Freshman Farmer | New Organic Farms Set Roots

Posts Tagged ‘greenhouse’

Rainy day

February 23rd, 2010
Driftwood Farm | Blog

Today’s rain is allowing us to take a break from the outside work, to hopefully catch up on our planning, and take a deep breath.

Matt has been working on converting a 10’ x 20’ car canopy into a greenhouse, as well as building a couple of top-bar bee hives from scratch. In the meantime, I’ve been preparing beds, getting our first batch of seeds started in the small (8’ x 10’) greenhouse, and getting the rest of the perennial crops into the ground (the latest were artichokes and more blackberries) ahead of the rain.

We have a relatively short growing season here on the northern California coast (our place is about 1 mile inland). The farmers markets in coastal Mendocino, where we are, run from May to October. There is so much to do, that we are glad we still have a couple of months to get ready before the markets start… although we know the time will go quickly!

Tags: greenhouse, rain, seeds, bee hive, top bar hive, Mendocino County farmers markets

2 Comments. Add a comment?

Firsts

February 12th, 2010
Willow Springs Farm | Blog

I never knew farming would involve so many trips to the hardware store. Our first purchase was a table saw.

Matt and I moved down to Penn Valley in the middle of January at the beginning of a 10 day rain storm. Coming from Portland, OR we decided that the joke was on us. Luckily, we had plenty of planning, reading, and painting to do to get our new home ready.

The minute the sunshine peeked through the storm clouds, we headed outside for some bare root planting. The property that we are farming on has been cultivated and well-tended for the past 10 years. Matt was able to come down in September for a few days to help till our main row crop field, add soft rock phosphate, gypsum, and plant a cover crop.

This week has been all about the hoop house and seed sorting. Our first planting will be Sunday with the new moon.

Tags: cover crop, greenhouse, planning, planting, bare root

No comments yet. Add a comment?

Chipping Away at the Fall Projects

October 25th, 2009
DeepSeeded Community Farm | Blog

What a month! On top of the still-abundant harvests, there is so much to do to get ready for winter. The crew, the interns, and I have all been working hard and making serious progress. We’re almost done digging potatoes, the winter squash is in, all of the outdoor fall/winter crops are planted, the garlic is in, beds are ready for next year’s strawberries, mulch & drip lines are out of the field, old crops are under, aisles are tilled, row-cover is on… But we’re… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: cover crop, greenhouse, harvest, winter, strawberries

No comments yet. Add a comment?

The Winter Garden

August 9th, 2009
DeepSeeded Community Farm | Blog

The main-season CSA at DeepSeeded Farm still has 15 weeks to go, but for the last few weeks my mind has been on the winter garden. I’m planning on offering an additional 8 weeks of CSA harvests beginning right before Thanksgiving, and most of the planting for this is now done. We have a pretty mild winter climate here, so we can easily harvest veggies from the garden throughout the winter ...but unlike many other parts of California, most cool-season veggies will not continue to grow… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: CSA, greenhouse, winter, storage crop

2 Comments. Add a comment?

Greenhouse Tomatoes

April 19th, 2009
DeepSeeded Community Farm | Blog

Here on the Humboldt coast, where summer high temps are in the 60’s, the only reliable way to get good tomato harvests is in a greenhouse. So, knowing how popular tomatoes are, I put up two big 30’ x 96’ coldframes for the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants (I also use them to start seedlings and grow winter salads). The upsides to greenhouse tomatoes are that: 1. They actually produce on the coast, 2. I can get them in the ground nice and early, and 3. They keep producing into… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: greenhouse, heirloom, tomatoes, coastal

No comments yet. Add a comment?

Tractor action soon!

April 3rd, 2009
Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm | Blog

Your looking at our new seed starting “caterpillar” style greenhouse. On the left is a table which has two 25’ long seed starting mats, 48 trays can be germinated at once. On the right is a table with PVC pipes acting as rails for proper air circulation for our germinated seed trays. The sun is predicted to arrive for a whopping four days and plans are being arranged to get some tillage done. Saturday and Sunday we let the sun dry out our soils a bit more. Monday morning… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: CSA, Seed starting greenhouse

1 Comments. Add a comment?

The True Romance Of Farming

March 20th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Today was just one of those days where I looked at the field and all of the transplants that are strong and healthy, and I thought: “Man, this is awesome.” Today was the romance version of farming. And how could it not be romantic when you’re doing exactly what you love? It doesn’t matter that my wage per hour would probably qualify me for a host of government programs (alas, no subsidies for the vegetables I grow - does that make any sense!). This is the only job I’ve… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: farming, good times, greenhouse, peppers, transplants, work

1 Comments. Add a comment?

Learning My Limitations

March 19th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

I’m learning my limitations. If you come out to the farm you’ll see a large area that I turned under in February with a digging fork. My back made it through the work gracefully. Today I was preparing the ground in the greenhouse, to make way for some snap bean transplants (yes, it seems to make sense to me to transplant them for an early planting). And, I got that familiar feeling in the lower back that says: “hey, man, quit digging or I’ll make you quit.” So… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: back, CSA, greenhouse, limitations, rest, work

No comments yet. Add a comment?

Mother Nature is telling me to stay inside

March 16th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Somedays I feel as though, maybe, Mother Nature is telling me to stay inside. Like today. Preparing a bed for the second planting of brassicas, happily turning from the wind, and then it starts hailing. Okay, I say, I can head into the greenhouse. I’m learning the interplay between control and digression, respect and responsibility to the job. I can only wait so long to plant things, because the people need to eat. Yet, what can you do when a sunshower turns into a hailstorm. Not… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: brassica, CSA, greenhouse, hail, mother nature, plant, storm, tomatoes, weather

No comments yet. Add a comment?

Three farms are starting from scratch.

They are turning the dirt and hoping to be successful enough to turn a profit, and to become a valuable part of their communities as suppliers of organically grown food.

Peaceful Valley is giving them a head start by offering them special pricing as part of this Freshman Farmer program.

The Farm Blogs

Freshman:
New Farms Coming Soon!
Sophomores:
	Daily Grace Farms Crescent City, CA
	Freestone Family Farm Vernal, UT
	Wise Moon Farm Redding, CA
Graduates:
	Coyote House Farm Palermo, CA
	DeepSeeded Community Farm Arcata, CA
	Driftwood Farm Fort Bragg, CA
	EarthDance Farm St. Louis, MO
	Ellwood Canyon Farms Goleta, CA
	Four Frog Farm Penn Valley, CA
	Hand Sown Homegrown Heritage Farm Poulsbo, WA
	Home Plate Organic Farm Orleans, CA
	Honey in the Heart Farm Nevada City, CA
	Willow Springs Farm Penn Valley, CA