Spring

The 2011 growing season began with the sowing of onions in our heated greenhouse back in late February. Since then, we've sown many more vegetables indoors, and have recently been sowing in the field.

Last week we added calcitic lime and sulphate of potash to our field, tilled it in, and built pea trellising. We then sowed our first beds of peas, fava beans, radish, turnip, beet, carrot, spinach, arugula, raab, and mesclun. Next week we will be sowing more cool weather crops, as well as planting potatoes and onions. All this work leaves one with a deep feeling of satisfaction.

We managed to grow a pretty decent cover of winter rye on a large spread of the field this past fall. That was also tilled in, but left the soil clumpier than was anticipated. It will need tilled again, and time to decompose before we can plant in that part of the field. This has caused us to change some crop planning and tweak the rotation, which thankfully was easy enough to figure.

The Spring has been colder than we've grown accustomed to. Some of our cold-weather flowering annuals were actually damaged by frost in the cold-frame — a first in the nine years I've been raising plants here. The wind has also been a bit maddening at times, pummeling us in the field and ripping up ground-cloth like great black sails.

We're fortunate this year to have a very diligent and hungry guardian hawk hunting the field. I've already seen him carry off two squealing rodents. We also have daily fly-bys from two Canadian geese who are likely nesting in the neighboring wetlands. They do not carry off any rodents, but cause our chickens to posture, which I suppose keeps them on their toes.

guarding the fields

As some of you may have heard, late blight has now been spotted in Maine, albeit on a small scale. Nonetheless, this is cause for concern. We have done several things this year to prevent late blight on our potato and tomato crop: We have weeded any volunteer plants that have been found in last year's plots. We have scouted our fields looking for suspicious plants, and have sent in samples to UNH for diagnosis. Thus far, the tests have been negative! We split up our crops — potatoes are in two different plots in the field, as are tomatoes, and we have filled one greenhouse with tomatoes. We are also using an organic fungicide as a preventative measure.

This year we are experimenting with a sprayable clay to deter cucumber beetles, vine borers, and squash bugs from infesting our vining crops. That's why those plants will appear whitish in the field.

We're using Japanese beetle lures to trap beetles this year. Last year the slugs and snails were very pesky. This year it's the Japanese beetles and earwigs. It's amazing how many beetles we're catching and disposing of! May they be reborn as butterflies and ladybugs!

Word got out in the woodchuck-town about how big our garden is. We have at least three burrows around the field this year. So far, we've managed to catch and relocate four woodchucks. We've also caught two skunks. I really didn't want to drive around with skunks, so just let them go in the woods. I often think of my grandfather's solution to skunks in a box-trap: a 22 rifle. But I won't go there.

This year we're using some deer fencing around a few select crops, and it seems to be doing the trick. There is also a moose that is walking through the property back and forth between the wetlands and the power-lines. I have not seen her, but our neighbors have. I recently found her scat near the chard plot. I'm not sure if moose like chard, but I know deer do, so the chard is now fenced.

up against it

Now that the growing season is in full-swing, and all good things ascend, trouble descends upon the farm! Our difficulties this year come in the form of woodchucks, earwigs, potato beetles, a fox, and weeds.

The woodchucks have been into the lettuce, carrots and beets. We've begun the slow process, along with one of our neighbors, of capturing and relocating them. So far we've gotten three, and a skunk.

The earwigs were a surprise. Last year, the slugs and snails had giant populations and chewed many holes in our greens. This year they are not so bad, but the earwigs are. They've been making some of our bok choi so unsightly, that we're unable to sell it. Fortunately, one variety seems less attractive to them and has seen little damage in comparison.

We've had one small outbreak, and now one large outbreak of potato beetles. We've been bagging them and securing them in the dumpster. This is a labor that we'd rather not be bothered with right now, but the natural world has it's own agenda. Other things like to eat what we do, and they must be contended with promptly.

I haven't seen the fox in several days. We suspect he's enjoyed at least two chickens, but since I spoke with him, there've been no sightings. Perhaps he is busy eating woodchucks.

The weeds have really been a force this year. We've barely kept up, as our attentions have gone to planting over the last several weeks. We've reclaimed several beds that were badly overgrown, and have decided to start over on a few beds that were too far gone. We won some; we lost some.

That being said, our crops are looking really beautiful this year! I continue to be impressed with the vitality of the plants, and the harvests thus far.