Spring Challenges

A dry spring, predators, and then a downpour!

Austin came over and finished tilling the field.  A clean slate ready to plant!

By now it was pretty darn dry and dusty out in the fields.  I transplanted some brassicas and herbs but wanted to make sure they got some water.  Drip irrigation to the rescue!  I set the roll up on this Swiss Family Robinson dispenser.  

It's got a handy cross piece for making a nice clean cut.

Back near the hoophouse we have the control center set up.  Water come from the tanks on the hill from the right. Some tees come off for garden hose watering and chicken water filling.  The filter for the drip tape, another tee to the hoophouse, and then the line continues out to the field.  ~10psi available at 5gal/min.

Voila!  Drip tape connected and ready to irrigate by gravity.

After many blissful months of carefree chicken tending, I had a rash of attacks on my birds.  It's pretty disheartening to come into the coop and find part(s) of a chicken.  I feel even worse for the other chickens that were in the same coop!  Top predator possibilities: Fox, raccoon, possum, dog, weasel, owl, just about anything...

We set a have-a-heart trap and tacked down loose areas of the fence with big staples.  I also reconfigured the coops to be more sheltered at the entrances if the attacks were from owls.

A few nights went by, and we got a possum!  When I went over to check the trap, all the chickens came running over to that end of the fence as if to see what it was that was caught.  Or maybe they were thanking me for protecting them from the critter that got their sisters.  Aww shucks.

  

I'm not a fan of trapping, but there are plenty other woodsy areas for this guy to call home.  Off you go now.  

After we got that taken care of, the dry spell came to an end with record breaking rainfall.

RECORD EVENT REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAY ME 406 AM EDT TUE APR 24 2012 ...RECORD DAILY MAXIMUM RAINFALL SET AT PORTLAND ME... A RECORD RAINFALL OF 3.13 INCHES WAS SET AT PORTLAND ME YESTERDAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 1.53 INCHES SET IN 1921.

All the flats got flooded and I had to go drain each one.  Carefully carefully.  Those soil blocks held together fine while saturated, as long as the water did not slosh around too much.

Why did these trays not have holes to begin with?  Yeah, maybe trays with holes would have been better, but I went with these because it allows me to bottom water the soil blocks, and go longer between waterings.  These were under row cover, and previous light rains left just a touch of water in there which was gone by mid day.  Not so much when there were 3 inches of rain.  Compromise now is a single hole in the corner of each tray for a slow drain.

Seedlings

Transplanting!  Lots of it.

I seeded a bunch trays without soil blocks to save some time.  Lo and behold, I had to make up the time elsewhere when the seedlings outgrew their home.  I should have taken the time to make the blocks.  Ah, hindsight is 20/20.  Fortunately the seelings are happy now.

Inside the hoophouse the drip tape is working with gravity feed!

  (more on that later, I'm still very excited about my rube goldberg-style water system)

That row of snap peas is just starting to poke out of the soil. 

Friends came to visit and helped me move a bunch of pallets and trays over to the side of the field.  (to get out of the way of that giant lime truck remember?)  Here is the new orientation all uncvered.  All that will go into the field.  Wow. 

I'm a MOFGA Journeyperson

Now official, I'm a MOFGA's Journeyperson!  This is a great program run by the Maine Organic Farm and Garden Association that helps aspiring farmers get access to resources needed to make their farm enterprise a success.  MOFGA hosts excellent workshops and seminars on a million different aspects of growing food organically, is active in farming and food policies, generates publications, and is chock full of plant and soil experts.  Oh, they also host the Commonground Fair.  (Is there anything they can't do?)  For Journeypersons, they facilitate a mentorship between some experienced farmers, and me, the newbie.  My mentors this year are Austin and Mary Ellen Chadd of Green Spark Farm!  I call up these guys and bug them with questions like: "When do you plant your peppers?" or "Where can I get dolomitic limestone by the ton?" or "How many pickled peppers are in a peck?"  It's absolutely vital for me to be able to chat with folks that really knows how to grow lots of excellent organic produce.
  
If you're not a member of my CSA, you can instead get great veggies from Green Spark at the Wednesday and Saturday Portland Farmers Market, and at their farmstand at 316 Fowler Rd in Cape Elizabeth starting at the end of May.  Hopefully I'll have some eggs at the Fowler Rd. farmstand too!

So, big big thanks to MOFGA and Green Spark for making this season happen!

Mary Ellen, Austin and Dave

Mary Ellen: "It's that crazy guy Dave again.
Austin: Mmm hmm, the answer is 42.
Dave: Got it, 24 pickled peppers.

So, after consulting with the aforementioned experts, I got some lime for my field.  For the geology/chem nerds out there, limestone is mostly Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3).  It's a sedimentary rock formed by the accumulation of millions of  years of marine life.  (think, lots of clam shells, and coral)  When limestone is pulverized and spread on a farm field, it helps raise the pH of acidic soil.  

My soil is acidic (on the left side of this diagram).  If I can raise the pH of my soil, more nutrients will become available to the plants I'm growing.  More nutrients = happy plants = tasty food.

 How do you get 2000lbs of lime on an acre of soil?

-You can spend days shoveling it out of bags and throwing it across the beds.
or
-You hire a big truck to do it in 15 min.

Until it gets stuck...

We got the truck out alright, and the lime is doing it's job on the field.  A soil test later in the season will hopefully confirm that my pH is up.

Nope, that's not snow, it's a hefty dose of lime.

Meanwhile, I've been clearing up space in the hoophouse by moving some flats of seedlings outside.  The metal hoops support the blankets I pull over them at night to keep the frost off.

After the lime got spread, Austin tilled up the field for me, and we got a nice row of peas seeded!

Whew!  Busy week.

And...

Note posting date, of the farm name change...

We run from the raptors...

So you don't have to.

As you may have guessed, April fools!

The sign is real though.  Real awesome!  Thank's Justin.

Farm Name Change

Big news!  The jury is and we're going to change the farm name!

Welcome to Velociraptor Hollow Produce.  Everybody thought it better reflected our ravenous hunger for fresh produce and the ferocious speed and service you've come to expect.  New labels will be coming out shortly, in the mean time, here's sneak peak at our new sign on the shed!

In honor of this momentous occasion, Justin came over for day and helped me move the main coop.  It's not as portable as the conestoga style hoop coops, so it had to go on skids and get towed.

Man, in Velociraptor Hollow, you go have lunch, come back and find your chicken coop up on blocks.  It's a pretty sketchy neighborhood...

Actually, it was a handy hydraulic jack lets us get to the soft underbelly of the coop, and put it on some logs lashed together.

The rest of the movement of the coop went completely great, but was so exciting, we forgot to take pictures of it.  Rest assured, the chickies have some excellent new leaves to scratch in and go hunting for bugs.  Beware the raptors!