Snow Load

Germans don’t use rows…

This is one of the greatest mysteries to me.

If they do use rows they are either like this.

Mad narrow. Or like this.

A huge row that looks way too huge to reach across. I just can’t figure out how they do this. The only thing I can think is that they walk on their “beds” as they plant and then again when they harvest. I don’t see another way.

I feel like this lady from Cornell.

Confused with lanes (doesn’t she look a little bewildered?), stuck reiterating something Eliot Coleman probably got from Europe 20 years ago.  In case some of you are wondering why I’m mentioning this.  It’s because I like to grow the most food per area (short of turning into an agro-business monster).  The Ashram has usable land crammed between trees.  Chop Chop….  NO! Not the trees!  It also seems to be the best defence against weeds.

Quick Hoops at the White House?

Reposted from Johnny’s Seeds (not sure how I missed this?):

USDA TO LAUNCH HIGH TUNNEL PILOT STUDY TO INCREASE AVAILABILITY OF LOCALLY GROWN FOODS

3-Year Project To Verify Effectiveness Of High Tunnels In Natural Resource Conservation

WASHINGTON, Dec. 16, 2009 – Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced a new pilot project under the ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ initiative for farmers to establish high tunnels – also known as hoop houses – to increase the availability of locally grown produce in a conservation-friendly way. Merrigan and other Obama administration officials highlighted opportunities available for producers in a video posted on USDA’s YouTube channel, which shows high tunnels recently installed in the White House garden.

Perhaps this might add validity for some of you to the notion of setting up quick hoops. Me, I’m starting to reconsidor. I wonder if Michelle Obama had to fight as hard to bury the EMT hoops in the ground. This shit is driving me bananas. I’m starting to think cold frames was a better idea. Anyone know where we can get old sliding glass doors from? That would be an ideal size pane to use for a coldframe. How bout 3/4″ to 1″ diameter footing pins 3 ‘ or more? The wider diameter footing pins might make it easier to bury the 3/4″ EMT. Currently I’m using 1/2″ to 3/4″ pins, pounded in to the ground, and then yanked out to create the hole.

Rogowski Farm

These guys seem like the are doing it swell over in Pine Island, NY. Only about 20 minutes drive from Ananda Ashram. It would be another local farm to check out I think. Sounds like they have some type intimate dining experience as well…

US vs. Japan: transplanting

Apparently the folks over at Stone Circle Farm sell these machines.

I discovered the transplanter while living in Japan a few years ago. I was
so excited about it that I not only decided to buy one and bring it back but
also made arrangements with the company to import them because they are so
well-suited to small farms.

Trouble In Paradise: Windfall Farms

From The Feedbag, here’s a great piece about the problems that small farms face today, featuring Windfall Farms in Montgomery, New York. Thanks to Matt for the find!

Winter Solstice 2009

My good friend Ray (he’s kind a melancholic type of guy) just sent me this link about the winter solstice.

http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/winter-solstice.htm

It’s kind of cheesy but I found myself liking it a lot. I think I might
have the SAD disorder right now. 40 mins till the solstice!

And the video is funny, with the Enya music..

The Fence, Hoop Houses, Kale, Garlic, Pruning, etc…

So the main parts of the fence have finally been completed. Many of you might not have realized that there was still some things that hadn’t been done on the fence. We finally finished weaving the two segments of fencing together, building the angle post extenders, hanging the mono-filament, putting the additional pair of gates up, and barricading the entrances so the dear might find it more difficult to get in.

This leaves us with a couple odds and ends for the fence. Putting taller corner braces in so that the corner posts are not under so much stress, bending so heavily. This will also help tighten up the fence. Getting or designing a slightly more user friendly lock on the gates that will keep the deer from nudging the door open and not require us lifting up two 10 foot long boards, and untying rope to get in. Finding all the gaps between the skirt and the fence and closing them up. Installing the 1″ by 4″ on the gate posts so that the gates sit flush when they are closed. Clean up the edges of the fencing, without cutting back the fencing too far so as to make re-tightening the fence difficult, so that jagged, contorted pieces of fencing aren’t hanging out of the fence,.

