Where's this Global Warming?

I'm usally a pretty positive person. But right now I'm sick of the Rain. In the Month of March we've had 22 days of rain, and twice the normal amount in inches. It was like this last year too.

Usually at this time of the year we're plantin summer squash, and just about ready to transplant the first run of tomatoes. Right now the field is soaked to the bone and there isn't a break in the weather in sight. I'm cooped up in the greenhouse or filling potholes in the driveroad. They got pretty kingsize this year, and I was growing tired of them growing bigger and bigger, so 14 Tons of rock and one sore back later it look's pretty decent. I don't think I'll let them get that big in the future.

Speaking of the future, where's this Global Warming? It's colder and rainer than usual, but isn't it soposed to get warmer? Maybee here in Northern California it will be wet longer, and hot hotter.I just can't make it all out. I may have to switch to Aquaculture, or raise Frogs, or at least grow webbed feet. Or maybee I'll just have to not plan on planting stuff in March and early April and make the season shorter. Might be nice; less work, more play?

One thing I can say is "Thank God for Carrots." I can harvest and sell Carrots from November to April, the longest season of anything I grow. The rain and cold just make them sweeter. My customers tell me that my carrots are the best thing they've ever tasted. Their kids will devour them, but turn up their noses at store bought carrots. I have people come from 20 miles away in the middle of winter just to buy them. They tell total strangers standing next to them at Farmers Market to buy them, because their the "best in the world". Well enough bragging.

So for now, Rain Rain Go Away.

Planting Seeds

I Love planting seeds. I just got done with most of run #2 of tomatoes,peppers, and eggplant. The greenhouse is bustin out with run #1 and looking really good. I had the best germination rates I've ever had and they are all comin along really well. Maybee to well.

If it dosn't give me a big enough dry spell the tomatoes will get to big then I lose some production. We've been getting some breaks in the rain but I need a good week so my soil dosn't muck up when I till it. So I wait, and hope, and slow things downa bit in the greenhouse.

But as I said, I Love planting seeds, there is a simple satisfaction in helping seeds to sprout and grow and fullfill their highest potential. Everyday you get to see how they are doing. It's like I have thousands of little children and I get to care for each and everyone every day. I get to water them, feed them, and tuck them into bed everynight then uncover them every morning so they can live and grow some more. Then when their just right I get to put them into the ground and watch them really take off. Then they start making fruit, then ripen and I get to pick them, eat them, and sell them to make my living.

You see it's this little deal I have with them and Mother Nature. I do my best to care for the plants the best way I know how, and they do their best to help me to make a living. And the cycle goes round and round every year. So that's a few reasons I like planting seeds.

Weather or not

Weather or not it's going to rain. Weather or not it's going to be sunny, windy, have a frost. Or just about anything else. As a Farmer just about everthing is contingent on the weather.

The weather seems to be contingent on weather or not it's going to be like the weatherman says. And of course that leads to all kinds of other weathers. Like seeds coming up, being able to till and plant, market being busy, losing crops to late frost, losing crops to early frost, having a good year, having a bad year, freezing in the cold, broiling in the heat.
So many things in farming depend on the weather, and it of course has taught me so many things.

How do I go on after waking up and discovering that a late frost has wiped out the tomatoes in the field. How? you scramble for transplants to repalce the ones you lost and buy a frost alarm to tell you disaster is imenent ( then of course the next year when you know it's going to freeze from experience, you stay up all night building fires to make a smoke screen to keep the heat in, but the small amount of wind, but of course not enough to keep it from freezing in the first place, blows your screen away)) you just replant, buy some agribon, (ouch!) and thank god that your whole year isn't riding on one planting of tomatoes.

This spring we've been having one of the coldest and rainest march's I can remember getting squash planted will be a little late, and hopefully the tomatoes won't get to big in the greenhouse before they can go in the field. But of course this all depends on the weather.

Over the years I've learned I can't let the weather stress me out, and that as a Farmer you got to take it as it comes or your gonna end up giving yourself ulcers or some other health condition.
So when it's raining I work in the office, or better yet the greenhouse, when it's sunny I get what I can done and while I wait for the feild to dry out, work on other projects which of course there's many. And then when it gets blazing hot I work until I can't work no more, then go inside and take a break in front of the swamp cooler. Then of course in the fall those first rainy days are so nice to just sit in front of the fire and read, or sleep half the day cause your sleep deprived from to many 15 hour days.

But of course it's all hinging on the weather.

How it all got started

How did it all get started? Basically I'm a first generation, self-educated, hobby gone wild farmer.

At first it was a hobby. A garden in my front yard between the street and the side walk. Then a half acre to see how much of my own food I could grow. Then bigger, then bigger.
That was almost twenty years ago. My friends said "You should sell you veggies at farmers market" , I put it off for the usual reasons. I don't have enough stuff, it dosn't look good enough to sell, or I can't get into Farmers Market cause there's a waiting list. Then one day about 9 years ago an old girlfreind said let's go to the Grass Valley mkt. and see if you can get in there. Well I did, started selling my stuff, people loved it and I started to transition to becoming a full time farmer.

The first few years I cultivated about 2 acres. Buisness grew, I grew, I learned a whole lot; about farming, about Life, about everything. My motto for farming and life is "Just don't make the same mistake twice!" Easy to say challenging to do.

Six years ago I was able to buy this Farm. It was an almond orchard many years ago, but it had no trees, no fertillity, nothing but grass, and a whole lot of potential.
The soil was hard as cement black clay, but with careful tilth and care it has unlocked it's true potential and become more clay-loam like, soft, full of organic matter, active, and bursting with Life. It still takes a bitof time to dry enough to work with it, but it holds moisture well, keeps fertillity in the root zone, and is packed with minerals making for some of the best tasting and nutritious vegtables.

My buisness has grown along with the Farm. First one market a week, next two. Now it's one year round, two on Saturday in the summer, and two others midweek in the summer/fall. I also sell to 5 natural food stores, and a few restaurants. I've gone from struggling to pay my bills, to making a decent living.

All of this I couldn't have done without my mother, my friends, old girlfriends, past and present apprentices, ( hey and blessings to Mike, Rob, David, Judith, Helen, Axel & Jane ) and certainly last but not least My Life Partner Lisa.

In my blog you'll read about the Farm, my view on Life, and hopefully gain some knoledge or motivation like I do.