Another couple of weeks with extremely hot temperatures (70-84). In the greenhouse last week we registered 104 as a high and 42 as a low. It is hard to believe that it is Christmas time with it being so hot. I have noticed that many of the strawberry fields around us aren't flowering anymore. Ours are starting to bloom and we should be picking in a few weeks. I'm not sure if our's are just behind schedule and catching up or if there is a variety difference. We are using the variety 'Camino Real' which is a late fruiting variety and is different than what most of the growers are using around the county. It is finally starting to set fruit which should pick in about two weeks time.
We planted more bok choi, komatsuna, lettuce, scallions, cabbage and red cabbage this week.
The eggplants are really producing now and look great. Our first ripe tomato is ready in the greenhouse with more following. We will probably harvest roselle this week. The mustards are starting to die from the heat. The onions, broccoli, and beets aren't fairing well either but should make a harvest. It would be nice to see some milder, less humid temperatures to moderate the cool-season crops.
I received the replacement parts to use the tractor implements (disc bedder and cultivating sweeps) and wound up breaking the remaining first bolt and the new bolt in less than three passes through the fields. I don't think that I am doing anything wrong as I used the same set up from a friend for a couple of weeks. I think that these bolts aren't made to last. However, I could be making rookie mistakes. I haven't called Agrisupply to see what is to be done yet as I wanted to wait till after the holidays. So a call is on the list of things to do this week.
Saturday, December 26, 2015
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Week 3, Season 15-16
Things are progressing well at Steed Farms. Crops are growing well now. The sweet potatoes are a little hit or miss depending upon the plant, this season, but they are much better shaped than last year. We have already harvested lettuce for Week 2 and that is a new farm record. Eggplants will be picked this weekend for another early record. The new fertilizer is working well and it is great with our new disc bedder. I borrowed this equipment from Bilbrey Farms and I liked it so much I purchased one. It is saving us many hours of hand labor that we normally would have spent. I can also use it for cultivating between the row with sweeps (picture to follow soon). I tried to use it last week and broke a wedge bolt that holds down the shank, when I was tightening it with a wrench. It looked like it was porous metal inside. It wasn't even an hour on the tractor. I was able to hobble along and make a new bed with it using just one side of the implement. I can even use it to cover the edges of the plastic which used to be done by hand with a shovel all the way down the row. The nice thing was that I called Agri-supply and they said they would sent another bolt free of charge.
Our carrots are doing great in the raised bed and I am glad I tried this out this year. We will be picking them way early for another early farm record if they keep growing the way they are now. Green beans are about done as are the squash. I should have planted one more succession of beans but I thought that it would be getting too cold for them to grow now. This fall has been a warm one and it is slowing down the kale, collards, broccoli, and turnips. The good side is that the warm season plants have kept on growing to allow us to harvest. We will see how this winter turns out.
Our carrots are doing great in the raised bed and I am glad I tried this out this year. We will be picking them way early for another early farm record if they keep growing the way they are now. Green beans are about done as are the squash. I should have planted one more succession of beans but I thought that it would be getting too cold for them to grow now. This fall has been a warm one and it is slowing down the kale, collards, broccoli, and turnips. The good side is that the warm season plants have kept on growing to allow us to harvest. We will see how this winter turns out.
Friday, November 27, 2015
Season Start 2015-2016 Week 1
The good news and bad news...Our first week of the season's pick-ups is already here and I am rather reluctantly getting on the blog to create a post. I am looking forward to this year's produce, but I must admit that blogging about it isn't as fun as working out at the farm.
Our start has been a mixture of good news and bad, as it goes with much in the way of farming. We got a really good jump on the season. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant were all started well early and we already have fruit on the plants. This is about 2-3 months early as I can remember it from last season. I planted a new variety of corn that was able to germinate in cool soil but apparently it was not a good pick. This was the first time I tried sweet corn for a fall crop. The good news is that it is ready now; the bad news is that it only developed 2-4 inch ears. I'm not sure what went wrong on that variety. I guess I should do a fall sweet corn trial next year to find a variety that will work for our location. The other bad news is that every fall is different here so it makes trying to pick an all around variety a little difficult.
