Variety Trial Results

Here is a compilation of the varieties that grew in the winter trial and how they fared. Now mind you this is for my trial in my climate and we had some fertility issues and a few freezes.
A 10 is I would not till the earth without planting this variety and a 1 being I would not waste my time planting free seeds that were given to me and someone planting them for me.
carrot- Nelson 7
carrot- Sugarsnax 6.5
collards - Champion 6
dandelion - Catalogna special 8
mustards - Green wave 6.6
arugula - 7
lettuce - Black seeded simpson 9
lettuce - Parris island romaine 2
lettuce - Sylvesta butterhead 8.5
lettuce - Cerbiatta oakleaf 6
lettuce - Natividad red lollo 2
lettuce - New red fire 8
escarole - Natacha 1
escarole - Eros 1
cabbage - Gonzales 2
cauliflower - snow crown 5
beets - Red ace 7
radish - 1.5 (had a bunch of cracking)
snowpeas - froze out
The onion and garlic have not finished yet so we are still waiting on those. My favorite were the carrots, beets, and the few lettuces that did well in our climate. If you had similar results or different results let us know and please state your climate and location.

Test Results In...A+!

I can hardly believe it. We got our results from the soil test in and it was incredibly good. We have increased our organic matter of the soil from about 2% to 7.1% in a single season! Organic matter in the soil is the water, nutrient, and microbial sponge that releases and protects the crop plants. Having a fertile soil is the mainstay of an organic crop. Our cover crop winter rygrass and our horse manure has greatly increased the fertility of our trial plot. We have the equivalent of 186 lbs of Nitrogen, 736 lbs of P2O5 (phosphorous oxide), and 439 lbs of K2O (Potash) per acre. Those numbers are very high. In fact much higher than needed to grow a decent crop. Our nitrate nitrogen was only 7 parts per million which means that the soluble form of nitrogen that plants use is very low. All our nitrogen is tied up in organic matter that has not released yet. Amazingly the recommendations from the agricultural lab was to add 100lbs of Nitrogen per acre and 20 lbs of potash to release those nutrients to the plants quicker. I called and asked why they would want even more fertilizer on the field and they said that it would depend on how the weather went if that fertility in the soil would release to the plants. I think that I will supplement some of trials and not other to see if there is indeed a difference. The crops are growing very well and looking very nice so far. We have little baby squash, cucumbers, and melons forming on the plants.

Spring Blossoms Forth New Life

Welcome Baby Nathan!

Welcome to the newest member of the Steed Farm and clan! Nathan Thomas Steed came into this world on March 31, 2008 16:05. He weighed 7lbs, 13 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. He is doing very well and Jennifer is doing great as well. His big sister Anna (20 months old) is handling her role quite well. Thank God everything went well. Jenn gave birth entirely natural. I am extremely proud of how well she did through the whole process. I had forgotten how little sleep we get in the beginning. I find it so miraculous that a child can go from not breathing air to inhaling his first breath in seconds. There will be plenty of work and play waiting for you Nathan as soon as you are ready for it!

A Carolina wren hiding in her nest.

Each year, much the same way that the return of the swallows at San Juan Capistrano, or the first Robins of the spring appear, or the return of the monarch butterflies are heralded, I too have inflection points throughout the year. Signposts of the season that remind me of the cyclical nature of the year. At our farm I always anticipate the finding of the Carolina wren nests in spring time. You can usually see them darting to and fro in the late winter hunting for a meal and nest sites. I have had them nest in tractors, one gallon stacked pots, and mostly in our shop. We have had them every year that I have occupied this farm. Sometimes they will have a couple of nest in a year. This year my father went to grab those pruners that you see in the picture and the mother wren flew out from her nest and scared the daylights out of him. I almost did the same thing until I caught sight of the nest. You can barely see her, but I assure you there is a mother wren sitting on four eggs in this nest. We always work around the nesting mothers since I like having them about. They are after all fun to watch and free pest control.