Prepared by KG May 3, 2012

crops hardening off in the hoop house

General Observations: This May, like 2010, was the second highest in terms of worker hours. That means a busy month. Added to the planting of BGBs and field succession plantings in May are the planting of our field tomatoes and flower successions. On top of all this the warm and wet weather is causing and explosion of growth both of crops and weeds, meaning more time must be spend on crop care and infrastructure keeping the crops ahead of the weeds and maintaining mowed pathways and access to crops. On 5/2 the groundhog who had been eating the seedlings on tables by the farmstand was finally captured! It was dispatched and making an effort to not waste the groundhog, stew was made. The stew was delicious, but the groundhog meat was less than enjoyable… Casey added his thoughts on the season so far to the log on 5/9. There was a power outage in the area on 5/26 that prevented some irrigation.

Administration 51 hrs: On 5/16 KG completed the May 2010 monthly summary. A rainy day on 5/17 was a good time for a staff meeting. A task list was generated; the greenhouse would need compost sifted and planned to start seeding the 4^th succession, under the planting element the need to trelise grafted tomatoes in the farmhouse gothic was highlighted and 6/15 was planned for as the 3^rd succession planting date. Preparation of the next successions field was also discussed. Various tasks related to cropcare were also outlined, including storing remay for the season and trellising of peas and tomatoes. On 5/24 there is a note in the log about sorting through email and creating a system of folders to keep the email better organized. There was also a note about calculating income/expenses to date. Also the regular admin duties of payroll and bill payment were performed throughout the month.

Infrastructure 68 hrs: Some of the various infrastructure work this month included a mowing of pathways and access lanes on 5/9, setting up a submain and drip-tape for the 579 Flower Field on 5/13, an intro to the weedwacker on 5/17 for first year trainees JR, RR, and KG followed by RR weedwacking around the electric fence line and posts, and the final cleaning of the farmhouse pool by RCM on 5/24. Also on 5/9 a note in the log about irrigation observes that 20 BGB drip tubes (4 beds) on full yields the ideal pressure of 12-14 PSI on average.

Equipment 57 hrs:

JD- 10     Ford- 9     IH140- 2     Kabuta- 17     Walkin Mower- 2     BCS- 4     Weedwacker- 13

On 5/2 the JD received an oil change and oil filter replacement. On 5/9 a metal plate was fabricated to allow the Walkin mower’s handle bar height to be adjustable, a note in the log reports making the operation of the mower “a little easier…”

Planting grafted tomatoes in cleared and composed circles cut in the salad mix in the Farmhouse Gothic

Greenhouse 64 hrs:On 5/1 20 flats of basil were seeded for Nomad Pizza, a note in the log declares the greenhouses to be full and tight. On 5/4 tomato grafting was completed. See this link for more information about how our grafted tomatoes did in 2011. Between 5/14 and 5/17 the third vegi succession was seeded. On 5/17, while seeding the forth succession of seedlings for sale, the seeding shed“Quilting Circle” was established and songs were written and sung.

Composting 68 hrs: In addition to compost sifted for the greenhouse, several applications were made to field beds. On 5/10 8 beds in VEG B mid, 5/12 Tomato field beds (Maddona North) were prepared- “rip, compost, rip, till, plant”, and on 5/13 7 beds in the 579 field were composted.

Planting 127 hrs: May is a busy month for planting because in addition to the regular BGBs and a field succession planting, our tomatoes are planted into the field. 5/3 was a full planting day; direct seeding (DS) of 2 beds of salad and 2 beds of carrots into the BGBs in the AM followed by transplanting (TP) of squash, beets, and chard in the PM. On 5/6 kale and scallion TPs made it out into the field. 5/9 saw 8 apple trees added to the fruit cluster. 5/12 and 5/13 saw the grafted tomato TPs planted in the farmhouse gothic as well as 1 row of sungold tomatos planted in the field. Also on 5/13 4 beds worth of Zinnea TPs were planted in the 579 field. On 5/15 CH and MR finished replacement planting in the fruit cluster, replacing trees that had been lost over the winter. 5/26 was tomato planting day, our field tomatoes were TPed out into the field! On 5/27 some direct seeding of beans, turnips, and beets brought the 2^nd vegi succession planting to completion.

