Spud-tacular Start

Things are getting a slow start at the MArket Garden this year.  The soil is quite cool and most of the farm completely waterlogged.  However, I was able to get into the potato patch the past two weekends.  Below is 100#’s of potatoes – 50 each of Yukon Gold and Kennebec.
 
The Grillo does OUTSTANDING work [...]

625,000 Calories on 1/10th Acre

Well we are officially 3 weeks in to the Great Potato Harvest, and the Yukon Golds are about done. They are sizing up nicely -with a few rare lunkers coming in at almost a full pound -each. With today’s take of 170 lbs we are officially at 575lbs in, and my best guess [...]

Hoop House Phase #2

Kory has been pointing out that I am overdue for some Hoop House shots, and that is mostly because I am overdue for getting into the Hoop House! April here was VERY wet- with decent rains every other day like clockwork. Soil work was out of the question for almost the entire month. [...]

The Money!

Placed another BIG Fedco Order this morning. Like $367 big.  That might not be a Grillo, but it is amazing all the things needed to tool up for market gardening.    Included in this order are two set of 600′ of drip irrigation complete with regulators, etc -one each for both farms.  Also included is 10#’s [...]

Potato Planting

The forecast was for still more rain, but it has been spotty and much of the rain missed my farm plots so it was back to the gardens. Wednesday night I was able to get 4 rows planted with help from the family, but much time was spent determining layout and a decent way [...]

Potato Prep

In the last post I showed the beds about 30% done. I have spent another 5 hours in them since then and the main, flatter bed is ready to plant, and the mound is about 75%. So after spending an evening putting the finishing touches on the beds with the kids {Mia was [...]

Sub Acre Ag: Bed Prep

I have spoken much about the fabulous compost mounds at one of the farms I will be at so I figured it was time to post some pics. At left is a shot of the mound I will be working. It was about 7′ tall about a month ago, and I [...]

Woodbury County, Iowa: Organic Mecca

I have passed on numerous intersting business models for smal scale agriculture, typically in Urban settings.  And while getting more farming infrastructure in our cities is critical, equally as important is saving the rural, family farms of our country.    While here in Jefferson County, WI we have enacted some very strong land use laws [...]

Chicken/Rabbit Tractors: Sub Acre Ranching

One of the most perplexing challenges of my Sub Acre Agriculture project will be to consistently and sustainably increase fertility in the soils to optimize yields over time. While this can be done exclusively through green manure cover crops, it is more efficient to combine a planned cover crop rotation with livestock manures. [...]

Urban Farming Thoughts

A reoccuring theme on Onestraw is my faith in Suburbia’s ability to produce enough food to make it a viable alternative the ag land it paved over.   It is an undeniable fact that our current urban planning system is completely addicted to the automobile and cheap oil.  My example is typical.  I drive 19 miles [...]