summer comes in a flood!

I leave town for a week and come back to a flood in Duluth! Over eight inches in one day in places!  I was in southern Wisconsin for the week and found out about the flood on my way back up north.  I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it home, Duluth was in a "state of emergency"!  I had to take a different route home since my normal route was washed right out to the lake in places.  The rivers were rushing and a rich caramel color.  The whole bay in Duluth was brown for two days.  Roads are closed in and around Duluth, there are sink holes and piles of dirt and rocks on the roads.  I was extremely worried about the farm, we were too wet a few weeks ago when we got eight inches over EIGHT DAYS...luckily they had no damage.  The pond rose three feet and came up to the high tunnels, but went down to the normal level within a few hours.  Whew!

It almost seems fitting that this flood happened, because the day before I left for the week the farmer warned me, "It's not the $10,000 catastrophe that will kill the farm, it's all the little $10 mistakes that will get ya!".  Even so, I couldn't imagine what they would have done if all 8,000 pepper plants had washed away!  Do you have any form of farm insurance at your farm?  How do you prepare (or are you prepared at all?!) for disasters?

Now that the flood has passed, things are really kicking at the farm.  I was gone for almost a week and my how things have grown!  The high tunnels are now scary, scary jungles full of buzzing bees and angry biting insects!  Snakes hide beneath the undergrowth, awaiting to jump at my unsuspecting hand!  Ok, so I am exaggerating, but they do look a little like a jungle:

I remind you, this is about a month ago

The same high tunnel yesterday! Wow!

These tomato plants are over my head! I am only 5'1'', but still...

Before I left I planted 1,400 broccoli seeds and 200 lettuce seeds.  These will be used for succession planting later on in the season.  Planting seeds is always a little nerve racking for me, what if they don't grow?!?! is always going through my head.  Luckily, they did grow!

Week old lettuce seedlings

Planting the lettuce seeds was relatively easy, they are about the size of this letter: O . The broccoli on the other hand, was a nightmare, the seeds were about this size: . And after the farmer's warning of the "ten dollar mistakes" and commenting that the seeds are expensive, I was stressing about not wasting the seeds and planting them correctly!  I'm musing that the "ten dollar mistakes" might have been directed at me....

But, I haven't made any major mistakes resulting in serious crop failure yet, indeed, things are growing quite well!

Ace Pepper, out in the field

Cabbage, no wait, cauliflower! They look so similar at this stage.

Grape tomatoes in the high tunnel

Tomatoes in another high tunnel, I think these are either "Early Girl" or "Sunstart" variety

Almost ripe!

Nothing else says summer like a ripe strawberry!

Something's been munching...might be the cutworms that are attacking the tomato and basil plants in this high tunnel.

Almost perfect except for the little munch spot.

Zucchini plants in the field, these will be ready for market next week!

It is extremely exciting/rewarding to see everything growing.  I got to take home some cucumbers yesterday, so crisp and tasty! When you eat things fresh and in season, you are reminded of how terrible produce in the grocery store can be, even if they are organic.  No Driscoll's strawberry can live up to a fresh, ripe one from your home! 

In other farm news, things are getting a little noisy around the barn due to the growing:

Chickens! These big guys are almost two months old, they are no longer cute looking to me (meaning I can envision them as supper), and will be the first batch to get slaughtered in a week.  They are the "Cornish Cross" breed, most often used on small farms.

This little guy is three weeks old.  The rest of his brood was in the corner of the barn.  The older chickens won't let them go outside yet, but once they are, ehem, gone, these guys will go outdoors too.

And these little peepers are only a day old! They are still, obviously, adorable and fluffy, I can't imagine them on my plate quite yet.

Here is the chicken's pasture.  At this moment most of the chickens were in the barn, probably to stay out of the heat.  

 

 

I can't wait for things to pick up full swing.  The farmers still don't need me at the market on Saturdays, today they brought some early beets, lettuce, and basil to the market.  Once July rolls around, things will need picking almost everyday. I took home my last cart full of transplants yesterday, plus the cucumbers, and I can't wait for fresh strawberries (hopefully) next week!

