Spring into seeding!

Today is weird.  First, it was almost 60.  Then it snowed for ten minutes, but didn't drop below 50.  Then we had some thunder, but no rain.  Now, for the first time since moving in (a month ago), every windmill is completely still and it's gorgeously sunny.

We can't figure out the weather anymore, so we are just going ahead and farming on (what we think should be) schedule!  While Matt is out looking at tractors by Buffalo, I have had a huge day at the farm... mostly outside(!), working on laying out the fields for the season to work with contours and planting the first round of seeds (in flats, not outside... we are controlling ourselves a little bit).

Starts include head lettuce (one red, one speckled, and one oakleaf), rainbow chard, and 2 types of kale for early farmers markets, 2 broccoli and 2 cabbage varieties for the CSA spring crops, and a whole slew of herbs (sage, thyme, parsley, chives, garlic chives, oregano, cutting celery, and more).

This year is a year of experimentation.  Since we didn't get onto the farm until later than anticipated, we weren't able to get all of the brands/types of supplies we normally use, which is forcing us to be adventurous.  This seems to be a good thing for us, because we are getting increasingly set in our ways, and a bit of shake-up seems like it's always good in a field where adaptability is key!

In particular, we are using an organic, commercial potting soil this year, since we missed the bulk shipping from our normal suppliers.  In 15 years of growing, I've never worked on an operation where I used commercial soil, or soil with peat in it (sorry, environmentalists... but this company does say that their peat is sustainably harvested!).  I was really worried about the new soil but didn't have any to work with until today...  and now I know why all the big organic operations tend to use this stuff.  It's really nice, light, fluffy, and really, really easy.  Like planting took half the time easy.  And it smells good (for whatever that's worth).  So for the first experiment, definite success.  We are using it straight for the early starts, and cutting it with some local, organic compost for the teenage starts.

Patience, and the last big push...

... inside before the season begins.  I keep saying that we will start our outside work (and we certainly will) with all its exciting pictures and stories any day now.  Yet Matt and I find ourselves busy wrapping up the last inside loose ends despite the warm spring weather.

(Arlo is outside, supposedly chasing our evil nemeses [geese] out of the pond... however, they quickly learned that the water is too cold for the dog and are taunting him from the middle.  Clearly he needs to step up his game a few notches!)

We are also focused now on practicing patience.  I really, really want to start seeding things that I probably shouldn't.  It's just so nice and the soil (even here at 1400 feet) is actually pretty warm.  But... we are almost guaranteed to get cold again, so we are trying to be patient... for at least one more week!  It's just hard not to get antsy with days like today!  This used to be a big problem of mine, especially with starting seeds.  The year that cured me was in NH when I started all my tender seeds and threw in snap peas a couple weeks early since it seemed to be warming up faster than usual.  Of course it ended up getting VERY cold in late May, and I couldn't get my tender summer crops in until 2 weeks later then normal (and I had started them 2 weeks earlier than normal).  The plants survived and didn't get too root bound, but I had to spend a lot of money and time re-potting them.  Twice.  The pea flowers, however, did not make it through the frost, and we lost a lot in yields.

"What DO farmers do in the winter?" is a question we hear a lot.  In sort, recover, regroup, re-plan, and get prepared.  Winter is a great chance to reassess how the season went, what we liked or didn't like, and where we want to go from there.  It's also a time to put together your vision and goals for the farm in the next season, and assemble all the things you need to make that happen.

This winter (and this early spring) were certainly busy for us.  In the past week, I have been working on finishing the orders for most of our spring supplies and seeds.  Typically we would do this last month, but we didn't want to buy anything new knowing we'd just have to move it again!

Where do we order our seeds and growing supplies from?  Our favorite places for seeds include:

Johnnys Selected Seeds (out of Maine)

High Mowing Seeds (out of Vermont)

Wild Garden Seeds (West Coast)

We try to work with companies and seed houses that breed (or at least test) seeds for our northern climates.  We also like places that offer a mix of hybrids and open-pollinated/heirloom seeds, to give us a good balance between new and old crops.

For growing supplies, we use Johnnys again (link above), as well as:

Nolt's Produce Supplies (no website, but out of PA)

Fedco Seeds

And for when random parts are breaking, FarmTek

This year we are trying out some NY vendors and hope to find some local places!

Matt, meanwhile, is focusing his energy on finding a tractor.  We have a great little cultivating tractor, but now need something with a bit more power to work the roto-tiller.  Unfortunately, our scale seems to put us in the black hole of tractor sizes.  There are tons of sub-35 hp and over-90 hp machines out there, but not a lot in the middle range (which is of course what we are looking for).  He hopes to decide on something by the end of the week!

Look for notes and seed starting pics tomorrow!

Off to Syracuse CSA Fair

We haven't been getting as many pictures up here on the web as we had hoped... because we've been ironing out the kinks in our website (switching platforms and basically learning how to use the internet ;)

But... tomorrow (Saturday March 11th) we will be at NOFA-NY's Syracuse CSA Fair!  We can't wait to meet some of our new farming neighbors, as well as talk CSA with any and all!  Please join us (or catch future fairs) if you can... more info at NOFA's site HERE.

Also... we are recruiting CSA site hosts!  If you are interested in learning more, please check out our site host page and contact us.  In particular, we are looking for hosts in the Syracuse area (Syracuse, DeWitt, Fayetteville, Manlius), as well as in/around Oneida, Chittenango, and Canastota.

Cornell Resources

After catching the flu over this weekend (hopefully this means I *won't* get sick during the busy spring planting season, I'm finally catching up on blogging about last week's Small Farms Summit.  Hosted by the Cornell Small Farms Program, it was a great chance for us to meet other local farmers and start thinking about how Hartwood Farm fits into the matrix of farms in CNY.  It also was good to hear about the ideas and hopes from other farmers.

Some related resources include:

Check out Cornell's Beginning Farmer Resource Center and video library...

Check out the latest issue of the Small Farm Quarterly...

Or contact your own extension agent (find them here)...