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Fall strawberries...

No caption needed.

Second Spring Update

The idea of planting anything in September or October with any hope of
getting a crop was not even considered in our "short season" homeland
of Colorado. (Although Eliot Coleman grows lettuce all winter long in
unheated greenhouses in Maine... so it can be done). However, since
we are actually rated as a USDA zone 9 (the same as Southern
California) we have great hopes for our "second spring".

Here you can see the peas growing up their new trellis lines. We used
stakes earlier this year and decided to give them more support this
time around. They definitely like it.

New Lable Maker on the Farm

In an effort to keep Jonathan from hitting me on the head with a
shovel the next time I asked "what is this?" and "when did we plant
it?"... we now have weather proof labels adorning our field. A big
thanks goes out to Liz for helping me look a little less lame.

Second Spring

Eliot Coleman grows vegetables all winter long in unheated coldhouses
in Maine. To do this, he plants cold hearty vegetables in August
(with succession plantings later on) for harvest throughout the winter.

We have a much milder climate than Eliot does, so we are hoping to be
able to see production from our hoop house (a 30'x96' greenhouse with
no ends on it). We can put ends on it if we have to. Last year the
previous owner still had broccoli and beets growing available for
harvest in December without any covering at all.

Jonathan has been busy planting peas, spinach, rainbow chard and
lettuce for our "second spring".

Food fresh from the farm...

One of our neighbors on the island came by for a visit so we sent her
home with some fresh veggies.

Her haul included two kinds of beets (including a cool red and white
striped one) carrots (she ate them before the picture was taken),
tomatoes, a round zuccini and some cucumbers (given after the picture
was taken).

Come see us and we'll give you some food to take home too!

Memories...

I have very distinct memories of my dad walking through his garden
with a salt shaker in one hand and ripe tomato in the other. It has
been my goal to recreate that memory when our tomatoes ripened... and
now I can do it every day.

The only thing that could make this any better would be for my dad to
still be on this planet to enjoy them with me. Heck, there are ten
possible dimensions right? Who's to say he's not?

Bountiful Harvest

Next year this might be what one of our CSA baskets looks like. This
year we took a gift basket to the chefs at CRAVES RESTAURANT in
Florence. They prepared a meal for us that featured the vegetables
they get from our farm. If you are ever driving down the coast or
find yourself in Florence, they are a must stop for a fantastic food.

http://cravesfinedining.com

Second Section Started

With the first section completed, we turned our attention to the second, with one determination... NOT to do it the way we did the first.

While we were able to minimize the grass that grew up in our beds by raking out the grass clumps rather than tilling them under... the man hours to do so were excessive. We think we've come up with a faster/better option, but we won't know until we actually plant something.

We'll keep you posted.

Farmer's Market

This is what our table looked like at the Organic Farmer's Market in Florence. We have spent most of this year getting the fields, greenhouses, irrigation and propagation areas functioning... so our selection is still somewhat limited when we go to market. That will all change as we go and grow, but for now we are happy to be able to provide a small contribution to the local market.

Corn is ready

We planted corn in our cold house for three reasons.

1. We like corn

2. We had no other place ready to plant

3. We hoped to be able to have corn early.

Well as you can see... we have our corn... and we seem to have it a bit earlier than most in our climate. It really isn't a sensible use of our cold house, but in this year of experimenting, it's a fun conclusion to another fact finding mission.

Apologies

In every blogger's life there comes a time when you ask yourself... is anybody reading this stuff?

And of course, since it is easier to not make a blog entry than to make one, you convince yourself that no one is really reading any of this and that it is all an exercise in vanity... and so no entry is made.

Well I was reminded this week that people (well, OK... one person) was anxiously waiting for updates on the little startup we call Whiskey Creek Organics. So for that person (yes Graham, I'm talking about you) and for any others who wish to follow the antics of some crazy people living on an island in Oregon... I promise to post on a regular basis.

Tiny weeds

One of the basic principles of the system we are using is to catch
weeds when they are very small. The bed to the right shows the
difference.

Kale Smoothie Anyone

If you've never had a Kale Smoothie... you're missing something. The Herb Jar in Florence sells this wonderful concoction made with kale, orange juice, banana, lemon juice and ice. Of course, they use Whiskey Creek Organic kale... and of course it is their best selling smoothie.

Our first farmers market

White Russian kale, green Curley kale, peas, mixed lettuce and
Cilantro. We had to go back to the farm on the boat to get more kale.

Weeding the Eliot Coleman Way

We use tools designed by Eliot Coleman for weeding. The tool is a
sharp hoe with a long handle that is designed to cut just below the
soil level using a motion that keeps the operator standing upright,
rather than bent over like the traditional hoe.

The beauty of order...

Eliot Coleman's layout is really a beautiful thing. While we won't say weeding is our favorite past time, but we can say that it is certainly manageable with this system... and the results produce a beautiful order to the garden.

One week more means less...

We left some of the pickling cucumbers in the greenhouse until June because the instructions said to transplant after June 1.

Guess what? They were wrong.

The small plant is the one with the extra week in the greenhouse... the big healthy one we transplanted at the end of May and it is doing much better. My hand is there to give some perspective.

Kale, lettuce, peas and corn

Jonathan and Cristina have nurtured every one of these plants from
seed. We are so thankful for their loving effort.

Kale for Sale

The Co-op in Florence, Oregon is the first store to sell our produce. Wow, From seed to store in 58 days.

What a difference 10 days make...

Compare this picture with the one we posted on May 1. 

We're farming now!

Our First Customers

Hayden and Dawn Sears take a bite of some fresh picked White Russian
Kale grown at Whiskey Creek Organics. Hayden was the previous owner
of the land and it seemed only fair that he and Dawn be the first to sample

our first produce.

