Week 1 on TESC Organic Farm

My first week on TESC Organic Farm was spend prepping beds, amending with feather meal(nitrogen), incorporating it into the soil using a tilther, and running drip tape for irrigation.

Lots of time spent pruning the apple orchard, we want the trees to have good airflow and light penetration to help facilitate healthy apple development. (this task had been neglected for quite some time, so we had and still have our work cut out for us!)

It’s heating up in the greenhouse (no pun intended), succession plantings of salanova have begun, potting up pepper plants (separating freshly sprouted seeds and placing them into individual cells in a tray).

There is a mouse problem in the greenhouse, they are eating freshly sown seeds, as well as the cotyledons off of newly germinated seeds…. As a result, we are attempting to trap them out….. Time to implement some Integrated Pest Management tactics……….the trials and tribulations of an organic farmer!

Grass Grass Grass, thanks to spring rains and sunshine, the grass is growing in full force. Which equates to lots of mowing for interns!

(Time laps of about a week. Top left: freshly sown seeds. Top right: cotyledon emerging. Bottom left: About a weeks growth)

Week 2 on TESC Organic Farm:

Wednesday: Weeded the rhubarb and asparagus (tons of work, had help from POF class!). I also weeded around the bases of one row of trees in the orchard, cut back big leaf maple suckers that were coming off a stump in one of the beetle banks on the farm, from there we chopped up the suckers using the flail mowing implement for the walk behind tractor with the intention of spreading them around the freshly weeded trees. By doing this we hope to help facilitate the growth of beneficial  mycorrhizal networks in the soil(concept that came from the Michael Phillips book Holistic Orchard.

Thursday: Chores: feeding chickens and giving them fresh water, collecting eggs, checking compost temps, harvesting salad and lettuce for market, picking nettles, prepping for the farms first market in red square, loading starts into the farm van, setting up farm stand, setting up signage, interacting with customers, continued weeding orchard (lots more to do).

Week 3 on TESC Organic Farm:

Busy week on the Organic Farm!

Wednesday: Spent a lot of time weeding the orchard with a volunteer, we got lots of good work done. After the weeding we continued to spread the wood that we had shredded last week around the orchard trees, with the intent of adding nutrients back to the soil, and helping to facilitate to mycorrhizal growth in the soil. Spent the rest of the day prepping an 80ft bed for transplanting kale into the field. We amended to the soil with feather meal, (feather meal is good because its high in nitrogen and nitrogen aids in vegetative growth, since you harvest the leaves of kale, feather meal is the perfect fertilizer to add.) After adding the feather meal you want to incorporate it into the soil by raking it in. From we knew we wanted an 80ft-by-30inch bed, with 2 rows 18 inches apart. So out came the measuring tape. Once we had the rows and the spacing set up we needed to plant the kale 18 inches apart from each other, and after more measuring and digging the wholes for the kale to be transplanted into, it was transplanting time.

Thursday: The majority of Thursdays are spent prepping for the market in red square. Spent the morning picking nettles, mushrooms (Garden Giant), and cleaning heads of lettuce for market, as well as to be sold to the greenery. There is already an aphid infestation on the head lettuce, so as a result, a lot of time was spent trying to get them out of every nook and cranny… as you can imagine, a time consuming task. In the after noon we pack the farm truck up with the days harvest, lots of tulips, lettuce, herb and vegetable starts, and head up to red square to set up out stand. Market day is always eventful.

Week 4 on TESC Organic Farm: This was a busy week, the farm was short handed for both days I was there. I spent Wednesday rinsing off old flats, and then, once clean of old potting soil, dipping them into a tub of water diluted with bleach in order to sanitize them. From there we filled three and a half inch pots with potting soil, 16 of these pots fit in a flat, we had 30 flats, so that’s 480 pots filled with soil….We went through tons (figuratively) of soil. From there we sowed different verities of squash seeds into about 300 of the pots, we then made tags for all the verities (1 tag per pot), from there we had to cover all the seeds with another layer of soil, and then water them in. On Thursday, the person who normally runs the market stand was out sick, so I was asked to run it. The morning started with harvesting leeks, asparagus, lettuce heads, mixed lettuce, nettles, tulips, etc. etc. From there we washed everything, and started packing up the farm van. We started market earlier than usual, at 12pm, and there was a big lunch rush, we had a few hiccups with the cash register in the beginning, but the assistant farm manager and myself finally got the hang of it (partially due to a learning curve, partially due to a faulty register). I learned a lot. All in all a great week to be farming.

