Farmer Friday

Eggs from the compost chickens

The compost chickens are doing well and give me a few eggs a day; lots of these are going into the incubator because they are all older girls and still laying.

cardboard and manure mulch

I planted out some rosemary, oregano and a Lady Banks rose by the chicken pens. They were mulched with cardboard and newspaper covered with manure.

helpers!

I've had some helpers lately and certainly appreciate them!

The Silkie babies got a new house

The plum trees are blooming

It has been way too warm here, with trees and flowers blooming as much as a month early.

eggs for the incubator

Time to hatch chicks! Lots of eggs going into the incubator, duck, Ameraucana, Buff Orpington, Black Copper Marans, olive eggers.

Superior Farmer's Market

Tomorrow I'll be back at the Superior Farmer's Market with baby mustard greens, kale, collards, Superior grown grapefruit and lots of fresh eggs!

A peak at the light set up at my house:

And soon I'll have lettuce for market!

A Little of This & That

Pinal Peak Jan 22, 2017

We had a pretty sunset yesterday evening; I was going down the driveway just in time to see the sun highlight the mountains. A good bit of snow up there.

rainfall week ending Jan 22, 2017

In the past week we've had 2.1 inches of rain. We sure need the moisture but I wish it would spread things out a bit. It's raining again already. Can't we save some for June and July?

Leek Seedlings

I haven't grown leeks before but I grow garlic and onions so shouldn't be any real difference. The main difference is planting the leeks deeply and hilling earth up around them when they get bigger. That is what makes a long white stem.

Parsley seedlings

In spite of garden books predicting it taking a long time, my parsley seedlings are germinating, only about 10 days after planting. I think I saw a speck of green in the sage tray too.

Scarlet Kale seedlings

Can't wait to see what the Scarlet Kale is like. This makes 4 varieties of kale this year!

new layer

I don't think the new girl laying quite gets the idea of what the box is for.....

I bought the book Gaia's Garden a couple of years ago. This is a great introduction into the concepts of Permaculture. There are some great projects and ideas to help you get started with becoming more self sufficient, resilient and sustainable around your home and in your garden. If you don't know, Permaculture is described as a design science. Things are designed so that the wastes of one system feed another. Remember in Nature there is no such thing as garbage. Only humans create garbage. Permaculture design principles can be used to design any system, from an urban homestead to a city to a large company. When thinking about something new around my place I ask myself if it fits into the Ethics of Permaculture: Care of the Earth, Care of the People, Share the Surplus


Gaia's Garden, Second Edition
from: Chelsea Green Publishing

Potatoes and More

kale seedlings under lights

The past few days I've been cleaning up my grow light set up. I have some heavy metal shelves that will take 3 shop lights on each shelf. I picked up some more light fixtures and now have 2 shelves with 3 lights each (before I was just running 2 fixtures per shelf but that isn't enough to keep seedlings from getting leggy). I like to start a lot of seedlings, even those you might direct seed outdoors, inside under the lights. I have more control of temperature and humidity and often get much better germination. This also give me time for crops outdoors to mature and the beds readied for the next crop all while the next crop is already growing.

For example I seeded 2 flats of Red Russian Kale into soil blocks about the first of December. When they filled the blocks with roots I potted them into 4" pots and set them out in a plastic tunnel. A couple of days ago I finished pulling all the carrots out of a bed. Today I cleaned up the bed and got it ready for the kale. In a couple of weeks the kale will be ready to start picking off the outside leaves. But if I had waited and direct seeded the kale today, it would be about 8 weeks before it would be ready to pick.

Red Russian Kale ready to transplant

Also this week I've been getting out all the seed potatoes that I ordered for spring planting! The best size to plant are small potatoes or pieces of potato with one or more eyes that weigh about 2 ounces. (that's the size of a large hen's egg). So there were a few to cut up, but most were about the right size already. I put the cut sides up for a couple of days to get air circulation and dry off, then I will turn them over. Pre-sprout (called "chitting") potatoes in a cool area with some light. If it's too dark and warm the sprouts will grow long and spindly and won't make good plants. I set each kind in a box with it's label so I won't mix them up at planting time! These will go into the ground in early February.

Royal Purple

All Red

All Blue

Belinda is  yellow inside

setting up drip lines on a new bed

In other news I have the first bed in the new garden space ready to plant and got the drip lines installed on it. I am waiting for my supplier to get in some more 1/2" EMT conduit so I can finish the hoop set up. That way I can put frost cloth on as soon as I plant. Not only will it help keep it warmer on cold nights, it will help keep the birds out too.