This is our Jacob ewe Mud Ranch Francine. She is set to have lambs in about a week and we are very excited!

As you can see the portable pen built to help combat winter weeds was a huge success! The beds have never been in this good of shape so early in the season.  I am loving this new system, low labor and low maintenance.

For all of you who have been eagerly awaiting the application for the 2012-2013 Freshman Farmer class, here it is! You can download the PDF here.

Its been a while since our last post, but we have been keep’n busy on the farm.

We have stored some of our harvest this year like freezing strawberries, sun drying tomatoes, many seeds saved from herbs to beans.

Still in production are the greens; Mustard greens, Kale, Chard, and the baby lettuce in the greenhouse. 

Last year there were many additions to the property, mainly permaculture like strawberries and trees. These were investments that will only produce more as the years go on. 

The additions were from reproducing the current strawberry plants from the offshoots, as well as buying some new breeds that we bought from our son’s school, which bought them from a local organic producer. 

Then we bought many trees mainly from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, which were two almond trees, Lisbon Lemon, Improved Meyer Lemon, Valencia Orange, Brown Turkey Fig (which produced figs the first year), Cherry, Lemon Guava (also produced first year), Peach, Plum, and Olive trees. 

We already have a well established golden apple tree, and a four year Fuji apple tree that do very well, with Concord grapes and Ruby Red grapes, blackberries, and of course the strawberries. 

Recently we’ve been working the beds to prepare for planting; covered some of the bases of trees with bamboo skirting and hay, to help with frost on new trees; winterized the bees, with wind breaks for the entrances and reduced the entrance and fixed any damage from animals like skunks and raccoons, possible domestic cats too. 

Currently in the ground as well are shallots, garlic, yellow onions, various potatoes, asparagus, artichoke, and more. By no means are there acres of each crop, some are small test plots, some are larger areas, like the strawberries and calendulas. 

We also have many herbs, medicinal and gourmet types, like Marshmallow, Echinacea, Rosemary, Eucalyptus, Roses, lemon balm, lemon verbena, Cilantro, Oregano, Thyme, Dandelions, plantain, mints, and many more, which will all be available for the CSA soon. 

About a 1/3 of the chickens are still producing in this cold winter time, which is roughly 10 eggs a day, I could improve on this by adding a heat lamp.

Also we have six ducks that should be lay’n full swing in spring. 

There is much more going on: we are mainly focused on greenhouse planting of early spring plants, and working the ground to prepare for warm weather crops. We will try to keep this updated in the future. 

Please feel free to ask questions, if you’d like further details on this down and dirty lifestyle.  Peace Out       -WM-

Today as the sun shines, in what has been the driest, sunniest most beautiful wind free winter in our 9 years on the northern coast of California, I feel myself wanting to get a jump start on the planting season.

I am reminded however of an incident that took place this past summer, whose beginnings were rooted early in the season last year.

In mid August several farms in our area were lamenting the fact that a large portion of their onion crops were bolting (going to seed) instead of bulbing. A very sad event, unless you love the large globe shaped flowers that ensued. I had remembered reading something about that the previous winter but the particulars had slipped my mind so I rummaged through my stack of books and found the answer to our dilemma.

Frank Tozer in his book “The Vegetable Growers Handbook” states that when onion starts are subjected to temperatures lower than 50 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 consecutive weeks, such as in an unheated greenhouse during an unexpected cold snap (exactly what happened here last spring), and then exposed to warmer temperatures again, the plants think they have gone through a winter and therefore decide it’s time to set seed.

It seems that this problem usually only affects the plants that are 1/4 inch in diameter or larger at the time of the exposure to the cold temperatures. Vernalized defined. Seeding, size and temperature are all important considerations when raising onions.

I bought Frank Tozer’s book after reading a review from a fellow Freshman Farmer a few years ago.  I had always wanted to get my many snippets of growing information organized and in one place. Frank’s book did the job for me. For example six pages are dedicated to ONIONS. Topics covered include an introduction, nutrition content, growing facts, rotations, seeds, sets, sowing, care, problems, harvest, seed saving, a recipe and so much more.  I love this book!

So even though the sun is bright and warm today, I will exercise patience and wait to sow seed for a few more weeks. 

The New Year has arrived, yes January 1, 2012, and I was outside in the SUNSHINE picking fresh PEAS for dinner. The northern coast of California has had an unusually mild winter and I am reaping the bounty of it. So very thankful!

The heat of Summer has passed and the chill of Fall has arrived.

The last red ripe strawberries and tomatoes were picked several weeks ago.

We enjoyed a great harvest of apples, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, onions, potatoes, sunchokes, tomatoes, chard, kale, cabbage, and much more. Our fig tree we ordered this year from Peacefull Valley gave us a dozen delicious figs.

All the animals on the farm are doing great.

All four Bee Colonies are healthy and thriving. We harvested a few jars of honeycomb and honey from the hives. We left everything else for them to have for the winter. We practice natural beekeeping. We believe it’s healthier for the bees to have honey instead of fed sugar.

Now we are focused on our fall crops. Microgreens are going in the greenhouse. Cilantro, peas, Italian parsley, and other herbs are doing well. Potatoes, onions, garlic, and red shallots have all been planted.

The Earthworm bin has been moved to the greenhouse. We are now focused on cleaning the beds and planting cover crops. Looking forward to the next harvest.

“Value-added” is a common buzz word these days. It typically means getting every last bit of profit available out of your product. 

Having added sheep to our farm this year I was a bit curious to explore all the possibilities. I was presented with an exciting opportunity to attend Fiber Mania last weekend.

