Sprouts by Yoni

 


Yoni spent a couple of seasons on his cousins mushroom and sprout farm so he knows a fair bit about how to grow and propagate sprouts. He has his own sunflower sprout operation happening here and they are really tasty and very nutritious.

To grow them you:

1) Soak a couple cups of sunflower seeds overnight in a pot of water.

2) Mix up peat moss and vermiculite, add water until it is very moist.

3) Line a tray with the soil mixture, about 1-2" deep.

4) Spread the soaked sunflower seeds on the soil fairly dense, like a carpet.

5) Keep it in direct sunlight and protected from rats and you should have sprouts in less than 2 weeks.

(Let me know if these are wrong Yoni)

Flowers and aspagus crowns

Okay so I realized that I really haven't been posting about what has actually been happening week by week. Because really, alot has happened. Hopefully I can keep better records with this blog by changing the structure a bit.

Yoni and I fresh and early in our matching fleeces looking awkward. Its been pretty cold and rainy this week so we layer up in the mornings.

This week we prepped a series of beds for squash, zucchini, melons and cucumbers. The gourd family? I don't know what family they are called, I can't remember. It's my favorite one to eat though. Each plant is rather large, so the holes were fairly big, spaced about 4' apart (less for the cucumbers) with horse manure, fertilizer and lime in each hole. 

As I shoveled manure into the holes, I managed to collect worms by shifting through the horse shit to start a worm compost! I am very keen on this project which I just started, we will see if it works, fingers crossed.

The weeds are starting to come up in the beds we have planted during the last month, so much weeding by hoe has been done.

Today we planted alot of flowers, zinnia, heliotrope and cynoglossum. Heliotrope is a purple flower with a really nice scent. Here is Patrizia planting some. 

Also, this afternoon I had some free time so I planted asparagus crowns! Shankar, the director of the centre, is an avid gardener and donated a couple of crowns from his vast garden. They look pretty insane, this was the largest one, its the size of medium sized dog.  I dug some holes and threw them in, however I later learned that they need to be planted much deeper, in a 'trench'. So I think I will have to go back to re plant deeper. 

We apparently won't get much this season, as its fairly late to be planting, but the plant and fern that will come up is beautiful and the shoots will definitely be up next spring.

farm cuties

 Look at how cute everyone that works on the farm is. Come on... so cute. Adorable even.

Bridal Remay

After planting, breathable fabric called remay is usually put down over the new crop to keep it warm at night and protect the seedlings from beetles and flies which chew on the leaves.  It's so gorgeous when it is rolled out, it reminds me of a bridal train. 

Chica asked me to post a picture of me so here it is. Me pulling one side of the remay. I have some ridiculous facial expressions, I don't realize what I look like.

Planting 101

'

First we lay down string to plant in a straight line.   

   
Then we space out the holes using a meter stick with pre-marked increments. 

    

Add organic fertilizer, sea soil and lime (dolomite) to each hole, we do this instead of treating the soil in the entire field, its cheaper. 

The lime makes your hands white. Then we feed them with smelly fish fertilizer to encourage leaf growth, and give them a good watering. 

Plowed & Ready

The beds were all plowed in last week! These photos show most of the fields we have.  So far we have planted mustard greens, (used in salad), potatoes (over 5 different varieties), chicory, endives and some other leafy greens I can't remember all their names. This bed right here in front of the orchard is where we will have all our annual cut flowers. 

Satsung Room

 

I finally learned how to make photos nice and LARGE.

Yoga, instrument playing, singing, meal eating, workshops, Kirtan, Satsung, hanging out...all happen in this lovely main room called the Satsung room.

The Satusung is a weekly service held every Sunday where people from the community gather for kirtan (singing/chanting in Sanskrit) and spiritual readings. It's a really wonderful experience. 

Maypole!

There is an elementary school at the centre and they held a maypole celebration with all the kiddies. It can get pretty tangled if you don't pay attention to the 'weaving'.