Week 5 on TESC Organic Farm: Another busy week on the farm. Wednesday morning I started off by doing the daily farm chores (unlocking all the gates, feeding chickens, changing their water, collecting eggs). From there i started sanitizing three and a half in pots and gallon pots (rinsing old potting soil off them, and then dipping them into a bleach and water mixture to kill off any bacteria or mold). From there I filled up all the pots that I had just cleaned with potting soil, from there I made holes in all the potting soil so we could pot up all the peppers we have in the heated greenhouse (take the plants out of the 72 treys and put them into the larger pots). From there I had to add a little additional soil to cover up the tops of the plugs and press them in to make sure there was good root to soil contact. And then water all the plants in that had just been potted up. The afternoon was setting up irrigation for five beds, three rows of drip tape per bed, fifteen all together. It was a time consuming process because I had to find all the connecting pieces and valves for the drip tape. The last hour of the day was spent harvesting tulips for Thursdays market. Thursday on the farm started of with farm chores, and from their we moved into harvest for market. We harvested salad mix, head lettuce, bok choy, leeks, kale, and nettles. From there we had to rinse everything and put the produce that gets bunched into bunches. After harvest I used to flail mower implant for john deer tractor to mow the beds of kale that had over wintered in the field, as well as mow down a cover crop of Sudan grass that we planted last year. After lunch we started packing the farm van for market, lots of plant starts, flowers, and produce. Once up at red square our normal location was under construction so we had to move to a different location. We were anticipating rain so we had to set up the pop up tent we have. Luckily we did, because as soon as we got it up it started raining. It seemed very hectic, but we kept our cool, and all in all, it turned out great. Another great week on the farm.

Week 6 on TESC Organic Farm:

Wednesday started off by potting up hundreds of pepper plants. First you have to fill three and a half inch pots up to the brim with potting soil, then you have to water they to make sure the soil is completely saturated, next you “core” them to make room for the plugs that come from the seventy two cell trays, from there you place the plugs in the larger pots, make sure there is good root to soil contact and then water them in a second time. After that I spaded a large portion of the field with the John Deer tractor, I did this to break ground and turn over the grass. After that I amended two 80 foot beds with feather meal, from there I power harrowed the beds to incorporate the feather meal, and then direct seeded spinach into one of the beds. The rest of the day was spent trouble shooting a problem we had with one of the walk behind tractors.

Thursday started off with harvesting salad, and radishes. From there I moved into the heather greenhouse and filled more three and a half inch pots with potting soil. After the work in the heated greenhouse I direct seeded bush beans into an eighty foot bed. After lunch we packed the farm van up with all the market supplies, and helped with setting up the stand on red square. After that I made my way back down to the farm, planted broccoli starts into the bed, and covered the freshly transplanted starts with row cover.

Friday I went with Dave to pick up 4 bee nukes. Which are cardboard boxes, each filled with a hive of bees already established on frames. We had to drive to Lakewood to pick them up. We got them for the current POF class, so they could use them for the group of students dedicated to apiary studies.

Week 7 on TESC Organic Farm:

Wednesday morning started off weeding the strawberry rows, there is a lot of grass growing in the strawberries, and its a pretty time consuming task. We got a lot done, but when I looked at the progress I had made, it looked like I hadn’t even made a dent in it. (I weeded with one other person, and if we were actually getting paid minimum wage, it would have come out to close to $100 dollars the farm would have paid us to weed one row for 4 hours. There must be a more effective solution. Like getting thee weeds and grass before they are so established.) I spent the afternoon digging a whole so we could get a better look at a broken water pipe. After that i directed seeded turnips, radishes, and arugula into an 80 foot bed. From there i had to dig trenches along both sides of the bed so I could lay row cover over the freshly seeded bed, and then bury the edges of the row cover.

Thursday morning started off with me spading the part of the field that had our tulips in it, in order to prep the ground for a new succession of vegetables. After that I harvested arugula. After harvest I went back to digging the hole in order to fix the broken irrigation pipe. After lunch….more digging, cut the broken portion of the pipe out with a hacksaw, and ended the day spading another portion of the field.

Friday started with me cleaning the greenhouse, very dirty/dusty work. I cleaned it in order to make room for a new batch of potting soil that was delivered to the farm. Transporting all of the bags of potting soil into the greenhouse required much lifting, and many trips back and forth from the pallet of potting soil and the greenhouse. After that task was done. We measured out a new portion of pvc pipe that we would use to replace the section of pipe we cut out the day prior, from there I learned how to prime the pvc pipe and adhere pvc cement so we could attach and mend the pipe. All in all a good week to be on a farm!

