High Tunnel Beginnings

As we may have mentioned somewhere along the line, we have decided to add "season extension" to our growing practices here at Fair Share Farm. So with the help a a Federal NRCS grant we bought the materials for a so-called "hoop house" or "high tunnel," and have begun construction.

On February 11, Rebecca and I traveled to Morgan County Seeds to pick up the 6,000 or so lbs of steel, wood and plastic and safely made our way back to the farm. Yesterday Rebecca, Luke and I began staking out the layout, and putting the ground posts in.

Hoop house on the farm

Along with leveling the site (something we did last month), this is one of the more critical steps. Once the posts are in place the remainder of the work is similar to an erector set.

Laying things out

Setting the posts (we got half of them in before the rain) has been a learning experience. To provide stablility to the tunnel you need to drive them 32 inches into the ground with whatever means you have at hand. Our primary source of power is a Bobcat. Our initial attempts were a bit precarious, lifting the bucket 11 plus feet and then pushing/hammering the posts in.

We decided that we didn't want to tip over onto Luke in the process, so came up with a new method. Searching the barn for old metal parts we found our solution...a compressed gas cylinder top and some old, old tractor tire chains (this is why I never wanted to throw them out!)
 
As you can see from the picture, things were less tipsy that way and we proceeded to drive 14 posts in a couple hours. We plan on finishing them on Wednesday or Thursday and will be ready to put the rest up during a "tunnel raising" on March 10 and 11th. More in the post above.

Post pounding method 1

Post pounding method 2

Post pounding method 2

Onions and Geese

As is often the case in February, the greenhouse is the warmest place on the farm right now. Sunny days bring 90 degree comfort to our little hothouse. The onions we started on February 4th are up and growing well. Next in line are some herbs, and then the broccoli, cabbage and other brassicas.

Outside the skies have that late winter feel, as the geese cross back north over the farm. The snow geese have been abundant this year, and lower flying than normal. You almost feel that you can reach up and touch them sometimes. It is nice to be in a flyover state.

While you can hear them, you may want to full screen the video to get a better look by going directly to the YouTube Fair Share Farm Channel.

Fair Share Farm Wins MU Extension Award

On Thursday we received some mail from the University of Missouri Extension. We regularly work with Extension, attend or help out at workshops and classes, and otherwise take advantage of the help and services they provide to the local farming community.

When we opened this correspondence we were touched to learn that it was to inform us we have been selected to receive the University of Missouri Extension Leader's Honor Roll Award. We are appreciative of this gesture of our contributions and want to thank the Clay County Extension for this honor. We look forward to accepting the award at their annual meeting on February 28th.

Click on the photo below to see the notification letter.

Let the Seeding Begin

Well it is official, the growing season has started. Last Saturday February 4th our two new interns, Dani Hurst and Ryan Stubby, joined us for half a day to initiate the planting of over 12,000 onion seeds. We finished up the planting yesterday with Luke, and will concentrate on tending to your vegetables for the next 10 months.

Planting the first seed of 2012

Dani making soil blocks

Ryan and Rebecca seeding onions

Along with the seeding, we have been taking advantage of the warm weather to do as much equipment maintenance as possible this year. We are hoping it pays off during the growing season  by minimizing equipment breakdowns, delays, and frustrations, while improving the working life and safety of our machinery.

One piece of equipment we worked on is the spader. For a while now the frame/shroud that surrounds the digging spades has been bent and in need of some adjustment. With a lot of elbow grease from Luke we were able to take the frame apart so that we could work on it.

Local artist/metal worker/handy guy Jeff Becker came up with the solution to bending things back into shape...run over it with the tractor! Well, in true Missouri farmer fashion we used the tools and leverage we had at hand and were able to straighten things out. Re-assembly is on its way.

Spader with bent rake frame

Straightening the frame

This winter season we have seen a lot of birds on the move, more it seems than the last couple years. A huge flock of snow geese flew over the greenhouse on Monday, It was quite a sight and sound. If I had the time I would count the number of birds in the photo out of curiosity.

 

Snow geese on the move

Lastly, a salami update. For the past several years we have been working on perfecting the making of an annual batch of Finocchiana, a peppercorn and fennel seed flavored cured pork salami. The recipes we have used has been consistently good, and when we can get 20 lbs of Parker Farms pork shoulder, the meat quality is the best. The trick has always been the curing process.