We had a very nice cool spell period with low humidity early on when we planted the squashes. I planted yellow, zucchini, and star burst (patty pan, or scallop) squash. The good news is that this was the best year ever for our yellow and patty pan; that bad news is that the best harvest was about 2-3 weeks ago.
Our sweet potatoes were started out by cuttings that I made from volunteer runners in the field from last year. We doubled the amount we planted from our trial last year. The good news is that the roots are growing much straighter this year since I didn't start them out in liner trays; the bad news is that I might have used too much organic fertilizer as the roots aren't as developed as last year. We got loads of top growth but the yield seems a bit too low.
We started a fall crop of red potatoes this year. I thought I would get a great early start to the crop; good news. The bad news is that there must have been some sprout inhibitor on them. I waited 6-8 weeks and they never formed sprouts, then they rotted. We will try again early spring.
Overall, we have had more good news than bad. I hope the rest of the season progresses with more good news than bad.
Our start has been a mixture of good news and bad, as it goes with much in the way of farming. We got a really good jump on the season. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant were all started well early and we already have fruit on the plants. This is about 2-3 months early as I can remember it from last season. I planted a new variety of corn that was able to germinate in cool soil but apparently it was not a good pick. This was the first time I tried sweet corn for a fall crop. The good news is that it is ready now; the bad news is that it only developed 2-4 inch ears. I'm not sure what went wrong on that variety. I guess I should do a fall sweet corn trial next year to find a variety that will work for our location. The other bad news is that every fall is different here so it makes trying to pick an all around variety a little difficult.
We had a very nice cool spell period with low humidity early on when we planted the squashes. I planted yellow, zucchini, and star burst (patty pan, or scallop) squash. The good news is that this was the best year ever for our yellow and patty pan; that bad news is that the best harvest was about 2-3 weeks ago.
Our sweet potatoes were started out by cuttings that I made from volunteer runners in the field from last year. We doubled the amount we planted from our trial last year. The good news is that the roots are growing much straighter this year since I didn't start them out in liner trays; the bad news is that I might have used too much organic fertilizer as the roots aren't as developed as last year. We got loads of top growth but the yield seems a bit too low.
We started a fall crop of red potatoes this year. I thought I would get a great early start to the crop; good news. The bad news is that there must have been some sprout inhibitor on them. I waited 6-8 weeks and they never formed sprouts, then they rotted. We will try again early spring.
Overall, we have had more good news than bad. I hope the rest of the season progresses with more good news than bad.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Eat Your Veggies
I was on the way to the farm to pick our Saturday morning produce and heard a very interesting People's Pharmacy episode. I am not a regular listener of this show but really enjoyed this topic. It was about increasing health through eating a Mediterreanan diet. Mainly the thrust of the program was that eating fruits, vegetables, and good oils does wonders to your internal chemistry. So naturally, any program that highlights vegetables and fruits as a plus for health and I perk up. If you'd like to give it a listen here is the podcast link http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2015/04/15/show-989-the-mediterranean-zone-diet/
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Stewarding Creation
Ecology has been on my mind recently. We had two ecologically significant days pass this week, Earth Day and National Arbor Day. Also, as a member of The Apostleship of Prayer, I pledge to pray daily, in unity with 50 million others around the world, for two prayer intentions picked by the pope each month. One of which happens to be, "That people may learn to respect creation and care for it as a gift of God." In light of that, I thought that our family might step up our ecologically friendly activities a little compared to usual. It started by planting a jaboticaba tree in the backyard. This is a very interesting tree native to Brazil which produces grape-like fruit all over the trunk.
