Thursday, March 25, 2010

Funky Electronic's

We've been having some funky electronic stuff goin on round here.

First yesterday, no water so I walk out to the well to investigate and what do I find? Ants. Yes ants had invaded the points that cycle on and off the well pump. So after some removal of crispy fried ant bodies the pump was back up an running. But that is not all.

This morning I go into the walkin cooler to bag/box up Carrots like I do every morning these days and what do I notice? Hmm. It's a bit warm in here. Way to warm. So as I do know how to do I check the points and they seem to be functioning, so I bang on stuff, you know banging on stuff is a great trouble shooting technique and sometimes it even fixes things. But the banging dosn't work so I call my reefer guy- The Ice Man, he comes out and turns out the high/low cutout/pullin which has been a bit finicky is kaput. (It is what I usually bang on to fix) So after being replaced it's up and running cooling Carrots as I type.

Sure do hope trouble dosn't come in three's right now cause I can't afford to have the Tractor go haywire.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Happy Farmer

I'm a happy Farmer right now. I've just got off the tractor for the day and it's not the first time. On Wednesday I started with the whole mowing tilling process. Since then the only day I haven't been on the tractor is yesterday cause I was at Farmers Market and then off to a Market meeting.

Today I worked on what will be Squash beds and Spring Veggies. I've also mowed all my Cherry Tomato beds and my Slicing Tomato beds. They also have had the tiller run thru once and will get passed over again tomorrow.

The soil is looking really good, fracturing naturally not being cut, destroying the tilth. This is very important to me as I've been really patient and careful all these years, not working the soil when it's to wet, adding gypsum/calcium to loosen it up. On the Farm here I have what is called tight soil. Very high in Magnesium, and clay. When I first started working the soil here it was really tight, so tight you might just have called it rock hard. Over the years my careful tilth practices, and adding Organic Matter by the means of strip tilling has made the soil much looser, with much more Organic Matter. It works up in the spring to a crumbly texture, instead of hard rocks. It really makes me happy,and makes me smile to see the difference time, patience, and careful practices can do.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Where do I start ?

It's been one heck of a busy week round here. I can hardly remember all that I've done. But I'll try.

I started the week by sowing eggplant in the greenhouse, and of course each day I bag and box up Carrots for storage. And I started selling them to S&S, and Chico Natty, and Briarpatch.

Small interruption for breakfast YUM. Lisa's fantastic Eggs, our delicious Bacon, some potatoes, our Sun Dried Tomatoes, and wilted Wild Lettuce, which is really good- nutty ,a bit sweet, and a bit bitter. I should start harvesting it and selling it to French Laundry and retire early.

Ok back to the busy week. I've already told you I'm itchin to get some tractor work done, and changed the oil and greased er up. Ready and waiting for the field to dry.

On Thursday I killed two birds-one stone, and went to Grass Valley to deliver Carrots, and attend the Grower's Market Board meeting, which went really well with lot's of positive input, and energy.We're moving that Market so have lot's on our hands.

Now on to the big news. On Friday since it was raining I started working on my website. Small Farm Central has some really nice templates and nice features for small farmers so I signed up with them and started geeking on my site. All Friday. After the initial spurts and sputters and what? I got the hang of it and it's just about ready to launch. Yippie I'm moving into the 21st century! Now if I start a Facebook page and start Tweeting I'll really be here.

Yesterday's Farmer's Market started off good but died a bit early, and we didn't meet our sales goal, which has me wondering, am I loosing Market customers to my store sales? I had a few people tell me they bought them at the stores and our sales were off by just about the amount they probably sold. Coincidence?

The Tomatoes in the greenhouse are almost all up and off to growing, really good germination 90% so far, and look really good. And the Peppers are already starting to pop thru the soil which is early but good. The weather looks good for the week so I'll start mowing in a few days and hopefully start tilling late week!

So wish for dry weather!

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Itchin

Yes You say, what you itchin to do?

I'm itchin to fire up the tractor and till some soil. Problem is we had rain last night. And I'll tell you I'm not going to mess up the fine tilth I worked on for years just to scratch that one itch.

Mostly I'm itchin to get something done in the field. 'Sides digging Carrots.

Today I did plant the Eggplant in the greenhouse, and the Tomatoes I planted last week are starting to pop their little leaves up through the coco-peat. Yeah! Go 'maters. I Love it when they start doing that. Pretty soon they'll all be up and off to growing.

So tomorrow I'll change the oil and grease up the tractor so when I start her up she runs silky smooth. Then maybe if it dry's out a bit more I can start mowing and tilling. I still have plenty of time to start working beds, but yes, if it doesn't dry out soon then I start to worry. Or just get a bit nervous. I usually need a good week of dry weather to get to tillin, but 4 or 5 will let me hook up the mower and whack down the grass. We've had a good amount of rain so the wild oats in the field are getting tall and I'd like to take them down a notch. And it's a good thing I mowed the paths between the Onions and Garlic or the grass there would be 18" tall and a pain to mow. Matt- 1 grass -0 doing what's needed- 1 procrastination- 0.

So tomorrow after the oils changed and every thing is greased I'll start up the tractor and hope for dry weather.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Movin Along

Groovy sunny weather today, and yesterday's Farmers Market was cloudy but the crowd was certainly what it can be on a sunny day.

Which has left me thinking. Is this Food Revolution exponetially growing? It seems to be reaching that critical mass where it spills over into much more mainstream Americana. I'll explain. This year here in Chico there will be two more additional Saturday Farmers Markets. One run by Butte College and located at their Chico campus close to Walmart/Costco/Big Box store central. The other new Saturday Market will be run by the Chico Farmers Market, and located at North Valley Plaza with Trader Joe's/Movie theater/ and other retailers nearby. So three markets on one day. Over saturation?

Could be? could be not? Some of the people who shop the new markets might come from the customer base of the downtown market. I'm thinking short run only 5-10% long run 25% who knows? But what I'm hoping is by being located away from the other markets most of the customers might be people who normally don't shop the Farmers Market. Maybe people who are shopping at Trader Joe's will stop by and buy some really fresh veggies. Of course that's only the start cause once they try Local Food, they usually expand their purchases over time. That's what I'm banking on.

Am I going to do two more markets on Saturday? One. The North Valley Plaza, the other will have flea market type stuff also for sale, and what Organic Veggie Grower can compete with cheap consumer goods from China. I'm going to take a risk, have to get another vehicle and market setup and see what happens. Could be this Local Food Revolution of ours expands and reaches farther throughout the community with greater purchases of Locally Grown Food, supporting existing Farmer's and making room for New Farmers to enter the Marketplace.

Let's Hope