Mud, mud, and more mud: Planting Continues

Hello all!  The past week out at the farm can be described in one word: muddy.  Regardless of the conditions, we have accomplished a lot!

Hurray for mud!

We have been continuing to put a lot of plants in the ground.  At the end of last week, we planted a few varieties of radish, some salad greens called mesclun mix, and some other types of lettuce.  We planted those while learning to use two neat seeding tools.  One was called an EarthWay seeder and the other was called a four-row pinpoint seeder.  It was fun learning to use a couple of new tools that I had never seen before.  As of this week, some of the lettuce is growing fast and looking good!

Lettuce coming up

At the start of this week, we also transplanted in some tomato and pepper plants.  We also mulched the beds with straw to hold in moisture and prevent weed growth and soil erosion.  We also began setting up a trellis for the tomatoes.  A trellis is any structure used to help support a plant, like a tomato cage.  Instead of using tomato cages for each individual plant, we put in poles along the bed and will weave wire between them to support the plants once they grow tall enough.  In one bed, we used metal T-posts.  In the other, we used bamboo poles.  This is to demonstrate different options for the farmers.  Bamboo poles are also much cheaper, so they make more sense for an operation with limited funds, like Roots, to use.  So far, the tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing fine in their new home.

Tomato trellises 

Tomato transplant, already producing fruit

Pepper plant

Pepper bed

Tomato beds

We also planted some pole beans on Thursday, using the EarthWay seeder.  Then we used more bamboo poles to build a series of A-frames over the bed.  We will eventually hang some twine or wire from the top for the beans to climb.  Setting up that bed was fun, and it looks great!

Pole bean A-frames

After finishing our planting for the day, we ventured into the hoophouse to do some pest control.  We have started to notice some cucumber beetles hanging around, so we searched each plant.  The beetles are fairly easy to spot because of their color.  Whenever we found them, we simply picked them off the plant and squashed them between our fingers.  A few managed to get away from us, but I think we eliminated enough of them to prevent major damage to the plants.

We have also finished installing most of our drip irrigation tape in the demo farm beds, and it's looking pretty good.  We have decided to retire the overhead irrigation system in the hoophouse due to continuing technical difficulties, so we'll soon be installing drip lines in there as well.

Drip irrigation lines

Drip irrigation hookups

A few more of the farmers have been out at the farm lately as well.  Everybody seems very excited to be out there, which is great!  I've enjoyed meeting everyone so far, and I'm looking forward to helping them out more as we go along.

As we've been working out at the farm, I've continued to think about localized organic farming in general.  I find the progression that food production has taken in this country to be very intriguing.  Hundreds of years ago, people farmed in a way that was similar to this.  People in most settlements supported themselves by growing their own food with a self-sustaining system.  Eventually, people developed systems of bartering and trading, and people began to specialize in producing certain goods.  Over the years, that developed into the huge commercial farming system we have today.  Many farms began producing single crops and trying to maximize production.  Several small farms growing many crops became a few huge farms with monocultures.  People would then just ship the food to wherever there were customers who wanted it.  In recent years, it has become apparent that this specialized commercial farming system isn't very environmentally-friendly.  Monocultures require huge amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and transporting the produce burns fossil fuels and emits greenhouse gases.  Intensive livestock farming also emits a great deal of greenhouse gases and requires the use of chemicals like antibiotics.  There are also ethical issues regarding the treatment of livestock in those farms.  In response to these findings, there has been a resurgence in small-scale organic farming.  We might be seeing the beginning of a return to methods similar to those of earlier times, which I find poetic.  It reminds me of the classic technology debate: is there a point where we should stop developing new technology?  Should we draw a line somewhere, so to speak?  It appears that we may have bumped up against that proverbial line with food production and are now beginning to reverse our course.  We probably won't transition completely away from industrial farming, but it is conceivable to think that we could come to rely mostly on small-scale organic methods.  It seems to have a lot of benefits.  It's healthy for us and the environment, and it can provide wonderful social interactions as well.  So why not try it?

Thanks again for reading, I hope you are enjoying my blog!  See you next time!