Bootstrap Farm

Eat Your Greens!

2014-04-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Baby greens season is upon us! Now that we've finally gotten some rain, the fields are growing lush with forage for our ruminants that make the fertility for all the crops. We believe this is the year we can ween ourselves from the outside fertility input that we have been using since we started the farm (aka Arkansas chicken litter, yuck!) It has served its purpose, and was necessary for a time, but was never part of the long term fertility plan. These guys and the turkeys are the poop machines to close our on-farm fertility loop and make the farm actually sustainable. Yay!

We will be at the market tomorrow, and we will have tons more Tyee Spinach, and a new greens mix that is called Premium Greens Mix. It is spicy, has interesting textures, and is really colorful. We hope you like it as much as we do! There will be a little Mesclun mix too, if you come early, but nearly all of it went into the CSA. The CSA always comes first!

We also put in all of our tomatoes today, and we hope the storms this weekend don't beat them up too badly. This year we are planting some fantastic new varieties that we have high hopes for. Virginia Sweet, Cherokee Purple, and Sunsugar are our old standards. The new ones this year are Isis Candy and Big Raspberry. We are most excited about some new varieties that were just bred last year, for their high antioxidant levels: Indigo Blue Berries, and Indigo Blue Beauty. They have the highest anthocyanin pigment level of all the tomatoes. Anthocyanin is the red/purple pigment in tomatoes and most plants, and is a powerful antioxidant. We hope they are good! It will be a couple of months before we get to taste them.

Don

New Transplanter

2014-04-17T19:44:00.001-07:00

Our sweet corn transplants are ready to go out into the field. It looks like the weather is finally going to stay warm for a while, and the threat of frost is gone, we hope. We have around 3000 of them, which will hopefully make about 24 100 foot rows. That should be enough corn for good pollination.

When Martin Blume saw the picture of the transplants on facebook last week, he asked me "how are you going to transplant them?" and I said, "one at a time!" Within hours he had called his brother and asked if I could borrow their transplanter, since they don't plan on using it this year. I can't believe what a kind gesture that is, because this new transplanter will literally save Trey and I about three weeks worth of work over the next four months. Thanks, Martin!

The kindness and generosity of other farmers constantly amazes me. Its funny because you would think, as hard as we work, for such narrow profit margins, that we would be as ruthless and cutthroat as any industry. That is not the case though. Something about farming softens people, or at least, it brings out the positive qualities in a person. I suppose more than anything, the hardship of farming, and the helplessness to the elements that it entails are a constant antidote to the narcissism of modern life. Most days, I am proud of my work, and feel accomplished, but if ever an arrogant thought occurs it seems that the reality of farming intervenes and reminds me how little control I actually have over the bugs, weather, and sun. I guess I'm a "glass half full" kind of guy, because I think it has a good effect on my personality.

Oh yeah, and it got dark before I could get a photo of the new transplanter. Keep an eye on facebook.

-Don

A Wonderful Start to Market Season

2014-04-11T16:42:00.001-07:00

The first Cherry Street Farmers' market was a hit last week. I sold out totally of everything we grew that week. I don't think that has ever happened on the first market of the year! I want to especially thank Penni Shelton, our new Market Administrator, who has done an epic job of getting the word out about our awesome farmers' market!

This week, there is tons of spinach. We have two different kinds. Bloomsdale, which is great for cooking with, and Tyee, which is what you see here, and is the best salad spinach. This week we will be marking down the Bloomsdale to only $3 per bag because it is growing so fast! You can blanch it and freeze it and enjoy spinach all year round.

Our little chickens are growing up. They are always hungry, which I guess is normal for this Cornish X Rock. Joel Salatin calls them a "Race Car" breed, because they are picky, fuel hungry, and grow really fast. We are trying to decide if meat chickens should be a part of the farm, and early indications are looking good. I'm looking forward to some chicken. I better start building a plucker!

