This week on the farm we harvested salad greens, stir fry greens, kale, tatsoi & broccoli raabs, scallions & altaglobe radishes. The steady rains over the last few weeks kept the broccolli and tatsoi from bolting, however they will probably go to seed as we have hotter weather the end of this week.
Gardening tip: to prevent broccoli heads from flowering prematurely, hill up compost around the base of each plant.
Now that the forecast finally calls for more sunny skies we can finish planting the seed potatoes and tomato transplants. While we wait for the soil in the garden to drain, we’ll finish transplanting the tomatoes, peppers, & eggplants into the cold frame greenhouse. Leek & onion sets have been transplanted & corn, cucumber & squash have been seeded in 4″ pots to be ready for transplanting in about 3 weeks. We’re also planting hanging baskets in our greenhouse with a tomato variety called “glacier”, an early season producer.
The layer chickens are busy eating spring grasses while protected in their new chicken tractor & we haven’t had any coyote predation. The cold & rain have been difficult on the new chicks but now they are doing better. Chicks need to be at about 85 degrees in the first few weeks so we have them under heat lamps to prevent chill. The piglets are growing steadily but we don’t dare feed them until about 10:00 a.m. as they prefer to sleep in!
The honey bees have been doing great, they’re a variety called “carneolans” & they’ve been flying everyday that’s been above 50 degrees. At this rate we should be able to harvest 15 lbs. by 6/15.
We continue to work on the forms for out Demeter certification so we can get the vegetables certified biodynamic/organic by this summer.
Oregon Institute of Technology has notified us they’re looking for farms & nurseries to participate in a biofuels research project. We’re so happy to be involved because we use biofuels including waste veggie oil, waste crop material, & waste from damaged native trees.
{ 1 trackback }