Crop Care 351 hrs: Many worker hours went into crop care last May as the warm and wet weather brought with it vigorous weed growth. On 5/5 the BGBs were mowed and maintained. 5/10 saw the peas trellised. On 5/11 and 5/12 a straw mulch was laid around the strawberry plants in anticipation of fruiting, the straw acts as a weed suppressant as well as a barrier keeping the fruit out of the dirt, cleaner and easier to spot when harvesting. On 5/18 grass was cut away from the garlic to keep it from becoming overwhelmed and on 5/19 hand weeding of the BGBs took place, a note in the log calculated 5 worker hours per bed. 5/23 and 5/24 saw the asparagus beds weeded and on 5/25 BGBs and 3 field beds were scuffle hoed. Finally on 5/31 trellising of the grafted greenhouse tomatoes began.

Harvesting 214 hrs: In May last year NSF had the following crops available: Field salad, arugula, tatsoi, spinach, swiss chard, kale, fennel, radishes, peas, spring garlic from the 579 field, and for the first time available at market, our very own strawberries!

On 5/24 in the log there are extensive notes on strawberry harvesting, establishing a protocol for harvesting every 4 days ripe and 3/4ths ripe strawberries, sorting into pint and quart containers on tomato trays and topping these containers off once at market to ensure full containers overflowing with unblemished fruit for our customers to enjoy. The notes also include some detailed information comparing variety yields and fruit size.

Handling 69 hrs: On 5/5 the walk-in cooler was turned back on in preparation for the start of the WWCFM, the previous harvest having been frozen by a malfunction. Throughout the month washing took place, Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon of our crops harvested for our Hopewell and WWCFM markets.

Market 127 hrs: Our first Saturday market of the season began this month, NSF’s 8^th season at WWCFM. A note on the weather says it was a “beautiful day for first market” A 5/21 note relating to marketing said we had sold out of everything, and maxed out our weekly harvest for everything except for salad.

Hopewell- 5/4 $338.50, 5/11 $499.25, 5/18 $394.50, 5/25 $504.00

WWCFM- 5/7 $915, 5/14 $929, 5/21 $1025, 5/26 $1040

Total May 2011 Market Income: $5645.25

Special Projects 38 hrs: On 5/2 Veg C north was plowed by ST for his special project “Blackbird Meadows” the goal of which was to supply a variety of fresh produce on a weekly basis tailored to meet the needs of the local New Hope restaurant “Sprig and Vine”. The end of May saw hay baling, collection and storage of hay bales in the seed shed for later use.

Weather:  No mention of any frost at night in the log.

Week 1: Sunny and beautiful weather, transitioning to storms and then back to sun by week’s end.

Week 2: Sunny, getting dry. Irrigation needed by the end of the week.

Week 3: “Rainy weather settling in” followed by “SATURATED” later in the week. Sunny day on the 21^st.

Week 4: Rain returns after a break on the 21^st. 40% chance all week delays hay cutting, but finally sunny and hot weather arriving on the 27^th allows for haying before going to seed.

Beau: Logs and records reviewed, and summary prepared 4/3/2012

General Observations: 

April of 2011 saw snow showers on April fools day and progressed to rain showers which created very wet conditions through most of the month, ending in a beautiful sunny day on the 30^th. Notable issues were the water system leak, which delayed the use of the well irrigation. The rat traps were unsuccessful, instead only catching ants with the peanut butter bait, and subsequently some seedlings were lost to an opportunistic groundhog. Market sales included Hopewell market on Wednesdays beginning the second week of April, as well as sales to Kindle Café, Nomad and seedling sales to Whole Earth.

Equipment 8 hrs:

There were few equipment issues other than vehicle repairs for Isuzu, Prius and Volvo.

Administration 47 hrs:

Tasks performed included finalizing the flowers and supplies order, ordering of fruit and nut trees. Preparing 1^st quarter payroll reports for state of NJ, and finalizing the crop plan.

Infrastructure 96 hrs:

The beginning of month saw a leak in the water system so the crew had to resort back to the farmhouse water supply. Later in the month, the crew dug up the pipe between the office and the farmhouse. Turns out the leak was coming from about 8 feet down from the nozzle, not at the elbow as was originally believed.  The fence surrounding the Madonna needed repairing due to a problem with the posts not staying in the ground.  Later in the month, irrigation of Ralphs house led to over watering and a trench had to be dug on the east side to drain it. Other duties included mowing of the market garden and Veg C, as well as the fence line and compost filtration strip.

Greenhouse 122 hrs:

Greenhouse work consisted of an introduction to daily management including venting systems, seeding and watering. Cleaning /mulching of pathways and edges of interior, reorganizing and moving the seedlings to farm stand area to harden off and moved some to the hoop house. Potting of orange blossom, Rosa Bianca and orient charm for seedling sales.  Grafting of tomatoes toward the end of the month.

