This fall I am planting about 140 lbs of garlic.  I Saved about 30 lbs from the spring and got the rest from Peaceful Valley. There’s a lot of Cal Early and Cal Late, but also “Music”, “Chesnok Red” and “Mexican Purple”.  About half is in the ground now.  I am amending the beds with Feather Meal and, although less so, rock phosphate and potassium.  “How to Grow Great Garlic” recommends especially amending with Blood Meal (or another organic nitrogen source) in the fall, so I’m following that.

A recommendation came my way which I had never thought about.  Since I’ll be farming new land in the spring, I was told not to wait until then to apply the rock phosphate.  Instead incorporate it in the fall with the cover crop.  That way, by the end of spring, the microbes will have made more of the phosphorous available to the crop, since it takes a while.  So, I’m gonna do that too.

If I listen closely, and look even closer, I can hear and see the Sandhill Cranes flying far overhead.  They passed this way, going north, in the the spring - February/March.  Their call is so beautiful.  So, if you’re outside, keep your ears open in a quiet place, and you just might hear their call.

Andrew

Most farmers live where they farm.  So, inevitably, they are at the farm every day.  I’m a solid 20 minute drive from Wildgrace home base, so, like today, I’m not going to the farm.  I went to market this morning, and it was great, despite the rain.  We have lots of solid character up here, so rain doesn’t keep the people away.  However, there were many fewer vendors this week. I’m spending the afternoon resting, enjoying reading emails, writing this blog post.  On Sunday… Read the rest of this article »

Friday the 3rd of October…rain commences at noon, continues through the night. I worked quickly to lay down a half acre of cover crop seed in the morning, anticipating the rain.  I felt like I was cheating, since I knew I wouldn’t have to irrigate the field to germinate the cover crop.  It’s not cheating.  It only feels that way because, in California, we don’t grow stuff without irrigation.  That’s another issue I don’t want to broach right now. Then the rain… Read the rest of this article »

For about 20 hours, Wildgrace Farm was, once again, graced with Zoe Loftus-Farren’s presence.  She showed up on Monday to help me finish the harvest for the CSA, which was a great saviour because I was cutting it close harvesting everything for everyone. Then, as soon as I became attached again, she left :( All alone on Wildgrace Farm…Andrew is all alone. It’s okay.  It gives me plenty of time to plot and sheme for next year…or sing Neil Young loudly. Andrew Hussein Meyers Read the rest of this article »

Fortunately, the CSA keeps rolling, with lots of veggies to keep the boxes overflowing. I feel very relieved and relaxed, now that the season is really winding down. On another note, I believe it should be a law that seed companies need to state which seed varieties are GMOs.  Or, let’s get serious about seed saving.  Open-pollinated all the way?  That’s a little scary to me…sounds like a recipe for making less money. I can’t take money with me when I die, but I can leave… Read the rest of this article »

One Season is winding down, and, strangely, another one is right on the horizon.  Many may be thinking “what is the freshman farmer going to do next year”?  Well, fear not, I know what I am doing. I will continue to farm Glenn and Muffy’s wonderful piece of land which they have selflessly relinquished to my iron fist.  We have figured out the water situation and all that good stuff. In addition, I will be taking on a new piece of land, 10 acres of highly cropable land. “What… Read the rest of this article »

Like all good things in life, I will tell this to my son, you must wait to reap the harvest. This is good advice, dad.  But geeze, 8 months?  is anything worth it.  I like the celery that I am eating now.  I seeded it in the greenhouse in mid-January (actually, Andrea did), planted it out in April.  You know, I wonder if I could have sped up its maturity with tons of water and fertilizer for those first few months, to have celery at the later part of June?  I know for sure that I didn’t… Read the rest of this article »

Monsanto is the largest seed company in the world now, having acquired Seminis in 2005.  Monsanto not only sells more Biotech (GMO) seeds than any other business, but now (with the acquisition on Seminis) sells more garden variety (non GMO) seeds than any other company; and it is a multi-billion dollar business for them. Popular Monsanto Seeds include Big Beef Tomato, Gold Rush Zucchini, Beefmaster Tomato, Ambrosia Melon…the list really does go on and on and on. These seeds produce great… Read the rest of this article »

It is undeniable now, with temperatures in the mid 70s to mid 80s, summer weather is over.  No more upper 90s nor 100+ degree days.  I like this.  I feel like I can work easily in this weather.  Yesterday it was cloudy all day long, which made for a beautiful day and kept me energized. In places where I already have the t-tape and no more cash crop action, I am putting in a winter cover crop.  Vetch and Rye are my choices.  Vetch because it fixes its own nitrogen and… Read the rest of this article »