The First Market is Saturday!

2014-04-03T18:16:00.002-07:00

We are excited to begin a new market season! We'll be attending the first market this year too. We will have lots and lots of Bloomsdale Spinach!!! Yum. There will be sweet potatoes too, and pecans.

We've taken on some new friends too, we now have 10 sheep. They are our cover crop digesters. The idea is they can break down a cover crops for us, and spread their slow-release manure for the impending veggie crop. We will bring the turkeys in after the sheep, to clean up any bugs. It's a whole farm sanitation and fertility plan! This has been something we've been working towards for a long time, and it is really exciting to see it coming together. I just wish the sheep would eat more, and poop more! Maybe I'll have to get some more sheep.

Our summer transplants are doing well, and we are just a few days away from putting our sweet corn out. We plan on having the earliest sweet corn at the farmers' market, and probably the ONLY organic sweet corn! I'm super excited about that.

Don't forget to come see me at the market this Saturday, from 7AM-11AM at 15th and Quincy. There will be all kinds of farms, as well as craft and prepared food vendors!

Tending the Greenhouse Fires

2014-03-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

It's late, and this time of year I'm up at odd hours of the night tending the greenhouse fire. Our transplants are our babies right now, most of the plantings hinge on the success of the seedlings. The low tonight is expected to be about 6F, and with ambient temperatures that low it takes a lot of heat to keep the greenhouse warm. I chose a woodstove this year because it is a sustainable heat source, compared to propane, and a heck of a lot cheaper.

I've been learning a lot about how the different types of wood burn. Pecan and Black Walnut are the best logs to keep the fire burning for a few hours pumping out tons of heat. Hackberry is great, produces a lot of heat but doesn't last long enough. Boxwood is nearly worthless, and should only be burned during the day, because it will cook down in just a couple of hours.

The stove was so full of coals that I had to scoop them out into a wheelbarrow just to make room for more wood! It adds even more heat, and is probably a carbon monoxide hazard, so I don't stay in the greenhouse for long.

You can see the wind beating against the North wall of the greenhouse, and if you look closely you can see it carries a substantial amount of snow. The snow should stop in a couple of hours, and we already have about 3 inches! They predicted 1-2.

Winding Down the Season

2013-11-21T17:52:00.004-08:00

Its been a little while since I posted. I thought I should put myself back out there since I've been hiding in my farm cave for a couple of weeks. I'll be at the Winter market Saturday (tomorrow if you get this by email) from 8:30 to 11:00. I'll have a whole lot of sweet potatoes, and some other things, depending on the weather and what the magic soil gods have produced this week.

I'm getting really anxious about the prospect of processing all these turkeys. I think I have around 35 of them, and at this point I have orders for 23. I'm sure I'll get orders for a couple more, thanks to the wonderful marketing from the Cherry Street Farmer's Market email campaign! Thanks Pennie! I'm going to start lopping off heads Sunday. Wish me luck.

I came up with the nice sounding phrase "accepting the seasonality of farming" two weeks ago and it roughly describes what I've been doing. Nothing. Or at least it has felt like nothing. I just sort of do the minimum to keep the turkeys gobbling and the dog barking. Once we got the sweet potatoes put up and cured, the season very suddenly felt over. My work ethic has just collapsed. I trust it will come back. For now, though, I'm just tired. I'm starting to get the wheels turning again, but it takes some concentrated effort. Its only November, but this is the month I start planting for 2014! I guess I better get started.

If you would like to send kind words of encouragement, I could use them right now!

The Potato Digger Adventure

2013-10-09T20:52:00.002-07:00

I am my father's son, so when I see a good deal I just can't pass it up. That can be both good and bad. I had to drop what I was doing and get to Yantis, Texas where a large organic operation was selling everything and downsizing to live off-grid in Oregon.

Justin the farm welder cutting the platforms off the sides with the oxy-acetylene cutting torch.