Composting 66 hrs:

Composting consisted of Strawberry and Pea beds early in the month, then moved to Asparagus beds, Apple trees and other fruit trees and of course, lots of compost sifting.

Planting 83 hrs:

Potting of second succession seeding. Seeding of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, arugula, tatsoi and flowers. Very wet conditions but nevertheless planting commenced following lots of rototilling and raking. Direct seeding of lettuce on the 14^th, planting of kale and chard on the shoulder of two beds, with turnips and radishes planted in the center of the beds. Planting of spinach (half bed) and swiss chard  with beets down the center. “New Girl” tomatoes planted in farmhouse gothic and Tunnel tomatoes in greenhouse.

CropCare 166 hrs:

Weeding party on Saturday the 2^nd resulted in completion of 2/3rds of the strawberry beds and beer and shrimp were the much-deserved reward that evening. Blackberries started peeking out on the 4^th, Peas were planted on the 6^th. Mulching of strawberry beds completed on the 8^th. Uncovering of strawberries on the 14^th. The 21^st saw almost freezing temps so the crew covered the beds to protect them from frost. Beds were renovating in the tea/corner garden. Woodchip/cardboard mulch was used on the blackberries. Weeding of four garlic beds in the Madonna field finished off the month.

Harvesting 64 hrs:

Harvested Arugula, Spinach, Tatsoi, Salad Mix, Swiss Chard and Kale for Hopewell market. Harvested stinging nettle for flush tea, took 4 days to dry in solar dryer.  Harvesting of house lettuce, arugula and six nice stalks of asparagus by the 23^rd.

Handling 42 hrs:

All of the above were washed and bagged for Hopewell market and sales to Kindle Café.

Marketing 57 hrs:

Participated in Hopewell market on Wednesdays, yielding $1,192.31. Delivered spinach, salad mix and kale to Kindle Café. The first seedling order of 120 plants to Whole Earth was on the 20^th.

Special Projects 13 hrs:

Chickens were moved during a fierce and windy rainstorm. Firewood was cut and a dog pen was sited and constructed. Hired a mason to build a better walkway and steps to access the main drain valve and wetlands by greenhouse. And ultimately egg washing and packing for Hopewell market.

Prepared 3/13/12 TNH

General Observations: From the log the weather appeared to be what one would expect, remaining cold with some rain and snow at times. Despite that it seems to have been a busy and productive start to the season.

Administration 204 hours: Lots of meeting and discussion of the season to come, establishing plans, tasks and goals. In addition there a good deal of introduction and demonstration of different farming elements for interns. Efforts to find a consistent measure for recording crop data. 

Infrastructure 112 hours: General winter repair, clean up, and organization was begun. Chicken chores were done regularly in addition to some work done on their coops. Casey’s Sandbox was shored up. Electric fence was repaired. Cut rebar for hoops to cover strawberries. Fence was extended to included market garden. Gate was built for Madonna Field, fence was tightened, and a failed post was replaced. The Hens were collected after a fence post had fallen.

Greenhouse 125 hours: Introduction and review of green house systems. Seed inventory, seeding and planting to field dates were all discussed. A few rat holes needed to be filled on either side of green house. Heat mats were turned on (3/10) for herbs and flowers. Small beds were moved out and replaced with larger ones. Attention was given to weeding, preparation, and watering of green house beds.  First group planting on the 3^rd. Parsley, chard, kale, scallions, and squash were seeded. Tomatoes for greenhouse and tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant for seedling sale were all seeded. Squash was eaten and measures were taken to prevent recurrence. Tomatoes were potted for green house and for sale.

Composting 6 hours: Sifted as needed.   

Planting 2 hours: Peas were inoculated and planted in Ralph’s House. An attempt was made to “frost seed” clover.

Crop Care 259 hours: Lots of weeding and preparation of beds in Farmhouse Gothic, Ralph’s house, tea garden and strawberries. Remay was cleared from fields and rated on reusability. Field tunnels were tightened, strawberries were covered with Remay and trenches were dug to help drain fields.  Asparagus was cut back. Demonstration and Pruning of fruit trees. Attempts to “rat proof” Ralphs house with small chicken wire tunnels and the heated green house by fixing flashing around cinderblock bed supports.

Harvesting 33 hours: Week 1:

Week 2: Lettuce, spinach, tat soi, turnips

Week 3: Salad mix, kale, tat soi, turnips           

Week4: Arugula, spinach, kale, turnips

In addition to limited harvesting we had Tomato sauce and eggs available at market. 

Handling 18 hours: Products were cleaned and preparation forHopewell market.

