The Farm
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Life Finds a Way
Even though we had some very light frost….not all plants are down and out, even sensitive ones. Though the top leaves of our Patty Pan Squash crop was damaged by frost, the rest of the plant was able to hang on. With some nice weather following, the plants are starting to rebound….we may even get… Continue reading
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Trials and Errors
Regardless of how many books you’ve read, YouTubes you’ve watched, and examples you’ve heard, there is no substitute for doing the work, making your own observations, and trying again. All the theory in the world only helps us understand what we’re seeing. More often than not we are our own problem. The trick to a… Continue reading
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What Ghost Pipes Can Teach Us About “Nutrients”
Recently I was lucky enough to see some Ghost Plants aka Ghost Pipe on a hike. These creatures are fascinating enough but when I got back to farming, I noticed some in my own back yard. One of the things I hear most when talking about farming is the topic of “nutrients.” The Ghost Pipe… Continue reading
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Dealing With Crop Failure
Anyone who has ever grown something or cared for a living thing (of the plant or animal variety) has inevitably had some demoralizing times. On one end of the spectrum, there’s the “nothing you can do about it” category which includes things like weather or the completely unexpected. On the other end of the spectrum,… Continue reading
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Integrating Agriculture Back Into Communities
What does integrating agriculture with communities look like? For many, agriculture is something that happens “over there,” on a big scale, incompatible with suburban living. Perhaps there are illusions of what agriculture means: an industrial scale, huge machines, chemicals and processing facilities, waste that has to be managed, odours that have to be contained and… Continue reading
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Combining Crops: Mushrooms and Carrots
Last year I decided to try stacking crops, and inoculated a wood chip path in-between two beds of kale with Wine Cap mushrooms, or Stropharia rugosoannulata. Mostly the trial was to see if/how they would overwinter, and overwinter they did. This week we’ve decided to dig out a carrot bed we seeded in last year’s… Continue reading
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Leaf Mulch and the Water Cycle
This past week we planted 800 Peppers (bell and hot) into leaf mulch. Continue reading
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Soil Temperature Measurements I
It occurred to me that I had never taken a soil temperature reading, so I’m going to start and see what we find. We use these row covers quite extensively, but I’ve never measured just how much they increase the temperature – and specifically soil temperature – underneath. We have also never applied mulch in… Continue reading
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Mulch for Soil Protection
This season we have really doubled down for mulch, which all of our long-season crops will have. Our goal is to keep as much soil covered as possible for as long as possible. We want to have a soil rich in life, provide a food source for decomposers and keep everything from drying out. Additionally… 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 