The farmer, Kent, had over 1000 acres in certified organic production. He had everything from laying hens to Large Black hogs, to veggies, to perennials to annual fruits and veggies. He said he had operated a 200 member CSA through the year. He even had a certified organic dairy, processing facility, and beef cattle too. In Kent's words, "the government bureaucrats put me out of business." He described some ridiculously expensive and absurd requirements the TX department of agriculture had put on his dairy - not common sense food safety requirements, but a heavy handed and tone-deaf application of law. He described being ordered to put down 6000 laying hens because one had tested positive for salmonella! Never mind that according to recent studies, most broiler chickens from the grocery store carry Salmonella or Campylobacter. Why do you think raw CAFO chicken is practically a biohazard when people talk about kitchen cleanliness? Well, because it is. It really is. I got Campylobacter when I was a teenager, it is really, really terrible.

Coming in with the All-Terrain Crane so Justin doesn't drop the platform on himself.

I can't independently verify what Kent said to me about the forcible government intrusion, but he strongly advised me to stay out of large wholesale and stick to the CSA, to "stay under the radar." His CSA was his most rewarding enterprise and he is passing it on to his former CSA manager, Justin Bullocks, who has renamed it Red Moon Farm. I wish him the best! (but I'm glad I snatched his potato digger)

I arrived woefully unprepared for the massive hauling feat before me. My trailer is a 16' utility trailer and I had failed to ask how long the digger was. Twenty-two feet long! Kent had told me he had the necessary equipment to lift it. That meant he had an all-terrain crane just hanging around. Cool. Except it maxed out the crane, meaning it was over 6,000 lbs and my trailer is really rated for around 5,000 or less. Oh well! I certainly wasn't coming back empty handed.

So we loaded it anyways. It only took 3 guys about 4 hours to get it loaded, and I didn't get a particularly early start thanks to stopping to rewire the trailer, getting lost, buying some new tires, and possibly having enjoyed some fine contraband beer at the cheap motel the night before. Thanks Sulphur Springs, Texas!

Photos hardly do justice to the sketchy load I had behind my truck. It wagged a little over 65 mph and bounced a little too much so I kept it under 65 the whole way back; even less on the ragged roads. I've done this kind of thing before. I am my father's son, remember? I bounced a trailer off the highway at the age of 16 under his guidance, and did well to not dent the tailgate. It was a 2" hitch on an 1 7/8" ball. That eighth of an inch makes a big difference!

Touch-tone phone and New Belgium Brewery. Thanks Texas.

So having towed heavy loads before was helpful, but wouldn't keep my 8-year old radiator from cracking spontaneously. Cracked, after 8 long, hard, road-tire years. Hard, hot, long years. My tractor has over 40 years on the same radiator. There are still Ford 8N and 9N tractors rolling around from 1948 with original radiators, that's almost 70 years. A modern Ford can't get 8 years out of a radiator, because the top end is built out of Bakelite or some kind of fiberglass composite instead of aluminum to save money. Well, it saved me negative $650 and a boring night sleeping on the side of the highway waiting for the JB Weld to set up so I could drive it back to Paris, TX to replace the radiator. Thanks JB Weld, no thanks Ford! Even more thanks to the guys at the hardware store who offered me a ride down to Atwoods for the JB Weld! everybody I met in Texas was super helpful and awesome!

The load wasn't the problem

Postscript: I would like to add that the barbeque in Texas is not as good as the barbeque in Oklahoma. Thank You !

The Head Gasket Adventure

2013-10-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

We've been troubleshooting the tractor for a couple of months since before Matt left. It kept overheating under heavy loads, but just every now and then. Some days it would be fine. Then it would start purging the coolant out and getting way, way, too hot. The tractor is my life; on a one tractor farm I kind of baby the poor thing. It already has nearly 4,000 hours on it, and at least one overhaul. Its been cranking since 1972! So naturally, when I finally figured out that it had a blown head gasket I was ready to do anything to get it fixed. Anything except wait 2 weeks for my mechanic to do the job! So I did it myself. It wasn't really that hard, it just took time and $80. I couldn't have done it without Brice's help to pull the head and put it back on; thanks Brice! The head weighs about 100 pounds and is kind of precarious to handle. We got it off in about an hour, shockingly.

