Where's Spring? We have taters to plant!

OK, enough with the cold already! We've got a heater in the greenhouse, a heater in the tunnel, and now a heater in the garage. Our propane bills are climbing each day!

We have to heat the garage now to keep our seed potatoes from freezing. We got them today - all 1,000 pounds of them. We have to keep them cool so they don't sprout, but not frozen because then they won't grow.

Our dream is to build a root cellar underground - to keep potatoes and other winter root crops at the proper humidity and temperature for longevity in storage. Until then, we improvise with the garage.

Wish us luck, and here's hoping the freezing temperatures don't last much longer.

The Tractor is Ours! (Finally!)

The final payment is in the mail - our M6800 Kubota tractor is ours!

It has sure helped our operation to have a new tractor, but man, we hated to take on that debt. Now it seems worth it, though, as we've been able to accomplish more work with less labor because of having the tractor.

We ordered the Kubota with a "creeper" gear in it - meaning it will go much slower than other tractors. In fact, it's hard to walk as slow as this tractor can go - down to 0.1 mph, or so. And that creeper gear really helps when we're transplanting in the field.

One person can drive the tractor, and one or two can sit on the back and plant. If the tractor is going fast, you can get pretty frustrated as you try to keep up!

Anyway, we're so tickled that the tractor is paid off. On to the next project!

Morgantown Farmers Market meeting

We attended the Morgantown Farmers Market meeting last night. Was a good meeting, and nice to get to talk to other producers. We're going to have some "special market days" this summer, which I think will be neat.

For instance, we talked about a "Farm Day" at the market in May, and maybe a "Fall Fun Day" at the market in October. We're planning lots of activities on those days for kids (and adults) to learn about farming and fresh produce, nutrition and the like. If you have ideas for other fun market days, pop us a comment below.

Keep the warm weather coming!

Oh, these 50 degree days are sure nice! Makes us think of spring, and planting, and GREEN! I think the sunlight provided us all with enough Vitamin D today to boost our spirits for a week or so. T'will be nice when the mud dries up, and we can get in our fields and start planting some seeds and seedlings.

Charles moved the last of the strawberry plants from the greenhouse today, so all of them are in the tunnel. Now we have lots of room in the greenhouse for more plants! Things are growing nicely on these warm sunny days, though we have to be careful to open the tunnels and turn on the fan in the greenhouse because things really heat up in the sun.

So, keep the warm weather coming!

Earlier Farmers Markets and Zone 5

Our earliest farmers market starts on May 3. We're in USDA horticultural zone 5 or so. Our frost-free date isn't until late May/early June. How can we do it?

A lot of prayer!

That, and we are using our high tunnels more and more for extending our season. What's a high tunnel? It looks like a big greenhouse, but there's no heat in there usually, and the plants are planted straight into the soil. You can roll up the sides on sunny days to let cool air blow through. You can close it up at night to keep it warm.

Last year we picked exclusively out of the tunnel for our first two farmers markets. This year we'll have to pick out of the tunnel for the first three markets at least (depending on the weather). That means we'll have to plant more intensively. For instance, we plant peas down the middle of the row, with two rows of tomatoes on each side. By the time the peas are picked and done, the tomatoes are growing up and starting to fruit. They don't bother each other, and it allows us to plant things closer together.

The types of plants we plant in the tunnel are usually pole or indeterminate varieties, rather than short bush varieties. We stake or trellis up these tall plants so we use less floor/ground space in the tunnel, and grow more vertically. (Makes picking a little easier on the back as well!)

Here's hoping that the weather warms up a bit, we get rain right when we need it, and we're able to get everything planted on time. (We can dream the impossible dream, you know!)

The strawberries made it!

Whew, the strawberries made it! Charles went to check on them in the wee hours of the night, and it was getting pretty cold in there, so he put some plastic over the row cover to help hold the heat in. That did the trick, thank goodness! Everything was hunkie dorie this morning when he went over to look at them.

Everything, that is, except the Chevy truck. It died on Charles on the way down to the tunnels. (So he had to walk in 24 degree temps in mucky snow - the wind was vicious!) After checking the strawberries, Charles was able to get it started and up to the garage, but it died three times on the way! Cheryl & Anna brought the Dodge to rescue him. One new fuel filter later, and the Chevy is good as new! Thank goodness Charles is handy with this sort of thing.

Such is life on a farm. Things break, things happen, and you just have to adapt and get on with life.

Praying the strawberries make it through the night

It's 16 degrees right now, and the wind is blowing, and we're hoping the strawberry plants make it through the night. They are in our high tunnel, under row cover, with a small heater under there trying to stay warm.

The greenhouse is full again - Charles just keeps seeding and transplanting! This week he got lots of lettuce, peas, and beets seeded into trays. The beets are an experiment - we've never transplanted beets into the field before. But in order to try to get them earlier, we're going to try! After it gets warmer, we'll direct-seed them into the fields.

We'll have to move more plants into the high tunnel to make room for new seedlings soon.

It's difficult moving about the farm without creating ruts and making a mess of the roads. So we walk a lot of the time. It's difficult walking though, with your feet sliding and scooting out from under you!

So as you lay in your nice, warm bed tonight, think of our little strawberry plants and say a little prayer for us, please!

What's happening at the farm?

Wow.

March came in like a lamb this year. Today (March 3) it went over 65 degrees outside (close to 70 in some parts of the county)! That's some crazy weather for Garrett County! Of course, by the weekend it is supposed to be a more seasonal 20 degrees at night.

Charles and Anna worked at the farm all day in the sunshine. By the time they got to the farm, it was over 100 degrees in the high tunnels. Opening the sides quickly brought the temperature down, so the strawberry plants (that are waiting in there to be planted) weren't harmed.

We planted about 4,000 bare-root, dormant everbearing strawberry plants a couple weeks ago, into cell trays. That completely filled up our little greenhouse, so we had to get them out of there! That's why the strawberries ended up in the tunnel, where we hope to keep them from freezing too hard and can nurse them until we can plant them outside next month.

Now there is room in the greenhouse for other transplants. Charles got about 400 broccoli plants transplanted last evening, and has more to do. Lots of lettuce, kale, collards, swiss chard, peas, etc. are getting going in the greenhouse now. Our first farmers market starts May 3, so we're in full swing trying to get some good fresh veggies for our customers.

Hope all is well with you, and hope you stop by for another peek into our farming life. Take care!