Indoors, the farm season has started. There are many seedlings growing up under our LEDs, and we are hardening them off little by little in preparation for being planted out. No rush there, however, given the state of affairs outside.
This winter has given our high tunnel (and us) a workout this year. About a month ago, Peter and I dug out a massive snow drift that blew up against the high tunnel, and now that it is actually time to plant, another even more ginormous snow drift has formed. I can actually stand on top of it and see the house!
According to my planting schedule, seedlings are to be planted inside the high tunnel now, but we decided to wait given this storm and some low temperatures later in the week. I'm glad I did, because some of this snow ended up on the inside of the tunnel too--coming in through gaps with all that wind. We will be spending some time this weekend shoveling some of the snow away from the sides, so that the bit that's accumulated on the roof has somewhere to fall off. All considered though, the tunnel was a champ, and we didn't find any ripped plastic.
We might plant our earliest crops next week, and from there it is some finger crossing, hoping the melting snow doesn't create too much flooding. Spring is on its way, and with it some fresh goodness. We'll see you soon Duluth!
]]>
We have moved our seeding operation completely into our new barn and are loving it. It is warm and full of light, and on sunny days we can open the doors to the greenhouse and pretend summer has already arrived. It's hard to believe, but we will soon be planting into the greenhouse and high tunnel so we can have extra-early produce available at the market. We're shooting for May vegetables folks; wish us luck!
With so much excitement toward the upcoming season, the pandemic has certainly thrown us for a bit of a loop. No one anticipated all the changes that the last few days have brought, and it is so uncertain how bad things will get, and how long life will be affected. We are planning ahead and hopeful that with some small changes we will have another successful season. As I've been planning ahead I have been thinking about our mission and how I want our business to lead by example this upcoming season.
This season's manifesto is as follows:
1) Food is medicine. As always, our goal this season is to provide our community with nutritious, clean food that is grown in a sustainable fashion.
2) We will continue to follow best practices for food handling to ensure our food is safe. We already sanitize surfaces and wash hands regularly, but will take additional precautions and do so with more frequency.
3) We will take action to protect our community and ourselves from the COVID-19 virus by encouraging social distancing, including exploring alternative forms of distribution.
So, what's new this season?
-In an effort to eliminate crowds and limit the physical interaction we will have with customers we will offer pre-sale of vegetables through our website. While things may change, we still expect to attend the Duluth Farmers Market. Veggies may be picked up at the market or farm--free for orders of $10 or more. We will also be offering home delivery. (Stay tuned next month as we set up this system)
-CSA customers may opt for free temporary home delivery if sick or caring for a loved one. We are prepared to move to free home delivery for all our CSA customers if needed.
-We will be offering more CSA shares than we initially planned for this season. Quantities of certain vegetables may be limited at the market as a result. Are you one of our regular market customers? We encourage you to consider our CSA instead. If CSA isn't a good fit, we encourage you to take advantage of online pre-orders.
]]>Other new things include plans to break open new fields this summer, and most exciting of all--hiring an employee and some CSA worker shares. The business is getting big enough that it is more than just I can handle--which is exciting. I crave the company of another human during the farm season, and I am finally confident that the farm can afford it. Check out our employment page if you are interested!
Best wishes, and stay warm!
Farmer Rebecca
]]>As for projects, we have some exciting news as drawings for our barn/studio/greenhouse renovation have come back from our architect and it is likely that this summer we will start construction on the multifunctional building. I am looking forward to having a space this time of year to work on my pottery, do some seed starting and grow in a greenhouse. Increasing productivity during the shoulder season will help me get an earlier start at market and make mud season more bearable. If we get a hoop house grant this summer then we’ll really be in business for next season (as well as have some serious building projects on the farm this summer). The extra work will be worth it though: I have serious hoop house envy.
Let’s all say it. More sun, please! And if that is too much to ask, at least no more snow!
]]>
Well, today I have been looking over my sales data so that I can give a recap of the season. I never did do very well with my farm updates— (farm goals…I’ll try to do better). Anyways, I was happy with the first season. We exceeded our sales goals, stayed healthy, and didn’t work ourselves to death. Next summer we can grow with confidence that we have the capacity and market to make it possible.