This is where the head gasket goes, and all the other stuff sits on top of it.

It took about 4 hours of cleaning to get the pistons, and deck surface to look that clean. There was a lot of wire brushing involved. The head and all other sealing surfaces got the same treatment, and went to John Deere for a hot water pressure wash.

The stuff that sits on top, from top of photo: intake manifold (green), rocker arm assembly, injectors (with black hoses), and exhaust manifold.

All together I think it was about a 7-8 hour job, except that you have to run it for an hour and then take it back apart and re-tighten the head bolts. No big deal, but it didn't run well afterward. I think it may be pulling air into one of the fuel pump fittings where I purged the diesel, because it is missing intermittently on all cylinders and not just on one. I'll get the rest of the replacement fittings in a day or two, then we'll find out.

Holding down the Wednesday Market

2013-09-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hey friends! Things have been crazy busy at the farm; I'm more than a little understaffed and trying do do it all myself. I can keep up with the daily tasks, with help from Brice on Tuesdays and Firdays, but it is hard to keep the far moving forward and growing when I'm doing the daily tasks like watering the turkeys, picking the okra, and doing the markets. Unfortunately the woman who was supposed to take Matt's place was MIA on her first day. She never even called, lame! We are doing well though. Christa helps where she can and does some of the markets with me.

Despite all my complaints, I had a major showing at the Wednesday market and will have again next week for sure. I had two tents and my truck backed in full of watermelons and cantaloupes!

Goodbye Matt! (and hello tomatoes)

2013-09-04T20:14:00.001-07:00

Well, Matt decided to leave the farm. He wanted to go back to the farm he came from and get back to friends, family, and a climate he is more familiar with. Maine sure sounds nice, some ice fishing in February sounds good to me right now! He should be back at the old farm in time for pumpkin season. I don't think the trip worked out well, though, since he blew a differential in Lebanon, MO. He's a resourceful guy, and was back in business in a day or so. Last I heard from him he was in NY, just a few hours from home. Its sad to see him go, because he was knowledgeable, dependable, and honest. It really is no surprise though because I could tell his heart was not into Organic production. Coming from a convention agriculture background, a lot of the things we were doing seemed silly to him, at best. I think it might have been different if I had more experience and knowledge and could have showed him that organic agriculture can be really efficient. I know it can be. I'm just not there yet, but I'm learning. Learning takes time and commitment. Learning organic agriculture is more tedious that just calling the agronomist or IPM tech and letting them tell you what pesticide to spray for bugs, or getting a soil test and going to the feed store for some urea, superphosphate, or potassium hydroxide.

I deeply respect conventional growers. This includes Matt, and Ed and Dan whom he now works for that I heard a lot about. This includes my neighbor, Fred, who plants conventional corn on the land that I haven't yet pulled into organic production. These people are hardworking Americans who deserve credit for all the sweat and blood that farming requires, whether it be organic or not. I strongly believe in honoring the traditions of our local communities, and the ways of life that have made them successful all these years. People often take for granted the agricultural products that they consume, and all the people wrapped up in bringing them to the grocery store. They also forget, when demonizing the Monstantos, ADMs, Cargills, and Simmons or the world that there are honest blue-collar farm families caught in the middle of a historical struggle between what is "efficient" and what the consumer wants to put in their body.

To put it frankly, I understand and see the merits of both sides. I have chosen which side I'm on. Organic all the way!

