Freshman Farmer | New Organic Farms Set Roots

Posts Tagged ‘pests’

CSA begins

May 8th, 2010
Ellwood Canyon Farms | Blog

I had a good first day with the CSA. Ten members showed up at the farm and picked up shares last monday and I have 14 people signed up for next week. I was happy with the produce and I hope the members are happily eating it. Contents included 1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch chiogga beat, 1 bunch turnip, 10oz sugar snap peas, 1 bag green lettuce, 1 bag red lettuce, 1 bunch kale, 1 bunch chard, 1 red onion, 1 purple kohlrabi, 1 green garlic, 1 pound broccoli/caulilower, 1 bunch culinary sage.

The Farmers market I’ve been attending is slowly getting better…...

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The field is looking good, with the last week of sun and warmer weather stuff is really starting to grow. I have been busy taking care of everything I have growing, keeping pests at bay, as well as planting new crops.

The next two weeks I will be planting more warm weather crops….. tomatoes, squash, beans, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, melons….. as well as more lettuce, carrots, beets, radish, turnips, onions, leeks, chard, kale, and mustard greens. I direct seed the squash, beans, cucumbers, carrots, beets, radish and turnips and the rest are from transplants that I started last month. I am fortunate to have Oscar Carmona and Jeff Kramer of Healing Grounds Nursery (completely organic and a very unique wholesale nursery, check them out at healinggroundsnusery.com) literally right next to my field. Oscar is a great guy and has been big help to my cause. He is currently allowing me to use space in one of his greenhouses to do my starts.

As far as field pests go the weeds are definitely number one, gophers in a close second, and beetles really picking up the pace. My remedies include lots of hoeing (I’ve been borrowing a Glaser wheel hoe which is amazing), consistent gopher traps (cinch traps), and the a vacuum that I’ve been sucking up cucumber beetle with (craftsman shop vac). Nothing works perfect but my remedies are slowly improving and with a bit of luck I feel confident I can keep things under control so that plants are healthy and still producing come harvest time.

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Tags: CSA, farmer's market, gophers, pests, glaser wheel hoe

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September 16th

September 16th, 2009
Four Frog Farm | Blog

Late on Saturday afternoon, Logan and I found ourselves walking through the rows of august-planted swiss chard. Row upon row yielded heavy damage to the chard plants due to leafminers.

What to do?

The scenario made us think about our motives and how we were to have a sustainable farm. This year, we have way too many weeds and too many herbivorous insects (squash bugs and beetles, aphids, leafminers, cabbage whites, tomato/corn ear worm, - to name a few).

We decided to focus on the health and strength of the soil, and it starts with the chard area. We are going to focus even more on cover crops, and add in a new dimension which, we believe, will be the lynchpin of our fertility program for years to come. That new dimension is pastoral rotation of chickens and goats on fallow ground. That will help supply the vital nutrients that we are lacking this year.

I look forward to this new step for our farm.

Tags: cover crops, pests, chickens, fertility, goats

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Terrible Day

August 25th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

I am so sick of aphids. Why are they everywhere? Lord, what did I do wrong? My farm has a huge natural population of aphids that just exploded once the succulent vegetable plants came on the scene. Once the veggies arrived, the aphids latched on way quicker than the ladybugs, lacewings and syphids could eat them. Geeeeze. Farming is tough, for me. I guess that makes the triumphs that much better. I have learned a lot of lessons this year. One is that, sometimes, farming sucks. I wanted… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: advice, aphids, farming, pests

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Eye of the Tiger

April 29th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

In each of the last two days I have seen a rattlesnake. In years past I considered this animal my enemy, out for my flesh and blood and possibly my car. Now we are devout friends. I encourage them to go after our mutual enemy, senyor Gopher. I like to believe that the rattlers are as vigorous in hunting the gophers as the Gopher Snakes are (aka King Snakes). I feel like the emergence of the Rattlers as of late signals the emergence of my inner warrior. I am being serious… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: animals, gopher, pests, rattlesnake

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Gopher Woes

April 7th, 2008
Four Frog Farm | Blog

As I was planting out some celery and parsley by the greenhouse, I happened to glance over by the tomato rows, a few hundred feet away. I saw something move…just like a gopher. So I ran over, small boulder in hand, hoping to catch the little guy unaware. As I drew nearer, I saw his cute little face. I felt a little bit evil, admiring his cuteness, with the intent to smash his skull. So, as a more humane approach, I ran to get a gopher trap, which I promptly placed into… Read the rest of this article »

Tags: celery, gophers, parsley, pests, tomatoes, vegan, vegetarian

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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