Bi-Weekly Update: Nov 16 - 29
I feel as though I’ve done a thousand sit ups. Apparently shoveling dirt is a good abs workout. Yesterday, our neighbor, Jack, came over and helped us shovel dirt over all the Iris bulbs (well actually they are rhizomes). The last few days, Kris and Jose dug up thousands of rhizomes which were growing in the concert lawn. Who knows how many years, or decades, ago they were originally planted? They have been busy multiplying.
Jose placing the cleaned off rhizomes.
Jack proudly showing off one of the finished flower beds.
It’s really too muddy to still be planting. We can’t use the equipment we normally would, so we’ve had to get creative. We laid the rhizomes on top of the mud and are covering them with really rich top soil because it is far too muddy to dig. The top soil is a mix of mulch and dirt that we carted over, because it is way too muddy to drive the equipment over. The soil came from dirt piles that were created by scraping years worth of mulch out of the parking lawn. We did it to have a nice dry lawn to park on, but the byproduct is nitrogen-rich soil we have been using in lots of different areas.
Jim moving the oversized chair (in an oversized truck) out of the field for the winter.
It’s crazy to think that we still haven’t been on the farm for an entire year yet. We are still learning what each season brings, and how the different areas of the farm react. Right now we’re starting to see just how muddy different areas get. Unfortunately, we learned the area we built the pig pen is so wet that the pigs cannot stay there for the winter. They have been wading through inches of mud. So last week, we made a temporary pen under the tractor barn.
Odessa hanging with July and Sophie in their new and much drier winter pen.
We walked Sophie over without too much fuss, but when we moved July, she made so much noise that I was worried neighbors were going to think we were torturing her. It was like a toddler having a temper tantrum. Once she got to the pen, it was like she arrived at the playground. Immediately stopped squealing and started enjoying her new surroundings. Screaming bloody murder didn’t affect her appetite either as she immediately started eating.
The deer continue to love the farm. With the shorter days, it’s been even easier to see just how many deer hang out on the farm. Last night I went to help Odessa feed the animals and on our way down we saw half dozen deer and the biggest skunk we’ve ever seen. My brother spotted a 10-point buck on the property a week ago. Sometimes seeing all the deer still gets me excited, but mostly my heart sinks, because I fear what will happen to the strawberries next summer. We are trying to figure out the best way to deter the deer, we’re looking into planting marigolds or mint around the strawberries. A neighbor recommended putting bonemeal around the strawberry fields. So much to still figure out.
The other animals I’m the most worried about are the mice. Last March we put up hawk perches and owl boxes in an attempt to reduce the rodent population. Last week, we cleaned out all the owl boxes, and unfortunately, none of them had signs that any owls moved in. Perhaps we built them too late and there is still hope they will move in before they have their young this year.
As we are investing our the greenhouses, I’m started to obsess over the mice. My brother is building a hot water system that we can use to warm the temperature of the soil, so we can start to plant the seeds early. However last time we tried to grow tomato plants from seed, the mice and birds came in and ate all the seeds. All of them. We ended up finding a tomato farmer in Estacada who was willing to help us replace the plants we lost in time to still grow tomatoes for the market — thank you again Uncle Wayne’s Tomatoes!!
So why should we think it will be different this year? We could go to all the effort and expensive of putting in a hot water system to warm the soil, only for the mice to come in an enjoy a hot buffet of seeds. So again we are leaning on my dad. He’s agreed to start growing tomato plants from seed in his house, and when they are ready to transplant, they will come to the farm. Jose is also going to grow some in his house. Hopefully between the two of them, we will be able to increase our tomato production.
Last year we had tons of heirlooms, but we learned people really want Romas and San Marzanos for canning. Now the challenge is greenhouse space. We want to dedicate an entire greenhouse to tomatoes, but we also need more room for our greens, our kale and perhaps strawberries. I would love to be able to grow some strawberries inside too, away from the deer. We’re still trying to figure this out.
We’ve been busy replanting trees and rose bushes. Here we are replacing some of the old blueberry bushes with stone fruit trees. It really helps to have a backhoe. Wish we could have used it for the flower beds, but it was just too wet. The wheels created big ruts and we had to stop.
For a few hours, every few days this month, Maggie, Jim and I have been building our seed list for next year. It has been really helpful to work on the list, then have some time to think about it, find flaws, and dive back into it again. To be able to wrap our heads around everything, we’ve put the seeds fall into five categories:
The big three: corn, pumpkins and cucumbers.
Vegetables
The greenhouse: greens and tomatoes.
U-cut flowers and sunflowers
Deer resistance plantings to deter the deer from eating other crops
Not on the seed list: berries. We still have many acres of berries; raspberries, marionberries, blackberries, boysensberries and blueberries. Starting tomorrow, a bunch of us are headed over to Douglas Farm, also on Sauvie Island. The owner, Megan, is taking out some of her berries and has offered them to us - as long as we’re willing to dig them up. We’re excited to add three more varieties of raspberries to what we already have. Photos to come.
Maggie on the left and our chefs Christian and Janelle, passing out Thanksgiving boxes.
I’ll end with notes from our Thanksgiving dinner boxes. The boxes sold out very quickly. Thanks to everyone who bought one, we collectively were able to donate Thanksgiving meals to hundreds of people via food banks in addition to feeding hundreds of our customers. We heard over and over, people who usually looked forward to cooking were glad for the option not to cook since there would only be one or two adults.
I think everyone wrestled with Thanksgiving this year. It was the most difficult holiday for me since the pandemic started. Thanksgiving has always been the day our house is full of friends and neighbors (really full). I was grateful this year that we were busy passing out boxes. It was great to be able to see so many of the friends/customers who we’ve met this year, come out to the farm for their boxes and to see the animals.
An Instagram photo we were tagged in.
Overall we thought it went well, although we definitely made a few mistakes. We know of at least two bags we forgot to put the heating instructions and two that were missing some of the dishes. It was a horrible feeling to find out we handed out at least two incomplete boxes.
It was also disappointing to not be able to have the holiday market. I felt especially sad for artists who were busy making products to sell in the market and badly for CHAPs (Children Healing Art Project). We were going to have their HeART boxes inside the market for sale. It’s a great gift for kids (6-14), and all the proceeds go to CHAPs. (This is an amazing non-profit who help kids stuck in hospitals for long amounts of time, be able to do art projects.)
Maybe this is too much information. I am not a white meat fan, but the turkey in the Thanksgiving box was so juicy and delicious, I still can’t stop eating all the leftovers. I asked Christian how he was he able to do this because, with more than 80 turkeys to prepare, soaking them all in a brine wasn’t realistic. He said that he and Janelle injected brine into all of the breasts before roasting.
Last night we sat with Christian and Janelle to do a download, and talk about how to do things better next time. We’ve decided to offer a couple meal choices, for pick up before Christmas. Janelle and Christian are working on the menus now and will have a few main course options and a box of cookies to make at home. We will finalize and post the menus this Wednesday — AND we will offer a New Years Eve box to include appetizer-like offerings and maybe some fancy cocktail ingredients too.
Thanks for all your support. Our best wishes,
Kat & Jim
Jim and Melvin. Our turkeys are all alive and well.