Farm Diary

It seems that I'm always writing blog posts this time of year, and the weather situation seems to be a frequent topic of conversation.  I suppose it is because we get so busy come summer, and this time of year we are doing a lot of hoping and dreaming about the upcoming season, and are eager for it to start in earnest. Persistent wintry weather is in opposition to this desire and weighs heavy on our minds as farmers.

Indoors, the farm season has started.  There are many seedlings growing up under our LEDs, and we are hardening them off little by little in preparation for being planted out.  No rush there, however, given the state of affairs outside.  

This winter has given our high tunnel (and us) a workout this year.  About a month ago, Peter and I dug out a massive snow drift that blew up against the high tunnel, and now that it is actually time to plant, another even more ginormous snow drift has formed.  I can actually stand on top of it and see the house!

 According to my planting schedule, seedlings are to be planted inside the high tunnel now, but we decided to wait given this storm and some low temperatures later in the week.  I'm glad I did, because some of this snow ended up on the inside of the tunnel too--coming in through gaps with all that wind.  We will be spending some time this weekend shoveling some of the snow away from the sides, so that the bit that's accumulated on the roof has somewhere to fall off.  All considered though, the tunnel was a champ, and we didn't find any ripped plastic.

We might plant our earliest crops next week, and from there it is some finger crossing, hoping the melting snow doesn't create too much flooding.  Spring is on its way, and with it some fresh goodness.  We'll see you soon Duluth!

"Snow" by Irving Berlin

What an exciting, crazy spring it has been!

We have moved our seeding operation completely into our new barn and are loving it.  It is warm and full of light, and on sunny days we can open the doors to the greenhouse and pretend summer has already arrived.  It's hard to believe, but we will soon be planting into the greenhouse and high tunnel so we can have extra-early produce available at the market.  We're shooting for May vegetables folks; wish us luck!

With so much excitement toward the upcoming season, the pandemic has certainly thrown us for a bit of a loop.  No one anticipated all the changes that the last few days have brought, and it is so uncertain how bad things will get, and how long life will be affected.  We are planning ahead and hopeful that with some small changes we will have another successful season.  As I've been planning ahead I have been thinking about our mission and how I want our business to lead by example this upcoming season.  

This season's manifesto is as follows:

1) Food is medicine.  As always, our goal this season is to provide our community with nutritious, clean food that is grown in a sustainable fashion.

2) We will continue to follow best practices for food handling to ensure our food is safe.  We already sanitize surfaces and wash hands regularly,  but will take additional precautions and do so with more frequency. 

3) We will take action to protect our community and ourselves from the COVID-19 virus by encouraging social distancing, including exploring alternative forms of distribution.

So, what's new this season?

-In an effort to eliminate crowds and limit the physical interaction we will have with customers we will offer pre-sale of vegetables through our website.  While things may change, we still expect to attend the Duluth Farmers Market.  Veggies may be picked up at the market or farm--free for orders of $10 or more.  We will also be offering home delivery. (Stay tuned next month as we set up this system)

-CSA customers may opt for free temporary home delivery if sick or caring for a loved one.  We are prepared to move to free home delivery for all our CSA customers if needed.

-We will be offering more CSA shares than we initially planned for this season.  Quantities of certain vegetables may be limited at the market as a result.  Are you one of our regular market customers?  We encourage you to consider our CSA instead.  If CSA isn't a good fit, we encourage you to take advantage of online pre-orders.

It is planning season, and shortly we will be starting seeds here at Small Wheel Farm.  The new season has us excited about all the growth our farm has seen in the  last year.  We both expanded production and made some needed infrastructure upgrades.  Our barn is finally coming together thanks to some hard-core contractors who showed up to work during the polar vortex: attaching the greenhouse framing and starting work on interior walls during negative 20 degree weather.  While we will have to start the earliest seeds in the house again this year, I expect we will have the greenhouse finished and water available in early spring--when there simply isn't room downstairs for any more plants.

Other new things include plans to break open new fields this summer, and most exciting of all--hiring an employee and some CSA worker shares.  The business is getting big enough that it is more than just I can handle--which is exciting.  I crave the company of another human during the farm season, and I am finally confident  that the farm can afford it.  Check out our employment page if you are interested!

