agriculture
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Soil Science At The Farm
We’re going to break format here with the first-ever Thursday post. I was a bit exhausted after a 14-hour day yesterday which, frustratingly, ended in sprayer nozzles plugging up from a compost extract while trying to do a foliar nutrition trial as the sun was setting. But I still wanted to write about something exciting Continue reading
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Cover Crop Update:
It’s hot, real hot, record-setting hot, and tinderbox conditions have fires popping up everywhere from inside the city to our provincial parks, while the wind blows uncovered topsoil around enough to reduce visibility. This would be a good time to have an update on our cover crop situation, whose soil is not blowing away. For Continue reading
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Greenhouse Full + Crazy Weather
July temps in early May is a bit scary, so the weather has accelerated all of the goings-on at the farm and we’ve entered Ludicrous Speed mode. That might not be the greatest thing for our spinach and broccoli, but it has meant that we’ve fired everything into the new greenhouse and we are, finally, Continue reading
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Greenhouse Rain Delay
Twice in a row we were thwarted by moisture trying to get the plastic up on the greenhouse. The tiniest bit of moisture on the ground would have made an absolute mess on the plastic, so we’ve had to punt for sunnier days. Cloudiness or rain can gum up the works sometimes. So the end Continue reading
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Transplanting Patience
We finally have some photosynthesis going on in the greenhouse! It’s nice to see green while there is still snow outside. This year feels a bit boring so far to start, but that’s largely due to me continuously moving seeding dates up. Partly because of our improvements in germination. I used to give 7-10 days Continue reading
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2 for 2: Overwintering Honeybees
Still in the first year of beekeeping here! It felt like a big test, to see if I could successfully overwinter the bees. On a nice day recently I went in for a check, removing the R10 and R20 insulation that was (hopefully) keeping the bees stable all winter. And right away we saw good Continue reading
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Toxic By Default
We received notice from our RM of all the wonderful chemicals that may be applied during the season, a run-of-the-mill PSA. It proceeds to list 9 different herbicides and 4 pesticides. At the bottom of the PSA comes the kicker: if you don’t agree, you have to write a physical letter to the provincial government Continue reading
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Managing Chaos: Creating a Schedule
I’ve been working at it for awhile now, but within the next week I will finalize the schedule for the entire farming season. It includes seeding dates, transplanting targets, and all sorts of reminders. I started building this about 5 years ago and I’m not sure I remember how to run a farm without it! Continue reading
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Book Recommendation: Finding the Mother Tree
I’ve had this one on my reading list for awhile having read some of her scientific work in the course of learning about plant’s symbiotic connections with microbial life, and I cannot recommend this one enough: Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard published in 2021. The journey to discovering trees and forests’ connections with Continue reading
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No Light Without Heat
Last fall I wrote a post titled Science Will Win, around the time a collaborative journalistic investigation revealed a group lead by a former Monsanto PR executive were compiling a database of people connected to or involved with work that was critical of pesticides, GMOs or advocates for various forms of organic agriculture. There’s an Continue reading
About Graham
Graham is an ecologist-farmer from Canada working on educating about the wonders and beauty of the natural world, and how we can design biodiverse food production systems.
Complimentary Blueberry Juice 