Internship – Sheilah's Field Study

Week 8 Internship at Jello Mold Farm

Rows of colorful foliage at Jello Mold Farm.

I spent the week of May 21 through the 25th working at Jello Mold Farm in Mt. Vernon Washington. My internship proved to be a wonderful learning opportunity that aligned perfectly with my learning goals. Owners Diane and Dennis were incredibly generous, sharing their vast amounts of knowledge gained through years of experience growing flowers for the wholesale cut flower market.

Jello Mold flower stand at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative.

I started the week off learning how to harvest and package flowers and foliage for the wholesale market.

Dennis demonstrating the proper way to select, cut, and bundle sweet peas.

Sweet peas are a popular and lucrative crop sold at the Seattle Growers cooperative. Dennis and Diane start their seeds in soil blocks in November and plant out in their hoop house in February. They lime the soil to maintain a ph between 6-7.5, the plants are watered regularly and pinched back when young to encourage branching. String trellis netting is installed from ground to the top of the hoop house roof. Harvesting last from late April to early July.

Sweet Peas are sold 15 stems per bunch, the minimum harvest length is 7 inches. Harvest stage is done when the bottom two flowers have opened. The bouquets can be stored up to five days in cooler before selling. The average vase life is five days for Sweet Peas.

The mission statement displayed in the new office of The Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative.

On Wednesday morning we were up by 2:30 am to make a delivery to the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative. Last year Dennis and Diane purchased a refrigerated truck. This enables them to load their wares the night before, it also allows for easier transport of pre loaded racks.

I was impressed with the cooperative spirit of the market members. Diane introduced me to growers, they shared helpful advice and freely answered my questions on crop selection. Fellow members helped one another unload and set up their displays. The market manager Molly coordinates crop planning with the growers to ensure that there is ample stock and variety for the customers and ensures that the market is not flooded with the same products. This benefits buyers and growers, helping to maintain the cooperative spirit that is the foundation of The Seattle Wholesale Growers Market.

The floor display of Everyday Flowers. Owner Vivian is a founding member of the market.

Gorgeous anemone flowers on display from Everyday Flowers. Anemone is a genus of over 200 species of flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae family.

Week Six

Week six started out with much warmer spring like temperatures and sunny skies. Beth and I decided it would be best for me to continue to focus on honing my skills with the BCS walk behind tractor and irrigation set up and maintenance.

I was able to accomplish both chores while working on the hedgerow I helped plan and install last year as a POF student. My area of focus last year was integrated pest management (IPM). Our IPM group mapped out a hedgerow 100 feet long with three rows spaced 4 feet apart. We installed native shrubs such as snowberry and serviceberry, along with several shrubs sourced from Burnt Ridge Nursery in Onalaska, Washington.

http://www.burntridgenursery.com/

The shrubs we planted included Viking Aronia, Golden Silverberry, and Autumn Olive. Aronia (Aronia melanocarpa) is a shrub with small black edible berries that are highly nutritious and attractive to pollinators and wildlife. It is a self fruitful shrub, meaning it transfers pollen from the anther to the stigma on the same flower to another flower on the same plant. Many plants cannot produce fruit from their own pollen, they need pollen from another flower of a genetically different plant or cultivar to set fruit. Many varieties of apples, cherries, and pears need another variety nearby to cross pollinate and produce fruit. An example would be the asian pear variety Housi, planted in close proximity to another asian pear variety such as Shinko or Kosui. Pollination is performed by bees, it is important to attract bee activity by providing flowers. Another method used to attract wild mason bees is to install a mason bee home. This is done by drilling a hole 4/16 inch in a 4 inch wide piece of untreated lumber. The bee house should be installed 6-7 feet from the ground.

Most of the plantings from last year survived, I was able to make an inventory by accessing the planting map from our initial installation from last year. The practice of having a dated map of planting location and plant varieties is crucial to operating a well organized farm. This is a practice that I have started using on my farm and an important lesson I learned during my internship. Many of the plants from last year had lost their tags, having a concise map with measurements saves time and eliminates guesswork.

After mowing around the hedgerow I inspected and repaired the irrigation lines, next I weeded and applied a thick layer of wood chips to help conserve moisture and suppress the weed pressure.

Week 5

“My Mid-Quarter Narrative Evaluation”

Last week we experienced two consecutive nights of temperatures in the thirties with morning frost. Unfortunately the basil and tomato starts that we set out in the unheated greenhouse sustained frost damage. I spent the morning picking out and cleaning up the damaged foliage. Our spinach starts seem to be suffering from a nutritional deficiency. Beth pointed out that the spinach is yellow and slow growing. We plan to apply a foliar spray next week.

