Soil, Dirt, and No Nutrients: A 2013 Ground Level View

It’s time to talk about dirt. When I bought the property last March/April I knew it would be a tough year. With any start up business there is a lot to do. When it came to the soil I got some hope from the previous farmer who told me of his successes. The problem was that as we move to sustainable /eco farming (you can say organic, I can’t) the soil was used to having large amounts of chemical fertilizer put on it.

The year before I bought the property corn had been planted on it. Corn is a tearable crop, which means it’s a nitrogen stripper, so I knew there would be problems but…

First off, the peas took longer than they should have to get started. I thought the slow start might have been because of the cold spring, but when the plants came out of the greenhouse looking healthy and then stumbled I knew there was a problem.

Then my lovely deep green tomato plants turned purple. This could have been caused by two problems: cold and/or a lack of phosphorous. I had some worm castings (read poop) that I had collected so I worked some into one row and gave them a little water. The next day they started to green up. So, from then on, every plant (including all 500 plum tomato babies), got a trowel full of worm castings. At this point I did a basic soil test. The results told me what I already knew: the soil was completely depleted of nutrients.
I knew I was in trouble at this point and that there wasn’t much I could do for this year. A bag of bone meal and a box of seaweed helped, but I was already looking ahead to 2014. The answer? Beans! Beans provide the soil with nitrogen so I ordered a variety of them. You name them, I bought them: flat green beans, red and white Romano beans and fava beans. I really didn’t care if I sold them because it was all about 2014. To my surprise I was able to more than cover the cost of growing them and my soil should benefit from them in 2014. Well, at least, let’s hope.

In 2013 we used much of the front 5 acres while the back 5 was used by a local farmer. In 2014 we’ll use all the front 5 and possibly part of the back but the area that is not used will be planted with something we can cut and mulch into the soil or, yes, more beans.

Getting the soil back to where it needs to be will take years. In 2013 our yields were around 10% of what they should be; this year, with the work I’ve done, that number will go up but it will be 4-5 years and a lot of natural fertilization before the soil will support proper yields.

But hey, where can you get a tan and play in the dirt all day and besides, if you get a little something on your boots well that washes off and it’s good for the soil.

And if the beans do well just think, there will be pasta fagioli all winter.

Chris

 

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Winter is almost over

Ok, so February was cold with lots of snow so of course I spent most of the month shoveling and, in my “down time”, ordering and collecting supplies. I really didn’t mind the cold winter because the snow was light and relativity easy to shovel. The greenhouse seems to have held up well and is warming up during the day even without the wood stove on. On average it’s running at 12-16 degrees C during the day. With the arrival of the seeds, I must admit I had a ‘what have I done?’ moment. I now have roughly 100+ varieties of vegetables to seed, transplant, weed, water, bug protect and harvest. I may have to get some help or at least look into cloning myself. (Then I won’t have to pay minimum wage to myself)

The greenhouse is basically ready with just a couple of little things to take care of including getting the chimney set properly on the wood stove. At this point it works great on calm days, but if the wind comes up it pushes the smoke down the chimney and into the greenhouse. You can imagine the ‘smoky flavoring’ my clothes have picked up…

I must say that with all the snow I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get a chance or make the time to build a snow man or something. It was not like I wasn’t moving it around between shoveling a path to the greenhouse and the drive way to the more important shoveling around the greenhouses. As the snow piled up it got to the point where it wouldn’t slide off the roof. At that point, out came the shovel. Hey, with 120 feet to shovel at least I don’t have to worry about a gym. The frustrating part was that, with the almost continuous windy conditions it either snowed or blew over my freshly cleared path every day.

That’s not to say it was all bad. The cold should have a definite effect on the bugs this season. Also I took some very pretty pictures without a ‘real’ camera, and Abby and I did some snow shoeing together and even a few friends came out.

So, I can honestly say I’m looking forward while trying not to get ahead of myself. March will bring some new changes and decisions. I will start to seed some vegetables for the summer and some others, mostly greens, to grow in the floor of one of the greenhouses. If all goes well we should start to have lettuce by the end of April. I’ll also be getting some flowers and other plants started for sales in May.  Along with that there is wood to collect to keep the stoves going and gravity fed watering system to build along with collecting water and keeping an eye on the fields to get the spring plantings started as soon as possible. There is also manure to spread so it’s going to be a busy month but I’m really looking forward to it and obviously the arrival of spring.

Chris

A learning experience and balancing act

WARNING there are bug and spider pictures in this post!

I believe each day brings the opportunity to both learn and teach. I also think knowledge should be free to all. The farm has been about learning and challenges and good friends.

Last season was the year of the bug, at least at our farm. As it was the first year and with the goal of not using pesticides I was on the lookout for the helpful bugs and of course, the bad bugs. Even though I had the help of handed down knowledge, I still spent a great deal of time on the phone. Good job I have a good data plan. During my morning and evening walks, checking on how things were going, I would find all kinds of bugs. Out would come the phone “Oh what is that, is it good or bad”. I soon learned that the plant you found the bug on would usually lead you to naming it.

Spotted Ground Beetle – Can be good – Thanks to Sean James of FernRidgeLandscaping  For helping ID some of these

The big question was – what if I get it wrong? – Well I can laugh about it now but in one case I did. Boy, did I get it wrong. In the spring, just after we put out the cucumbers and squash, I found two new bugs had arrived, a black and yellow striped cucumber beetle that I identified correctly and the brown squash bug I unfortunately did not. From the images on the internet the squash bug resembles a predatory shield bug and with the cucumber beetle arriving I thought the predatory shield bug was following their lunch plans. I was wrong, really wrong and that mistake cost me most of the cucumber plants, half the zucchini plants, and 80-90%of the squash.

On the left the squash bug on the right the predatory shield beetle. I can see the difference now…

The Squash bug infestation – This was almost every plant.

It’s really kind of funny because I spent part of my time rescuing bugs, particularly a lady bug I took a liking to that happened to be caught in a spider web. I figured after releasing the lady bug I’d have a long talk with the spider about his/her lunch selection. I also came across a crab spider hiding in the zucchini blossoms waiting for the bees and other pollinators; he/she was relocated – Bees are untouchables. The wasps in the greenhouse were fine until they got ornery in the fall and stung me in the head. My father-in-law told me not to let them set up shop there – lesson – listen to your elders, kids.

It was tough and the bugs were bad but I learned a lot and am spending some time understanding the good bugs and what I need to do to make sure they stop by and stick around. At the end of the day it’s all about balance: you need bad bugs to have good bugs (would you go to a restaurant where they were out of food) and without spraying toxic chemicals well, there is going to be bugs. My job is to work with them, try to keep the good ones happy and the bad ones under control, hence, balance.

Topmato horn worm – this is one I remember as a  kid – Very bad

Garden Spider – very good did my best to work around him.

I find it amazing what I see when I get down and work with the earth. Beetles, spiders, toads, caterpillars etc. are all harder to see from up on a tractor. The tractor may be a necessity but it will be used sparingly.

As we get ready for the 2014 season I thank Mother Nature for the cold winter. It should have had an effect on the bad bugs. I look forward to the new challenges and know that they will be different each year.

I’m beginning to understand that farming; at least eco-friendly sustainable farming is as much an art as it is a science. It’s all about finding the balance between the two.

Chris