Potato Storage Experiment

These potatoes were left in our unheated clay basement for the winter to see how they would survive. I was quite surprised that they lasted as long as they did. The Red Norland seemed to sprout the worst, the Fabula's held up really well with little to no sprouting. The True Blues also did really well.

It seems our growing season keeps getting pushed back, we had strong winds and blowing snow today. Good news is week end they are calling for +10 degrees, how exciting. I'm sure spring weather must be just around the corner.

First Seeds of the Season

Sunday was our first planting of the 2008 season. Leeks and onions really like an early start and we probably could have gotten them in even earlier but that didn't happen. We make our own potting soil using our composted horse manure, peat moss, Jolly Farmer earth worm castings, nutrient balanced mix and we like to add in a bit of purchased organic balanced potting soil in case our mix was lacking anything (Jolly Farmer Certified Organic Grow-on Mix)

We planted seven trays in total, three leeks and four onions. We do not have enough room to start as many transplants as we would like as we use our front living room and there is only so much room. We normally do not plant onions from sets but this year we think we will have to as we do not have the room to grow as many onions as we would like. Most people do not realize that you can grow onions from seed and that you will get a much bigger bulb, plus there are so many more varieties to choose from.



Tiny onion seeds




The living room before and after. We use this room because it has a big south facing window.



Under the table on the left we now have plastic that hangs down to the floor with a tiny space heater. The trays will stay under the plastic with the heater untill they germinate. This usually takes about 5-6 days.

Chores

This will probably be the last "slack" weekend on the farm until next fall. Next weekend is the annual Acorn organic conference which will be filled with new information, meeting new farmers and learning as much as we can in two days. Seeding will begin shortly after that which will turn our living room into a seedling grow room.



Above are bales of peat moss that will be used for our farm made potting soil, and Derek working with the tractor putting in hay for the horses. Derek uses a tow strap and a chain to strap the bale to the front end loader, it works quite well.

More Ice

We received more snow last night only to be followed by rain. By the time we got home from work the driveway was again a sheet of ice. I was able to get a few shots this time.

Slippy Situation

What crazy weather we have had this winter. From huge amounts of snow to buckets of rain, I think we've had it all. After the rain we had last night our drive way is a sheet of ice. And I mean that literally!!!

I took the truck out tonight and almost made it to the end of the driveway but all of a sudden the back end slid around and I was facing the other way stuck in the snow. Derek tried to get it out and even the four wheel drive wasn't helping. We finally got the truck out of the snow by me pushing and Derek switching from forward to reverse, forward to reverse, but when we got out of the snow the truck slid across the driveway and into the other pile of snow on the opposite side of the driveway.

So out comes the four wheel drive tractor, aka the battleship. Unfortunately that really didn't help at all as all it wanted to do was slide all over the place just like the truck. We finally gave up on trying to get the truck out and focused our efforts on just getting the tractor back up the driveway. I had to get the kitty litter out because we didn't have any sand. Slowly Derek was able to get the tractor onto the side of the driveway that still had a bit of snow and he finally made it back up into the yard.

Lessons learned tonight
1. Make sure always to have some sand on hand
2. The truck tires are really bare
3. Don't let Jen drive the truck on an icy driveway, not a good combination

ICE ICE BABY

Our ice burdened spruce trees creaking under the weight

We are finally back on-line. The Island experienced a pretty bad ice storm last week which knocked out the power for many of us Islanders. We were lucky as we only lost our power for 60 hours but some homes were without power for 6 days. We had to haul water from my home farm in Summerside for the horses but that only lasted for two days, thankfully. We are lucky as we have a wood stove and were able to keep the house reasonably warm. Our internet was not working until this morning so I wasn't able to post any pictures of the ice damage at the farm.

The morning after the storm the first thing we noticed was that our fence was laying on the ground, we have self insulating plastic fence posts that were not strong enough to hold up against the weight of the ice.
Several posts have snapped in two leaving the fence vulnerable in several areas. Derek and I walked the fence Sunday and there were several areas where the horses could easily have walked right through. We stuck the in the snow as best we could but we now see our fencing needs some improvements. Luckily the horses are not venturing too far from the barn these days so chances are they will not discover the poor fencing situation.

Below are a few shots from around the farm the day after the ice storm

Our poor birch tree, I thought it would snap, but it came back

Ice surrounding a corner post and the wire

Derek showing the ice buildup on the fence wire

Our tractor looked like a "mean machine"

Cold Winter Days

Looking up at a big tree

We had another cold winter day today but thankfully the sun was out in full which helped to make the -31 wind chill a little less painful. Derek and I took the snowshoes and went for a walk to the woods today. We hadn't been back since before Christmas so it was a nice change of scenery. We noticed a few rabbit and squirrel tracks and heard a few different bird calls.
It was a beautiful day on the farm, just a little cold!!!

Looking back toward the farm

Making our way back

Pretty shot of the stream