a rainy day

As some of you know I am one of those people my age that every few years moves someplace new (I am hoping this is changing), not out of restlessness, just happenstance.  I moved just over a year ago from Tucson, AZ which has challenges for a person trying to grow food but also some benefits.  An obvious benefit of Tucson is ample sun. Less obvious but akin to sun is the ability to dig into your soil to prepare beds for planting most anytime. I now live in the northwest. I'm trying (but failing) not to sound cliche as I complain. It's cold and it's raining. And for the sake of the soil, I can't go out digging in this weather.  Maybe I am too anxious to get going this season.  Maybe living in this climate is teaching me patience. And giving me an appreciation for water.

february update

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated in a few weeks... it isn't that nothing has been happening,but maybe because so much has been happening that I haven't written! Let's see... where to begin? 

It is often good to begin with a plan and I am trying my hardest to start with one: what to grow, where and when to grow it, how long will it be there, how much will be harvested, what do people want, direct seed or start in the greenhouse, succession plantings... and on and on. For anyone who thinks it's just about putting seeds in the ground, it is actually.  But we can make it as complicated as we want and if we are trying to make a business of farming on a small lot it's got to be complicated. I keep telling myself that it's like a puzzle and that I love puzzles! 

With planning comes buying seed which is always fun.  Some fun varieties that I've purchased: Atomic Red Carrot from Baker Creek Seeds,  Bulgarian Carrot Pepper from Territorial Seeds, Freedom Lettuce Mix from Wild Garden Seed, and Turkey Craw Bean form Seed Savers Exchange- which is said that the original seed was found in a wild turkey craw!  amazing. Jeff would not let me pass this seed up.

Jordan, a lovely volunteer, standing by the completely weeded beds!

What else?  I've been extremely fortunate to have great volunteers.  Together we've been weeding (always- the grass has been treacherous) seeding in flats and under the plastic tunnels, digging new beds, doing greenhouse maintenance, and weeding- wait, I said that already, but it deserves to be mentioned twice!

seeds in flats keeping warm in our home

Last week, Jasmine, Eric, Jeff and I began seeding brassicas and onions in flats.  We are keeping the flats in our house until the seedlings emerge and then transferring them to the greenhouse where they can continue to grow.  We are doing this transfer because our greenhouse is unheated and the seeds need no light but more warmth to germinate and once germinated need more light and can tolerate less warmth. As I write today, many seeds have germinated and will be moved.

the greenhouse where all the seedling will soon live.

There is so much more to write! I will write soon about the Food Justice Conference from which I just returned last night.  Stay tuned.

first harvest!

Green Wave mustards before harvest

That's right! Blue House Greenhouse Farm had it's first harvest on January 27, 2011.  We harvested three and a half pounds of salad greens- a mix of a rocky top lettuce, tatsoi, and green wave mustards (to add some spice!).

washing salad greens!

It was mainly a test harvest to see how the crops tasted after a few months spent under plastic.  We've eaten a lot of the salad mix and in my biased opinion it is delicious!

Anna, our first customer! 

I even sold a few half pound bags of salad mix to friends. So it was also the first produce sale for Blue House Greenhouse Farm!  We are a small business now! Thanks friends!

happy new year!

There are a lot of things happening these days at Blue House Greenhouse Farm!


First of all I want to give an update on the soil quality.  As you may have read in the 'about the land' portion of this blog, our farm had some questionable beginnings.  After a lot of reading, reviewing reports, testing for metals, and talking with soil scientists, I can finally say with confidence that the land we are farming is safe! Here is the complete report from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from the testing that was completed in 1997 on this site. The most problematic issue for the land was the potential contamination from heavy metals. After seeing the metals analysis in the report (page 15) and comparing those numbers to the DEQ Risk Based Concentration numbers (the residential levels for "Soil Ingestion, Dermal Contact, and Inhalation"), it is clear that the results are well within the safe levels.   


It was also recommended that I do additional metals testing, which I did.  Here are the results:Arsenic, Beryllium, Lead, and Mercury. I was able to review the report and metals testing results with a DEQ soil scientist and he concurred that these and the previous results are within the safe residential levels.  Hurray!  Now on to the task of farming!


In other big news, we are getting ready for our first harvest!  The lettuce, mustards, arugula and tatsoi have all done beautifully in the tunnels. There may not be enough to sell at this moment but I will let you all know once we've harvested. 


Lastly, if you are interested in volunteering, please let me know!  There is a lot of weeding to do- seems to be a bit of a grass issue... yikes. AND there a lot of other fun tasks to do as well!

the fence is up!

