Lynora Stallsmith

bruce Fine wrote:might be helpful if you say where you desire to be living and an idea of how much you are wanting to earn in addition to room and board.

My preference is New England, but I'm open to other places. My minimum wages tend to be either 15/hour or 500 a week, but I'm open to working partially on and partially off farm to make that work if need be.

Seeking paid work with housing starting in January. I have 6+ years of farming experience, including with dairy and beef cows, veg, botanicals, small animals, and greenhouse and barn construction. In addition, I have experience with children, environmental education, old house restoration, and management positions.

I've lived in communal housing type situations for the majority of my life and I'm happy to provide a resume with references upon request.
Thanks for your consideration,
Lynora

Basil is a tricky one. I'd definitely put the new plants in a separate bed. How are you watering the outdoor plants? I've found that when I take pains not to let splashback of dirt come up and hit leaves when watering, it helps. Usually once you get through the initial baby stage, you have to worry less about spotting, though I have seen it come later in the year, depending on humidity and such.

First, a few things that I've discovered don't work so well for weed suppression:

Woven tarps. They let water through, and they tend to catch and pool water. The area underneath of them can turn into mud indefinitely. They may work for weed suppression if you're going to take them up a bit before planting? But in Maine, where I tried it, it didn't work at all.

Bioplastic. Maybe thicker grades are better? We tried a thinner grade at a farm I worked at and it all blew away or got so many holes that it didn't make a difference. Same thing with the purple paper product being sold for use on raised beds. The edges disntigrate and it all blows away.

Straw mulch helps, but I've never seen it last the whole season either.

Wood chips... after you've done a few layers, they do make the weeds much easier to pull, but they won't make an entire season.

What does work:

A thick layer of compost. It's very important that the compost be finished compost. If it's still hot it'll mess with seedlings big time. Compost on top of bioplastic or paper or cardboard is even better.

Silage tarping. Often you can get pieces free from dairy farmers. Make sure to weight it down well. If you irrigate or water with this your plants will be so happy, especially sun loving plants like tomatoes. The reflected light off the black surface is great.

Planting things tight together to shade out weeds can certainly be helpful too. Kale, brassicas, and squash work really well with that method. Interplanting can work, but it's all about timing, which can be incredibly tricky..

Hi all! I'm Liza's daughter. Basically I just stripped the long fibers off of the quill of the feather and spun them in with some black wool. It's was super fun and incandescent in the right light. Not sure where that yarn disappeared to or if I ever knit it. It's been a long time. Never tried washing it. Always wondered if it would held up to that.