November

Compost for the hoophouses!  I was going to get fall greens going in the hoophouses, but it just didn't happen, so we're putting down compost for some early spring greens instead.

For all that compost I needed to call in my excavator...

Prepared a new section of field for next year.  last year it was plowed, cover cropped with Peas/vetch/oats.  I let the vetch (and weeds...) grow this year.  Now it's turned over and all that organic matter is in the soil.  In the spring I'll get it ready for planting.

Done plowing

Crown O Maine picking up lots of Brussels sprouts!

And the cooler finally has a roof.  More shade for better energy efficiency, it's ready for snow, and better yet, no more tarps!

October

Fall carrots are coming out

Corn stalks are now drying up, the brussels are looking good.

I built a cider press for all the wild apple trees around the farm.  Pressing lots and lots of cider for ourselves and friends.  Some of it going to the freezer, some canned, some to hard cider, some to vinegar.  I love apples.  And what a year!

Farmstand looks good in the fall.  Get your pumpkins!

MFT gave us a sign to let people know that our land is conserved to be farmland forever.  No, the farm did not change it's name to Forever Farm (lots of people asked when the sign went up).  That's the name of the program.  It's nice to let people know what is happening with land they see every day.

Excellent colors in a sunset from the back field

September

Remember that buckwheat?  It grew nicely and just before it went to seed, it got disced back in.

Onions are out of the ground, curing in the sun

All the tomato varieties

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Sunflowers!  (just for fun, but they sure are pretty, and the birds like em.  We were going to save the sunflower seeds for us to eat, but ran out of time.

Bowdoinham Farmers Market setup

Blue Bell Farm tomatoes, dragonfly approved.



Blue Bell Farm paste tomatoes, homestead sauce approved.

And a lovely basket that would make some very tasty sauce.

We ended september with a huge rainstorm.   Not too much damage.  A few sunflowers and brussels sprouts tipped over in the saturated soil.  But the streams got a real flushing!

August

We limed the back field.

Started reassembling a walk in cooler, (Thanks Ian!)  With help from the hardworking crew that got the big parts moved into place.  (Thanks Rob & Fernando!)

The compressor and fans, which are the heaviest part are attached through the top roof panel which is made of polystyrene sandwiched in tinfoil.  It's very heavy, bulky and fragile.  Arg!

But a homemade crane made slow work of it...
Those are two come-alongs on 2x6 frames that lift up each side.  Then we slid it over the walls.

Meanwhile, tomatoes are rockin.

I managed to get out for a walk in the woods and found a cool variety of orchid

Tilled stale seedbed. (Nicely cultivated, watered, let the weed seeds germinate, and then tilled again)

Same place, buckwheat germinating

Future home of raspberries after rollling in buckwheat.

Charlie's tractor set up with discs and a 'new' seed roller.  After I've spread the cover crop seed I drive this contraption around with the discs set to a very light amount of tillage, which effectively rakes in the seed, then the giant heavy tube packs the soil around the seeds.  Good seed-soil contact means good germination.  The long line of squeaky metal being pulled behind makes it feel like I'm driving a train.

A nice overview of the south field

July

Hey we grew sugar snap peas & head lettuce
(alright, so lettuce and peas were early june, not July, but I'm posting this in December, so whatever, it's a season recap)

Lots of mesclun salad mix:

There's now a farmstand at the end of the driveway!  It's a quiet road, so I don't expect this to become the next Whole Foods, but it's nice to have a storefront for the farm instead of "I wonder who lives down there?"  Welcome neighbors!

Corn.  Knee high by the 4th of July?
 check.

Save California. Buy local

This graphic by the NY Times is great.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/21/us/your-contribution-to-the-california-drought.html

Food takes lots of water to produce.  Buy it where it rains.

And now a pretty farm picture.

Organic! To Market!

Hooray!  The farm is now officially certified Organic.

 I'm still growing the same great veggies, but my methods have now all been reviewed by MOFGA and I can proudly hang up this fine banner.

We're going to the Bowdoinham Farmers Market!  Saturdays 8:30AM to 12:30 at the town waterfront.  See you there!
We'll have these lovely greens and more!

Meanwhile, potatoes have been planted. (4 tasty varieties, stay tuned to find out which ones grew)

A bed of asparagus is in (hoping for a light harvest next year)

We planted some lavender with a little help.

took a few glamour shots of Charlie's tractor after a fine job cultivating.

And survived a really spooky cloud.  (remember in Ghostbusters, when they're on top of that building and Sigourney Weaver is possed by Zuul, and Bill Murray saves the day?....  )

Endless Winter Ends

At the end of March, there was still plenty of snow.  I dug out the water line to irrigate the hoop house.

The tractor is thinking about spring.

Freeloader

Eventually the snow did melt and I was able to see what the cover crop of Peas, Vetch and Oats looked like after a few feet of snow.   Pretty flat.  Nice mat of organic matter though.  Thats mostly pea vines you see, some flatted oat stalks.  Can't see much vetch.

Then it snowed again.  (this is April 9)  And packs of deer moved in.  The deer of the apocalypse?

But the daffodils were steadily working their way up.

Alright, mid april.  Snow is almost all gone except for a few patches in the dark woods.  I got a rusty old seed roller to aid in better cover crop management this year.  It's crazy heavy and had to be winched sideways out of the truck.

Hey, it's a porcupine in the elm tree.  (this is like 20 feet from the house)  This is the 4th or 5th one I've seen this spring.  They're everywhere right now.

Mostly onions in the seedling house, ready to get outside soon!