Seedlings for Sale
Yesterday I returned to the Sonoma farmers’ market. The last time I was at the Friday market it was a grey cold day in December, I only had pumpkins and popcorn for sale. A lot has changed in four months, the…
Organic Seedlings
The greenhouse is filling up with vegetables at different stages, some seeds have just germinated, some are wee little sprouts, others have put on their first set of true leaves, and a couple are big enough to be potted up…
There is Always Paperwork
With moving land this season the workload is more than just hauling my supplies to a new location and setting up a new field. There is the ever important paperwork. There is the lease agreement of course, the contract between…
Field Work
This past week I spent some time out in my new field. Even though I’ve been working on farms for about 15 years there is always a learning curve when it comes to working a new piece of land. You…
Greenhouse Time
Last week I was finally able to spend long hours in the greenhouse starting seeds. I still have a bit more seeding to do before I’m officially caught up but I can feel my stress melting away with each seed…
Tax Season
With the weather forecast calling for an atmospheric river event over the next couple of days. I decide it was as good, of a time as any to work on my taxes. I do my best throughout the year to…
Family Help
Recently I have had a lot of family visiting. When these visits were planned way back when, I figured we would spend our days sightseeing and occasionally visiting the farm to do some weeding or greenhouse work. But with the farm…
Changing Land
Things have been busy at the farm but not in the normal way of seed starting and greenhouse work that typically dominates February. I have been spending my days looking for land and packing up the farm. Like many first…
An Early Spring
The weather has been so sunny and warm it’s hard to remember it’s February. Here in Sonoma we have gotten very few rain storms this month but it’s not the lack of precipitation that worries me right now, it is…
Growing Farmers
During the first week of February, I was across the Pacific in Hawaii on the island of Oahu. With the opportunity to travel to a tropical island I was not just thinking about beaches and mai tais. I immediately wondered what…
Regeneration
Last week I was down in Pacific Grove at the annual EcoFarm conference. I find this conference to be almost a pilgrimage, I leave before dawn and travel to a space filled with people involved in sustainable agriculture some I…
Starting the Crop Plan
This week I started working on my crop plan for the 2016 season. This begins by looking at what I grew last year, what sold well last year, and what new things I think I might want to add to…