Mud Puddle Farm’s Weblog

These are our broccoli seeds that we planted Thursday night!

I love them! I noticed them starting to come up Saturday, I think. This morning we have cauliflower and thyme starting to grow too. I can’t even explain how tiny the thyme leaves are; the whole little sprout is about the size of a pinhead.

Tonight we are going to try to get onions, leeks, chives, and catnip started. We also want to experiment with getting some warm weather plants growing now, like basil and tomatoes. If I could eat a garden fresh tomato in April–that would be so cool… We, of course, will keep you updated on our progress.

This has nothing to do with the farming venture, but I told everyone I would get some pictures up here of me with a belly:

Pretty crazy, huh? I had a doctors appointment today, and have put on 3 pounds since the last time I was there and the baby’s heartbeat sounds good and strong. Dr Miller said within the next few weeks we will be able to feel the kicks and movement through the abdominal wall, so Chad will get to feel the movement, too. The next appointment is March 10, and I have to find a birthing class for us to take!

Today, among other things, Chad rotated the compost pile:

And we found LOTS of worms: This is a good thing, if you didn’t know that.

Last night we managed to get the first round of seeds in dirt. We planted broccoli and cauliflower for spring harvest (these are a couple of those crops you can do twice a year), and then some perennial herbs–rosemary, thyme, lemon balm, and savory. Here was my little seeding station:

We are planting in a variety of things. Ben sent us a link to make origami newspaper pots, which are cool, because they can be planted right in the ground and the newspaper just decomposes. In this picture, I am using toilet paper tubes cut in half with the end folded in to prevent dirt from falling out the bottom. And then we are reusing plastic pots which have to be cleaned and disinfected in a mild bleach solution.

Here is one of the little flats, situated under the lamp and on it’s heating pad.

I can’t wait til something starts growing!

Every Thursday Since arriving out in OR, I (this is Gabe, btw, not Chad) have been taking a Master Gardener certification class. Yes, you may soon be able to address me as Master Gardener Rysula. Not quite as thrilling as Kung Fu Master, but hey, we all gotta have something…

Anyway, we started with a botany class to understand how plants work and have been learning about things as varied as composting, care for orchard trees, and the proper way to grow in greenhouses. All of this information will be extremely useful in the coming months and years as Chad and I get things up and running.

Today in class, we learned about insects; both pest and beneficial varieties, how to attract the latter and get rid of the former, organic ways of doing so, and basic entymology. Smack dab in the middle of the presentation was a short video of 2 snails mating. Complete with “romantic” music…This goes to show you you never know what you are going to stumble across in a day.

We did more minor work on the greenhouse when I got home from class. The plan is to get up early tomorrow and get the rest of the post bolts in, the baseboards in, and the purlins tightened up. This last step will hopefully straighten everything out. It looks a little lopsided right now, despite our painstaking measurements that went on the first 3 days before we even STARTED construction. I can’t wait until this stupid thing is up and we don’t have to worry about it anymore. Of course, that just means there will be something else for us to worry about.

Also, we need to get some seeds started. Brassicas (broccoli and cauliflower), as well as onions and leeks. Peas need to be in the ground as soon as it dries out enough to till the field and get some compost worked into our planting beds… It is all kind of overwhelming to think about.

In other news this week, I dug my prenatal yoga DVD out of the moving boxes and have started doing this every couple days. I only mention this because Chad did it with me the other morning (Kirby walked down the stairs to both of us in Downward Facing Dog position. If you have a clue what that means, you will know it was pretty hysterical). He goes to the gym almost every day, can bench press double my body weight, and yet prenatal yoga kicked his ass… He is still complaining about it. It’s pretty funny.

You may be wondering about the pregnancy. It is going well so far. I have a weird muscle twinge every once in a while right under my ribs just below my sternum, but that is the only thing I can really complain about. In case you haven’t heard, we found out we are having a girl, and my due date is June 17, 2008. I go back to the doctors on Monday, but this is just one of many check-ups. I am starting to show, and will have Chad get a picture of me with my little bump so we get it online for all those of you who want to see it.

Well, let the onslaught begin. As you all might have assumed we have little to no conception of how to set up an organic farm. And in these months, it is finally time to test all that we have learned through classes, personal studies, and long drawn out conversations.

As part of our activation it is necessary to maintain focus on our goals, yet maintain a predisposition to change. Our misjudgments and miscalculations will abound, I am sure!

We have started receiving seeds in the mail, and the erection of the greenhouse is a painful study in janky construction. The field is still too wet to plow, disk and till at the moment, but as soon as it dries out we need to do that immediately. Today I think some plants will be sown into transplant containers for sowing into the ground as youngin’s. Also Gabrielle has come up with a semi-complete list of all the stuff that we are planting and the dates that they are sown in. That can be viewed here:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=grqr821%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles

Lastly, we have been setting up communications with breweries in the area about starting some small scale hops production for local brews. We have also come into contact with a man that does rainwater collection systems for irrigation purposes. We have also been getting estimates from solar installers. If things work out the way that we want them then we can get the VAPG grant to offset some of the costs incured by planning these programs.

That is all for today.

going to Ashland to speak with a women about possibly opening a kitchen to create value added products for sale on the market. A value added product represents something manufactured from farm commodities for great worth on the market such as jellies, preserves, pickles, breads, etc. These and more are all things that we are looking at doing in order to alleviate waste products, and aim towards sustainability. Also, B quality products can be focused directly into value added products instead of being left for waste.

With the addition of a commercial kitchen something out of nothing will be made for sale at market. A lower value product can be manufactured into something with higher value. This also allows both Gabrielle and I, who are cooks, to provide other services to the community such as a place to cook for small parties, catering, and cooking classes. And if the kitchen can be rented out to other farmers on some sort of a time share basis, then we can optimize the potential of a kitchen in this manner as well.