It’s been a quiet week, in terms of the farm. I went by the incubator plot yesterday, just to see if the peas were up. No luck yet. The weather has been cool and fairly dry, so it could easily take them two weeks or more to germinate. The row cover is warming up the soil a little bit, and also drying it out a bit on the surface, which is probably fine. No sign of voles. In a few places, the wind had blown the cover off, but I found some bigger rocks to hold it down.
Here's what the field looked like on week 2.
I also went by Griffin Greenhouse Supplies in Tewkesbury, hoping to buy some 72-cell flats for starting some kale, but they only sell cases of 100. I needed 5. Johnnies will do the trick. I did buy some field markers, for labeling rows and plants in the field, and that was a bargain, at 250 12″ markers for $45 or so. (Much cheaper than Johnnies.) In our garden, we usually just use plastic knives and spoons, but even Sharpie ink tends to wash off after a few months in the weather. We need a method that will last through the whole season.
The tough news this week is that we did not get in to the Acton-Boxborough Farmer’s Market. We’d hoped to be there Sunday mornings, every other week. But their slots filled up. I’m trying to look at this as a mixed blessing. Even though it’s a big hit to our projected revenue (I’d estimated we could early as much as $1,700 there, though those are numbers are half based on optimistic vapor), it simplifies our somewhat complicated lives to not have to try to get to a Sunday morning market, fairly far from home. This gives us a lot more flexibility in our schedule, which is going to be a good thing. (And will save a couple hundred bucks on gas). We’ll have to try to make up some of the gap through sales to neighbors, and local markets. (Maybe even a restaurant or two.) Beginning farming is a lot about making adjustments.
A lot of my farm time right now is still being spent on spreadsheets, trying to put together a comprehensive task and planting schedule for the year. Here’s a link to one of them.
Next week: I’ll get to learn how to use the rototiller. Can’t wait!