Yay! Tomatoes! After weeks of 20-30lbs per week, we are now harvesting around 300 lbs a week of heirloom tomatoes. I was greatly regretting my decision to do almost entirely heirlooms. I am still doubting that decision, but at least I have a lot of them. Beautiful, plump, and now unblemished (thanks to the cool nights and dry weather) Cherokee Purples, Black Krims, Brandywines, German Johnsons, Virginia Sweets, Black Prince, Green Zebra, Beefsteak OP and more. They look good and taste even better. The best tomatoes will be in the CSA, and all the others (they will be great too) will be at the market this Saturday!

Sweet Potatoes and CSA Wholesale Offer

2013-08-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

It seems at every farmers' market, we have multiple people ask how the sweet potatoes are coming along and when we will start harvesting them. It looks like we are 3 weeks away at this point. I'll tell you what, these are the best looking crop of sweet potatoes I've seen yet. They are fairly weed-free and already up to my knees! Holy cow. I guess the new irrigation method is working pretty well. They get 1.5 hours of water every day, to try and maintain uniform growth. We planted them closer together to try to reduce the number of jumbos. I think we are on track for an epic crop.

We are happy to announce that we are now delivery CSAs to Cushing as well as Tulsa. If anybody in Cushing or a nearby town is interested, just check out how to sign up on our website!

Most importantly, we are going to start offering ALL of our CSA members bulk packaging discounts on any additional produce they need. I noticed the great interest in canning, pickling, and preserving that our members have and thought they would appreciate the discount prices we offer to restaurants and grocery stores for bulk items. Please check out the wholesale price list! It is updated every Sunday and always at this public link. We are only offering this special pricing to our CSA customers at this point because we have relationships with them all and are confident they will show up to pick up their bulk orders.

Please email your order to bootstrapfarm@gmail.com before Friday morning for Saturday Delivery, or before Tuesday morning for Wednesday Delivery.

Cucumber Season

2013-08-16T13:28:00.002-07:00

It is really cucumber season now! Once the cukes start, they don't back down, and just keep producing a producing. We grow two varieties, Straight 8 and Spacemaster - both very good and I think Spacemaster is a little more productive. We are putting them on sale because we have so many!

2 for $1.00 Certified Organic Cucumbers!

Not too bad for wonderful chemical-free fruits, huh? And yes, cucumbers are fruits! (They have seeds in them which makes them fruits) This may be Oklahoma, be at least I know the difference between a fruit and a vegetable. Our state legislature does not. We also have Armenian Cucumbers, also known as Snake Cucumber, which I just learned is actually a variety of muskmelon, and not a true cucumber. But it sure tastes like a cucumber, and in my opinion is of even higher quality. It does not need to be peeled (although I don't peel cucumbers anyway) and does not have that slight bitterness under its skin.

100% Certified Organic

2013-08-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Finally, after 6 years of operation and 3 years at our present location, we can describe ourselves as organic! Good grief it has taken a long time. I don't know if I would change the rules if I could, but it sure has been frustrating to do all the work to comply with National Organic Program standards and not get any real credit for it for the last 3 years. The time has come though, to spread the word that Bootstrap Farm is Certified Organic. Its about time! We've started the paperwork to sell to some major retailers like Whole Foods, which is more realistic now that we can market ourselves as Organic.

The Gypsy peppers are the star of the show for the next couple of weeks. We are so proud of them, because they represent the best of what we are accomplishing. The variety is well suited to our climate, and to organic production. We enjoy harvesting them because we can let them ripen to a beautiful red before the grasshoppers start eating them. I don't know why, but red bell peppers are much more susceptible to grasshopper feeding, almost to the point where they are uneconomical to grow. The Gypsies are our best pepper, sweet and crunchy, "best consumed raw" as I say a million times at the farmers' market! Seriously, I have them for breakfast. Yum!

