Week 3 on the Farm

On Monday July 16, 2018, We discussed alliums some more these include Onions shallots Leeks and Garlic, We also talked about some solid books to read for inspiration or additional knowledge like; New organic farmer, John Jevon’s, the Vegetable gardener's bible, and the handbook for natural disease pest control. We also talked about Farm supplies and different places to get them such as; Strictly medicinal seeds, Seven springs soils, Griffin greenhouse supply, and Brushy mountain bee farm. We also went over the “three sisters” or “three sustainers” this is a combination of seminole pumpkin, a Painted Mountain corn and Hidatsa Shield Figure Bean. This is a Native American System that is said to increase and maintain soil fertility.
After this we went up to the greenhouse worked on transplanting some crops to get ready for fall planting. We got some Asparagus, Turnips, Cabbage, Ashe County Peppers, A white Cucumber that because of excess I got to take a few home. I got some now that I’m guessing because all cucurbits has gotten the powdery mildew from the summer squash in the other bed. I learned about the Triathlon BA or the Liqui-Cop copper fungicide a bit to late. Luckily the plants got full size before getting it and are still managing to produce some fruit. It seems a lot to farming is learning and trial and error based. It's nice to learn about powdery mildew first hand on my own home garden instead of finding out on a large crop with a mortgage on the line. It seems if growing to try and sale or needing the plants to succeed cucurbits and tomato need to be sprayed frequently to prevent the mold and mildew. I also learned how its better to water right down at the stalk with drip irrigation instead of spraying water onto the leaves and the whole plant. This will also help to limit molds and mildew to appear.
On wednesday we caught pigs and gave them their vaccines to try and prevent disease. They ended up getting loose which seems to be a common thing. To try and help with that you would just need to tag their ears and give them the vaccine before getting them out of the truck. After this we moved over to the orchard to get a good idea of what was going on over there. We retagged all of the trees and got them properly labeled. It was interesting to hear about the Paw Paw and how it's kind of a tropical fruit that you can grow here in North Carolina. I am also interested in growing some hardy kiwi, I am interested in fruit trees and trees in general so it was a fun day of learning for me. I have never thought about black walnuts in particular but after thinking about it seems like a good idea to plant some as a sort of retirement fund/investment for the farm. That is one of the things that I like most about farming is investing in yourself and believing in yourself. If you don’t do this I don’t think you can be successful.
On Friday unfortunately we couldn’t go to the farm but thankfully they already found us a new driver! We went up to the Civic garden and walked around to see how things were done their and what all was being grown. This is a cool little garden that seems to be more visually appealing than your traditional garden. The offset is productivity that can turn over a profit. I am sure this could be done in a more productive way but I dont think its what they are going for.