I was then able to talk with Anna's class about the importance of agriculture and our practices on the farm. I explained how we conserve resources and promote life by not spraying pesticides and choosing our crops wisely. Those kids had the most thoughtful questions I ever had from a third grade class. I intended to speak for twenty minutes and reluctantly had to leave after an hour with questions still flying at me. I even had to dance around a question about chicks in the eggs. I could tell the young lady wasn't satisfied with the answer. "OK, next question."
I then had an idea that on Earth Day our family would not turn on any lights after the sun went down to conserve the burning of fossil fuel and we could imagine what it would be like to not have electricity. Amazingly everyone humored me by going along with it. This was an interesting exercise. It was extremely hard not to cheat and we did a few times to find our way in the dark. But it was also unifying as we all sat out on the porch at dusk where the light was the greatest and just hung out together. I thought that was the best part of the event. It was funny to see everyone scrambling around when the sun went down (including myself) to finish activities that needed light like showers, brushing teeth, getting pjs on, putting away the dishes, etc. Anna said that she did not like the event because she wanted the lights on. It would be an interesting phenomenon if we all took part in a similar event in the US to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. What if we did that once a month; Once a week?
Today, Arbor Day, I got to plant a live oak tree with Noah and the three year old kids at preschool. This was my favorite event. We all got to struggle to pull off the root-bound container. They then got to cheer me on as I showed them circling roots as big as my thumb that should be cut off with my blunt shovel. "You can do it!" they kept encouraging me as I repeatedly brought down blows of my shovel with no success. I nearly gave up until I was able to break it with my hand and they all cheered. "Look how strong he is!" Maybe, "Look how unprepared he is," would have been a better statement. Next time I bring my hand clippers. In my questioning I asked, "What do trees do for us?" I should have asked, "What good things do trees do for us?" My first response from a child was, "They can fall on you!" Gulp! "Uh, yes they can fall on you." I can tell that this child will have a great career ahead of him in insurance.
I wrapped up the day with a tree give-away to Hillsborough County residents at the Extension office. One hundred trees ready to give away to only the first lucky people to register. My fears were that they would be lined down the road waiting for a tree. My fears were completely the opposite when only two people were in our conference room at six o'clock. We wound up getting a few extras for a total of five people. A rather disappointing finale to the week but overall I think we accomplished a little good in the community.
If you did anything special this week to improve our environment let us know.
Anyone need a free tree?
I was then able to talk with Anna's class about the importance of agriculture and our practices on the farm. I explained how we conserve resources and promote life by not spraying pesticides and choosing our crops wisely. Those kids had the most thoughtful questions I ever had from a third grade class. I intended to speak for twenty minutes and reluctantly had to leave after an hour with questions still flying at me. I even had to dance around a question about chicks in the eggs. I could tell the young lady wasn't satisfied with the answer. "OK, next question."
I then had an idea that on Earth Day our family would not turn on any lights after the sun went down to conserve the burning of fossil fuel and we could imagine what it would be like to not have electricity. Amazingly everyone humored me by going along with it. This was an interesting exercise. It was extremely hard not to cheat and we did a few times to find our way in the dark. But it was also unifying as we all sat out on the porch at dusk where the light was the greatest and just hung out together. I thought that was the best part of the event. It was funny to see everyone scrambling around when the sun went down (including myself) to finish activities that needed light like showers, brushing teeth, getting pjs on, putting away the dishes, etc. Anna said that she did not like the event because she wanted the lights on. It would be an interesting phenomenon if we all took part in a similar event in the US to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. What if we did that once a month; Once a week?
Today, Arbor Day, I got to plant a live oak tree with Noah and the three year old kids at preschool. This was my favorite event. We all got to struggle to pull off the root-bound container. They then got to cheer me on as I showed them circling roots as big as my thumb that should be cut off with my blunt shovel. "You can do it!" they kept encouraging me as I repeatedly brought down blows of my shovel with no success. I nearly gave up until I was able to break it with my hand and they all cheered. "Look how strong he is!" Maybe, "Look how unprepared he is," would have been a better statement. Next time I bring my hand clippers. In my questioning I asked, "What do trees do for us?" I should have asked, "What good things do trees do for us?" My first response from a child was, "They can fall on you!" Gulp! "Uh, yes they can fall on you." I can tell that this child will have a great career ahead of him in insurance.
