Prema Farm Internship

This week was very exciting; we transplanted our tomato seedlings (that we had seeded the first week of January) into one of our heated greenhouses. We had to first transport them to the farm. They had been staying in a greenhouse in town with a local gardener that starts seedlings for the food co-op. We attached the trailer that we take to market, which is normally cooled to a temperature of 32 degrees to the truck and turned off the cooler. By heating the trailer to a temperature of 72, we were able to safely transport the plants in an environment that wouldn’t put them into shock.

To transplant the tomatoes, Prema chooses to do one row per bed, with intercropped crops on the far ends of the bed. The crops that we chose to intercrop with are salanova, head lettuce, and beets. This way, we can get the most money as possible off of those beds.

The varieties that we got in the ground so far are Black Cherry and Toronjina (cherry tomatoes) and Big Dena (a slicing variety). There are more varieties on the way, most of which will be heirlooms, that weren’t quite ready to come out of the greenhouse yet.

We had some extra room in the greenhouse that will be used for hot summer crops (like the tomatoes), so this week we also transplanted cucumbers and zucchini into it.

Zach and I started out the week by releasing lady bugs into all three of the greenhouses. The lady bugs will help lower the aphid populations that have begun to grow slightly with the nicer weather and longer sunlight. We will do this every two weeks so that there is always a steady number of lady bugs. They came in a large box in the mail and will be staying in the walk-in cooler where they can live in for up to 6 months.

We also continued with our weekly seedings and, along with some other crops, seeded artichokes and kohlrabi! Although artichokes are perennials, Prema grows them as annuals (they start a new crop of artichokes every year and do not save the plants from the previous year). This is possible because, unlike many perennial crops, artichokes produce a crop in their first year.

On Friday, there was a new employee orientation on the farm for two people that will be starting work at Prema soon for the season. It was so different having four people on the farm to help get things done as opposed to just having Zach and I. One of the new employees will be starting next week, so we’ll have three pairs of hands to help get work done. As the season has begun to pick up, it has become harder and harder for Zach and I to get everything done that needs to happen each week, so this will definitely be a nice change.

This week I had the amazing opportunity to try transplanting into the field using the paper chain potting system. We have been seeding into trays for weeks using the system and the first few trays that we seeded are just beginning to be ready for the beds. This week, we planted spinach into one of the greenhouse beds.

The transplanter makes it very easy and quick to plant seedlings into a bed. By pulling the transplanter down a row, the chains are planted in a single file into a trench that is being dug. In the case of the spinach, which is planted into the 2 inch paper pot chains, there is about one tray per row, which means that we needed about four trays to fill this 50 foot bed. Then, a zipper tool is used to cover up the sides of plants so that no paper is left exposed. As the plants grow, the paper decomposes into the soil.

There was quite a bit of wind at the farm this week, with gusts of up to 90 mph. This is pretty common in Reno during the spring time, so this isn’t the first time that the greenhouses have been put under that kind of pressure. Luckily, there wasn’t too much damage done to the farm. There were some rips on parts of the plastic that is covering the wash and pack station, which we fixed with tape that is specific for use on greenhouse plastic.  Also, one of the vents on the greenhouses became a little bent up from the wind gusts, but we were able to straighten them back up by hand. The biggest loss was that the wind managed to blow a thermostat that was in the propagation house onto the ground, skewing the readings. It made it so that the temperatures in the house seemed a lot lower and the heater was on for far longer than it needed to be. It dried out a few trays of seedlings that we unfortunately had to compost. Luckily, the wind looks like it’s going to die down for the next week or so.

We started out the week by moving one of the heaters from the oldest greenhouse to the propagation house. The heater that was previously in the prop house is a lot smaller than the greenhouse heaters, and because the nights have been getting into the single digits, we thought that a larger heater would better to protect the seedlings during this time. We switched the two heaters, putting the prop house heater into the greenhouse. The greenhouses have two large heaters in them and don’t need to stay as warm as the prop house, so we thought it would be a good switch. So far, the larger heater has been doing a much better job of keeping the prop house warm.

We also had a lot of bed prep work to do this week. We turned over three beds and for the first time this season, transplanted bok choy and gem lettuce into the beds using the paper chain potting system. Unfortunately, I was unable to be at the farm the day that the transplanting happened, but we’ll be doing lots of it in the coming weeks.

