Tofino

Men at Work

 The weather is getting warmer so the shirts are coming off. This week involved a ton of hoeing weeds, transplanting brussel sprouts and broccoli. The green manure fields of buckwheat were turned in.  The melons are not doing so hot from wire worm and cold weather, they need some prayer. There will be no spinach or dill as they do not seem to grow on the land. Basil is looking quite bleak as well. 

On the bright side, there was some man on man wrestling action, more SARS mask wearing and Patrick delivering strawberries to people shirtless. Quite lovely. Lettuce is plentiful and we had our first cabbage and broccoli harvest 

No bird netting

Its up! The nets are in place with tennis balls to prevent rippage from the metal poles. Strawberry harvest is coming up soon!

Haggered Sheep, Tomato Plucking, Comfrey Picking & New Dude

I went for a hike to Ruckle park over the weekend, it was so beautiful and lovely by the ocean etc. but what was really interesting was along the road walk back there was a flock of sheep hanging out eating in their pen. There was this really rough looking one with a bad haircut looking so sad. 

Lovely Sofya garden manager/chief operator, stewarding the farm with her knowledge and intuition. We pruned tomatoes today which involved removing new growth, their getting big! 

My comrades picking comfrey. Comfrey is a plant that grows all over the land. We pick piles of it, squash it into big bins and let in rot. 2 weeks later we open the bin, and dilute the rotted comfrey with water. The dilution is a really nutritious fertilizer for tomatoes and other plants. It smells like ASS when its rotted. 

New guy Brandon (with the hat). Pretty humorous addition to the crew, from the T.dot. He says 'far out' alot.  

Permadirt

The dirt that just dosen't go away

Backup corn

Today was weird. The tractor that was supposed to till in our green manure didn't show up. Also in the bed of quinoa there are weeds called lamb's quarter which look exactly the same as the quinoa, so it was a very interesting weeding session. Spending most of the time differentiating between weeds and quinoa.


We planted corn in the ground and Sofya has a feeling that it might rot or get eaten by animals so we planted some backup corn in trays. It sure looks pretty.


I went silent for just the morning just to try it. I really liked it and felt really calm, but communication was difficult yet interesting.

Wednesday Walkabout

Today Patrizia left which was really sad, I really missed her on the fields today. But she is off on some great road trip adventure which is great! Most of our cucumbers died from wire worm, and some melons too. So we replanted some cucumbers and re seeded more melons and cukes as well.  We also planted many many beans, direct seed into the ground. Winter crops of kale, cabbage and collard greens also went in today. 

Sometimes on Fridays we walk through the farm together and check up on all the crops to see what's doing well, what is dying, what the weed situation is at, what needs watering, what needs posts etc. Today I did my own walkabout. 

The buckwheat is starting to come up. After a couple of months the buckwheat is tilled in and new crops are planted in the improved soil, its called a green manure field. I forget which crops are going in after this one. 

Lettuce is seeded every couple of weeks because of its short life span. These are the babies waiting for transplant. 

The peas are coming up nicely.

The heirloom tomatoes are getting big and all of them survived! 

Yoni setting up netting to protect the strawberries from the Robins. The fruits are starting to grow but not ripened yet so we are starting to protect them!

This is Hazel, another farm yogi. She is lovely and serene.  She occasionally makes funny noises, loves Bjork and is by nature a philosopher. She is the first Iniut friend I have! (she is half Inuit) Hazel brings a really nice balance to the farm team. 

First week of JUNE

Collecting slugs, cutting wire hoops for remay, weeding, and more weeding, finishing planting the flower garden, planting melons and squash, planting cabbage, mixing fertilizer in the bathtub. Things are growing and growing thanks to the rain, and now after what felt like two weeks, the sun is back! The slugs got the basil though, they are pretty fierce in these parts.

Sprouts by Patrizia

Foxglove Farm

On occasional Thursdays we visit an organic farm on the island and get a tour of how things are done, what's growing, facts and info from the farm manager. In exhcange for this we do a bit of work, so far its just been mulching. It's been great so far to see how things are done differently at other farms.


Last week we visited Foxglove farm up on Mount Maxwell. Michael Ableman, the owner has a shit ton of land, and his operation makes Salt Spring Centre look like very small. This is a meadow up on the mountain,  by this meadow Michael is growing alfalfa grass, which he will then harvest and use as mulch. It' s much better than straw because its more nutritious.

Yoni was also playing with Michael's new puppy Ozzy and getting it really excited, it kept trying to bite him. I feel like I keep posting things about Yoni all the time. He's really not that interesting.