I wrapped up the day with a tree give-away to Hillsborough County residents at the Extension office. One hundred trees ready to give away to only the first lucky people to register. My fears were that they would be lined down the road waiting for a tree. My fears were completely the opposite when only two people were in our conference room at six o'clock. We wound up getting a few extras for a total of five people. A rather disappointing finale to the week but overall I think we accomplished a little good in the community.
If you did anything special this week to improve our environment let us know.
Anyone need a free tree?
Friday, April 10, 2015
Transition Time
This time of year is always a bit tricky. I thought that maybe it was just me that struggled to get a change of fresh new produce to the pick up table on Saturday this time of the season, but it seems I am not the only one. I got a call from another farmer who was wondering what we had for sale and was looking to purchase items for his customers. I told him that I was late on winter crops and too early for the warm season crops. He told me he was in the same boat. In fact, he had called a few other growers who repeated the same sentiments. Nobody had anything new yet. It seems that from my conversation with him, we are all "caught with our plants down" at this time of year. I mentioned this in my last post when we don't have a moderate spring to taper off the winter and slowly start the summer. Throw in the use of organic fertilizer and the crops are slower still to reach maturity. I am just happy I am not the only one looking at the field and scratching my head.
It won't be long before the potatoes are ready and they are looking great this year. Beets are new and are ready this week. Green beans won't be too long and then leeks are sizing up. Just a little bit more waiting to go.
It won't be long before the potatoes are ready and they are looking great this year. Beets are new and are ready this week. Green beans won't be too long and then leeks are sizing up. Just a little bit more waiting to go.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Week 15, 2014-15
We are in the transition time at the farm. I always seem to have a small bump in the production road at this time when last cold transitions immediately to summer heat. The plants are experiencing freezing temperatures one week and then 90 degree days the next week. It is too cool to plant warm weather crops in the field for fear of cold damage and then the cool season crops get too hot and fare poorly. It would be nice with a moderate spring weather that transitions a little more slowly into our hot summer-like weather. I guess I would probably have to move to another location to farm in that kind of weather.
We have planted all our corn and some of our beans last week. I hope to plant some okra and a few more beans this week. Last week I planted squash and zucchini again. Our watermelon seedlings are starting to germinate (yes I am trying watermelon again) and we will try out some butternut squash. I hope to plant some pumpkin and some eggplant again this week as well. We also have a few more leek seedlings to plant out. A lot of work for this next week!
We have planted all our corn and some of our beans last week. I hope to plant some okra and a few more beans this week. Last week I planted squash and zucchini again. Our watermelon seedlings are starting to germinate (yes I am trying watermelon again) and we will try out some butternut squash. I hope to plant some pumpkin and some eggplant again this week as well. We also have a few more leek seedlings to plant out. A lot of work for this next week!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Week 13, 2014-15
Finally a cold blast has hit. We came out of the weather in pretty good shape except for the zucchini which amazingly produced for 12 weeks and eggplant which never produced a fruit. Otherwise we were good. We covered up a few crops with freeze cloth and tightened up the greenhouse. We also moved around some cold sensitive crops to the shop overnight.
I noticed a potato starting to emerge from the row and I still haven't planted the another row yet, but that will give us a few weeks spacing between crops.
We harvested our first nice looking red cabbage last week and it tasted great. We had an awesome salad week with red kale, red cabbage, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, a little bit of broccoli, tomato, and some store bought carrots. Delicious! I was surprised to see everyone gobbling it up and the whole bowl of salad disappeared in a day.
I planted more lettuce and cauliflower this last week and some more carrots. I'd like to see our own in the refrigerator. I also sowed seeds for eggplants, peppers, and butternut squash. We are going to give that a try this year from a recommendation I got at the end of last season.
