Virtual Farm Tour

Here’s a Self Guided Tour to give the lay of land.

The Dandelions Bloom

This week we began to plant potatoes. How does one know when to plant potatoes? Some let nature tell them. All devoted gardeners know that nature sends us signals. Here’s one clue that’s pretty reliable: Plant potatoes when the dandelions bloom. To be sure, we did additional check of the soil temperature. Sure enough it was above 50F just like the blooming dandelions had already told us.

So with that done, let’s get those tubers in the ground.

One step we added this year is to do sub-soiling with the OMNI Transformer 3 point Hitch Platform (toolbar) with 3 shank Scarifier (subsoiler for loosening deep hardpan).

After the subsoiling, the next task was to dig row trenches about 8 inches deep. To do this trenching, we used a potato plow.  Once the trenches were plowed, we use a potato hook to level and flatten the bottom of trench. With this done, we poured the fertilizer in the bottom of the trench from a gallon-sized plastic watering can using the walk-and-pour method. This preparation resulted in a nice soil bed for the tubers.

The next step was to place the seed tubers into the trenched bed about a foot apart. If the tubers have started to sprout, we carefully placed them so that the sprouts are pointed upward.

To cover the potatoes, we raked the loose, fine soil from the sides of trench to cover the seed tubers with about 2 or 3 inches of soil. We are careful not to allow any heavy soil clumps or stones to set upon the tubers. The remaining soil on the sides of trench will be used for ”hilling” up the potatoes plants when the plants are about a foot tall.

We planted over 130# pounds of fingerlings on four days.  Below are the field notes, as the sun slowly sinks in the west.

1) Field 5, Row 3 planted with 38# of Russian Banana on May 6, 2012.

2) Field 5, Row 2 planted with 33# of Russian Banana on May 7, 2012

3) Field 5, Row 1 planted with 20# of Rose Finn Apple on May 11, 2012

4) Field 5, Row 4 planted with 40# of Swedish Peanut on on May 12, 2012

Applied dry fertilizer directly in rows: 50# of Fertrell Gold Special Starter (Rate: ~30# per 1000 feet) and 40# of Fertrell Super K (Rate: ~20# per 1000 feet) into rows 1, 2 and 3 (450 feet times 4 rows = 1800 feet row).

Equipment used: 1951 Ferguson TO-20 with 3-Shank Subsoiler and 1X Potato Plow Implements, Potato Hook and Gallon-sized Plastic Watering Can.

Decoding the Radishes

We have published 100 Wooleylot blogs.  In doing this, we have tried to give you some fun garlic facts, informative updates, interactive polls, food recipes, and a little bit of humor. We have tried to treat our blog site like a technical journal with articles that have a general interest. So with that, on to the next 100 blogs.

Cover crops are a subject that we continue to learn about. One new (at least to us) cover crop that we are studying is the Forge Radish.  There are dizzying number of names for this Brassica family member, including “forage radish”, “tillage radish” and “ground hog radish” and also the”Daikon” radish or “Japanese” radish . And guess what? All of these various seed catalog names are basically the same radish (Raphanus sativus var. niger).

There is also the oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus var. oleiformis). The oilseed radish has a stubbier, more branched taproot and tends to be somewhat more winter hardy than the forage radish.  So, for us, we plan to use the oilseed radish in our rotation mainly for its winter handiness. Another very good thing about the radishes is that they are not susceptible to wheat curl mite that can potentially infest allium crops. One cropping blend of interest to us is a mixture of oilseed radish and crimson clover as early fall planted cover. The crimson clover is a nitrogen-fixing plant which serves to place the fertilizer in the soil.  The radish taproots mine and store the nitrogen. In the spring, the radish residue decomposes rapidly and releases its stored nitrogen to increase topsoil fertility.

Below is the source [1] where we got the facts to help us decipher the radishes. “Just the ‘radish’ facts ma’am” Dragnet. Here’s the radishes at a glance.

Forage Radish Traits:

• Rapid germination and growth.
• Large deeply penetrating tap root.
• Winter-kills.
• Quick to decompose residues.
• High nutrient (N, P, S, Ca, B) content.
• Bio-active plant chemicals (glucosinolates).

• Alleviate soil compaction – save on deep tillage
• Suppress weeds – save on herbicides / cultivation
• Enhance seedbed – save time and plant earlier in spring
• Build organic matter – improve soil quality
• Release N early and increase topsoil fertility – save on N and other fertilizers
• Reduce nitrate leaching – save the Bay
• Control erosion – save your soil
• Reduce runoff – conserve rainwater

[1] Forage Radish:New Multi-Purpose Cover Crop for the Mid-Atlantic, By University of Maryland

Green Drawbridge

Crop rotation is the practice of growing a series of dissimilar types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons. Our farm is using a four year crop rotation on a five field system to minimize pest build-up. Four of the five fields are about an acre with one larger field that is about two acres. Each of the smaller fields are planted with a single crop while the larger field is divided into four strips. In any give year, we will have about an acre-and-half in each crop. This lets us plant an acre-and-half planted each year with only cover crops. We created a graphic to illustrate.

