Newses
Posted by Lauren on 07 Mar 2009 at 11:38 pm | Tagged as: chickens, farm updates, greenhouses, lists, planting, tools
Mundane news
- Neighbor Claire brought over some rhubarb roots today; she was dividing and moving her patch, growing mostly unattended in the middle of the yard, to her new garden area. The rhubarb we transplanted last year didn’t take, sadly, so we were happy to have some new.
- Started some herb seeds today — seven cells each of sweet basil, Genovese basil, cilantro, dill, oregano, and scallions (I know, not an herb, but my last cells didn’t germinate yet so I tossed some more in this batch).
- I made pasta from scratch for the very first time today. Proof-of-concept pasta, we are calling it, because it wasn’t super wonderfully delicious, but it was good, and we both decided it’s worth learning to do better. We tossed it with homegrown leeks, homegrown Brussels sprouts, and homemade sausage, and garnished with imported parmigiano reggiano and the zest and and juice of an organic, non-local meyer lemon. (I can’t wait for my lemon trees to start doing things and making lemons for me.)
Proof-of-concept pasta, with homegrown leek and Brussels sprouts, and homemade sausage, originally uploaded by laurenipsum.
Fantastic news
- When we were considering moving here, a friend told us about the Trust for Working Landscapes, which manages some city-owned designated farmland that has been waiting for people to farm it; that possible opportunity was part of our decision to move here. So, a few weeks ago we met with some of the board members from the trust, and last Monday we finally turned in our application. Wednesday we met some board members out at the proposed site. Apparently, the whole process seems to be more informal than I thought, because instead of having a several-week process to review and approve our application, we spent an hour putting stakes in the ground where we wanted the corners of our plot to be. We also got the go-ahead to start buying equipment and seeds, so I guess it’s a go? I guess. Yay! If all goes well we will be selling veggies, maybe eggs, and maybe chickens at our farmers’ market and maybe at an unstaffed farm stand.
- As part of the aforementioned equipment-buying, Garth promptly went out and bought a BCS 720 walking tractor. I don’t really understand it completely, but as far as I can tell it is pretty awesome.
- Araucanas are coming in at our feed store this Friday, so we’ll be getting two more chickens, for an even twelve total, ten laying brown and two laying blue/green.
Woohoo! Congrats on the new farmland. I’m just curious – when you were a kid, did you ever think you would grow up to be a farmer?
Hey, better a walking tractor than a walking catfish…. For a while I thought about starting an organic farm back home, partly as an excuse to get a walking tractor. Then we discovered that we couldn’t reliably grow mint. That’s like not being able to grow blackberries. Congratulations!
Trent, you can come over and run the tractor for us anytime!
Leigh, that’s an interesting question. I don’t think I really thought about it very much. For a long time I wanted to be a painter but then I realized I was not talented. But I always liked playing in the dirt and I remember always being very happy in the garden in the summer. I specifically remember sitting under the pea trellis eating the peas that were hanging down, and it was sunny out there but shady underneath, and everything was green, and I was very happy.
That’s just wonderful! I hope your “pea patch” is close to you so you’ll tend it better than some in Seattle, hehe. Seriously, how big is your farm and is it out in the “country” or a city lot? Makes a huge difference in soil quality.
As for the process, if it hasn’t been snatched up by now, I’m sure they were just pleased someone interested and qualified applied. (Stressing the interested and qualified part, not the someone, hehe.)
Boy that tractor is cool. Beats my rototiller anyday! I’m sure you’ll have fun figuring it out.
Unmaned huh? Make Garth man it, while you go talk to other farmers and enjoy yourself. That’s what marriage is for… At least that’s how it would work in my family, hehe.
Super fantastic! Congratulations on the annex! How about some “before” photos of your plot, before it gets all dropstonificated?
What a stroke of luck to come across your site and the recent mention of BCS tractors. We’ve had a Gravely for many years and we had no idea how we were going to replace it. Thank you, thank you. And all the best with your new garden.
Ooo, I like the Gravelies. They’re cool. Have you seen the Earth Tools site? They sell BCS and Grillo tractors and implements and seem to have the most extensive selection on the ‘Net.
Agrarian Girl posted a nice roundup of some walking tractors that’s well worth reading. And she links to the only Ferrari I’d want to own.
[...] recently interviewed for the newsletter of the Trust for Working Landscapes, the land trust that is leasing us some land. The article came out yesterday, and apparently we managed not to say anything too dumb! [...]