I noticed a potato starting to emerge from the row and I still haven't planted the another row yet, but that will give us a few weeks spacing between crops.
We harvested our first nice looking red cabbage last week and it tasted great. We had an awesome salad week with red kale, red cabbage, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, a little bit of broccoli, tomato, and some store bought carrots. Delicious! I was surprised to see everyone gobbling it up and the whole bowl of salad disappeared in a day.
I planted more lettuce and cauliflower this last week and some more carrots. I'd like to see our own in the refrigerator. I also sowed seeds for eggplants, peppers, and butternut squash. We are going to give that a try this year from a recommendation I got at the end of last season.
beautiful red cabbage
protecting the greens
ice in the field
Week 12 harvest
Monday, February 9, 2015
Week 10, 2014-15
We are approaching the halfway point of the season, which is hard to believe. We are having varying degrees of success with different crops. This year the lettuce is looking great, whereas last year we struggled to produce a couple weeks of lettuce. We are now into our third week of lettuce and hopefully it will remain strong. Broccoli is intermittent and started off poorly with a hungry rabbit. We have had two weeks of harvest and will have to wait a few more for another round. Last year the tomatoes were great with cherry and larger fruiting tomatoes aplenty. This year the tomatoes are being affected by something to be determined. Nothing has changed culturally except I have switched to a clear plastic roof as opposed to a white roof to increase light and get better fruiting. That seemed to be the case until I noticed the 'Sakuras' getting some sort of leaf scortch or blight. It is now on the 'Charger' and 'Celebrity'. Hopefully we will be able to determine what it is. Carrots are not cooperating again. Two years ago we had the same issue. Last year we had decent success. A big winner this year is the sweet potato 'Covington'. This will be the 10th week of harvest off of one row. We have planted one row of red LaSoda potatoes thanks to help from the boys (Nathan and Noah) and some awkward help from a scraper blade turned furrow maker/hiller. It took a while to get the implement to cooperate and I broke a hammer in the process, but it beat digging a trench and covering it by hand. We will wait a week and plant another row. I also have some 'Peter Wilcox' to try out, which is a purple skinned/yellow flesh variety that is supposedly really tasty. We will see...
checking out the new potato furrow
finished potato hill
snake in the field
Friday, January 23, 2015
Week 8, Season 2014-15
The season is progressing rather quickly this year and we are now approaching week eight. I have been watching our strawberries start to ripen up and I have had the good fortune to randomly pick a few tasty, precocious fruit that are ready; one of the perks of doing all the work myself. aside from sharing with the insects and pests, I can eat the first ones that are ready.
The covercrops are finally in on all the other fields to grow organic matter for the future. We had a late start but hopefully the past rains will encourage the crops to grow. Rye, ryegrass, and trying clover again. Clover didn't do well last time I tried it. I'll give it another shot.
Tomatoes and peppers are ripening, one here and one there. I have been looking forward to the tomatoes. It should be soon, maybe a few weeks.
Eggplants are still surviving the winter, but no fruit as of yet. I am starting to get a little jittery about planting our potato crop as it has been so warm.
Nate and I have been thinking about digging a small pond for tilapia for the harvest of next year. We haven't figured out how to feed them everyday. So we are still in the thinking phase.
first strawberries
The covercrops are finally in on all the other fields to grow organic matter for the future. We had a late start but hopefully the past rains will encourage the crops to grow. Rye, ryegrass, and trying clover again. Clover didn't do well last time I tried it. I'll give it another shot.
Tomatoes and peppers are ripening, one here and one there. I have been looking forward to the tomatoes. It should be soon, maybe a few weeks.
Eggplants are still surviving the winter, but no fruit as of yet. I am starting to get a little jittery about planting our potato crop as it has been so warm.
Nate and I have been thinking about digging a small pond for tilapia for the harvest of next year. We haven't figured out how to feed them everyday. So we are still in the thinking phase.
cool colored roots
conjoined twins turnips
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