Amy Jurek

Deane Adams wrote:Something to think about this winter that you may want to try next year.  Selling bunched cut flowers at your market.  

Would love to do this if I could find another way to sell flowers. We have 2 markets that are exclusive for everything but produce that already have cut flower vendors. Would have to try to break into a well established market. There is also the issue of tax required on non-food items and currently we do not have anything requiring sales tax. I have been thinking about growing and painting gourds. If I could figure out how to work this then I guess flowers could be a logical next step if I could find a way to market them.

So here it is, last week we had our inspection and our high tunnel is up and "running". Still have improvements to add that were not sanctioned through the high tunnel initiative program like irrigation, fans, etc. we have water down to the site but not electricity. It's really late in the season so I'm just trying some test plots at this point to have an idea of timing.  So far I have kale, provider beans, chard and beets. The volunteer diakon bolted so I might wait until cooler weather prevails to put more radish in. Any ideas of what may work at this point?

To me human skulls are a challenge that is hard to put into words. They're mysterious, haunting, sloped & curved with crevices and sutures that seem to stitch them together. Strong yet fragile at the same time, a difficult feeling to convey. I love to use ink with sparing line work to feel the hard edges, using minimal shading and a line that fades away to feel the smooth curve of the skull. Hope that made some sense,

Denise Skidmore wrote:This was my father's method, he grew butternut annually.  In addition he would heap up dirt over the stem above the wound, so the plant would be encouraged to produce more roots above the compromised nutrient route.

Great idea to mound up soil on your winter squash! I never really thought about it but it always seems as if our summer squash is plagued by borers, rarely the winter squash. We grow all different types of winter squash, Kabochas & Sugar Hubbard's being my favorite. I think that the summer squash has become our trap plant for borers, since the plants tend to be established weeks before the winter squash. It's certainly easier to find them in the plants because of their bush habit, our winter squash field always becomes a jungle and would definitely be more difficult to find borers (pic is last years winter squash field).

Borers always attack our summer squash, but we rarely lose plants to them. Do a cursory inspection of the plants every other day until you see tell tale wilting occur. Then check daily. Follow the stem down until you see the frass, usually near the junction, sometimes on the underside. Once located take a pocket knife and make a small slit through the opening cutting along the length of the stem (not across) and move the tip of the knife until you impale/squish the grub (the plant will heal). Be vigilant after you catch your first borer. For us, there's usually one  outbreak and rarely anything after, the key is to catch them early.

Well that's funny, I've always wanted to grow sugar beets here! It hasn't gotten on the crop list yet, but soon. With sandy soil carrots would be great, they don't require a lot of fertilizer, and leeks would work, especially the blue leaf winter leeks, I over winter some of the Bejo varieties like Bandit, for early spring sales. Bleu De Solaize, Siegfried Frost are 2 more.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is a great resource for  heirloom varieties. They carry the Giant Carentan Leek. There's a German variety Streisen (sp?)  and Swiss variety Zermatt, that are worth a try.

Best of luck, your never too old to start! This is great group for help and direction, I'm working on permaculture beds for areas of our farm with permanent plantings, fingers crossed.

Hoping to get started on a children's book with a friend. She has  small herd of geriatric sheep, Iona being the star of the group (looking directly at camera) . She is a skilled author and has several ideas, I just hope to have moments where I may push the worries of the day aside enough to concentrate on it.

Todd Brewer wrote:
Apples will do well depending on variety as I have water rights and one of my property lines is the irrigation canal. USDA did a survey with me last fall and said the same. They will also subsidize the cost of high tunnel green houses up 60%? Or maybe 40% but that’s a huge help also.

My thoughts are apples, sour cherries, and Asian pears. I’m also thinking about mushrooms in one of the containers that I can sell in the farmers market or restaurants in Jackson Hole where there are deep pockets. That might be my fastest return while I wait the few years for the fruit.

A high tunnel is a great idea! We were approved through the USDA high tunnel initiative program last month and they have promised 50% of the cost, we are in the final process of choosing the company to purchase from. We're going with the gothic style, the choice in this area for best wind resistance. Be sure to follow the specific guidelines for construction, do not add irrigation until after final inspection. We were told that they may be able to help with improvements as well, but only after the structure is finalized. We currently have a small high tunnel that we keep covered in shade cloth through the summer, great for growing peas, lettuce, Chard, etc.. and for drying onions and garlic

Beans might be a good crop to try, Provider is very cold tolerant, we start early with it every year. Glacier is a good cold tolerant tomato to start off with for early maters. You should be able to grow corn and sugar beets as well.

Thespruce.Com has a cross reference for companion planting that is fairly good!

I plan to try planting my cabbage with the potatoes this year. I heard that they each act as a pest deterrent for the other.
Rule of thumb for us has always been to not plant root crop with or following root crop. Garlic is difficult to use as a companion plant because of the timing and garlic hates competition from any plant. I've only had luck using elephant garlic in the flower bed to deter deer from munching the daylilies (aka deer candy) but I have to keep it far away from the iris which could transmit a virus as it did to some overwintering onions I planted once.  I try to keep all the allium family in the same field so in the fall we leave a space, after planting the garlic. In the spring I use the space to plant the onions, shallots and leeks. By the time the porcelain bulbs are ready to be removed, the last of the onions are done. We follow with broccoli, kale, collards, kohlrabi starts as each section of garlic is removed. Timing the brassicas for late season helps deter cabbage moth damage as well.

Would love to know how your farm is coming along! Our situations seem to be similar. Hubby & I retired early and purchased an 80 acre farm, became certified organic in 2022.