This week, we seeded beets, salanova, cucumber, summer squash, peas, spinach, dill, and parsley. We also started the process of sprouting ginger and turmeric that will be planted in one of the greenhouses later this season and harvested in the late summer. This is Prema’s first time growing ginger and turmeric, and I’m really excited to see how it goes!

This week, Zach and I started out with the most seeding we’ve done so far! On Wednesday, we seeded dill, salanova, peas, spinach, and cucumber. Everything is germinating very well and luckily, although we’ve been having lots of cold weather and snow, the propagation house is staying pretty warm.

We also harvested out the first bed that I helped seed here on the farm, which was a French Breakfast bed. This week, I decided to test Prema’s soil for one of the research papers that I’ve been working on for this quarter. The focus of my paper is comparing the effects of no-till farming and farming with conventional tillage. I found a small farm (called Bee Here Now) similar to Prema that uses conventional tillage practices and tested their soil for compaction and organic matter content several weeks ago. And because Prema uses no-till practices, I will be comparing that data to the results of Prema’s soil tests. So, at Prema this week, I used the penetrometer to test both cultivated areas and uncultivated areas for levels of soil compaction. I found that the cultivated areas at Prema are much softer than the cultivated areas that experience conventional tillage at Bee Here Now. Also, Bee Here Now had a layer of compaction about 6 inches deep into their soil, which Prema did not have. This is likely a result of the use of heavy machinery, like a BCS, for conventional tillage practices. I also took a small bag of soil from Prema and Bee Here Now that I will be testing to find organic matter content.

We also had a representative from Johnny’s come to the farm on Thursday. We were supposed to have a farm tour as a part of a farm conference happening in town, but it got canceled because of snowy roads. Megan, the representative, came out anyway to see the farm and talk about some tools that Johnny’s is selling that we might be interested in. She specifically showed us the newest tool from Neversink Farm, a hoe with interchangeable heads, which we got to test out.

This week, I had the opportunity to talk to a high school AP Human Geography class about my experience with agriculture. One of my former teachers had found out I was back home and, because she is currently teaching a unit on agriculture, wanted me to come talk to her class. I was really touched to be able to do this, especially because that teacher played a big role in my interest in agriculture when I was in high school. I talked about my own experience with farming, both at the Evergreen farm and at Prema. I discussed the differences between those farms and what I had learned (and continue to learn) from working on them. I also talked about environmental and social impacts of conventional, corporate agriculture and some alternatives to that model, such as small organic farming and community gardens. I also talked about the importance of supporting local farms and local food economies and pointed out some ways that the students could support the local food movement in Reno.

As for work on the farm, Zach and I continued our weekly seeding. On Wednesday, we seeded salanova, peas (which were apparently very popular last season), and celery. We also worked on preparing the farm for a farm tour that will be happening next week as a part of a local farm conference. On Friday, some people came to build a shed on the farm. We will be able to store all of the tools and the tool bench in the new shed and some other things that have been sitting around the farm or in the greenhouses. Next week, we will work on making sure the farm is all cleaned up and organized for the farm tour.

And although we have been having some more snow in Reno the past couple of weeks, the increasing amount of daylight has definitely been making a difference on the farm and everything seems to be growing a little bit faster. This week, we harvested over double the amount of curly kale that we harvested last week!

This week, I had the opportunity to visit Bee Here Now Farm, which is another small organic farm in the Reno area. As a part of my independent study this quarter, I am researching differences between conventional tillage and no-till practices. Because Prema is a no-till farm, I thought it would be cool to compare some factors of their soil health to another farm that uses conventional tillage practices. Zach recommended Bee Here Now, and I was able to reach out to the farm managers, Nick and Christine Hill, and arranged a visit to their farm on Tuesday. I decided that the soil health factors I will test for are soil compaction (which I will measure by using a penetrometer- pictured below), organic matter content, and weed presence. I have yet to test Prema’s soil as a comparison, but I got some interesting data from the soil compaction test at Bee Here Now which I may share in future posts.