Fiber Mania is a gathering of folks who represent the entire scope of fiber production, starting with the breeding and raising of animals (yes, live animals—  llamas, alpacas and angora goats on display); the folks who shear, clean, process, and dye the fiber; those who spin and make yarn; and on to the ladies who use looms to weave masterpieces; and the crafters who turn simple fiber into art—they were all there.

You may wonder what all that has to do with sheep. Well, my two favorite Jacob sheep farms hosted one of the many vendor booths. I got to see first hand what amazing things can be created from sheep, and also the many ways wool can be used creatively.

Cooking healthy and nutrious lamb meat was my original goal. Let me share some of the many other value-added options I witnessed this weekend.

First up Mud Ranch, Joan was selling pelts and fleeces:

I fell in love with this pelt! It is not the usual Jacob sheep color pattern of white with dark spots or patches but beautiful none the less, and WARM too!

Next up a beautiful fleece—it was sheared, skirted and bagged. It now awaits sorting, washing, and processing. I loved the many color variations in this fleece. That covers the basic right-from-the-sheep options, now onto to some of the many other possibilities.

This is where work transitions into FUN!

Next up at Kenleigh Acres, Shannon had an amazing assortment of items. Just to name a few: lovely felted bags, nuno felted scarves (gorgeous), felt covered soap, craft supplies and kits, pillows, how-to books, and more.  My favorite picks:

Kits for making needle felted sheep and needle felted flowers. The sheep are adorable as you will see in the next photo.

Yes I loved a whole herd of them home with me. The picture does not do them justice.

No fiber event would be complete without attending one of the many beginner to advanced level classes offered. My choice was beginning needle felting. You use processed wool, and a long needle with barbs on it to craft just about anything you can imagine. This day I learned the basics of ladybug sculpting. 

Value-added is not only financially rewarding, but at times can be most enjoyable on a personal level as well. To Joan and Shannon, thanks for a wonderful day!

Hello to all, I finally finished the portable chicken pen and it is working!!! (UPDATED with additional information on Nov. 13, 2011.)

My goal here was to use the chickens to keep the growing beds weed-free through the winter rainy season here on California’s north coast.

This is a “before” photo of the weeds that had overtaken the bed.

This is the “after” photo, having left the pen on the bed for 5 days. After a quick rake to remove larger debris, and a second pass with the hoe, the bed is in great shape.

I will start adding yard clippings, leaves, and bedding from the barn as it becomes available, and have the chickens at the ready to keep the weeds under control.

Come spring I hope to have a composted, fertilized and weed-free bed ready to go. (fingers crossed).

The construction of the pen was made very simple with some handy PVC snap fittings available from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply. 

I used:
10 pieces of 10 foot long 3/4 inch pvc pipe (6 whole pieces, 2 cut in half and 2 cut to fit random lengths)
4 3/4 inch 3-way fittings for the corners
2 4-way fittings for the bottoms of the down supports that help balance the weight of the feeder
14 of the T fittings (these are not fixed into position, they “float” on the pipe)
an 8 x 10 tarp
some tarp tie downs, zipties
a small clip lock

I did NOT glue any thing together, just snapped it together and trust the sturdy fencing cover will hold it all together, so far so good. I simply used zipties to attach the fencing to the pipe.

By the way, I built the arches 5 feet apart matching the width of the fencing I had for easy coverage. Two pieces of fencing go over the arches and meet perfectly in the middle. I could have run the fencing the length of it, but it would have overlapped at the top and I don’t think it would have stretched out as tightly over the frame.

For access into the pen, I cut out a square of fencing in the end of the structure, then cut a larger square to cover the hole, and attached it across the top with zipties not cinched up all the way tight. I use an inexpensive little clip lock to keep it secure on the bottom.

I covered the pen with an 8 x 10 tarp folded partially back over itself (double layer of tarp) to ensure the rain stays out. The tarp is secured with some fancy, and new to me, tie downs that were available right next to the tarps at the hardware store. I will see how they hold up to the wind and weather and keep you posted. Note, they were extremely easy to use.

Finishing touch, zip tie in a few sticks or drift wood that will support the chickens weight and your done. I added an extra arch near the rear in hopes of attaching some light weight nesting boxes but have not found just the right set up yet.

It took me one whole day to build this by myself. 

The only tools required were wire cutters to cut the fencing, a PVC cutter to cut the pipe (a hand saw could be used if you do not have the PVC cutter) and a rubber mallet (hammer) to make sure the corner fittings were tight, and of course a tape measure.

UPDATE!!!!! (Nov. 13, 2011)

A few of my personal friends have sent very specific construction questions that many of you may also be asking so I will attempt to answer them with the following hand drawn “plans”.

The 4 squiggily lines represent the pvc that arches over as the “roof”

This drawing shows the locations of the “roof” fittings.

Also shown are the two feeder supports, 2 pvc pieces with the 4 way fittings on the bottom that hang down from the top. (see photo above with the feeder)

PLEASE note that the pipe lengths are approximate. You will have to take into account the space where the fittings and pipes connect. (a 4 foot pipe will be shy of 4 feet by a bit to compensate)

Another point to mention is the center cross bar on the bottom.  I used one “T” pointing up for the arch and right on top of that is a “T” facing toward the center of the pen on both sides to hold the cross bar.

Hope this helps. 

This project has been very succesful so far!  I have 3 beds already cleaned up and looking great! Not only do the chickens get extra “greens” by eating all the weeds, the time freed up by not having to weed has enabled me to complete a few other chores.

Mother Earth News magazine just listed their top 15 Vegetable Seed Companies and PEACEFUL VALLEY Farm and Garden supply is on it!  Well done!