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05/26/2008: "Spring Planting"

It's been a wet spring, but Nate has finally been able to get his tilling, and much of the planting, done. And, as you can see, the bees are very actively collecting pollen and nectar! I took this picture on the edge of the tilled field, where the busy bees were busy at work among the clover. In this posting I'll bring you up to date on a couple of recent trips to the farm.

First of all, check out these healthy looking tomato plants that Nate started under a cold frame! The stems are very thick, a sign of a healthy tomato plant. Nate and tended them carefully through the early part of spring, covering them with a blanket each night.



These plants were then set out in the field, forming about 200 row feet of various heirloom tomato varieties. Most of them are plum (or sauce) tomatoes, and Nate plans to market them at the Corvallis farmer's market later this summer.



Another crop Nate is growing for the farmer's market is potatoes. Last year potatoes did extremely well when grown dry-land; Nate says they are a nearly perfect subsistence crop: reliable, easy to plant, largely immune to pests and wildlife predation, and productive when grown dryland. Below you can see a small potato plant emerging from the ground.



Nate also planted a fairly large corn crop (well, large for our little operation!). However, our small field has a lot of cover for bird wildlife, and as the corn plants emerge they are a tempting target for the birds, who fly down from the nearby trees and shrubs to pluck the plant from the ground so that they can eat the corn kernel.



To reduce predation, Nate spent a couple of hours spreading straw from last year's wheat crop loosely over the corn rows, hoping to camouflage the corn until it grows enough that the kernel is no longer a viable food source for birds.



Nate reports limited success with this, as unfortunately the jays are used to eating from this food source. Below you can see a photo of a jay raiding the corn field while we were walking through!