So…some fun facts and numbers. This first season I grew on .18 acres or 8000 square feet. Everything was grown in the elements—no hoop houses were used to extend the season. While the farm used occasional additional volunteer labor (thanks family! You helped so much!), all vegetables were primarily grown, weeded, picked and sold by one person (yours truly). I sold 219 pounds of beans, 1,033 summer squash, and over 250 pounds of tomatoes (preserving many more for home use). Additionally, I sold many kale, kohlrabi, turnips, broccoli, peppers, and bags of greens. We are pretty much out of veggies at this point. Those things we had in severe excess got canned, otherwise they mostly sold at market a bit over a week ago—not too much end of season waste on this farm. Vegetables left in stock: about 70 spaghetti squash currently residing in the dining room. Please let us know if you are interested in some. At this time, we are planning on eating at least one a week until we are out, but we are happy for some more to find homes.
I will leave this post with a nice picture my sister took of me at the farmer’s market during peak season. Also, best wishes for a fun filled winter. Don't forget to play in the snow!... I don't know about you, but I am looking forward to skiing and studio time and more time with friends. I will see you at the Duluth Farmer's Market again next spring! Until then, check back for art making updates, winter adventures, farm plans and improvements (We will probably be doing CSA next year), and maybe some recipes. Best wishes!
]]>Things have been going very well here at Small Wheel Farm. We have had several successful farmer's markets and tomorrow's promises to be good too. The produce keeps coming out of the fields, with new things ready every week. Tomorrow's market will feature peas (everyone's favorite), herbs, rainbow chard, mini romaine, and a pint of cherry tomatoes for one lucky person!
As you can probably imagine, things have gotten rather busy around here as we are harvesting regularly as well as attempting to stay caught up with our planting schedule and ontop of all the weeds. ...And the weeds are prolific this time of year. I feel like every spare moment is being spent picking quack grass rhizomes out of the beds and making sure the lambs quarter doesn't go to seed. Overall, we are winning, but oh, do the fields want to turn back to pasture. It sounds weird, but I am grateful for plastic and being able to tarp large areas of our fields--smothering weeds while I work on something else. So far this season, bugs haven't been much of a problem. Besides a few potato bugs that munched the eggplant, the gardens have been pest free.
This last weekend we had another visitor. My mom came and helped harvest, plant and work the farmers market booth. It was nice having a second pair of hands to get the harvest done quickly. I don't think that I would have gotten to the planting if it weren't for her help, and our mini greenhouse is bursting at the seams, with brassicas, lettuce, herbs and other vegetables that are waiting to get into the fields. I am thankful to finally be harvesting the last of some things so that I can plant out new vegetables for later in the season. This weekend we will be planting some of those brassicas where our romaine was. Tarping off future fields is also on the schedule. We are expanding next year!
Anyways, see you tomorrow at the market!
]]>
Peter picked out some blueberry and honeyberry plants for the farm and planted them this past week with the help of his dad and stepmom who were here visiting. On Saturday, he endured rain and wind to get several apple trees and some cherry and apricot trees planted in the beginning orchard. I stayed inside making chili and getting the place ready for friends who were coming over to celebrate the occasion.
Projects have been chugging along at the farm. We have set up the irrigation line and run it once after setting out transplants. The fence is up with nice big homemade gates for access. Up next is building caterpillar tunnels for the fields and setting up processing facilities and a cold storage room for the summer.
If there is any struggle at this moment it is understanding the contour of our land and why water collects where it does. We have a few wet spots that we did not anticipate and are watching the land carefully and strategizing how we might do some land shaping to help mitigate the situation and allow for earlier field access on certain parts of the farm. Hopefully, once the weather really starts getting warm much of the moisture will go away, but for now it is a frustration and an area we are realizing we need to learn more about. We are excited, like other aspects of farming to tackle this and continue improving our land and its productivity.
]]>
Peter and I have both been thinking a lot about our soil and what we need to accomplish in order to get our plants in the ground with the conditions and fertility they need to thrive. We started working the soil and at this point have done an initial till on all the beds. When it warms and dries up a bit I will get back out and use the power harrow to create permanent beds. Then, all there will be do is add soil amendments and put the seeds and plants in the ground.
It was an interesting puzzle deciding what soil amendments to purchase in order to give our soil what it needs and avoid what it is already high in. We had our soil tested so that we knew what we were starting with and found we were low in a few key nutrients, and high in a couple others. Anyways, there is a lot to consider and I am oh-so-greatful to experienced growers who have published all of their knowledge so that beginners like us can look up recommendations about what soil composition you should strive for in order to optimize fertility. I have relied heavily on Gary Zimmer's book Advancing Biological Farming and Peter has referenced Michael Phillips, guru of the apple-growing world, for many recommendations. After researching recommendations, doing some math, looking at different products and problem solving, I came up with a set of products that I think will work for us--lime, humates and micronutrients mix, calphos, chicken crumbles and a balanced organic fertilizer blend--and that should help us correct the soil's deficiencies as well as feed this year's plants.