Levis the tractor has been down since yesterday. He has been overheating occasionally for a week, and finally sprung a leek in a hydraulic line while Matt was brush-hogging some failed squash. It was time for a radiator flush, so we just went ahead and took care of it right where it sat. We pulled the radiator and related parts off of it and took them to the local carwash to wash the dirt out of them. Unfortunately a bracket broke, but with the help of JB Weld we will have it back on in the morning and I can finish the flush with some Purple Power!

Done with Potatoes and Onions

2013-07-25T18:50:00.002-07:00

The cooler is finally filled with the spring harvest of potatoes and onions. It has been a long time coming! We've been harvesting them for about three weeks. All together there is about 3 tons of them in the cooler! There are Irish Cobbler, Kennebec, Red Pontiac, All-Blue, and Yukon Gold potatoes. Also, we have Red Creole, Georgia Boy, Cabernet, Miss Megan, Texas Sweet 1015 and more onions.

Christa joined us at the farm today and helped harvest. We pushed a lot of the harvest a day earlier because we are expecting a very rainy day tomorrow. Zepplin kept us company while Christa harvested and I strung tomatoes. Matt had picked all the tomatoes earlier in the day.

I managed to catch some sort of snake while we were trying to teach Zepplin to catch the mice and not chew on the drip tape. It had a belly full of something! It did not like being handled and smelled terrible.

New Transplant Producer, and Flat Ground Production

2013-07-18T18:52:00.001-07:00

After a few years of growing all our veggies on raised beds, we are switching over to flat ground production for some crops. That should save a lot of diesel fuel and time because bedshaping is one of the most tedious and horsepower-hungry jobs that we do on the tractor. I just spent my evening planting three rows of cantaloupe on flat ground. A ran a one-row cultivator through the ground first to break it up and mark the center. It worked pretty well. Lets see how it turns out. The photo is of the winter squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantaloupe from the previous planting. They are all on beds, but you can't tell very well because they are pretty big already and have started running.

We have switched over to a commercial transplant producer since our greenhouse experience was so bad this spring. I figure it is sometimes better to let the professionals handle the things you aren't good at. We have arranged for Utopia Gardens, in Drumright, to grow out our trays to our schedule and specifications. Jalene Riley is already doing a great job, and helping us catch up since we got behind during the never ending greenhouse disasters.

See you at the market Saturday!

Don

Turkeys on Pasture

2013-07-12T08:35:00.002-07:00

We finally got the electric netting and put the turkeys out on pasture this morning. It has been quite a fiasco. They say the purpose of the fence is to keep most of the turkeys in most of the time, and keep predators out. So far, Zepplin has been of no help. The turkeys are terrified of her even though she is just a tiny little puppy. We put up the netting and proceeded to herd the turkeys into the fence through an open section. Once we opened the "chicken tractor" the turkeys just ran in all directions chasing grasshoppers like a kindergarten class in a toy store. I was under the impression that turkeys could be herded like sheep or cows; I was wrong. We ended up having to individually catch all 43 remaining turkeys and toss them into the fence. They are safe and sound now, and they have a nice roost we made out of some free oak pallets and they have food and water and plenty of grasshoppers.

We'll be at the market tomorrow, and we will have massive amounts of potatoes and onions to go with the leeks and basil, and more. The potato and onion price is only $5.25 / 3 lbs. Thats cheaper than similar products in the grocery store and they are locally grown!

See you at the market tomorrow!

The Turkeys are Growing Up

2013-07-03T17:41:00.002-07:00

We've had an eventful week at the farm. We got all the sweet potatoes hand weeded, the tomatoes fully trellised, and we've been harvesting and processing potatoes and onions like nobody's business. The thing I noticed as how big the turkeys have gotten. They are hungry too; they are eating almost 50 lbs every other day, with fish meal as a protein boost. They love it! I took this video after that had nothing but scratch feed for 1/2 a day. They were so hungry for protein they were climbing all over each other to get to it. Won't let it run out again, that's for sure!

