The days are long and the the weeks are suddenly flying by. The second CSA Harvest for the 2018 season is complete and I'm excited to see our Telluride CSA Members today and look forward to seeing our Mancos CSA Members tomorrow!
The main focus this week has been seeding, weeding and irrigation! The block of roots Mike seeded last week has germinated (wahoo!) and we seeded the beans, zucchini and winter squash a few days ago. These big seeds are all swelling and beginning to tail so they'll be up and growing quick in no time!
Weeds... they're so interesting. They come up stronger in different parts of the field but most of the crops need a couple good rounds of weeding before they're big enough to compete and shade out the weeds. So, we're cruising through the field, tackling the weeds one section at a time.
Mike is the irrigation master at our farm... I really only check or touch the irrigation when he's off the farm at meetings or running errands. It is a great skill set he has and it takes a whole mental load off of me knowing he's always checking the soil moisture and determining when to irrigate next. And it's definitely better for everyone because I am known to 'under water' crops... some things can handle that but others not so much. So.... the veggies are thriving because Mike keeps them all watered!
The most exciting thing that happened this week... our Roller Crimper arrived! We make a couple farm purchases every spring. Purchases that we feel are going to help us farm better and smarter! This Spring we purchased a Roller Crimper from I & J Manufacturing in Pennsylvania. What is it we plan to do with this new shiny piece of equipment... improve soil health!
We have a lot to learn when it comes to roller crimping but the idea is to grow stands of soil building cover crops to a particular stage and then to drive through the field pulling the roller crimper with the tractor to terminate and flatten the cover crop (crimp) and lay it down as a big layer of mulch. We can then come through with another cover crop using a no-till drill, which we are fortunate to be able to rent from the High Desert Conservation District, and seed the next cover crop. This will help us reduce tillage in the field, keep the soil covered, hopefully reduce weed pressure and water usage... the list goes on and on. Wahoo! IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SOIL! Mike and I are always discussing how best to care of our soil in our High Desert Climate and we feel this is the next step for our farm.
We applied for a grant from Western SARE to do a 3 year study on Roller Crimping and Strip-Tilling with our vegetable production and found out they approved and awarded the grant earlier this spring. We will share the details and more information on this next week!