm, where we grow barley and canola in the summer, and finish feedlot cattle in the the winter, instilled a strong sense of the land in me at a young age.  I've always wanted to be a part of producing food.  Through this journey, I've discovered that I want to be able to talk to the people who end up with the food I grow.  I want to be able to answer their questions and provide them with the satisfaction of knowing who grew what's on their plate for supper.

Over the past four years I've experimented with sour cherries, in an attempt to discern which variety can survive the moles, deer, coyotes, chinooks, and occasional oops'.  I've always heard that deer are a large problem with sour cherries, but other than having a few ripped out of the ground, the deer have pretty much left them alone.  The moles however are a different story.  I had a 10% loss this year to them... however they don't appear to like the Cupid, Valentine, and Crimson Passion sour cherries.  Those may be the varieties I end up growing in the future!

I'm also growing Honeyberries (Haskap) because they set fruit so early in the year.  My plants weren't mature enough to produce fruit last year, but they should start this year if all goes according to plan. Plans are plans though, and are definitely not set in stone.

Through PrairieTech Propagation in Bonnyville, Alberta I've purchased a few different varieties of gooseberries, and currants.  I'm really looking forward to their arrival in April! It will be a few years before these plants are mature enough to produce fruit, but I can just about taste the first gooseberry pie... the wait will be worth it!

This past summer I constructed two 8'x14' greenhouses.  Due to the chaos that generally ensues with working two jobs and trying to find time to get everything completed, I was not able to grow anything of any merit in them this past year.  For watering purposes my Dad, designed a water collection system off of our garage.  The first time it rained, it poured down an inch in about ten minutes.  The water fell from the sky in ferocious grey sheets.  But we both raced across the yard to make sure the tanks and pipes were holding.  They work like a charm!  If it rains next spring, I won't have any water worries.

The greenhouses are just about set up for next spring though! Or, well, they WILL be set up for this spring after I fix them. As you can see in the above picture, this greenhouse is extremely well ventilated at the moment...nearly all the pieces were found though! Minus some spring clips...  In this part of Alberta we had a wind storm blow through at the end of November and multiple sheets of poly popped out of their spring clips and went for a merry little jaunt over a few buildings.  Considering that they were the only thing damaged on the farm, we were very fortunate.

2012 is going to be an interesting year.  It will be full of learning experiences and plenty of vegetable production.  I hope it goes well, and I'll do my uttermost to keep this blog going and updated, so people know whats growing and where they can purchase it.  I wish you all the best in the New Year, and I hope you and your family have a Very Merry Christmas!