Benefits of working on a farm: Tomato plants, chive, squash, basil, cucumbers, lettuce! Yum!

And one more thing for today, just because she is so darn cute:

Ginger is growing too!

What are you bringing to market or putting in a CSA share at your farm?  How is the weather for you? Not enough rain? Too much? Or just right?

Let the War Begin

Against weeds that is!  After too much rain and chilly days, leaving my boots and hands looking like this:

We finally have nice weather that seems to be holding.  That means everything is going into overdrive in terms of growing, including WEEDS.  Yesterday and today I weeded the raspberry acre of what the farmers say is a type of creeping honeysuckle, but I think it might actually be a type of nightshade.  A brief search got me to thinking it might be Solanum Dulcamara.  It is TERRIBLE!

A few notes on weeding:
Get 'em while they're young! The smaller the weeds the easier it is to hack 'em down with a hoe.  Once they start growing bigger, like any plant the roots get more established and then hand weeding is necessary to pull out the roots.  Weeding by hand takes MUCH longer than with a hoe.
Weeding on a sunny, dry day is preferred to weeding on a wet, rainy day.  If it is wet, the roots of the weeds have a better chance of reestablishing themselves.  On the other hand, if they are pulled out on a sunny day, the roots will get scorched by the sun and burn in weed hell never to return!

In other farm news, the cucumbers in the high tunnel are going to be ready in about a week! The tomato plants have little green tomatoes springing out everywhere. It's very exciting seeing everything come to FRUITion.  Now all we have to do is weed and wait, and then picking begins!  

How are things coming along on your farm?  What do you do to battle weeds?

I promise to have more pictures soon, I'm unfortunately notorious for forgetting my camera when I need it!

Until then!

Sunshine, Finally!

Today there was finally sun and warm(ish) weather!  What a relief, after about two weeks of rain and bone chilling days we need the sun to dry us out!  I was starting to think I was living in Portland again.

Yesterday I couldn't finish planting the peppers because there was a FROST advisory (I remind you that it is June tomorrow), but then again this is northern Minnesota.  Luckily, the peppers were all covered in AgriBon row cover and the farm, by some luck, had a low of 32.5 last night.  Whew!  Needless to say the sun and dry wind was quite the blessing today.  We are now going into planting overdrive!  Lettuce is in, green leaf, red leaf, and romaine.  Lettuce is easy to plant and grow.  We just plopped the transplant plugs into hole made by the hole punch, and off you go!  Lettuce, according to the farmer, is divided into three categories, earlier producers, mid-summer producers, and late summer producers.  The romaine they grow is an example of a late producer.  Lettuce prefers cooler, wet weather so it is usually a spring, early summer crop, but this romaine can tolerate the heat and will keep producing into early August.  The red leaf they grow is a favorite, both farmers proclaim to "not like lettuce very much", but love this red leaf!  Bob, the farm cat who is actually a female despite her name, seems to like lettuce too.  She was hanging out all day between the rows of lettuces, and kept trying to scratch her back on the tray of transplants!

Bob enjoying the sun between the lettuce transplants

I can tell that summer is truly coming, because I've been running into more creatures.  Yesterday a garter snake crept out from under the plastic covering the strawberry row.  Today, I found a toad hiding amongst the lettuce transplants.  Also, we found some Portabello mushrooms growing next to ta cucumber plant in the greenhouse the other day!  The soil in the greenhouse is part compost, some from restaurants, so it wasn't surprising.  Apparently wild portabello's grow rampantly in the US now due to an increased level of consumption.  A note on wild mushrooms:  DO NOT EAT THEM UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE THEY ARE EDIBLE!!!!  I checked and doubled checked to make sure they were indeed portabello, before sauteing them with butter, onions, and garlic, YUM!  Just because there is a mushroom growing in your greenhouse, doesn't mean it is going to be tasty.

Probably the most exciting creature that has arrived on the farm is......GINGER THE PUPPY!!!!

She is quickly learning the ways of the farm, no chasing the guinea foul! 

 

Let's hope this good weather holds and we can get everything planted!