We are looking forward to getting them out into the open. They are big enough now that I'm not too worried about the owls carrying them away. Especially with Zeppelin as their trusty guardian, they should be fine. Although at this point some of the turkeys are bigger than she is! I doubt she will have much effect, but it important for a working dog to bond early with his or her charges. Hopefully she will know what to do!

New Farmer on the Farm

2013-06-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have some new help on the farm! Our new puppy, Zeppelin, is supposed to be keeping the critters away from the turkeys. Well, not really, she mostly seems interested in hiding under the reefer for now, but she comes out to play now and then. She helped me pull up drip tape today, and by help, I mean she interfered in the cutest ways. She is a Great Pyrenees, and a working dog. She'll learn what work is sometime later, when she is ready.

I hope somebody saw me on the the morning news today, on channel 8! If not, I'll be posting the video link as soon as they put it online; it usually takes a day or two. We are working really hard to grow the CSA, and I finally got the opportunity to talk about it on TV! Its kind of funny because I don't even watch TV. Neither does Zeppelin.

Well, we lost our greenhouse plastic again today in a dry thunderstorm, and I decided its time to talk to a professional grower about doing our transplants for us because I am pretty sick of messing around with this greenhouse in the wind tunnel we like to call Bootstrap Farm. I'm still going to use the high tunnel as an aquaponics setup, but our transplant production served its purpose this year but was a lot more expensive and time consuming than I thought it was going to be.

Live and Learn!

Mulching Peppers and Trellising Tomatoes

2013-06-21T05:17:00.001-07:00

We've been busy mulching peppers and trellising tomatoes. We planted even more than last year, there are 1.5 beds of peppers and 4.3 beds of tomatoes. Most of those tomatoes are heirloom as well. Heirlooms can be frustrating and time consuming to grow, they are much less productive than hybrids and more finicky. As a CSA farm, though I feel like it is our job to grow what the CSA members want, not just what is profitable. Heirloom tomatoes are so good, so attractive, so interesting, and so charismatic that I couldn't help but plant almost the entire 4 beds in heirlooms. They are growing so fast right now, and we have gotten behind on pruning, but I'm sure we'll catch up.

100 Posts - Starting the Aquaponic Greenhouse

2013-06-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

We finally got a liner in the pond for the aquaponic greenhouse. It is made from used billboard signs. They are huge and cheap! It actually took two of them because they weren't wide enough, we glued the seam between them after the liner was in place. We've been filling it since 7 AM this morning and it still isn't full. It's gigantic, and probably holds around 3,500 gallons. We can grow a lot of fish in there! I think it will be a lot of fun once we get it working right. Our seam leaked though and the bubbles under the plastic pushed it up so we are now sump-pumping the water out from under the liner. I think once the liner gets water weight on top of it, it should seal against the mu pretty well.

Battered by Oklahoma Thunderstorms

2013-05-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

We've had quite a week! It started out fairly well with a break in the wind and rain long enough to pull the row covers from the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and basil, only to find that the weeds had grown taller than the plants. Fortunately we got everything cultivated, but it all still needs to be hand weeded as well. We had a real humdinger of a storm Wednesday night that ripped the plastic off the greenhouse. We are lucky that it isn't torn. We pulled it down for the next storm; we couldn't put it back in the 20 mph winds today. Tonight's storms were waaaaay too close. We went to a neighbors storm shelter because they said there were tornadoes moving from Ripley, through Cushing and then to Yale. As far as we know, they never really materialized but the wind was scary! I thought the reefer was going to fall over.

We've had over four inches of rain in the last two days, after this already wet spring. The pond is not only full,its overflowing! In the three years I've owned this property I've never seen the pond full! I backstroked across the pond to go check out the other side. Not a bad way to end the day after planting 4,000 sweet potato slips with Matt. We knocked it out in about 6 hours.

