More new additions!

These two lovely hoop houses were completed this spring and are hot & humid! Adding them will extend our growing season for tomatoes, peppers & other yummy veggies. Lovely I say? Yes!

The start of the 2009 season is almost here!

New additions!

We are delighted to have babies! In this case a total of six baby Araucana chicks. You can see the yet-unhatched eggs (now hatched) under mom. Their foster mom is a Black Sex Link hen, and a very good mom she is!

Beetles & Pollinators; unsung hard workers

The 9th Annual OSU Extension Small Farms Conference was held in Corvallis on February 21st. One of the sessions made bugs our new Hollywood stars. Just lay out the right carpet and the spotlight shines to attract them, and keep them! The spotlights, as insectaries, are wonderful additions to farms and home gardens as well. When we plant to attract predatory bugs we are building sanctuaries for them to feed, breed, and stay. Increasing our populations of the ‘good’ bugs helps to keep down the populations of ‘bad’ bugs, and we can design their homes to look good too.
Don’t think of flowers as just something you enjoy. Flowers can work for you too! Plant a few to attract some helpful insects in blocks of 6-12 each. Look for these on our farm this year: Sunflowers, marigolds, calendula, borage and others.
Have you heard of Beetle banking? Here’s a great article with comments from some of the speakers I sat in with at the Small Farms Conference: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=390&storyType=news. Beetles love grasses to over-winter in. Native bunch grasses actually. Predacious ground beetles eat a buffet of bugs that like to eat your vegetables. Ewww. We’re planning our strategy for a few Hollywood spotlights of our own.

More info:
http://www.beetlebank.org/
http://www.ipmnet.org/

What is Certified Naturally Grown (CNG)?

Farmers commit to the following practices:
· Absolutely no use of synthetic chemical insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, or fertilizers on our crops
· Minimal and careful use of even Organically approved soil amendments and sprays
· Care for our soil, water and air quality with crop rotations, cover crops, protective buffer strips and ecologically sustainable farming practices
· No use of chemically treated or Genetically Modified seeds
· Humane treatment of livestock including the use of no hormones or antibiotic-laced feed and consistent access to pasture
· Adherence to sanitary post-harvest practices including proper transport, storage and the use of only potable water for the washing of produce
· A commitment to pass on the land and surrounding environment in an even better condition than it was passed on to us

For additional information, please visit http://www.naturallygrown.org/

Happy New Year! It's Seed Catalogue season!

You know how it works. If at any point in time you have EVER purchased anything from mail order, you receive their catalogue forever! I try to tell them I shop online, some listen & save the paper & postage. Here are some I received anyway and my shopping is almost complete. Any requests you would like to add?

Outdoor Camp

Dirt. That's what I said. I called it dirt. Way back when (I'm kinda old) at elementary school outdoor camp, I said my hand was full of dirt. My patient teacher sternly told me it was not dirt, but soil. S-O-I-L! He was right of course. Healthy soil grows nutritious food for our table. Any little plot of earth with healthy soil and sunshine can put food on your table. I love to grow stuff. It's just me. I'm excited to watch the seeds sprout- leaves spread- plants stretch for the sun. I'm hopelessly addicted! Life is good when you love what you do! It all starts with the, um, soil. Right.

A trip to the market with a few extra veggies on a beautiful summer day.

Baskets starting in back, left to right:
Green zucchini, Golden zucchini, Spaghetti squash, Scallopini squash, cucumber, Corno Di Toro peppers, Washington Cherry tomato, Ildi tomato and more Washington Cherry - Yum!