To make a tasty (and safe) salami you need to cure it at the proper temperature and humidity. In the past we relied on whatever conditions a cool basement could provide. Then we started curing it in a box of wood ash from our stove. With the construction of our "cave" in the lower part of the barn we are able to control the temp and humidity to the general levels required.

The results have been the most consistent batch of salami yet. Thank you local hogs.

2012 Finocchiana

The Fair Share Farm CSA Video

For some reason this year the signups for the CSA have been coming in at a slower rate than other years. Perhaps for the better, this circumstance has caused us to review our "marketing" plan and spruce up our image.

So we decided that we should make a video showcasing the wonderful, fun and tasty aspects of our CSA. The first hint to go in this direction was based on comments received at our Jan 22 Core Group meeting (thanks guys). Right on the heels of the meeting we were shown more of the way by the GVOCSA...the CSA in Rochester where we first met. To see their video, click here.

The final inspiration came from some musical and cinematic professionals. Our good friend Jamie Ratcliff (Ernest James) was our first choice for an upbeat fun song.

Lastly, we went to see "The Artist." This modern silent movie convinced us to chuck our script and use text and images to tell our story. We hope you like it and have fun watching.

Remeber, if you want to join the CSA, go to our website, www.fairsharefarm.com and click on the JOIN button.

Kite Flying

Our good friend Bill McKelvey recently visited the farm and told us of a how-to paper he had describing how to take your own aerial photos with a kite and a digital camera. We thought the idea sounded fantastic, and saw it as a great event for a farm day of the future.

Before planning for such fun though, we thought that we should first start taking the steps needed to become expert kite-people. We figured that with all of the scrap materials we have on the farm we could easily construct a kite for no cost.

So...with a little web surfing, some old lath, a peat moss bag, tomato twine, a stapler, and some old rags, we attempted our first kite today. After several unsuccessful combinations of materials (row cover appears to be too thin) we hit it right with the peat moss bag for the kite and old tea towels and t-shirt material for the tail.

The wind was a little weak, but despite that we got the kite up and flying--a successful trial run. Now we will start working on the contraption needed to house the digital camera, and play around with some kite designs and sizes.

If you have kite flying experience we would love to hear from you. We look forward to having some fun with the late-Winter and Spring winds that always cross the farm.

Tom with his kite.

Rebecca launching the kite.

Hello 2012

Welcome to 2012. We are gearing up here on the farm for what we hope is a good year…our 10^th farming and our 9^th CSA season. Hard to believe that it has been that long. Those 10 years have seen a lot of cover crops, compost, hay, straw, wood ash, lime and organic fertilizer added to our soil, and we are looking forward to reaping the benefits of those years of soil feeding. Over the last several years we have begun to see noticeable improvements to the soil, both in its texture and fertility.

In that time period we have also changed the layout of our fields several times. Areas that are susceptible to wet conditions are no longer farmed for annual crops, but have been replaced by perennial plants or laid fallow. We have also been breaking new ground in the areas where we have run the Parker’s sheep.

For some of the poorer soils on the farm we have implemented a system of continual mulching. We cover the beds with a deep layer of hay, and add more several times throughout the season. This mulch acts as a nice “canopy” over the soil surface, keeping it from getting compacted by rain, or dried out by the sun. It also serves to keep down weeds and retain moisture during droughty conditions.

Our electric tractor has proven a boon too, as the disking attachment allows us to easily make “raised beds.”  Put on the cultivator, and it allows us to break up the top couple inches of the soil, minimizing the need to till the beds. These techniques significantly improve drainage, while minimizing disturbance of the worms and other life in the soil.

January Work
This unseasonably warm weather has been a pleasure to work in over the last week. We are lucky to have our intern from 2011, Luke Knutter staying on as a hired hand for a couple days per week. We plan on getting caught up on a few things this winter, ahead of the Spring planting push.

Activities at the farm this week include the 2012 seed and equipment orders, inventorying,  budgeting and planning, cleaning and organizing the barn, maintaining the deer fence, and tractor maintenance. Next week will include more deer fence and equipment maintenance work, as well as planning and site work for our proposed high tunnel. More on that in our next post.

Fields at rest

Rebecca working on the seed order

Rocky at rest

Luke sorting row cover