Many thanks to the Ramsey family for braving some really foul weather to help get a fence up at the farm this past weekend! On Saturday we dug holes and set in corner and end posts in concrete- all while it was raining.  The members of the Ramsey family are troopers- and they didn’t stop there!  We were back out on Sunday pounding T-posts and stretching fencing across the posts.  Jeff and I literally couldn’t have done it without them.  Thank you, thank you!

(part of) the Ramsey Family 

The design of the fence is cheap and simple.  There are 7 foot end and corner posts are cemented in with 7 foot T-stakes every 10 feet in between. All the posts are in two feet in the ground.  I bought the posts at Superior Fence, a local fence supply store.  The fencing is a 5 foot high deer and rabbit fence, which I bought off craigslist from a nice guy in Kelso, WA who gets fencing that is rejected from the manufacturer for slight flaws.  

Jeff and I finished the fence on Monday and were rewarded with a rainbow! (two rainbows, actually if you look closely). I am really happy with how it turned out.  Come by and see it sometime!!

giving thanks

A lot has been going on at Blue House Greenhouse Farm and there is a lot for which to be thankful!  A couple of weeks ago, as many of you may recall, we had some LOW temperatures dipping into the upper teens. Yikes.  We were really worried about the seedlings growing in the cloches- the ones that were transplanted and the ones that had begun to grow from seed.  After the few nights (and days!) of below freezing temperatures, we dared to check under the plastic. All the seedlings made it just fine!  The fava bean cover crop was touched a little by frost but is recovering splendidly.  Thank goodness.

And thank goodness for friends and family- for many, many reasons, specifically here for the help they give to this project!  The day after Thanksgiving, after our pie breakfast, my mom, sister, Jeff, Jessie, Dave and Buddy headed out to the farm for a few hours of weeding in the rain!  No better way to work off a feast. 

Jen working on the north wall of the greenhouse

That following Saturday and Monday, my sister, Jen, Jeff, and I worked on the greenhouse. From the frame pictured in the last posting, we added a door and plywood wall to the north side, connected them to each other, fastened them to the frame with zip ties, and screwed them into the base boards. It’s remarkably sturdier than it sounds!  On the south side we attached a wooden structure connecting the PVC frame to the baseboards to eventually make a vent for the greenhouse.  This may be hard to picture, especially since I don’t have a photo, but I encourage any of you to come and see it for yourselves!  Lastly we covered the whole structure with 6 mil greenhouse plastic and secured it with the wire lock (which is used to fasten the plastic to the base boards and plywood sides).  It is beautiful.   There is still more work to do to get it ready for starting seeds this late winter, but it really looks like a greenhouse now! 

 

In this photo, you can see how the north wall is attached to the
 PVC frame, the structure of the south wall and how the wire
lock is attached to the base boards and north wall

What’s coming up next you may be wondering? A fence.  If you have any suggestions, experience, materials for building a fence- please contact me!  I will definitely be working on this fence this coming Saturday, December 11- so if you are interested in coming out to help, please let me know!! bluehousegreenhouse@gmail.com

volunteers are the best

First of all, thanks so much to the volunteers that came out this past Saturday- Adam, Dave, Jessie, and Jeff- you all are the best!

It was the first ever volunteer day at the Blue House Greenhouse Farm! We started to build the greenhouse, which was quite an adventure. The design of the greenhouse at the farm is adapted from the Eliot Coleman book, "Four Season Harvest," and is similar (but larger) to the greenhouse Jeff and I built at our home. It is 10 by 20 feet long with a wood base and PVC hoop frame.  The two end hoops have 20 foot lengths of rebar to make the frame more stable.  We dug, leveled, and nailed the base, then cut, glued, and bent the hoops to the beautiful structure you see below!

Jessie and Dave demonstrate the sturdiness of the greenhouse

The next tasks for the greenhouse are to frame the door, make the end walls, and cover with plastic.  If you are interested in more of the particulars of the greenhouse building I'd be happy to share, or better yet- volunteer! I'm going to need some help with these tasks. email me at bluehousegreenhouse@gmail.com. 

Before

After- Dave admiring his work 

Not only did we work on the greenhouse, but Dave satisfied his desire to clear overgrown weeds- blackberries, clematis, and ivy. The picture on the left shows the weeds behind the compost pile. And the picture on the right shows the weeds gone and the fence that was there all along!

Stay tuned for updates on the farm and the effects of these freezing temperatures-yikes!