Week 8 on TESC Organic Farm:

Wednesday started off with me applying 8lbs of feather meal to a bed and then power harrowing the fertilizer into the soil. From there I set up measuring tape to so I could plant salanova 6 inches apart in the bed, 3 rows in the bed. From there I hand watered everything because we didn’t have the overhead sprinklers set up yet. After that I weeded the older successions of salad we have planted. After that I ended the day planting 5-80ft rows of peas and beans with the earthway seeder. And then hand watered all the rows, because he didn’t have irrigation set up in that section of the field as well.

Thursday started off with me setting up the trellis for our cucumbers. I had to pound 10 Tposts and then set up plastic mesh by zip tying it to the Tposts. From their I ran thick metal wire across the top of the trellis and zip tied the top portion of the mesh to the wire. I did this to better secure the the trellis because, as the cucumbers grow they will add a considerable amount of weight to the trellis and potentially pull it down if its not secured properly. The wire was difficult to work with, and actually broke a few times as I was trying to make it taught. Pretty time consuming.  After lunch we packed up the market van and I helped set up the stand in red square. I caught the tail end of the tomato planting for the Novac trial, everyone involved was measuring the root length as well as lateral root growth. I helped plant a few. All and all a great day to be out in the sun.

Friday started with me planting peppers in a newly constructed hoop house. We got halfway through the planting and a class of international students came down to the farm for a tour and to get their hands dirty. So we took them on a farm tour and then we all finished planting the peppers in the hoop house. They were a great help and we finished in 20 minutes, what would have taken me all morning. After they left we planted another two rows of peppers into a bed covered in solar mulch. We had to make holes in the plastic, dig the holes in the soil and then plant the peppers. It was time consuming. Really hot day to be outside in the sun. Ended up with a little sunburn, but regardless a great day on the farm.

Week 9 On TESC Organic Farm:

Thursday morning started with me cleaning three and a half inch pots and 72 cell trays with bleach water. I then filled the three and a half inch pots and the 72 cell treys with potting soil to prep for seeding in the greenhouse. It was also to last day of working with the student whom I’ve been working with on the farm every Wednesday this quarter. We went on one last farm walk, and ate one last lunch together. It was really nice and bitter sweet to see him go. We had built a nice relationship these past 10 weeks. After lunch we moved a flat of chicken feed into the barn. Each bag weighed 40lbs so it was some good heavy lifting. After that we had to head up to the main campus and move a bunch of boxes and garbage cans full of cover crop seeds out of an office the farm was using as temporary storage. After that I made my way back down to the farm and set up overhead irrigation which required some trouble shooting. I ended the day with using the flail mower attachment for the walk behind tractor to mow some grass that was trying to go to seed. Busy day.

Wednesday started with me trellising and pruning tomatoes. We pruned off the leaves that were the closest to the ground. After that we made sure to keep the axillary bud closest to the ground because that will be the bud which produces fruit. The method they are using on the farm is training the plant to have only two “leaders” (axillary branches) in attempts to prompt the plant to put the majority of its energy into the two axillary branches to maximise fruit production, as apposed to having many axillary branches with little fruit growth on them. From there I moved onto radish harvest. And while I was in the middle of cleaning the radishes, the farm manager announced that we all had to stop what we were doing and leave the farm immediately due to an external threat to campus safety.

Campus was closed Friday so I didn’t have my normal farm internship.

Week 10(Slide Show):

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jtTOqnNndmHzyl1VUYRNzYe14zY97M32mUUgsmmQ_wU/edit?usp=sharing

Wednesdays farm internship started with me cleaning and bagging salad mix, and lettuce heads. From there I took the salad mix and lettuce I had cleaned and drove the farm truck up to the greenery to sell it. After that I stopped by the mail room and picked up a compost tea machine. After that I prepped two 80ft beds for direct seeding. We spread feather meal, and then incorporated it into the soil using the power harrow attachment for the walk behind tractor. After that we direct seeded arugula, turnips, radish, dill, and parsley.

Thursdays farm internship started with harvesting and washing arugula, lettuce heads, salad mix, and garlic scapes. that took all morning. After lunch we loaded the farm van for market and then spent the rest of the day at market. The strawberries we had drew in a lot of customers. When I made it back to the farm there was only time left for chores. All in all a great day.