This Week on the Farm 11/2
Well our regular season is done and things haven’t slowed down that much. On Monday Tyler spread manure over two of our fields. Our neighbor two houses down from us has cows and was nice enough to offer his extra manure as fertilizer for us. He even let us use his nice tractor and manure spreader! Tyler had a blast. We are also going to spread the chicken manure that we got from a friend of ours last winter and some horse manure from another neighbor later this week.
Since we are applying raw manure that hasn’t been composted we have to apply it in the fall in order to avoid any issues. Organic standards require there be a minimum of 90 days for most crops and 120 days for root crops between application of raw manure and harvest. If you apply raw manure in the spring there isn’t enough time before you want to begin harvesting. You can apply manure that has been composted so things like composted fish guts and our favorite Chickity Doo Doo can be applied without those restrictions.
Check out our facebook page for video of the manure spreader in action. We also have a photo gallery of what the full share boxes looked like this season. You really get a sense of how the season changes with the weather by looking at the photos. We also have photos from last season and the Farm Stop and Barley Pop. If you want to reminisce about summer weather there are some great photos.
This week we also removed all of the remaining irrigation equipment from the fields. There were only a dozen or so sprinklers still set up, so we took those down and coiled up the remaining hoses. We drained the bulk tanks and brought the irrigation pumps inside. When we have some more rainy/snowy days we can change the oil and air filters on the pumps and get them ready for next season.
One of the bulk tanks is on a trailer and was sitting in our far field. Tyler decided that it was a good time for me to learn how to drive the tractor so I could haul the trailer back to the farm. I have been avoiding learning how to drive the tractors because I am scared and the last time he tried to teach me it didn’t end well. It was last winter and he thought it would be a good time to teach me so that I could help plow snow. I was supposed to plow the snow in a straight line out the driveway and across the road where I would dump the snow on the far side. I didn’t stop quickly enough and got stuck partway in the ditch, part way in the road. Needless to say I freaked out since I was stuck on a county road and I successfully avoided driving the tractors since that day.
Monday, however I did drive the tractor and the trailer with the bulk tank back to the farm from the far field. Most of the way I drove in first gear (going at a crawl) since Tyler hadn’t told be how to shift gears, but then I figured out how to get it into second gear and I could go a little bit faster. Don is still the tractor king, so I will still let him do most of the tractor work:)
This week we will be delivering the storage shares that a bunch of our members ordered. The storage share includes: 10 lbs red potatoes, 3 lbs white potatoes, 3 lbs sweet potatoes, 4 lbs red onions, 4 lbs yellow onions, 3 pie pumpkins, 1 dozen leeks, 10-12 lbs rutabaga, 3 lbs gold turnips, 3 lbs purple top white globe turnips, 4 full plants Brussels sprouts, 1 lb black beans, and 6 heads garlic (from our neighbor Russell Huseth-not certified organic). There is so much that it takes two full totes to fit all of the produce!
Thanks to everyone who signed up for a storage share! We hope you enjoy the last fresh veggies of the season!