It’s all an experiment
March 21st, 2010 | Angela
Driftwood Farm
The experienced growers on this site have written about planting the crops they know do well, and doing trials of new crops. For us right now, it is all a “trial.” We have been on this land for just over a year, having barely gotten the deer fencing up in time for last summer’s small garden. It is also closer to the coast (~1 mile away) than our other gardens have been, definitely in the summer coastal fog zone. Previously, we’d been about 3 miles inland, in the “banana belt” – far enough inland to grow tomatoes outside, but with enough coastal influence to keep summer heat moderate. So, we are working with some new-to-us varieties, as well as really ramping up the volume we are trying to produce.
I am definitely beginning to understand the value in the idea of working/interning on a farm before branching out on one’s own.It’s something I haven’t done (neither of us has), but I imagine I would have learned a lot about performing some routine tasks. It’s interesting, for instance, that something as simple as planting things (e.g. hundreds of transplants) can become very difficult if you’re not actually sure of the most efficient way to do it – because you’ve never planted so many before. For example, when our modest order of bare-root strawberries came in, I realized I had no idea how to get them all in without taking forever. (I finally hit upon a strategy… but I won’t share it until I’m sure they all survived!)
Another issue I’m having right now is in completing our Producer’s Certificate application (to be submitted to California Department of Food & Ag) for selling at certified Farmers Markets (which our local markets are). Listing every variety of every crop you might possibly sell within the year might be tedious, but is pretty easy. But how much will we sell – of each variety of each crop? Since it’s our first year, we have no clue – not even a ball-park figure. I am having a really hard time estimating opitmistic yields, let alone realistic amounts. We plan to try to adjust how much we grow of each crop based upon sales, but have almost arbitrary starting points. So I’ll be calling CDFA to see if I can get some advice. Again, I know this will be easier next year with a market season under our belts.
Other than these few not-entirely-shocking bumps in the road – and a learning curve that will probably get steeper! – we are still optimistic, and working hard.
Tags: efficiency, learning curve, producer's certificate, trials
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Hi Angela,
We’re doing trials too. But please tell us what you did with your strawberries, even if they don’t come up. I promise to tell you how I probably killed our first set of tomatoes with bad math. We learn more from trying and screwing up than we do from getting it right the first time.
I took on our CCOF certification in our first year certian that the process would take forever and that we would have immediate success from our trial field. Wrong on both accounts. We are CCOF certified and the clay pasture land we are working into veggie nirvana needs a lot more work. Hmm. That might explain all the cows around here…
Dig it,
Drew
Hi Drew -
Thanks for the reality check! You’re right. Mistakes make great teachers. It’s just that I suspect we’d all like to be perfect the first time around!
Many of the strawberry plants were basically “flattened” due to the way they are packed for shipping. After having spent too much time planting the first few of almost 200 plants (painstakingly prepping each hole and fluffing the roots out), I had a flashback of something I had read. Who knows if it was even about strawberries, and of course I can’t find it now. But, the concept was to use a spade to make a deep slit in the soil, drop the roots straight down into it, then push the soil closed. Particularly considering strawberries’ sensitivity to the crown being buried, this seemed like a great solution (I could simply set the crown at soil level). I got really efficient at this method, and finished in what felt like a reasonable amount of time. Then came the second-guessing!
I am, however, interested to know what happened to your tomatoes…
Anyway – I’ll let you all know how it works out!
Definitely diggin’ it,
Angela
Ah. The tomatoes. Well.
The drip irrigation has been working very well for us. The EVo calculations worked great last year for the trees and the row crops. I could husband out 250 gallons a week in June and felt like Paul Erdos with straw in my hair. Our farm is 3 hours away (We live near San Francisco), so we depend on our robots and careful work planning both on the farm and in the Bay Area.
This year we started the tomatoes in our little hoop house. We had a greenhosue last year, but it blew away (The foolish thing had a flat side in every direction. No wonder.). I ended up with the bubblers instead of sprayers, which dribbled water instead of distributing it somewhat evenly. Then I set the timers for 2 mintues a day, every day. When I checked I had 24 sodden moss cups in a pan with 4 inches of saturated potting mud. The hoop house kept any of the water from evaporating. I would have taken a picture but I was too annoyed. “Stupid farmer’s gonna starve to death, just watch… Grmbl, grmbl…”
So I replaced the dribblers with sprayers and cut the time down to one minute on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I put in more tomatoes just in case and some basil. We shall see.
Good luck withthe strawberries. I like your approach. Nothing feels as good as clever.
Drew