Seed Catalogs

If you buy seeds from seed catalogs, December is generally the time that they start arriving in your mailbox.  With the winter solstice behind us we can start to think about spring and start planning our vegetables - what goes where, and how much we think we'll need. Looking into the catalogs is a great way to make your mind feel the warmth of summer, at least until you look away from the catalogs.  Not that we mind the winter months either. It's been cold but we only have about 6 inches of snow on the ground, so chores are not a burden and it feels like winter should be. But for a real taste of spring in the winter I have been going into the high tunnel on sunny days.  I can't help but going out and marveling at the temperature. When the sun is shining the temperature stays in the upper 50's, and seeing the green carpet of rye along with the warmth and humidity, it's just amazing. We love showing it off, so if you feel like taking a step into spring in the deepest part of the winter, take a sunny day and stop out for a visit.

The Flavor of Local

We are really into the concept of eating what is grown close to home. For us the closer the better.  Local chicken, beef, vegetables and fruit are such a treat for us that some nights when we are sitting down to dinner, we can't help but give thanks for how blessed we are to have our meal come from our farm and local growers. I think that's why we're also such fans of eating wild game. When we take ducks, geese, pheasant, doves, deer, rabbit and squirrel, we think that it's such a blessing to be able to eat something that carries the flavor of its local habitat so strongly. If you live down South and take a deer that lives in the woods, they call it an acorn-deer, not just because of what it eats, but also because of the distinctive flavor of the deer from what it eats. Here we have the luxury of animals that are flavored by alfalfa hay, corn, soybeans and some small grains.  What a blessing it is. I hope that you get to enjoy some too.

High Tunnel Officially Open

Auto-roll-up side controller. Shows temp of 82.2F

Rye looks good.

The high tunnel is officially up and running.  Okay, its been up and running for a little while, but the rye that was planted inside has finally made it up high enough that pictures can show that the high tunnel is doing its job of keeping things warm enough to grow plants.  Today it was 82F and 93% humidity in the high tunnel when I went out this morning.  For sure, the night time temps are only about 10 degrees inside the high tunnel above the outside temps, so this is no green house, but with the daytime temps going into the 80's our lettuces, radish and peas have already sprouted.

Wendell Williams

Our neighbor and friend Wendell Williams pass away yesterday.  He will be missed by many, and very, very missed by our family. Wendell was someone who was often the first to know about our next "great" farm plan, and yet as unconventional and probably crazy as our plans may have seemed to him, he was always supportive and seemed to enjoy the uniqueness of our plans. He did our custom planting and harvesting, and could be counted on to have a solution to the crazy conditions and timing that made even us cringe.  Green alfalfa in the beans at harvest? Not a problem, he just said he took a nice cutting of hay with the beans. Small and misshaped fields? That was okay too - he made it workout. We really enjoyed his visits and I will forever remember and miss the sound of the kids yelling "Wendell's here!" whenever he stopped by.  I enjoyed working with him and knowing him. He was a good man and our family was very blessed to have known him.

Winter Greens from our High Tunnel

I can taste the fresh greens already! Why? Because the high tunnel is up and covered! It was a tough long process, but in the end we got it done.  We had to pull some long days, working into the night and starting before the sun came up, but when those greens are on the table, lightly dressed, we'll look back at all of the work with fond memories - I hope.  Mark and Harvey got us off to a good start, and Harvey hung with us through the project as electrician turned general labor, so we thank them both. The roll-up sides work great, but we have one other minor issue to work with on them, besides waiting on a new replacement temperature probe that the goats ate. Then the high tunnel will be auto-temperature controlled and the growing can start.

I've been so busy the past couple of weeks that I seem to just run from one task to the next which is great, and I love the work, but lately it feels like I go from one bump to the next.  We've been baling corn stalks for feed and for sale, but after about 30 bales I broke a couple of belts on the baler.  It looked like there was a rock that got between the belts and the baler so I ran to John Deere to drop the belts off to get them fixed and switched over to chopping stalks for a neighbor.  Then when the belts were done I switched back to baling only to run out of twine int he baler and have to run to town for more twine. Nothing major wrong, but every bump seems to make the jobs seem to run long.

The high tunnel is done! Okay, not actually done, but everything but the cover is on. Harvey DeGraw came over this week and wired the control box for the auto side curtains and we even tested the motors.  We missed the warm, sunny, windless days by one day, so we're waiting on a day that fits that description to pull the plastic over the top. Its been a long building process, but I think we're ready to go as soon as the weather cooperates.

Today I should be hauling corn for a neighbor.  He combined my corn for me and we did really well. The corn hybrids these days are amazing, the way that they can handle the drought and still produce a decent yield.  George will finish baling stalks today.  We should have well over 100 large round bales.

Corn and High Tunnel

We've been flying along on the high tunnel.  We're down to the final pieces that are needed to hold the plastic on, and then we'll be putting on the automated roll up side curtains parts. I'm hoping that this coming week we'll be able to pull the cover on.  Now that we're nearing completion I can see all of the ways that I could have made things go a little faster and smoother, but that's always the way when you do a project for the first time.  I've made some major changes to our high tunnel based on the input from other guys who have had their high tunnels up and had serious issues with manufacturer design flaws.  Weak side walls and zippers were a major complaint that we heard from just about everyone, so we've installed hard sides made of fiber glass panels and wood framing to overcome that flaw.  We've put in sliding doors and a man-door on the west side of the high tunnel as well.  Regulating temperatures was the other issue that we have heard regularly so we went ahead and invested in the temperature controlled automatic side curtains.  This was a huge expense, but we figured that if we lose one set of plants because of our inability to manage the temperature, it would more than pay for the side curtains.
We'll take a break from the high tunnel today to combine and haul our corn.  We're hoping for a good crop and we'll know by the end of the day how we yielded.