As the Farm Turns

Sometimes farming does feel like a soap opera. Scandalous rumors, unexpected accidents, cut-throat rivalry between poultry growers (no pun intended), and trade secret jealousy. There is certainly something always brewing on our farm and when sharing a farm with two other growers, things have to be kept wide open. We successfully negotiated our way through shared tractor fuel consumption without any flaring tempers or passive aggressive nonsense. Our resolution was to treat the tractor like a rental car-- whoever used it last tops off the tank. I am thankful that we all have the same long term goals of growing food, enjoying each other's company, and trying to juggle family life, farm duties, employment, and down time.

Flashy Trout Back lettuce

The weather is slowly starting to warm up and our average soil temperatures are creeping slowly closer to 50 degrees. This translates to better seed germination and accelerated plant growth, and as for me, I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of new growth today under the reemay. Allyn and I have been losing sleep and I have been quite fussy and grumpy because June has been rapidly approaching and plant  growth has been slow to say the least. Many of our Asian vegetables and some of our greens are starting to approach full size while the brassicas (kohlrabi, broccoli rabe, etc) are starting to experience explosive growth as the sun peeks out for a few days at a time.

We should be planting dry beans soon and I am very excited to try three new varieties this year (Black Coco, Adzuki, and some funky new garbanzo). Our driveway in Seattle is now currently filling up with sweet corn, popcorn, cukes, melons, squashes, and

My favorite: Jacob's Cattle bean

zukes while all of our tomatoes and peppers have moved out and are now getting comfortable in their fancy new hoophouse.

On a side note....We post all of our day to day pictures of plants and operations on facebook now. I have caved into using Facebook and I must admit that it is a nice way to keep farm updates short and sweet. For thosee folks who enjoy using Facebook, visit us at our Roots Underground Facebook page. Stay tuned!