Collected Notes from Windflower Farm 10/2/2007

Notes from Windflower Farm - #13

It has been very dry here. I’ve said that dry years are better than wet ones, but this one has started to wear on me: the corn is “strappy,” lettuces have bolted, celeriac and leeks have stagnated, and hillsides are turning brown. Vegetable fields require an inch and a half of rainfall every week. Except for a brief shower that took place during our open house on the farm, accompanied by a spectacular electrical storm that was perhaps the weekend highlight for our friends from the city, it had not rained here in ages. The last appreciable rainfall took place so long ago that I cannot remember exactly when. Rainfall in summer is typically a localized phenomenon, and our frustration has only mounted as we have watched several storms travel across the southern horizon. Farmers not more than ten miles from here have told us that it’s rained regularly where they are. Finally, to our tremendous relief, it rained here last night and most of today. I cheer because there are crops on our farm—including the late squash and fall spinach and salad greens out back—that the irrigation guns can’t reach, and an all-day rain was needed for them to make a good crop. I cheer because we can take time off from hauling pipes, and because, softened by the rain, we can now prepare land for our fall garlic planting and for establishing cover crops.

Notes from Windflower Farm - #14

It didn’t freeze last night, but we were prepared—the threat of frost was all the talk among weather forecasters and farmers here. Temperatures during September have been nine degrees below normal, and it seemed as though an early frost might take place. South of here, at a friend’s farm near Great Barrington, MA, there was a light frost, but he said it did little damage. Although 75 miles to our south, it turns out they typically experience their first frost of the season a full week before we do because of their mountains. On average, September 29th is when we experience our first frost. We are located on a fairly high plateau, and because the coldest air slinks along valley bottoms, we often escape the area’s first light frosts. But we spent a part of the weekend covering crops anyway. By placing 30 X 400’ sheets of Typar directly over the tops of crops like peppers and basil and lettuces that cannot handle freezing temperatures, we can provide them with four or five degrees of protection. The covers will also help some late-planted greens and squashes mature more quickly. Still, a killing frost that even Typar cannot protect against will likely come in the next few weeks.

Notes from Windflower Farm - #15

The transition from summer to fall crops is underway here. As tomatoes, summer squashes and peppers complete their decline, fall greens, winter squashes, parsnips, and late broccoli will begin to arrive in your shares. We started harvesting potatoes last week. Last year, we dug all our potatoes by hand—two acres of them—with a middle-buster plow, two pitch forks, and a small but determined harvest crew. I vowed that I’d find the parts necessary for restoring our John Deere Model #25 potato digger during the winter. It possesses two side-by-side digging chains, each made of 132 pieces of 27-inch chain, and two now-obsolete drive mechanisms. The year before, a chain link had busted, shooting all 132 links from one side into the air, sidelining the machine for the season. Thanks to the internet, I found the parts I needed on an old digger sitting in a hedgerow in Michigan. Freshly reassembled and lubricated, I pulled my digger out of the barn last week. The first pass across the field was uneventful. Little red potatoes rose up out of the soil, traveled along the digging chains, hopping and bouncing along with large rocks and weeds, while soil particles and small stones fell through the chains back to the ground. The potatoes then slipped off the back end of the digger in a wide, neat row on top of the bed, waiting for the harvest crew to pick them up and place them into totes. The Model #25 was an engineering marvel back in 1958, and is a significant step above our middle buster and pitchforks.

On the second pass, a rock lodged between the frame and chains, bending several links before grinding the machine to a halt and stalling the tractor. I managed to free the rock with help from a long, steel pry bar, and was soon rolling again. At some point during the third pass, one of two large drive chains fell off the digger, but, because it didn’t affect the functioning of the machine, I tucked it into my tool box and kept going. By now, the harvest crew had begun picking the potatoes off the ground, and yields appeared good. The next three passes were trouble-free, and we had managed to squirrel away a four-week supply of potatoes. Midway through the last trip across the field, I noticed smoke coming from a universal joint and then, with a crack and a snap, the joint burst, the shaft went flying, and the digging chains stopped moving. With four weeks before I need to dig potatoes again, I should be able to find replacement parts. With any luck, this year’s harvest crew will never have to learn what it’s like to dig a 300’ bed of potatoes with a pitchfork.

Notes from Windflower Farm - #16

Our boys are vegetarians, or, more accurately, lacto-vegetarians. Although Jan and I occasionally eat meat, they adhere to a diet based on vegetables, fruits, grains, yogurt and cheeses. We are sometimes concerned that they don’t get all the vitamins and minerals they need, but, because they are so fond of dairy products and eat great quantities of beans, they probably do fine. And they are beginning to like greens, with kale appearing to become a favorite. That’s good news for us, because kale is a healthy food of the highest kind. Even cooked it’s high in protein and fiber, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium, and a host of other vitamins and minerals. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a healthier vegetable. You'll find kale in your shares this week, along with arugula and lettuce.