Rocky Start

The field was covered in frost when we awoke on Sunday morning, and it was beautiful. Yes it meant that we needed to wait a little bit before seeding winter rye in the field and it also meant that we needed work gloves in order to prevent sticking to the stainless steel piping that will eventually be the hoop house, but we were happy to be greeted by it anyway. It really was gorgeous.

Most of the day was spent trying to get the hoop house in order. (below is a picture of what the hoop house looked like when it arrived on the farm)We had to measure out the dimensions of the hoop house and set out the piping to be driven 24 inches into the ground before we started the long process of actually hammering the pipes in... and when I say long process, I mean that it took us the rest of the day to get 10 of the 14 pipes into the ground. This was because our soil is extremely rocky and we couldn't hit the piping with the sledge hammer directly for fear of warping the steel. We used 2x4's as a barrier between the piping and the hammer, but those kept splitting, then we used a hockey puck but that kept flying off of the pipes and eventually broke... there were other attempts, but in the end we just stuck with the splitting 2x4's.

Somehow in the process of hoophousing, Ben and I both ended up hurting our right index fingers doing completely different things. I mildly cut mine on the side of one of the steel pipes while trying to twist it into place, and Ben got his pretty good with a sledge hammer... after some jumping up and down and a quick sprint into the house, we were able to get him washed up and bandaged. Don't worry, he's okay. His finger is a little bloody and swollen, but we're pretty sure that's the extent of the damage... the moral of the story here kids, is don't put your hands anywhere near where you're about to hammer. It's likely to end in tears... and/or jumping up and down.

Ben decided to take a break from hammering and seed the winter rye after lunch . You can see him in the picture below bending down to refill his seeder with seeds...

At 4:00pm, 4 of the posts were part of the way into the ground, but were hitting a huge layer of rock that prevented them from going any further into the ground, so we gave up on those for the day and decided to screw together the arches instead. That way next weekend we can get the arches up and secured before framing the hoop house in with lumber and covering it in plastic.

So, what's the difference between a hoop house and a green house? Well, according to me, a greenhouse has a thermostat and a heating mechanism, and a hoop house is just an insulated structure without an added heat source. This particular hoop house will be used as a protective light environment for our seedlings to be started in. We might also grow some tomatoes in part of it. When it's all put together it will be 16ftx24ft and 8 ft tall... a sizable greenhouse indeed. We're really excited to get it up before there's snow on the ground!

Breaking Ground

This is the story of two new farmers starting a Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) venture in Randolph, Vermont this spring. Let's get acquainted...

This is Ben. He's a Sustainable Landscape Horticulture major at the University of Vermont who has been working with the apple orchards up at the UVM Horticulture Research Center for the past two years. He graduates this spring.

On our farm he's the tractor man, the tinker, and the woodsman. He's the technical brains and the brute strength of the operation. He makes a mean tofu stir fry and loves live music more than monkeys love bananas.

And I'm Claire... an Ecological Agriculture major with a minor in Community International Development who will also be graduating from UVM this spring. For the past two summers I've worked on veggie farms, in 2007 I worked on Old Shaw Farm and this summer I worked on Common Ground Student Run Farm up at the UVM Horticulture Research Center. This will be my first time running a CSA of my own, and I couldn't be more excited!

On our farm I'm the business coordinator, overall organization guru, and veggie mastermind. I'll be the one organizing the CSA shareholders and developing crop rotation and planting schedules. I LOVE carrot cake and my favorite word is zesty. I also enjoy finger painting and contra dancing.

So, what is Sundora Farm? Well, Sundora Farm is a mixed vegetable farm that will be offering 20 CSA shares to anyone who is interested in being a shareholder for the 2009 growing season. And what does it mean to be a shareholder? It means that before the season begins you make a payment to the farm in exchange for 17 weeks of fresh, pesticide-free, local produce that you pick up at the farm once a week on CSA Pick Up Day(we haven't figured out what day yet). It also means that you (and your children if you have them) have a farm to visit as often as you like to learn about agriculture and what it means to be sustainable. As new farmers, we are excited to put our collegiate knowledge to good use, and we want to share as much as we can with you! The more we know about how our food is grown and where it comes from, the more equipped we are to make responsible, healthy decisions for both ourselves and the environment.

And, how did we get the name Sundora Farm? Well, there are two animals on our farm that we love, and wanted to include in this new business...
This is Sunny. He's the 27 year old Morgan that my parents have had for the past few years. He's a grounds keeper of sorts, you know, he mows the grass behind the barn and keeps an eye on the perimeter. He'll be keeping us company as we work right next to his paddock this spring.

And this is Dora. She's our 5 year old Briard that acts as a watch dog and frisbee catching machine. In the summer she likes to swim in the pond and run in figure 8's around Sunny despite his lack of excitement at her shenanigans.
So we took Dora and Sunny and fused them to become Sundora. We plan to design a Dora-Sunny hybrid creature soon which I'm sure will appear on numerous T-shirts and other things as the season begins.

Right now on the farm, certain things have to happen before the winter arrives, so Ben and I come down to Randolph from Burlington on the weekends as often as we can. Yesterday we planted garlic.

Garlic is a crop that should be planted right about now, in mid October, and mulched with some sort of mulch hay or straw to be left in the ground during the winter months and into the spring(if you look back up at the picture of Ben, he's spreading mulch on the freshly planted garlic). We decided to plant just a little bit of German Extra Hardy garlic to see how it does in our soil.

We also need to plow the 1/2 acre where our veggies will be, just to break up the sod and start working on soil aeration. We tried cultivating it with the rototiller that my parents own, but it just wasn't doing the trick since this soil hasn't been tilled in 20 to 30 years. We need some help since we don't have the equipment we need to get the job done, so a man by the name of Fred is going to come over this week with his plow to turn the soil. That way next week when we come back to the farm we can plant winter rye as a cover crop. Winter rye adds organic matter to the soil and covers it to prevent erosion from happening. This is a picture of the land that will eventually be vegetables come spring... we'll call this the before picture.

Yesterday we also took a soil sample to give to the soil lab up at UVM to see what kind of nutrients, pH, organic matter, and nutrient holding capacity our soil has. Once we have that information we'll know how much compost we'll need to incorporate into the soil.

Next weekend, in addition to seeding the winter rye, we'll start the process of erecting a hoop house for starting seedlings in, so keep an eye out for that!

Til next week, enjoy the fall colors and remember to support local farmers!!