As I wrap up writing today, I want to say how excited we are to get the soil ready and start getting plants outside. Hopefully it warms up soon!! After getting a taste for the Duluth Farmer's Market last weekend, I am anxious to be back there selling all our veggies. What a great space and community.
Well, thanks for reading! I need to get going and clean up the kitchen. The farm has taken over in there!!
]]>
On Saturday, Peter and I powered up the BCS tractor and tried out the rotary plow attachment...a neat tool similar to a rototiller. It was nice to get one field tilled deep, so that we can begin forming beds. The other field is still a bit wet, so I'm holding off-- hoping the nice weather we are having will help dry it out a bit more before I go in. Anyways, the plow was not as scary as I thought it might be and I'm really starting to like running the BCS---a small, but powerful tool that helps us get work done efficiently.
Besides starting to get the ground prepped, I've begun building the deer fences, designed and ordered our irrigation system (Thanks Northern Harvest Farm for all the help!) and built a little hoop house that we will use as overflow seedling space and a protected space for hardening off plants. Peter has been out of town the last few days, so I'm looking forward to showing him all that has gotten done in his absence. It sure is starting to look like a farm around here!
]]>Farm logistics continue to get ironed out as the farm season gets started. The hoop house was definitely an unexpected setback, but regardless, we are rolling ahead. Rolls of eight foot deer fence arrived in the mail this week, and just today I unload eleven boxes of fence posts---heavier than hell, and managing to carry them into our garage by myself by making my arm into a teeter-totter fulcrum. Our new garage is starting to collect a nice collection of farm supplies--including two sizable garden carts that I assembled earlier in the month.
Able to move things around the farm? Check.
Able to start seeds? Check.
Protection from Deer and neighborhood dogs? Check.
Some days it seems like the farm is moving in slow motion toward the summer growing season. We are making progress, however, and before we know it beds will be formed and we will be planting our fields.
]]>One highlight of the conference, for me, was hearing Ben Hartman of Clay Bottom Farm speak. He is author of the Lean Farm, and is a proponent of designing efficiency into the farm. On his own farm, he has increased efficiency so much that as he has made his farm smaller, his family has actually realized a greater profit. He is setting limits for himself and forcing himself to farm better rather than get bigger--and it's paying off.
So, what does this have to do with us at Small Wheel Farm? Scale and design.
Our property is a total of six acres, and of that, perhaps two acres are suitable for vegetable production. Additionally, we have very little farm infrastructure on the property and will be building it out in the next few years. Peter and I have been doing a lot of dreaming about how we will build up the farm and optimize our land and resources, and Ben Hartman's talk has been a great reminder that when working under constraints of space and resources, designing efficient processes and spaces becomes critical. Our small farm can be just as successful as larger operations, but in order to achieve our goals, we will have to be more deliberate about how we farm. We will have to be creative; in a sense, we will have to be artists--and perhaps that is precisely why designing our small farm is so exciting for me.
In 1915, American painter Robert Henri described (to his students) the act of painting a portrait this way:
"Every element in the picture will be constructive, constructive of an idea, expressive of an emotion. Every factor in the painting will have beauty because in its place in the organization it is doing its living part. It will be living line, living form, living color...It is only through a sense of the right relation of things that freedom can be obtained."
When I read this passage I almost feel like Henri were describing the process of designing a farm--finding the right place for everything in the whole and making sure everything is in service to the goal. The only difference I see between this farm design and the design I do as an artist is that I will be painting with tool sheds and tractors, hoop houses and harvest bins rather than lines, colors and shapes. The farm will become a work of art when all its components work seamlessly toward the construction of our vision--when everything is in right relation and there is no excess (no waste, no distraction).
]]>Planning a farm is complex. Much more complex, I have found, than the planning I was used to in my previous profession as a teacher. It started with first, figuring out what I want to have at market each week, then figuring out how much and when I would need to plant things to have it available when I want it, figuring out if and how it will all fit in the fields we have plowed, and finally figuring out how many seeds it will take and ordering them. Well, the seeds have arrived, and I have been spending big sums of money on everything from BCS tractor implements, to seed starting supplies, to fashionable (and functional) farmer fashions. Yesterday, I wrote out the farm season in a monthly planner, and it has become ever clearer: this farm thing is going to happen.
I hope to make this blog a place for customers, future farmers, and any curious about country life to gain insight into our life as farmers. We have already learned so much and the season hasn't even officially started. I hope you will join us on this journey as we start our first season, have joys, frustrations, and breakthroughs and grow our operation from dream to reality. Welcome to Small Wheel Farm.
]]>