Market 45 hours:Hopewell 3/9 $257.25, 3/16 $248, 3/23 $210.50, 3/29 $255.50

Special Projects 30 hours: Agricultural venture called Blackbird Meadows headed by third year intern. Primary special project efforts remained focused on the chickens.

Weather: Week 1: Cold, sunny, mostly clear skies. End of the week = heavy rain / flooding 

Week 2: Freezing nights. Sunny and clear to cold and cloudy with rain

Week 3:  Overcast and cold, some rain.

Week 4: Wind, rain, cold and snow.

Prepared by MikeR

Review of summaries prepared at the end of 2011, by Guilders.  Assessment of season, and focus for the comming season.

Materials Reviewed: MikeR, Nov. 2011.

Statement:

Regular records are kept of Feed Comsumption, Egg Yield and Special Expenses.  In the winter, eggs are sold wholesale (Whole Earth Center, Bent Spoon, Zone 7) and income is tracked through regular invoicing.  During the Farmers Market Season, sales are recorded at each market, and a summary of sales prepared at the end of the season.

It is our intention to use these numbers to track our real cost and income from the season of 2011, and publish the results, right here.  Ultimately, this effort is intended to encourage similar cost assessment amoung the agricultural and food consumming communities.  Hypothesis:  If we accurately track our real costs of production, we can accurately price the product…adjusted by our real yield.

Challenges:  Accounting for costs – Infrastructure, Labor, Intangebles (sometimes as benifits), Markets.

The final goal is a strong “Wholesale Value” that NorthSlopeFarm will stand by as a reasonable value for our product.

Off the cuff calculations now show very little money left to pay for labor after we’ve shelled out Thousands of Dollars for Certified Organic, Fresh Feed.  Its an important topic, and the report will be published here.

MikeR, March 5, 2012

Prepared by RCM, November 2011.

Reviewed and Edited by MikeR.

Full Text to be loaded (languishing on editors desk), below is a quote from Robin’s conclusion:

“..for the winter Market, I feel as though the physical costs can be regenerated.  What it comes down to, is someone interested in doing the leg work, without much income in return?”

Prepared 12/6/11 by RC

This year was my second year serving as greenhouse manager at North Slope Farm.  It gave me an opportunity to try to maximize efficiency within our greenhouses.  I was able to practice my management skills to perfect, to the best of my abilities, the routines of the greenhouse production.  Dealing with two hoop houses, the Farmhouse Gothic and Ralph’s House as well as one heated greenhouse, used primarily for seedlings, gives an opportunity to manage over many different projects in a season.  This year was no different; we had a wide variety of activities occurring throughout the year.

The Farmhouse Gothic had been designated to tomato growing.  Our crop care manager was set on furthering his and North Slope’s experience with grafted tomatoes so he took the reins of the hoop house and grew towering tomato plants of heirloom and red slicing varieties.  After the tomatoes completion, the Farmhouse Gothic held radishes and attempts at late summer squash which were cleared out to house layer chickens over the winter.  This gives the girls a nice protected spot to roam over the winter months.  As snow accumulates outside the chickens will be able to walk on the ground and scratch up bugs and dirt. 

Ralph’s House, the other hoop house, had an early start to the spring with plants of kale, swiss chard, scallions and fennel that had been transplanted the previous fall.  During the summer Ralph’s House primarily held pole beans, including a very cool variety called yard-long beans.  These beans were not quite a ‘yard’ long but more like a foot and a half and quite tasty.  Now as fall sets in Ralph’s House has been converted to a winter green haven, full of kale, swiss chard, radishes and peas for tasty treats for farmers and the local Hopewell market that goes year round every Wednesday afternoon (2-6) at the Hopewell train station. 

My major focus as greenhouse manager was on the heated seedling greenhouse.  Planning out a constant healthy flow of seedlings is always a challenge.  One can always plan out a detailed step by step run down of what happens when and in what amounts but weather, animals and poor germination can always throw any well thought out plan off.  Of course, as in any year we faced all these problems.  To start the general plan for the farm was to start early and hopefully get plants growing out in the field in early April.  This ambitious goal faced many challenges.  The seedlings in the greenhouse faced the dangers of rodent attacks.  Despite seedlings being positioned high up on germinating tables, these savory fresh green sprouts attracted constant attention from rodents and other pests in the cold month of March.  When most other food sources were gone during this cold month, the heated greenhouse seemed to become a haven for pests who liked to chomp away at our tender young plants.  Even after setting traps, covering trays with remay and setting in place mouse guards (slick sheets of metal that the rodents can not climb) around table legs we still had a lot of seedling loss from rodents, especially of our squash plants which had to be reseeded many times.