The fruits of our labor...

This is the first salad made ever made from Whiskey Creek Organic
produce. The greens are organic White Russian Kale grown from seed on
the farm.

Look mom... here's your salad. (At least it's a start.)

Grama Pip wanted to know when she could have a salad... so here's the
answer. Right now. As long as it's a White Russian Kale or Baby
Spinach salad.

Kale, Peas, Spinach, Lettuce and Corn

This may look like a greenhouse, but it's actually a cold house. Without endwalls or a heating system, it's main purpose is to keep the spring rains off the crops and allow the sun to warm the ground. Once these crops are harvested we will wait a bit, then replace them with fall crops and use the coldhouse to extend the season.

Irrigation lines

Jonathan rented a trencher to get a new irrigation line to the
greenhouses. Hand watering was taking over 2 hours of valuable
daylight. Since our water pressure occurs naturally (Whiskey Creek

is above the farm and the water is delivered at 80 psi) we have a
zero carbon footprint when we irrigate our crops.

A warm spring day...

It's hard to believe that it snowed earlier this week, but for now we will bask in the warm sunlight of spring. Jonathan and Christina have finished laying out the beds in both greenhouses and have been busy getting plants in the ground. The beautiful order of Eliot Coleman's farm layout is starting to be seen.

Propagation Station

Jonathan improved our seedling's world with these rails close to the
ground (the ground stays warmer at night than tables do) that have
complete drainage for the trays and a 5% tilt toward the sun (which
actually makes the sun's rays equal to 300 miles south.

Emerging Peas...

Each one of these blocks has 4 pea seeds in it. We will not thin them like most gardeners do, but will let all four grow. These were planted on March 31st.

Compost

We are fortunate to have an OMRI certified compost supplier in the
state. This is about 3 tons of the black gold that we will spread on
our seed beds right before planting or transplanting. We are in the

process of making our own compost from grasses on the farm, but it
will take two years before it is ready to use.

In the ground...

With some help from Amy (a friend who took time away from her Master's thesis in Organic Agriculture) we set out our first transplants of Kale in the coldhouse. Since we didn't have the tool mentioned in the previous post, we used the old fashioned string method.

Don't look for what you want...

There is no picture with this post, because we don't have what we need at this time. We are laying out the planting patterns in order to transplant the soil blocks into the beds, but even at this early stage we have five different transplant patterns... and almost 6,000 square feet of greenhouses to plant. Since there is no pre-made pattern makers, we will have to make our own. We'll look around the farm and figure something out. That's why I always say... "Don't look for what you want. Look for what will do what you want." - David

Organic Additives

The second greenhouse (or the first cold house depending on how you want to look at it) got it's initial dosage of lime, fish bone meal and feather meal. These are approved organic additives that we are adding to get the soil up to the proper pH level, as well as nitrogen and phosphorus. We determined the soil needs by having soil analysis done by a lab.

Soil blocks inside soil blocks

We transplanted the small soil blocks into bigger ones so their roots can keep expanding. This bunch of happy plants are kale plants that we started on Friday the 13th of March.

Second Greenhouse Covered!

With some help from some friends from Seattle... the second greenhouse is now covered! Technically this would be called a cold frame since we are not going to put endcaps on it. We are going to use it not necessarily for the captured heat, but instead as a place to get some early crops going during the rainy season.

Tomato seeds

When I was a kid, I always wanted to dig up the seeds in the garden to see if they were doing anything. Well, with our soil blocks, the seeds are (usually) not covered. They just sit on the soil block soaking up the sun and fresh Whiskey Creek water until... wow... just one week after they were dropped onto our mini blocks, the seeds have germinated on their toasty warm propogation pads.

Ventilation Test

Greenhouses are an artificial environment that can get their own special problems like pests or mold. In order to minimize that, we built our greenhouses with lots of ventilation options. This is our first test to see how well our design worked. Temperature control is also a concern because even in rainy Oregon, when the sun comes out, it is a powerful force. Yes, the temp inside the greenhouse was 92 degrees... before we opened the doors and side vents.

Kale Emergence

Our first mini blocks of Kale are emerging. The beauty of using soil
blocks is that unlike direct seeding, where you have to plant multiple
seeds in order to guarantee emergence - then thin out the extra if all
seeds emerge, we will only transplant the strongest emerged seeds...
and will not have to thin. These seeds were planted less than a week
before this picture was taken, and have been sitting on a propagation
pad that keeps the blocks warm to encourage emergence.

Our first soil blocks.

We couldn't use the organic compost we bought because even though it
was organic, the seller couldn't prove that they had kept it at the
right temperature for the necessary time. We used dirt from our greenhouse and sifted it down through a 1/4" screen. Eliot Coleman recommends using Greensand for soil blocks, but our dirt is already high in iron, potassium, and trace minerals so we didn't use it.

The bunkhouse

My home away from home on Duncan Island.

Greenhouse Dash?

No, we're not having races in the greenhouse, we're putting organic
limestone into the soil to raise the pH from 4.8 to over 6.

We're farming now

Well, sort of. We tilled up Greenhouse 1 with a hand tiller rather than
with the tractor so we wouldn't have wheel compaction.

Second greenhouse is ready for plastic.

The Plastic is on...

In our attempt to convert a cow pasture to an organic farm, we achieved a milestone of sorts with the covering of our first greenhouse.

The Plastic is on...

So how do you get a 96 x 30 foot greenhouse covered in plastic?  You pull it over the top like a bedsheet.  Four of us started the process and got quite the plastic over the top before some more help arrived to help finish it.

Greenhouse frame is up

We positioned the greenhouse on a true East/West line to maximize the limited sun during the early and late seasons.