The following day on the farm was very satisfying, I managed to complete every item on my to do list. Two of my chores were activities that I have been avoiding, logging into Ag squared and running the BCS walk behind tractor. Working with computers is not my forte, I have come to the realization that I need to hone my computer skills to successfully track inventory and perform bookkeeping basics in my new business. Last year as a POF student I worked with the BCS tractor many times, yet I never felt competent adding attachments or operating it on my own. Beth is a perfect fit as my field supervisor, she pushes me out of my comfort zone, making sure I learn and relearn whichever skills I’m lacking. I had to familiarize myself with the basics of operating the BCS and spent over an hour flail mowing on Wednesday. I plan to continue using it until I’m completely comfortable handling and maintaining the BCS. A walk behind tractor would be an enormous asset on a small farm like mine.

https://bcsamerica.com/products/tractors

Week Four

This week we took advantage of the sun and warm temperatures to prepare the beds for planting and install drip irrigation on the farm at Evergreen. I have little experience in setting up a drip irrigation system from start to finish, so I was happy to work closely with Beth on this project. Beth was very thorough in going over the entire layout and system using irrigation products from Dripworks. https://www.dripworks.com/

First we started with the pressure gauge attachment. The water pressure at Evergreen’s farm is 60 psi, much too high for a drip system. The pressure gauge attachment we used brought the pressure down to 12 psi, which is ideal for the drip system.

A pressure gauge attachment is used to control the water pressure.

The drip system laid out and ready to go.

Last week I received news from Diane Szukovathy, co-owner of Jello Mold Farm that I was accepted for a weeklong internship at their flower farm in Mt. Vernon. I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with Diane on the farm and at the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative. Last year our POF class visited the wholesale flower cooperative and Jello Mold farm. The field trip was what inspired me to pursue a sustainable wholesale cut flower business. I was especially impressed with the cooperative model of the growers market, several small farms working together to market and sell their sustainably grown products. I have decided to postpone the purchase of my woody shrubs until after my internship at Jello Mold. I hope to gain greater insight to the varieties that are in demand in the northwest flower market. Diane and Dennis specialize in woody cut stems, they grow and market unusual floral produce such as raspberry foliage, chestnut branches, snowberry, and ninebark in addition to annual and perennial flowers. My interest and focus is on woodys that grow well in the northwest acidic soil conditions. My internship at Jello Mold is May 21 through May 25th, I plan to return with a wealth of information that will aid me in choosing plant stock and care. My goal is to become a member of the growers cooperative my second year in business.

http://jellomoldfarm.com/seasonal-availability/march/

Week Two: Internship

Tulip season has begun! My first chore in the morning was harvesting the tulips for market. Flower harvesting for market differs from cutting flowers for a home bouquet. Tulips are harvested for market when the petals are closed and starting to show some color. If the outer petals are green they are left in the field for harvesting at a later date. The stems are cut long and low, down to the bulb. Some wholesale sellers leave the stem attached to the bulb, storing them intact or selling them with the bulb. This practice can promote a longer shelf life. The foliage is stripped, and the tulips are packed immediately into sanitized buckets and stored in a refrigerated cooler.

Tulips picked, packed, and ready for market.

This week I finished up my business plan draft for Enterprise for Equity. I found a lot of recent articles on the wholesale cut flower market. I was able to glean some encouraging data from an interview of Diane Szukovathy, founding member of the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative. The interview is in the March 2018 issue of Growing for Market, a monthly newsletter for market gardeners, edited by Lynn Byczynski.

The Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative was founded in February of 2011. Diane Szukovathy and husband Dennis Westphall, owners of Jello Mold flower farm and 11 other northwest growers formed a growers cooperative with shared marketing opportunities and goals. The first year the cooperative generated $300,000 total sales revenue. Jello Mold’s gross income increased by 84% during their first year. Last year the co-op generated $1.68 million in revenue. In December the market relocated to a larger space that will allow them to meet demand and continue to grow. Nearly 55% of the market sales are from pre-sold orders. 65% of the sales are from members of the co-op, the remaining sales are from consignment sales. New growers are encouraged to sell on a consignment basis their first year. The six member team of full time employees manage operations and lend support to new growers, who are assigned crops to fulfill the growing demand. The co-op does not require members to sell exclusively through the co-op. I plan to target local florists within a 25 mile radius, but my primary goal is to sell on consignment and seek membership in the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Cooperative during my second year of operation.

Week One

Today I started my internship at the organic farm on campus at The Evergreen State College. Beth Leimbach, the assistant manager at the organic farm has agreed to be my field supervisor. I enjoyed learning and working with Beth last year as a student of The Practice of Organic (POF) program. Beth sets high standards and expectations, I feel working closely with her will be a great benefit to my hands on learning goals.

We spent most of the rainy day inside the heated greenhouse, setting up for the incoming POF students. My first duty involved prepping seed flats and 72 count seed trays for planting. Last year I spent some time as a student filling trays and seeding. Working as an intern allows me hone my skills until the action feels natural. Beth is methodical in seeing that trays are evenly filled and watered to ensure successful seed germination. After filling the trays and planting the seeds we placed them on a heat mat that controls the temperature by placing an attached probe in the seed trays. Beth explained that the heated mat speeds up the germination process.

Later we transplanted hundreds of tomato starts from seed flats 72 count seed trays. By the end of the afternoon I felt quite proficient in my abilities, thanks to the use of a chopstick to gently lift the seedlings out of the tray and push the delicate roots into the soil.