Nightshades -> Allium -> Legumes -> Cucurbits -> Brassica

As proactive garlic growers, we take measures to prevent potential pest problems. One such pest, that we recently learned about thanks to Honeyhill Farm in Livonia, New York, is the wheat curl mite. Wheat curl mites are microscopic white, wormlike organisms about 0.01 inch (0.25 mm) long. These mites feed on lily-family bulbs (including garlic and onions), cereal grains (oats, winter rye, barley) and wild grasses.  Fields rotated into garlic from cereal grains may have higher levels of wheat curl mites. The experts say that nearly, all small grains are susceptible to wheat curl mite, and could potentially serve as a “green bridge” for the mite to infest allium crops.  Instead of oats and winter rye, we will use crimson clover, hairy-vetch, yellow mustard, and tillage radish as cover crops.  In general, the recommendation is to avoid planting successive small grains, grass, onion or garlic crops. Doing this disrupts the pest travel on the green bridge and protects the garlic with a “green drawbridge”.

Old Beer Bottle Find

Schwarzenbach Bottle

The neat thing about digging around in this old farm is that you never know what you will find. Case in point, here is one such find with some local history about Potter County, Pennsylvania. We found a clear embossed bottle from Schwarzenbach Brewing Company, Galeton, PA from the early 1900′s.

Schwarzenbach Brewery

According to local historians, Joseph Schwarzenbach, came to the United States from Bavaria, Germany, in 1853 and in 1857 settled at Germania, Pa., where he established the brewing business that became the Schwarzenbach Brewing Company. The Schwarzenbach Brewing Company moved from Germania to Galeton in 1902 to be near the railroad.

Close-up of Embossing

Many Tiny Bubbles

Here is a close-up view of the embossing on the front of the bottle:

“Schwarzenbach”

“BREWING CO.”

“GALETON, PA”

Also, look close at the below picture and notice small bubbles in glass that are air pockets that became trapped during the glass manufacturing process. According to experts, bubbles are rare in glass produced after 1920, so the presence of these bubbles help to date the bottle.

Edible and Savory

What’s edible and savory and only available locally? The answer is farmers market vegetables! The dictionary has Vegetable defined as: any edible part of a plant with a savory flavor. One might say, that by this definition, only locally grown produce can be called vegetables because of the savory flavor.  By comparison, farmer market vegetables leave the so called supermarket “farm fresh” produce in the dust.

We will be offering garlic and a select basket of other savory vegetables at local farmer markets and festivals. Our goal is offer customers a unique experience. We enjoy describing our farm and explaining the traditional growing practices. We describe the crops that we grow and how to use them in cooking. You might say that we’re making the gourmet cook’s dream come true right here in Potter County! Catering to those of you that have an appetite for locally grown vegetables because it is the best food.

Here’s our 2012 Crop Calendar and Schedule of Events. All produce are handcrafted (planted and harvested by hand) and grown right here in Potter County - without the use of chemical pesticides, with the use of natural fertilizers – and sold locally to consumers.  We’ll  be back to the Potter County Farmer’s Market and the Wellsboro Grower’s Market.  Look for us at the Frosty Hollow Herbal Fair and the Cuba Garlic Festival. What’s so wonderful about these farmer’s markets and festivals? It’s the traditional way selling of agricultural products within the community; Farmer-to-Consumers.

Garlic To-Do List

Garlic Growth (April 8, 2012)

Each growing season at this time, we take a look at the garlic to evaluate its growth. Based on this year’s observation, we will set a schedule for cultivation and fertilization. Mother Nature gave us a warm spring thus far. So, there is a noticeable difference between the 2012 garlic growth and last year’s lack of  growth due to the very cold spring (see the photographs below). We’re hoping for more warm, moist weather, however, we will take what we are given.

Based on the nice start this year, we will proceed with our schedule:

1. Mid March - Garlic emergence

2. Early April – Early spring soil amending as needed based on soil test. This year was an application of  gypsum (calcium sulfate) and aragonite (sea shell flour) mixture using a drop spreader.

3. Mid April - Apply fertilizer (Schafer Liquid Fish) directly to leaves using Chapin 4-Gal. Backpack Sprayer.

4. Mid April - Cultivation on entire field both in-row & between-row. We use a 3 point hitch cultivator with 6 C-shaped spring steel shanks in between the rows. The in row (between the garlic plants) is done by hand or hand tools.

5. May 1 – Apply fertilizer (Schafer Liquid Fish ) directly to leaves using Chapin 4-Gal. Backpack Sprayer.

6. Early May - Herbicide (Vinegar) spray. (Note: Spray on a warm, dry day so that rain will not dilute or wash away the solution and avoid windy days to prevent excessive drifting.)

7. Mid May – Under seed the entire field with Crimson Clover for weed suppression and nitrogen fixation. This will be done after another cultivation on the entire field both in-row & between-row to remove weeds.

8. Mid June - Garlic Scape removal

9. Mid July – Garlic Bulb harvest

As the list shows, weed control is our biggest to-do. We use a variety of weed control methods.  Living mulches (oats in fall / crimson clover in spring), mechanical cultivation, hand weeding and organic vinegar herbicide are all things in the weed management plan.

Here are our prior year observations for a visual comparison.

Garlic Growth (April 12, 2011)

Garlic Growth (April 9, 2010)