Zach and I continued the reorganizing of the wash and pack house this week and we put in some new root wash tables. We’ve also been working on improving the drainage of the wash and pack house because water tends to pool up on one side and sit there until we are able to sweep it out of the small drains that go outside of the house. Zach has been in contact with someone that may be able to come drill some bigger drains for us, which would be a huge help.

Our greens have been growing like crazy lately and we brought 100 bags of salad greens to market this week, which was the most we’ve managed to harvest during this winter season. Unfortunately, it was very rainy and windy at market on Saturday, so not as many people came by.

This week, one of our main activities was reorganizing the wash and pack house. The whole area has gotten a little cluttered since summer and now that it’s winter, we have time to move things around and make it more efficient before the season gets too busy. We began by moving the wash tubs, green spinners, and root wash table into the middle of the wash structure. Before, all of these had been up against one wall and it made moving from one washing step to the other a little difficult. We moved the pack crates onto one side of the house and left the other side bare so that the water could drain out toward that wall. We reorganized a few racks that had things such as cardboard boxes, rubber bands, and plastic bags on them. Zach plans on having a shed built on the farm that will house all of the tools and items that aren’t used on a daily basis so that it can clear up the cluttered areas of the wash and pack house. Here’s some pictures of the progress we’ve made so far.

Previously, there had been a large table in the middle of the house. We replaced it with two smaller tables and it has cleared up the house and makes it easier to walk around in.

We continued our usual seeding and harvesting this week. We seeded spinach, lettuce heads, bok choy, and parsley.

We continued with the seeding that started last week on the farm. This week, we seeded bok choy, scallions, salanova and salad mix, and beets. All of these were seeded using the paper chain potting system. For seeding with the paper pot system, you begin by choosing the spacing that will exist between the plants once they are transplanted into the field. At Prema, we use 2 inch, 4 inch, and 6 inch spacing. Each option has a different chain, which come compacted. When you’re ready to seed, you open up a compacted chain and put it onto a metal mold that will hold the chain in place. You place the mold and chain onto a seed flat and fill it with soil.

Then, a plastic dibbler is used to poke a hole into every cell in the chain (there is a different dibbler for each size chain). Another tool called the drop seeder allows you to automatically fill every cell at once without having to do it by hand.

When the seeds are in, we water down the flats and remove the metal mold holding the chain in place. Then, we put the seed flats into the germination chamber. At Prema, we do not cover the seeds with soil after they have been put into the cells. Zach had found that there was no difference in germination success when he compared covering the seeds with soil versus leaving them without soil on top. This saves us time and soil in the long run.

Once 50% of the seeds on a tray have germinated, we take them out of the germination chamber and place them on a table in the heated propagation house. That way, we can always have space for more trays in the chamber and prevent the germinated trays from getting too leggy because they do not have light in the chamber.

We had a more bountiful market this week, with more greens than last week. Now that there is more daylight every day, we are noticing that things are starting to grow faster and that we can harvest each week from the same beds instead of having to wait several weeks for the slow growing to catch up. This week, in addition to the crops we brought to market last week, we had curly kale, arugula, and even more salad bags.

This week, we started seeding some crops in preparation for spring. We began the week by seeding tomatoes at a local gardener, David Funk’s, house. He turned his garage into a germination and propagation room and sells seed starts at the co-op, as well as to local farms such as Prema. All of the tomatoes for Prema will be started at David’s. We will be grafting every tomato plant for the farm, so this first planting consisted of 700 root stock seeds and about 500 scion seeds of different varieties, including saucing, slicing, and cherry tomatoes. 

I was surprised to hear that we would be starting our seeds so early in the season. All of the tomatoes will be going into the heated greenhouses, so Zach told me that we are really only waiting until there is enough sunlight for the tomatoes to thrive. Once that comes later in the season, the conditions will be perfect for the tomatoes to go into the ground.

We also began seeding some other crops in the propagation house at Prema. Two of these crops, beets and salad mix, were seeded using the paper chain potting system. This was my first time getting to use the paper pot system after hearing about it for so long and, even though we were only seeding this time around, I have already learned a lot about how it works. I’ll be sure to include some pictures of the system as I work more with it.

As always, Friday was harvest day. For market this week, we had bok choy, salad mix bags, carrots, turnips, radishes, kale, green onions, and parsley.