Beautiful Buttercrunch, Wed Market, and Turkeys

2013-05-24T07:21:00.003-07:00

We've been enjoying the lettuces this year! We have been growing summer crisp, romaine, buttercrunch, and some wonderful new varieties like Cherokee MTO. I've really enjoyed seeing the beautiful sight of many different varieties planted in neat rows. The lettuce grows so fast, its easy to keep weed-free!

We started the Wednesday market this week! The Brookside Farmers' Market runs even later than the Cherry Street Farmers' Market. I have a strong feeling it may even become a year-round market this year, and run through the winter. We've just got to keep growing through the winter.

The turkeys are finally out on pasture! We are sick and tired of having to tend them four times a day in the little brooding tub. Now they are out in the field pooping away. Their primary purpose is to fertilize the soil, and we will be taking pre-orders for holiday turkeys much later in the season. They are heritage bronze and should be mighty tasty!!

The Weeds Have Sprouted

2013-05-16T16:59:00.002-07:00

We still have openings available in the CSA. If anyone would like to join mid-season, we will happily pro-rate the cost according to the boxes left in the season. We will be at the market on Saturday, with such wonderful veggies as: Kale, Turnip Greens, Salad Mix, Spinach, Head Lettuce, Large Bunching Onions, Cracked Pecans, Turnips, and more!

We have spent most of the week battling weeds and bugs. Maybe at some point later in the season, these little turkeys will start eating some bugs too! All the rain has sprouted all the weed seeds in the soil, and they are becoming a problem fast. We missed some good opportunities to cultivate and are dealing with the consequences now....

Otherwise it was a beautiful week at the farm!

Rain and Sun

2013-05-10T08:36:00.002-07:00

Check out all this bountiful produce growing at the farm. We have broccoli, kale, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, mixed baby greens, fennel, and more all in the first photo. Wow! Its amazing what a week of sunshine will do when the rain finally stops. I think we are off to a good year. It reminds me of 2009, my first full year farming which was a good year. It started off cool and wet like this.

We only had one minor disaster this week, when a thunderstorm blew the greenhouse plastic partially off. Oh well, it could have been much worse. Matt and I had it back on within a couple of hours the next day, which fortunately was a very still morning.

You can't see the lettuce on the right, but it is there. We will have enough for the CSA boxes, but maybe not enough for the market table. We will see...

These are the rows of tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and basil all covered in row cover and keeping nice and toasty during the day. Lets hope for bug-free plants when we pull the covers in a couple of weeks.

Turkeys, Cultivating, Stringing Cucumbers and Frost - busy week

2013-05-03T06:31:00.001-07:00

We finally got our turkeys. We got 52 Standard Bronze poults from Country Hatchery in Wewoka, OK. They arrived on time and in good condition. After that they started dying. According to what we've read and heard from other growers, that's what turkeys are really good at. Its frustrating but normal, because they are pretty weak at first. I just hope the losses don't get too bad.

It has been an exciting week on the farm.. We started out cultivating, and spent the better part of a day readjusting the cultivator to perform well on the three-row crops like onions, carrots, parsnips and small brassicas. We are still struggling with it, but it is improved considerably. Matt did some of the cultivating, a very frustrating chore.

We couldn't believe how cold is was yesterday. We had a thick frost on the ground when we woke up this morning. A frost on May 3! Crazy. Its a good thing all the warm-weather crops are still under row cover. We've delayed putting any of them out that we couldn't cover. Next week we are going to be planting a lot of overgrown transplants that have been stuck in the greenhouse 3 weeks too long.

Along side the trays in the greenhouse beds we planted two rows of cucumbers. They aren't exactly hothouse cucumbers because it isn't heated, except for the soil heat for the trays, but we think they will provide that a good early crop to add to the CSA. They are already setting fruit, even though we are just now getting them strung up. We had to wait because of the frost.

Don't forget to come see use tomorrow at the Cherry Street Farmers' Market, and if you are a CSA member don't forget to pick up you box! I think you will be impressed at the selection this week. The season has really begun.