THIS & THAT.

Some random photos from the past week.Further having a staredown with his future sibling in between sidewalk chalk sessions.FINALLY got some wood chips. Do not give up on your dreams, farmers.Summer garden looking summery.A little flower farming.Sunfleur.Heirloom mater days (photo by Further!)Now it’s summer.

WORKING MORE TO WORK LESS (WITH VIDEO).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KRU80oeeC4We’ve been working really hard this year—the whole crew has. Okay, technically this is the story every year, but it’s different this year because the work we are putting in now to implement a no-till gardening program has a specific goal: to reduce the work for years to come.This, truthfully, should always be the case. The work you do this year should always help the future you. At least, it shouldn’t add to the work. You can add projects without adding more requisite time, or that’s what you should strive for.Anyway, that is just one of the many things I go on about in today’s VLOG. So check it out and don’t forget to subscribe!-Jesse  

NO-TILL GROWING PAINS (WITH VIDEO).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrdxtAIUCagAs I’ve been talking about blabbing on about in recent videos, we are transitioning our farm to a no-till system of market farming—one that is not just ecologically sound, but profitable for our family farmstead. And I know it’s possible, because I’ve seen it—MAKING A LIVING OFF A NO-TILL FARM IS A THING.But in our first few experiments we have already found that getting to the point when you can simply shove a transplant into the ground without working the soil and be on your way is no simple task. Or, at least, not with our materials.I’m finding a lot of nuance to this work and a little bit of failure. That’s to be expected, as we are easing into this no-till system very slowly, but where I am struggling the most is with direct seeding.Figuring out how to direct seed is the biggest challenge right now. This is primarily because our compost is clunky, making it hard or nearly impossible to run the seeder through when the compost is piled onto a bed (as we’ve been trying to do).Our options then are to seed directly into the soil, which is too hard (for now) to do without some sort of soil work (thus the reason a lot of “no till” farmers use some sort of tilthing tool); we can not seed anything at all, only growing crops that can be transplanted (so no carrots and thus no way); or we can use better compost. Finding it is hard, though. I’ve tried. I could put the compost on earlier, and maybe that will work, just not right now when I need it. Or I can sorta make better compost, but not without a tractor or renting a Bobcat (which I could do, come to think of it). But for the moment, this is my struggle.Anyway, watch the video and send your ideas, thoughts, prayers.Also please subscribe to our YouTube and hit the little bell next to the subscribe button so you get our updates! You rock.-Jesse

MULCH MADNESS (WITH VIDEO AND WENDELL BEAR-Y CAMEO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joto-KjD3qMWe have a lot of goals on our farm, but getting the dang blueberries mulched has been prime among them. We’ve been working and failing to get free wood chips these last few months—I’ve left notes on tree trimmers, called everyone, chased down trucks with chips, everything—and we’ve finally had to face the reality that, well, we’re just going to have to buy some.But that’s fine. We haven’t really invested in our blueberries beyond purchasing and planting them, and they have still kindly managed to hang in there. They deserve some love, and we know we won’t regret it. Plus we had extra for the paths.So we bit the bullet and I contacted our compost supplier (LINK) to ask what they had available. Then arrived the heaviest fifteen yards of wood chips I’ve ever seen. Generally the rule is that 2 yards of compost or mulch equal one ton. I’m not convinced this was less than 1.5 tons per two yards. Anyhow, that truck looked like it was going to tip and the driver said as much. So I was thrilled—the farm was about to get a huge dose of organic material. The driver, well, he was a little freaked out about our driveway.Anyway, this week we got to it. We mulched the blueberries and then began on mulching our garden paths. This latter activity represents the future of our no-till garden as we transition to an entirely no-till system. The paths will stay covered (and fungi’d, which I talk about a little in the video) and the beds will likewise stay covered year round with not wood chips but compost or vegetation. It may—nay, will—take us a couple years to achieve this consistently, but this load (and probably one more) will definitely help get us there.- Jesse