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!

fall planting

lettuce and kale starts, mustards,
arugula and spinach seeds

This past week I planted two 70x5 foot beds. One may wonder, in November? in the rainy NW? Well, yes! I planted seedlings-varieties of lettuce, kale, and tatsoi- I'd started in our greenhouse at home. And as a bit of an experiment, I planted seeds of mustard, lettuce, spinach, arugula and more!

Briana, so happy to be volunteering!

The crucial factor is that these rows are under plastic. Last Friday, with help of my friend, Briana, we set up cloches (a term for a covering that extends the growing season) made of PVC and 6mil greenhouse plastic over those two rows.

the final product

So far so good! When I checked on them yesterday- the seedlings were doing well and the arugula had already sprouted! I will keep you updated on this experiment.

just in time for halloween...

Garlic! Over this past week I planted 10 pounds of garlic.  Chesnok Red, Kettle River Giant, and Asian Tempest. I also planted a pound of Dutch Yellow shallots.  It went well, trying to get in the ground in between the rains. I'm not complaining- the timing of the rain has been perfect for germinating the cover crop!  The clover is well on its way to covering the north part of the field.

It may be hard to tell what's going on here. That's me, planting garlic.  

amendments and tilling!

In our last couple days of sunshine-we had to push to get the amendments tilled in and the cover crop planted. So last Thursday and Friday I rented a tiller from Brian at Kennedy Rentals who was really nice and helpful. I spread amendments over the field- lime (lots of it) to raise the pH, alfalfa pellets for nitrogen and a little potassium, green sand for more potassium, soft rock phosphate for.. well, phosphate, and gypsum for a little sulfur. And more compost! We got the amendments (all 1100 pounds!) from Concentrates NW a great farm supply store super close to our house. Then all the amendments and the compost were tilled in with the massive tiller.

compost and bags of lime

Jeff and I finishing spreading amendments in the dark

Friday afternoon my friend Dave and I broadcast crimson clover seed over the north portion of the field and small seeded fava beans on the south portion of the field. The idea is that the clover will be tilled in earlier than the favas for planting earlier in the season. The cover crops we got from Naomi's Farm Supply, another great farm supply store in Sellwood!

building a shed- with help from the family

It seems that every time my dad comes to visit I make him help me some sort of construction task- renovating the greenhouse at the food bank in Tucson and building a chicken coop at my house. This time my dad and his wife, Beth, built a shed. They were a HUGE help. Actually more than help-they really made it possible.

Some interesting facts about this shed:  It was built only with human power!  hammers and hand saws, if you can believe it.  There isn't a source of power on the land. A lot of the materials-wood, plywood and door- came from the Re-Building Center, which is great because it's only a few blocks away. We bought our paint from Metro Paint, which you should follow the link because it's really cool.

my dad, Beth and Jeff

My dad, Robert, painting the shed "Crater Lake" blue.

Tractor!

Lauren beginning the tilling as I watch in awe.
Photo taken by Mike- owner of Pizza A Go-Go

On Friday, October 15th Lauren Hill, a really nice man from Estacada, OR, brought his tractor and tilled the field!  It was a sight to see.  AND he spread the mountain of compost I'd received the week before.

we thought about leaving the grass square in the middle... but didn't.

urban legend- truth or misunderstanding?

There have been many people coming by the land to see what's going on, which has been great! Most everyone is excited and encouraging - and some have been concerned. There are varying degrees of the story I've heard about the potential toxicity of the land I'm trying to farm. I was told by the land owner that there had been a chemical storage facility and that it had burned down and that the soil had been tested and that it was now fine. I did test for lead anyway and the results were well below acceptable levels. Because of others' concern, I thought it wise to research further and do additional testing. See the about the land page for the links to the DEQ study and test results.

From my research I haven't found anything that would cause me to believe that farming this land is unsafe. I am continuing my research and conversations with professionals in the field to ensure the safety!  I will keep folks updated on my results.

One of the many things I've learned from this experience is the power of perception. It makes me wonder even if I had loads of proof as to the safety of this soil would people not want to buy produce from this land because of their perception of what the soil may contain?

We'll see. This may be a good experiment into the future of our food system!