The Garic is In!

Freshly shipped Red Russian hardneck

All 300 cloves are planted for next year’s seed!

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Progress!

That beautiful summer weather lasted right into October! I’ve spent the last three weeks working at Murray’s repairing hoop houses wrecked in the wind during “hurricane” Leslie. Apparently it wasn’t a hurricane but a post tropical storm or some other some-such, but with 138 km/h winds at the airport, with the farm being higher and even more exposed, probably over 140km/h here, we’re calling it a hurricane!

Despite the fact I was working nine hour days, I was still able to keep tilling and bed shaping and get in 7000 Walla Walla onions with a lot of wonderful and welcome help from the Murray’s. I learned a great planting technique from Mrs. Murray that she learned from her father in law, Patrick Murray. Patrick and his wife Elsie with their sons and daughters, farmed vegetables on this land just as Murray’s before them have for 200 years! I hope to pick up as much knowledge about this rocky land and how they farmed it as I can. Thus far I’ve learned to plough, disc, and now plant! I still haven’t learned a magic way of getting rid of rocks yet.

Sue and Evan Planting Onions

The planting technique was to remove all the plugs from their cell packs, use a heavy steel digging bar to make holes in the gravel, I mean soil, and drop the plant plugs into the holes while another person comes and fills the holes. Afterwards, I mulched them all with grass clippings, and will mulch more with leaves, to protect them from the freeze-thaw which should then result in onions ready in June/July! Basically just like garlic, which I’m planting a few hundred cloves today to make seed stock for next year. More on garlic later…

Cam demonstrating the strength needed to operate the tiller.

At this point, we have almost a half acre tilled and prepped for next year. The beds are either being mulched with whatever organic material I can get my hands on or seeded to white clover which will be tilled under in the spring. Stay tuned for posts about building solar electric fences, picking rocks, fixing up the shed and putting up hoop houses, all before it gets too wet and cold…here’s hoping for more mild weather!

Baby Walla Walla onions getting ready for their long winters nap. I hope they wake up!

Shed moved!

My re-purposed header house is moved to its new spot next to the irrigation pond at the bottom corner of the Murray Meadow farm plot. Lots of jokes about a modern relocation initiative.

Shed relocation

It will get a new front and serve as a place to store tools and supplies and make coffee!