• On the Farm •

Mulch laid In A3 South [Kale, etc] Mulching Cabbage in KG

Forget all the other expressions! Not a one armed paper hanger; not a cricket on a hot stove; not an aardvark in an anthill; We have been working like farmers in planting season!

Generally I am up well before five am. After coffee I am at my desk working on paperwork and scheduling or the other myriad details of a small business and farm. Joachim is out at 6:30am and checks on the cows' water and Chris is in by 7am and the field work begins. Last week we planted all of the potatoes, 2,000 pounds by hand. The field is especially rocky and so we planted by hand. Joachim and I planted 900 pounds in one day and the rest of the planting was spread out over three other days. This photo doesn't do justice to the rocks but you might get the idea.

I put all the broccoli, cauliflower, marjoram and the rest of the green cabbage in A3NW on Monday. We had to stop the potato planting to get irrigation on A3NW to keep the plants from stressing. Stressed brassicas will go to seed heads as soon as they can and with cauliflower and broccoli that is disasterous for a crop. The wind and sun didn't give us any breaks.

Back to finish the potatoes and begin mulching. First the field is hand cultivated to make certain that all the small weeds are disturbed and the roots exposed to air. Then we go in and mulch by hand. Joyce Schaffer came up on Saturday and put in some time cultivating and mulching. The extra help is really very useful because when you farm at a human scale the basic unit of productivity is measured in man-hours. You can see how effective the mulching is at weed suppression. It also protects the soil from erosion, creates an organic matter/soil interface that worms love, moderates evaporation and water holding capacity, and when done we turn it in to add organic matter to the soil. Far superior to plastic mulch and although I've never seen a fully comprehensive audit of the two systems I am convinced that the organic material mulch is far more economical environmentally than the plastic.

I'm going to let the pictures do some of the talking here. My day finishes late, depending on meetings or other commitments and how much time the work needs and how much time in the office I need. Most often we stop the physical work at dark and I have a couple of hours of office work before bed.

Here is Joyce working hard in the cabbage patch. Check out our member profile and see Laurie helping to plant. CSA is truly a community asset and has something for everyone. Including great food!

On Friday i drilled in Arugula, Radishes, Escarole, Giant Red Mustard, Golden Beets, Spinach, Pak Choi, and Toraziroh. The chicory, dandelions, lambsquarter and peavine is looking very appetizing. The asparagus is up and looks better than last year but I am still going to be conservative in my cutting for us this year because I want to ensure abundant harvests for the future.

WE still have memberships available although time is definitely running out. Feel free to invite your friends to join, and share with them the pleasure and excitement in participating in our certified organic, sustainable, food based community, Upper Meadows Farm CSA!

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