Week of September 27 2010 : Plowdown

(Here is a photo of Nathaniel running off with the fall cover crops. Part of his parole package (for boosting pumpkins) included seeding the cover crops. So much for The System ... We started with 70% Winter Rye, 25% Hairy Vetch and 5% Tillage Radish seed).

Notice the twine along the edges of the field.

Prior to cover crop emergence, geese lazily wander across plowed / seeded fields in search of greens on the other side. Thousands of little footsteps compact the soil surface thus reducing and delaying, if not completely eliminating, seedling emergence.

After emergence, geese merrily chomp the tender seedlings. Hundreds of geese can clear cut a field in a matter of hours.

Baah! Geese are such a threat to establishing a healthy cover crop. The solution? Exploit the laziness. Suspend a single strand of twine 8" above the soil.

This year the goose fence includes two improvements. Breakaway twine and tensioners.

Deer frequently wander through the fields. White nylon twine has the highest visibility (as opposed to natural sissal twine) but deer still occasionally snap the twine. I attach the twine to the wooden post with a horizontal nail. In the past, I would loop the twine around the nail. Now, on certain posts, I simply lay the twine on the nail. After monitoring the deers' traffic patterns, I strategically loop some posts and, in the high traffic areas, lay the other posts. The result is the twine falls off the post instead of snapping.

The other improvement is tensioners. Throughout the winter the twine tends to stretch and sag. Adding a second nail to the wrapped line posts allows me to wind the twine between the two nails effectively eliminating sag.

These two improvements allow me to maintain a twine line literally with one hand. Cutting, splicing and tying elaborate knots is fun, however, maintaining a twine line in less than 60 seconds is a lot more fun.

Week of September 20 2010 : Better Way

(Here is a photo of Nathaniel hand mowing the orchard. Nothing like crisp, arrow straight stripes to help showcase the fall apple harvest. But there is plenty of acreage so he had plenty of time to consider more efficient ways to mow. The next day he was checking price tags on toddler sized tractors.)

One of the attractions to farming is the working / thinking / improving cycle. Its always fun to "do" but even more satisfying to "do better".

I like to design and build clever solutions but some days OCD consumes me and I get stuck thinking about improvements and never actually get to improving.

For example, a tomato trellis. We have never lost a tomato plant due to trellis failure.

Yet I am still consumed with the idea of improving our trellis design. Forget practicality; I want to design a trellis so innovative that it will be featured in engineering journals. I realized I had gone too far only when I found myself studying mathematical equations for catenaries. Stop!

So as we begin to review our successes and failures and plan for next year, let's keep Nathaniel's lesson in mind. Do, then do better, and stay within reasonable limits.

Week of September 13 2010 : Guilt

Looking ...

Snatching...

Running ...

(Here are a few security camera stills of Nathaniel trying to loot the pumpkin patch. The get-away little red wagon was hidden between the corn rows. Such a sophisticated operation for one toddler ... but even during interrogation he never ratted out his crew).

So much for posting once a week. All season we were a few weeks behind now we are a few months behind. Thanks to everybody for patience and understanding; not a single reader ever complained.

As I remember, this was the first week I worked completely in the dark. The sun was setting as we read bedtime stories to the kids and dusk completely disappeared just as I headed outside. Having babies and toddlers also means having wholesale quantities of batteries so I plugged fresh batteries into the headlamp and went to work.

The headlamp worked well when harvesting some crops but not others. Some crops are harvested by size and shape other crops are harvested by color.

Examples. Sweet corn can easily be harvested in minimal light; just feel for complete tip fill then snap the ear. Tomatoes are harder to pick at night. A fruit that looks perfectly ripe under LED light doesnt look so perfect under natural light. Even so, after harvesting-at-night / grading-during-sunlight a few times, I was able to calibrate my ripe meter.

I enjoyed working during the night. Until I heard the band of coyotes. A pack of hungry coyotes has a certain, say scary, shrill. I still worked at night but only in the South field which is surrounded by a 7' foot fence.

Week of September 6 2010 : Nubbin' Ears

(Here is a picture of a our baby corn. For many of our products, we grow a traditional full size variety and a smaller single serving size variety. This year we experimented with baby corn but the results were somewhat startling.)

