Growing Within Our Climate

 

Late Spring Snow, April 27, 2014

Yesterday I posted a photo of the snow we woke up to in the morning. The reality is we live in cold area. Our little mountain valley is up at 2700 feet elevation and the particular spot our farm is located is a frost pocket. We get late frosts and early frosts every year. Sometimes we have late snow, one year we had a frost every month.

When we first started farming there were a couple other market farmers in our region and they were both growing pretty much everything; from corn to melons to cabbage. So that is what we tried as well. Some of the crops were always a fight for us to get at all, others were hard to get as early as the other farmers. But we sure tried, it was like a competition to see who could bring the first zucchini or cucumber to market. It became discouraging and frustrating to be fighting our climate all the time.

Garlic is one crop that does very well for us.

Over the last several years of farming we have learned a lot and have adapted what we do to fit our climate. We have learned which crops are not worth growing at all in our location, which ones are worth giving extra protection to and which ones do especially well for us.

While at first our cooler season seemed like a disadvantage it has turned out that if we work within it, it can actually be an advantage. Greens and lettuce do exceptionally well in our cooler summers. Potatoes don't mind it a little on the cool side and we can grow beautiful garlic and onions. We now focus on the things that grow really well for us and don't                                                struggle so much with the others.

Hoophouses and row covers are two ways we extend our season

We have found that most warm weather summer crops like green beans, cucumbers, squash and zucchini do just fine for us as well but generally don't come on as early as other areas of the county. We like to grow one hoophouse of zucchini and cucumbers to get them earlier and that seems worthwhile at this point. But other than that we don't rush to have the earliest crops, that way we can plant a little later and not have to worry as much about the weather. We do use row cover fabric on most crops as a boost for the first couple weeks or until they start blooming. We also grow tomatoes and peppers exclusively in a hoophouse because they do so much better in there. Although this year I am cutting way back on the tomatoes and am growing mostly cherry tomatoes. I have had a hard time getting nice large  tomatoes without splitting.

There are a couple of vegetables that we don't even grow at all because they like heat too much  and the chance of ripening them at all here is slim. They also take up too much space in a hoophouse to be worth growing in there. The two main ones are corn and melons.

It is actually really fun to learn and adapt to growing within our climate, learning what does well and focusing on that. The reality is that a late snow or late frosts do not hurt us or set us back very much at all, because we have learned to work within our climate.  

I would encourage any vegetable farmer just starting out to take into account their climate and make the best of it by doing what works well there. Don't feel like you have to do what everyone else is doing. Be open minded and adaptable to new ideas and plans. And don't forget to enjoy the journey along the way.

Frugal Friday: Farmgirl Fashion: Cute Mud Boots

As a farmer/farmer's wife I spend  a lot of time outdoors, in the dirt and mud. It can be easy to just wear grungy old work clothes all the time and to start feeling not so cute. I like fun, cute things and so I get tired of that sometimes. One thing I have always thought would be fun is a pair of cute mud boots. I have had the same pair of old, plain black, slightly too big thrift store mud boots for the past four years. They were finally starting to wear out and crack so I started looking for new ones. But being the frugal farm wife that I am I didn't go down to the store and just buy a pair of cute boots, after all they cost around $30. No, I kept my eyes open at thrift stores, figuring I would probably end up with a decent, practical pair that fit. I was excited when I found found this pair of cute polka dot ones (did I mention that I love polka dots?) for about $5! Now I may be covered in mud when I'm out working on the farm, but at least my feet feel cute!

Potato Party

Well this post is a little late, but I figured better late than never. Back in September we were blessed to have the help of friends, family and neighbors to get our potato crop out of the ground. We made it into quite a party. In the evening we all had a harvest dinner of potato soup and Asian cabbage salad. We also celebrated David's 4th birthday with a some cupcakes, balloons, and gifts.

The Potato Harvest Crew

Matthew Helping Sort Potatoes

Picking up Potatoes

Potatoes

Happy Birthday

David Turns Four

Spring Chicks

Time for baby chicks! These little pullets should start giving us lots of eggs later this year!

A Little Bit of Spring

We have flats of little plants started inside. It is making it fell like spring is getting a little closer!

Planting Garlic

This fall we planted a large area of the garden to garlic. We have ten beds, one hundred feet long with four rows in each. It was quite a bit of work to get it all planted but we did it. It was just in time too, before the ground began to freeze and snow stared to fall. It looks so nice all planted and mulched.

Harvest

Harvest was bountiful this year. Summer was busy, sometimes even crazy. We had a great season at the farmer's market. We always had a full table. I had an abundance of produce to can and freeze as well. We have been so blessed and have so much to be thankful for.

Pumpkins and garlic in the living room. We don't have a proper storage area yet so when it started getting too cold outside our abundant harvest filled the living room until we sold some of it, used some of it and organized the rest in the other room.

I did so much canning this year; pickles, jams, chutney, salsas, beans, tomato sauce and more. It is so satisfying to have it all on the pantry shelves. I also froze and dried quite a bit of fruit.

Digging Potatoes

These pictures are a little old now, but here we are digging potatoes.

Raspberries

I am starting to see a few ripe raspberries. We should have some at market next week!

First Tomatoes

I picked the first ripe tomatoes out of the hoophouse this morning! I am so excited. There will be lots more to come!

Farm Kittens

Our barn cat had five kittens a few weeks ago. They are very cute. Hopefully they will help keep the mouse and gopher population down :)

Strawberries are Ripe!

Our first Strawberries are ripe! We brought the to the market today and they went fast.
I love the smell of the strawberries while I am picking them. And of course I get to eat any with little holes in them. So delicious!

Ready Soon...

Cucumbers

Yellow Crookneck

Tomatoes-these will still be awhile:(

Sungold Cherry Tomato- almost ripe!

Harvesting for Market

Lovely Lettuce

I love the variety and colors of lettuce. This year we are growing around 10 or 12 varieties. It is fun to arrange all the colors in a basket at the market. And they make a very pretty salad!

Zucchini

We brought our first zucchini to the market on Friday! These pictures were taken a few days earlier.

Green Strawberries

Hopefully we will have ripe strawberries soon. I can't wait. They are blooming really well this year.

New Potatoes

We have been harvesting new potatoes the last couple of weeks and bringing them to market. It is so amazing to have them already. These are ones we started in March in the hoophouse. Then later after we stopped having frost we moved the hoophouse off and put tomatoes in it.

Garden Growth

The garden is growing well and so are the weeds! We are trying to get everything planted this week. In the hoophouse the squash is looking really good. It gets bigger every day. Outside the strawberries are blooming, a few peas are getting close and the potatoes are huge. Hopefully we will have new potatoes soon!!

In the Greenhouse

Tomatoes and squash growing in the green house.