At this point, nearly all of the seeds I ordered for 2010 have arrived, and I’ve sorted and grouped them all into big ziplock bags so they are easy to find during the season.  In this posting, I’m taking a look bag at the order and teasing out some info for you:

1) Cost - My seed costs are pretty high for a couple of reasons.  For one, I’m trialing a lot of new varieties.  This means that instead of getting a bulk price for a larger quantity of one type of, say, mainseason carrots, I am buying 3 or 4 types at a higher per-seed price.  Even when I do cut down on the amount of new varieties I’m trialing, my per-acre seed cost will remain high simply because  I grow relatively small patches of many different crops.  I’ll never be getting the largest quantity discounts.  Below are my 2010 costs for the 6.5 acres of annuals I plant over the course of the season:

Vegetable Seed: $3,186

Flower Seed: $341

Seed Potato: $1,208 - 550 lbs, 11 varieties, shipping included

Strawberry Plants: $780 - 8750 plants, 6 varieties, shipping included.  I really only needed 4500 plants, but I’m trialing new varieties.  I was able to sell many of the extras.

2) Organic Seed - I purchase certified organic seed whenever its an option for the varieties I choose to grow.  Because I rely on the income from my farm, it is more important for me to choose a variety that I know will perform as needed, even if the seed is not organic, than to choose a variety simply because its certified OG.  I do make an effort to try new OG varieties each year, but as it stands, just 66 of the 165 veggie varieties I’m growing this year are organic seed.  10 of the 11 potato varieties are OG, but only 1 of the 6 strawberry varieties was available as OG.

3) F1 Hybrid Seed - The situation is similar when it comes to Open-Pollinated (OP) varieties vs. Hybrid (F1) varieties.  I am always seeking OP varieties that perform well, but I do plant F1 varieties when they show a noticeable advantage over similar OP strains.  This year, 83 of the 165 veggie varieties are OP, and 37 of the 38 flower varieties are OP.  Because seed producers can make more money from F1 seeds, it seems that the breeders are less focused on OP strains.  I do not grow any GM seeds.

4) New Varieties - There are a number of crops where I feel like I haven’t yet found the best possible varieties for my climate, soils, or time of year.  To try and remedy this, I trial a number of new varieties each year.  Of the 220 annual plant varieties I’m growing this year, 73 are new to me.

5) Seed Saving - I am not currently saving any of my own seed.  While I recognize the potential for improving the adaptation of varieties to my farm, I am not ready to commit the time and space required.  Perhaps when I’ve identified more of the OP varieties that do well for me, I will begin to save some of my own seed.

6) Sources - I purchased seed and planting stock from 11 different companies this year.  What I’m looking for is: a) The varieties I want, b) The availability of organic seed, c) Good bulk pricing, and d) A reputation for high-quality & reliability.  This year I purchased from Johnny’s, Osborne, High Mowing, Territorial, Snow, Stokes, Peaceful Valley, Turtle Tree, Uprising, Ronnigers Potaoes, & Lassen Canyon Nursery.

I find it extremely helpful to make a plan for all of the sowings and plantings for the coming season, and then to rigorously stick to that plan.  With most vegetable farms, having an extended harvest of various crops is important, but with CSA this need is amplified.  For CSA, you’ll likely be growing more types of crops and you’ll be needing a very regular supply of harvests. I start out by deciding what crops I want to grow over the course of the year (not yet getting down to varieties). … Read the rest of this article »

My favorite part of winter farm work is the part that happens indoors… planning for the year to come.  For me, this involves the following steps: 1. A crop by crop review to determine what changes should be made in the year to come. 2. Updating the harvest plan - when and how often to I want to harvest X crop for X market? 3. Updating the planting plan - to achieve the above harvest, when do I need to plant each crop, and how much should I plant each time? 4. Taking a seed inventory - How… Read the rest of this article »

Getting an early harvest is often a real plus for farmers.  The prices for the produce are higher, and boosting the diversity of your early farmer’s market table can attract customers and draw sales.  For my CSA, getting an extra-early start on some of the longer-maturing crops means that I can begin sooner in the year with a good spread by matching them with later-planted short season crops. Getting that early harvest usually also means putting in some extra work.  One of the techniques… Read the rest of this article »

Well… It’s been a great, long season of harvests; and now it’s over.  We kept it coming for 32 weeks this year, which is longer than any of the CSA farms in the area, and longer than I’ve ever kept it going before.  For the 6-week Winter CSA add-on we had 94 member-households.  The harvests were abundant and diverse, and folks were pleased to be getting farm-fresh produce long after the Farmer’s Markets had ceased. But I’m glad to have stopped when I did. … Read the rest of this article »

My farm is only 4 miles from the ocean on the north California coast, so it never gets really cold… but it’s been pretty cold lately.  We’ve had numerous frosty mornings in a row and this morning it was 24 degrees.  I’m used to being able to leave the hardier crops uncovered through the winter, using row covers just for winter lettuces and other tender stuff, but these temps had me covering up carrots and bok choi as well. I’m hoping the plants fare alright; I still… Read the rest of this article »

This year at DeepSeeded Farm, we’ve decided to keep the harvest coming for a few weeks into winter.  I planted an acre or so of crops that would mature in the fall and provide harvest a ways into winter.  Though it is possible to harvest something from the garden all year long in this climate, I decided to keep the winter CSA to just 6 weeks for a couple of reasons.  One, it’s great to get a break from harvest at some point in the year.  Secondly, after a while into winter the diversity… Read the rest of this article »

In general, the farmers I know are the type of folks who don’t get sick very often.  It’s extremely hard to be out of action when the harvests are demanding, and you already have a giant backlog of work.  I managed to make it clear to the end of our mainseason CSA harvests, but by the end of last Friday, I was out.  I had a fever and couldn’t do anything for 5 days, and finally felt better just in time for Thanksgiving (yes!). During that time, though, the farm still had to bring… Read the rest of this article »

Among the things I love about farming is the seasonality.  Though there is much work to do throughout the year on my farm, and I can definitely feel run through the wringer at times, I feel lucky to not be doing the same thing day in and day out. Next week marks the end of our mainseason CSA, and our winter CSA begins the following week.  We will shift from two CSA harvests each week to just one.  In the fields, cover crop is now germinating on all the crop-free ground, our overwinter crops are… Read the rest of this article »