Best wishes, and stay warm!

Farmer Rebecca 

We are anxious here at Small Wheel Farm to get moving with the cultivating and planting.  Being a new farm, without any hoop houses yet, this snow has been a real bummer—we just can’t do anything in our fields; it’s a waiting game.  So, for now, we continue our lives as basement farmers—tending to the beautiful seedlings under our grow lights, dreaming, and tackling projects. 

As for projects, we have some exciting news as drawings for our barn/studio/greenhouse renovation have come back from our architect and it is likely that this summer we will start construction on the multifunctional building.  I am looking forward to having a space this time of year to work on my pottery, do some seed starting and grow in a greenhouse.  Increasing productivity during the shoulder season will help me get an earlier start at market and make mud season more bearable.  If we get a hoop house grant this summer then we’ll really be in business for next season (as well as have some serious building projects on the farm this summer).  The extra work will be worth it though: I have serious hoop house envy.

Let’s all say it.  More sun, please!  And if that is too much to ask, at least no more snow!

Hello everyone, and sorry for the long delay in updating you about the farm.  

Things have been going very well here at Small Wheel Farm.  We have had several successful farmer's markets and tomorrow's promises to be good too.  The produce keeps coming out of the fields, with new things ready every week.  Tomorrow's market will feature peas (everyone's favorite), herbs, rainbow chard, mini romaine, and a pint of cherry tomatoes for one lucky person!

As you can probably imagine, things have gotten rather busy around here as we are harvesting regularly as well as attempting to stay caught up with our planting schedule and ontop of all the weeds.  ...And the weeds are prolific this time of year.  I feel like every spare moment is being spent picking quack grass rhizomes out of the beds and making sure the lambs quarter doesn't go to seed.  Overall, we are winning, but oh, do the fields want to turn back to pasture.  It sounds weird, but I am grateful for plastic and being able to tarp large areas of our fields--smothering weeds while I work on something else.   So far this season, bugs haven't been much of a problem.  Besides a few potato bugs that munched the eggplant, the gardens have been pest free.

This last weekend we had another visitor.  My mom came and helped harvest, plant and work the farmers market booth.  It was nice having a second pair of hands to get the harvest done quickly.  I don't think that I would have gotten to the planting if it weren't for her help, and our mini greenhouse is bursting at the seams, with brassicas, lettuce, herbs and other vegetables that are waiting to get into the fields.  I am thankful to finally be harvesting the last of some things so that I can plant out new vegetables for later in the season.  This weekend we will be planting some of those brassicas where our romaine was.  Tarping off future fields is also on the schedule.  We are expanding next year!

Anyways, see you tomorrow at the market!

It is really starting to look like spring here at Small Wheel Farm.  Hardy vegetables have been planted out--with kale, bok choi, onions and spinach all looking happy and unfazed by the change in setting.  Seeds for our mustard greens mix and turnips have sprouted as well, and if all goes according to plan, we will have a good mix of vegetables for our first market on July 1.

Peter picked out some blueberry and honeyberry plants for the farm and planted them this past week with the help of his dad and stepmom who were here visiting.  On Saturday, he endured rain and wind to get several apple trees and some cherry and apricot trees planted in the beginning orchard.  I stayed inside making chili and getting the place ready for friends who were coming over to celebrate the occasion.  

Projects have been chugging along at the farm.  We have set up the irrigation line and run it once after setting out transplants.  The fence is up with nice big homemade gates for access.  Up next is building caterpillar tunnels for the fields and setting up processing facilities and a cold storage room for the summer.

If there is any struggle at this moment it is understanding the contour of our land and why water collects where it does.  We have a few wet spots that we did not anticipate and are watching the land carefully and strategizing how we might do some land shaping to help mitigate the situation and allow for earlier field access on certain parts of the farm.  Hopefully, once the weather really starts getting warm much of the moisture will go away, but for now it is a frustration and an area we are realizing we need to learn more about.  We are excited, like other aspects of farming to tackle this and continue improving our land and its productivity.