Pest Control Operations

I have always thought that the most important thing a farmer can put on his crops is his/her shadow. In other words being observant to what is going on in the field is extremely important when you are limited to a handful of organic pesticides. In an operation like ours there is no easy way out in dealing with pests. We can't just mindlessly and indiscriminately spray our fields with insecticides. Being observant is crucial to understanding what and when things are going on with pests and their predators. I've noticed during the fall and into the spring small flocks of little migratory birds fly across the fields generally moving east or west and stop to pick insects off the plants. I have watched them pick off aphids from the leaves and then hop to the next plant to do the same. It seems that we are in a major flight path for these little predators. I've also noticed that they tend to fly to a spot that is higher than the surroundings in relative terms.In this picture of my freakishly large red bok choi that I am waiting to save seeds from there is one leaf that is taller than the surroundings and it attracts many bird stops. You can see it sticking up on the top picture. Apparently to the birds it is a great lay over spot. The next picture supports my observations. With having a small farm we have the benefit of being able to increase the biodiversity of the farmed land to enhance the productivity. I had the idea that maybe I could get the flight path changed somewhat. I thought that I might place little roosting posts around crops that typically attract pests to see if I can slightly deviate the flight path to our benefit and the benefit of the birds.

I will place the roosts this weekend and observe what happens. The picture above is the bird in action in the bok choi/leek row. I believe that it is a palm warbler. Earlier in the year we planted mulberry trees along the edge of the vegetable plots to offer cover to birds that might hang out in the fields a little longer. It seems that if there is no structure they tend not to linger in the open. I am also hoping to build some fertility to the ground with planting deciduous tree crops and gain a little shade for plants that stress out in the summer heat such as lettuce. We will also be able to harvest the berries when they are ripe. Hopefully it will be a win, win, win, win solution.

Week 6, 2011

Things are going fairly well this season aside from dramatic weather changes. Our diakon radish are doing great and are very tasty. Jennifer put them into a stew last week and they were delicious. They almost tasted like a carrot but not quite. Mustards are looking good and the bok choi keeps producing. The tomatoes are still trying to brave the cold and we are still picking them with Celebrity far outpacing the other varieties and Uncle Matts wild tomato heavily producing the miniature cherries and still looking great.

The rye, wheat, and oat plot have tillered and are slowly building up their momentum to produce a seed head. The picture above is the small plot with rye up front then wheat and oats in the foreground.

The chickens are starting to lay a few eggs again. About 2 per week at the moment. I am looking forward to giving everyone eggs this year.

Pines Take Two

It was a long and gruelling week at Steed Farms. We replanted the Andrew Steed Pine Forest with roughly 6000 pines (8 foot between plants and 10 foot between rows) over 12 acres. We planted pine tubelings this time instead of the bareroot seedlings and hopefully they will do better than last year. They are about 5 inches of roots and 6-10 inches of tops. We were told to leave about 0.5 inches of the top of the root ball above the ground. Unfortunately the pine planter that we rented is extremely difficult to plant to a certain depth with any accuracy. It is a neat planter and the same one that we rented last year. But it doesn't lend itself to accurate depth of placement. So my father, brother, and I have walked every row of pines and when needed hand adjusted each seedling or planted a new seedling where there was a skip. We even planted about 6 rows completely by hand to see if that was faster. It wound up being about just as fast and easier on the body to use the tractor pulled planter. The weather could not be better for this planting. It rained the entire day we planted and some the next day. We had a few days of sun and then more rain and the forecast is predicting more in a few more days. Just perfect. We could not ask for better weather for newly planted pines. In graduate school I volunteered to work at a lab managers Christmas tree farm. After I was thinking about taking Martin Luther King Day off to plant the trees I remembered him telling me that he always tried to plant his Christmas tree pines around this date in the field because it always rains. That advice seemed like it worked this year. He might be a better climatologist than the experts who said that this would be a warmer and drier winter than normal.

One of the days this week before going out to adjust the depth of the pines we planted, I hoed the weeds in a row of vegetables. I stopped to sample a bite from a leaf of the komatsuna which I have never tried before and is a new crop for us. It is also called Japanese spinach mustard. It was delicious. I know this is hard to believe after eating our bok choi, napa cabbage, and brocolli raab, but it is one of the best greens I have tasted. It was almost sweet like spinach but without the bitter taste and with a hint of brassica flavor. I am really looking forward to its harvest. I was reading that you can harvest the older leaves like collards and let it grow through the Spring. I will be planting more this weekend. I have also been busy planting lettuce,cabbage, more napa, bok choi, and turnips. I hope to start planting potatoes this week and then start the transplants for more tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers.