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Dedicated to Heirlooms!

“An heirloom plant, heirloom variety, or (especially in the UK) heirloom vegetable is a cultivar that was commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but which is not used in modern large-scale agriculture. Many heirloom vegetables have kept their traits through open pollination, while fruit varieties such as apples have been propagated over the centuries through grafts and cuttings. The trend of growing heirloom plants in gardens has been growing in popularity in the United States and Europe over the last decade.”

-Wikipedia

We’re trying our best here.  It’s honestly really hard to find extra time to blog, but I will again try to be here more often.  I do want to share everything but it’s hard to do that.  I’m going to just try and share small things each day with everyone.  I hope thats….

ok.  Today Sara sold at Poulsbo and I sold at Bainbridge Island.  One truck and one honda accord full!  I thought I had a pretty good day today.  My neighbor didn’t put up his side-walls,  as usual, so thankfully people could see me as being the last farmer in the row, or so I hoped.  He did though, place a rather large sign next to the leg of his canopy next to mine and that stuck out a good 2 1/2’.  What… Dude your blocking peoples view of my goods.  It actual worked in my benefit I believe, strangely.  Maybe I’m crazy for caring.

Sara and I are working hard right now to do these things:

work our grounds free of weeds.  doing this with hand tools and a small 15hp Snapper tiller.  The tiller isn’t so great at tilling.  I have to really do a lot a passes to get the job done. Get some transplanting done.  We have recently transplanted new chard, kale, leeks, radishes, carrots, lettuce, and a while ago Brussels sprouts.  Wish we had more though, I bailed on planting the broccoli at this date as I think it would have been too late.  Maybe I should of planted a few before I decided to treat the chicks to a 98cell pack of goodness. That’s supposed to be a three, but whatever.  Be a young married couple in love.  My wife thinks it would be grand to go to the big fair.  Last day is tomorrow and I’ve never been, so I think we’re going after the CSA harvest/CSA pickup.  I would love to tend to listed item number 1 though. Our sunny days I fear are out of here come Monday.  Hello rain and clouds.  Remind me about pulling out the winter squash before it freezes around Octobeer 15.

I love farming.  I’m bummed I was away.  I look foreword to becoming a great farmer and husband one of these days.  We now have money to buy the needed farming supplies.  Sweet.

P.S.  I hope to simplify our market set up.  No fancy stuff just nice storage containers right on top of a table cloth covered table.  Simple.

So many heirloom tomatoes.  I don’t know what to do with them all. Read the rest of this article »

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 »

There’s been a lot of action around here this week due to the short break in the weather.  Good days of dry sunny weather are very few and far between here in the cool spring of the Pacific Northwest, so when you get a dry spell you work as much as you possibly can.  More about what we’ve accomplished in the sun later(hello Flip Video!), but for right now I’d like to introduce you to our Heirloom Tomato Operation! This year marks our second year growing and selling Heirloom tomatoes… Read the rest of this article »

bed prep for onions/leeks transplants under agribond (notice the plastic is blown off our row cover) snow in March Farming in the wonderful Pacific Northwest is a good way to become mental.  We love it; the weather really keeps things interesting and your “plans” ever changing.  Here in Washington State it rains in spring.   We are hunters and hopefuls for a mildly sunny, dry day.  Last season in a single day we experienced sun, rain, sleet, and snow.  This year back in February we experienced… Read the rest of this article »

This is a fun time of year.  The CSA has rounded out to 30 members, and I like it there.  We have 14 weeks left, so not quite halfway, but close.  The tomatoes are producing well, and the heirlooms are making there way into the public scene. As for tomatoes, we are growing “early girl”, of course, but we also have green zebra, black zebra, pruden’s purple, cherokee purple, black from tula and striped german.  They all produce fairly well, at least at the farm, even though their… Read the rest of this article »

Now we have completed week nine of the CSA.  This week we offered: tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, squash, carrots, lettuce mix, turnips, garlic, sweet corn!, kale and bulbing fennel. It was a good week, and next week is looking great also, with potatoes and leeks on the menu.  It seems a little out of season to have potatoes and leeks, because I love potato-leek soup a lot, but, hey, those will be ready. Out at the farm, the tomatoes are really productive, yet could be looking better. … Read the rest of this article »