As we get into September, the insect pressure on sweet corn is intense. The unusually warm summer created an opportunity for a third generation of corn borers. The second generation of corn earworms are peaking. Science has certainly provided many solutions for these pests, Unfortunately the organic solutions are not 100% effective.

So that left us with a problem. We had really great tasting sweet corn. But too many ears had a bonus bug.

Rather than discarding the ears as unmarketable and heaving them into the compost pile, we significantly dropped the price and clearly communicated the problem to our customers. There were three distinct reactions.

About 25% did not care at all. They wanted sweet corn, they knew from experience we had sweet corn, and a bug was nothing but proof we dont use harsh sprays.

About 50% cared a little bit. They were more interested in bargain prices than worrying about bugs.

About 25% cared very much. They tactfully but without any doubt passed.

At the time, we thought this was a good compromise; our short term goal was to avoid wasting otherwise perfectly fine food.

But, now that we have thought about that compromise a great deal more, perhaps that solution contradicted our long term goal of establishing a brand and continuously improving quality standards.

Week of August 30 2010 : Trust

(Here is a picture of our market stand at Lake Farmpark Farmer's Market. OK the truth is I wanted to take a picture of our stand after it was setup but before the market opened. Customers arrived early then I remembered to take the picture only after I was done cleaning up. However this image captures the essence of how we feel after market. Lonely but fun to drive home with an empty truck / trailer!)

Its also fun to learn the various personalities of our customers. Some customers insist on inspecting each and every item to ensure it meets their criteria. These customers have different but specific preferences for ripeness, size, etc. We happily ask a few questions to assist the selection process: when will you prepare it, how will you prepare it, etc.

Other customers have no such preferences. They allow us to choose and they usually explain why: "I trust you". The implication is these customers trust our experience and knowledge to pick the best for them. We honor this sense of trust.

But all customers, whether they explicitly say so or not, trust us. They trust our production techniques. They trust our commitment to healthy, safe food. We honor this sense of trust too.

Week of August 23 2010 : Victory

(Here is a picture of our scare eye watching over our seventh stand of sweet corn. Unfortunately our sixth stand was damaged by birds. A few pecks are visually unsettling and exposes the ear to additional damage. The birds have avoided the corn since the scare eye took up patrol. Not often does a cheap and easy solution actually work!)

We won the Best Tasting Cherry Tomato award at the Geauga Fresh Farmers' Market. Woo Hoo!!! Our winning entry was the Sun Sugar.

Whenever taste is the topic of discussion, the discussion usually includes heirloom varieties and hybrids. Heirloom tomatoes are the most widely discussed but heirlooms of all vegetables exist.

Some people misunderstand hybrids. Hybrids are created using cross breeding and natural selection which are normal biological processes. Hybrids are not created using genetic modification.

Heirlooms are generally known for their superior taste and poor growing characteristics. Hybrids are generally known for flat taste and superior growing characteristics. But, of course, there are exceptions to these generalizations.

One of the many rewarding aspects of growing vegetables for market is discovering and learning about all the varieties then matching our experiences with the demands of the customers.

So when the Geauga Fresh Farmers' Market patrons voted our cherry tomato the best tasting, that affirmed our experiences and decisions of which varieties to bring to market.

Week of August 16 2010 : Geese

The Canadian Geese have arrived. Geese land in the open field that adjoins our fields then wander into the orchard in search of apples. The reason geese bother me so much is they are a sure sign that fall is here.

The irritating "squawks" of a huge flock of geese pierced my ears. I first noticed the geese while harvesting our Acorn and Blue Hubbard squash. I was surprised to notice them because I was busy hustling to beat the early sunset. Geese, winter squash and shorter days are a powerful combination of signs that cannot be ignored. NOOO!

The squash, including pumpkins, were timed to mature well after Labor Day but the hot summer hastened maturity. Although the squash are beautiful and certainly tasty, we are in no hurry to sample any just yet. Good thing the squash have great storage qualities.

The squash will easily store until Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. In fact, last year we had one Blue Hubbard left over from market. We gave it to Nathaniel and he played with it all winter and into July before it showed any signs of aging.