Although these things should get done, what I’d really like see done first is finish transplanting the rest of the kale and set small hoop houses (row covers) over the beds, using the design that my father already came up with, (see the two beds closest to the north corner of the garden), then cover them with a water permeable row cover material. George has some insights into this one, perhaps some type of Agribon. Which reminds me, I think George could use some help pruning those apple trees. It’s a great opportunity to learn some things too. He’s a real knowledgeable fellow. Could teach anyone a bit about pruning and a bunch of other stuff as well. It’s a good opportunity to glean some good gardening knowledge as well.

I’ve also been thinking about building a larger scale hoop house. A sturdy structure that could handle some snow. I’ve been reading Eliot Coleman’s The Winter Harvest Handbook and would like to copy some of his designs in there. I think they are extremely elegant–movable hoop houses set up on skis.

There’s a pretty nice series of videos by Daniel Botkin about hoop houses over here at ehow

This weekend, we would like to get another set of beds tilled, soil prepared, and boxes built for in the garden. We’d also like to prepare the soil behind the Panini house. I’ve already started tilling the soil and plan on planting the 900 or so cloves of garlic that my father and I picked up from Ed Fraser’s garlic farm between there and the available spaces in the front garden. We’d also like to transplant and row cover some kale behind the Panini House, and mulch some of the weedy areas over there with leaves, as well as start clearing some of the area on the edge of the rear Panini property boundary and the neighbouring vacant lot.

Garlic cont’d….

So after some initial research we started wondering why garlic seed stock was so much more expensive than table stock, what you buy for eating at the super market, farmers market,etc… The consensus is that the biggest and best garlic bulbs are saved and sold as seed stock but are otherwise the same garlic you would buy and eat. They’re derived from the same bulb, cloves, or bulbils. Check out this forum that my sister forwarded me. It pretty much covers the discussion.

http://forums.organicgardening.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2241078301/m/6811081551

I’m maintaining a bit of scepticism towards it being necessary to plant from seed stock. I’d kind of rather saving the money (which could be the difference between a few dollars per pound to as much as $17/lb.) and just go try picking up a bit from a farmers market. This year I think we are going to do a mix. My father has reserved some 25 pounds of German Extra-Hardy from Fraser’s farm up in Churchville, south-west of Rochester that we are planning to pick up on our way to Geneva, and hopefully we’ll get to a farmers market in the next few days and buy some in bulk. Anybody out there know somewhere where we can get a 100-200 pounds of a good tasty hardneck variety of garlic for a good price?

Garlic…

Now is fairly close to the time (a little late by my estimates) that people plant garlic in our area. My father and I have been doing a little research on the subject.

Growing Garlic with Tom Ashley – Part 1 of 17
Garlic Propagation with Daniel Botkin

This a nice series and an interesting video from two farmers up in Massachusetts. Tom Ashley from Dancing Bear Farm and Daniel Botkin from Laughing Dog Farm. In the latter segment Daniel sows a large amount of garlic, fast, by planting the whole bulb, then separating and transplanting it come spring time. Pretty awesome technique for for speed and I get the feeling there might be some other intelligence that nature has bestowed upon this method.

I sent Daniel an email inquiring about the particulars:

Hi Matt,

No it’s still prone to those things… however, you can quickly seed out
hundreds of cloves and have them ready for early spring separation and
transplant. When the ground is freezing up, I revert to this method just to
up my total # garlic planted. They all need mulch and a bit o luck, whether
separated or not. Happy planting/eating.

Daniel

> Does planting garlic in whole undivided bulbs help the garlic resist the
> potential perils (heaving, not enough time to establish roots, etc…) of
> late planting in colder weather (as compared to sowing cloves individually
> in the same conditions)?
>
> Thanks a bunch,
> Matt

For those wanting to delve further, here’s a nice article about growing garlic in Minnesota.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/DC7317.html

I figure it could be especially pertinent. People growing in Minnesota are planting in what might be an even colder/tougher environment. Any tips they have might ensure a healthy hardy garlic crop. I’m almost positive we’ll be going with a Hardneck variety. Johnny’s Seeds says German Extra-Hardy is the beezneez.

“First as Tragedy, Then As Farce”: Philosopher and Cultural Theorist Slavoj Žižek Speaks at Cooper Union

Slavoj here tearing up ideology in his usual fashion and speaking about something else slightly more complex.  I watched about half of it yesterday and then fell asleep.  I’m sure the rest is good though.  It always is.