Tough Spring

There has been a buzz in the farming community over the last two weeks over a statement that the locally famous UW meteorologist/ climatologist Cliff Mass made last week. If I could find where it was that everybody saw or heard it, I would post it here. He said that as of two weeks ago this has been the coldest spring on record since 1951 and of all the days so far this year, there have been only two that broke 55 degrees. When I review my farm log from last year, we had much warmer weather despite the never ending rain. ...now we have never-ending rain and cooler weather. Having said this, I am now very happy that we started so many extra plants in advance with the anticipation of losing many due to the weather or pests.

We are just now starting to sow seed directly into the soil, and of the seed we planted last week, the peas are coming on strong and the arugula looks like it's trying to make a break for it. If the temp's stay in the fifties for the next few weeks I can expect everything that we planted yesterday to sprout. I have been holding out for the twelve foot wide remay (white ag cloth) to cover my fields, but I think that I will break down this week and make the investment in whatever Steuber's Distribution Company has available. One has to wonder how on earth does that place keeps it's doors open. Remay should raise the temperature of the air directly around the plants and seeds that have been freshly sown. Hopefully this will help.

Tilling rows for taters

On Friday we stress tested the ancient tiller and it seemed to hold up for almost four painful hours of tilling (1/3 acre). If three point tractor-pulled tillers weren't so darn expensive, we would have one. Maybe it's in the cards for us next year. We have plenty of space to get our grains in and that should happen around May first. Normally we would get these sown earlier, but the rain REALLY hasn't been cooperating this year. We have learned that grains can handle all of this early rain but the soil does need to be dry before we can get it in.
 

Making furrows

All of our potatoes went in yesterday and by storing taters from last year, we were able to save a lot of money. Many farmers purchase fresh potatoes every year to plant because of disease and lack of storage facilities, but we love the cost savings and if we are to be sustainable, saving potatoes will definitely be part of the solution. I sincerely hope that the infrastucture style of old returns for agriculture. Grain silos and cooled warehouses for storage of ag products or meats would be a blessing and will be needed if agriculture is to become truly 100 percent local.

Yellow Finn dipped in organic fir bark dust.

Allyn covering 800 feet of potatoes