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.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
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/
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