Additionally, at the beginning of the year we found the weather outdoors to be challenging.  The spring was wet (as most springs are) but our fields did not start to drain until well into April, far past our goals for planting.  The wet spring caused similar issues on other farms in the area, impeding many farmer’s starting dates but with our clay soil and slow draining fields it became quite a nuisance.  As a result of the rainy weather, much of the first succession of seedlings planted for the field never made it beyond the germination tables.  Instead, the second succession of seedlings became the first set to touch ground.  Yet even the second set had to be transplanted in our big garden beds which are better draining beds then our traditional field beds and do not need tractors to cultivate them.  These garden beds are usually reserved for direct transplanting of salad, arugula, tat soi, carrots, radishes and turnips.  However, they were very useful for transplanting our second succession while we waited for the traditional field beds to dry enough for tractors to prepare for planting.

In a sort of mirror image of the spring, the fall also brought some devastating rains.  The floods of hurricane Irene and later storms brought similar wet conditions to our fall fields as we experienced in early spring.  Once again our field production was halted, with mud pits were field beds once laid, transplanting a final succession was again thrown off course.  Instead a later set of seedlings needed to be seeded, after our initial crop plan would have ended.  These seedlings were transplanted again into the well draining big garden beds.  These experiences come to show that again and again plans have to be revised to suit environmental issues and dilemmas; one always has to prepare for the worse.  Also, these experiences point to the validity of having different growing conditions to be utilized when necessary.  In our case the two different types of field beds allowed us to make use of seedlings that else wise would have gone to waste.  It seems a good idea of any farm to have a wetter and dryer field option to help combat bad weather throughout the year.   

Seedling sales are the other major aspect of greenhouse management.  In the germination greenhouse we grow seedlings for special orders and for selling at markets.  This year I planned out numerous successions of seedlings for sale to hopefully keep them young and vibrant.  If they live in a pot too long they can get diseased and worn down and their roots can get bound and not transplanted easily.  Though we use cow pots, which allow the roots to grow threw the manure based pot walls, which help reduce damage to the plants, they still do need to be planted in the grown to be fully healthy plant.  Therefore we seeded a number of successions of plants, which seemed to help keep our seedlings in good shape.  With special wholesale orders to places like Whole Earth in Princeton and The Kitchen Garden we were able to make extra money at the start of the year before our crop plants took off.  Also, when we look at the work the greenhouse did strictly for North Slope Farm, providing seedlings for the season, we can consider the flats grown for NSF as a distinct “seedling order”.  In this way we can evaluate the value of the functioning greenhouse in money earned and saved by growing seedlings.

This 2011 season faired reasonably for the seedling market. 

Seedling Summary

           Wholesale Accounts: yielded $2,573 gross

            Farmer Markets: yielded $2000 gross

            NSF total #s     : cowpots- 1961 pots (approx $3922 worth)

                                         : trays- 539 trays (approx $5,390 worth)

When looking at the overall products produced in the heated greenhouse and their worth to the farm (in cash and in seedlings for the field) it seems that the heated greenhouse alone stands to bring at least a $14,000 value to the farm. 

SUMMARY

The biggest challenge in preparing seedlings for sale is to be able to constantly have healthy seedlings people want.  At times one may expect certain varieties to be more popular than others and be surprised by the customer’s lack of interest.  However, it seems that one can never have too many sun gold cherry tomatoes, nasturtiums and basil (the three most popular items for wholesale and resale markets).  It is key to always keep a constant supply ready for sale each week.  Space to store all seedlings for sale and field has to be well managed and all table space, including tables outdoors must be utilized.  The greenhouse becomes quite a juggling act in the beginning of the season and many hours are spent watering and caring for these baby plants but if taken care of properly it is quite rewarding to see them grow.

CONCLUSION

The greenhouse has been a great way to plug into the heart of a farm.  Being able to adequately plan and organize seedlings has been quite a venture and a wonderful learning experience.  It is always a challenge to be able to produce a healthy seedling at its peak, ready to go the moment the weather and field conditions will corporate.  Of course, it does not always go as planned and is always a little sad to have to throw unhealthy and old seedlings in the compost pile but when you plant and see a healthy seedling grow into a nutritious bountiful plant, it is quite rewarding.  Planning the greenhouse seeding schedule helps to coordinate an entire farm and is a great experience to be taken to future work at another farm or my own one day.  Organizing the greenhouse also teaches one patience; you can not rush nature but if you work hard you can hopefully find the best balance to produce the healthiest plants possible.