Things have been steady here on Two Bridges Farm. The lack of any good sunlight recently kept a lot of the winter produce in dormancy for a few extra weeks. Since we only had an experimental amount planted, veggie production has been on hold for a couple weeks, and will probably stay that way for a month or so. This is okay though, considering how new growing produce is for us (let alone growing winter produce), we're happy with the results we had this Winter. We didn't produce an amazing amount, but what we have learned from the successes and mistakes will be priceless in the end.
It all works out for the better anyways, since it's crunch time for getting things prepared for the Spring produce. I have been busy starting seed, tilling soil, spreading compost and amendments, and regularly visualizing what this Spring plot will look like.
We treat our soil using our own livestock along with some recommendations from Eliot Coleman, a pioneer of small-scale organic growing. Before the ground is to be prepared for production, we have our broiler chickens on top of the plot, moving the houses frequently to help intensively add chicken manure as fertilizer to the soil. Once this is done, the ground is tilled. The ground has never been worked for veggie production and is very compact, so this year I used the rotary plow on our walking tractor for deeper tillage. Deep tillage is important to break up deeper compaction in the soil and help aerate, so the crops' roots are able to reach further down for nutrients, allowing for closer spacing with healthier plants. After the deep tillage, we add compost. We had some very nice 2 year-old compost ready to use, as well as horse manure from the pastures and chicken manure from our stationary chicken coops. Other organic amendments will be added to help preserve the soil integrity and then I will use the shallow tillage to mix in the compost and amendments, then the soil will be ready for production. This should be done by the end of the weekend.
It's going to take a few years to get the soil balanced, loose, and fertile, but plant quality and increased yield in the long run, as well as full soil sustainability, make all the work worth it. I plan on implementing a system of biointensive-style double-dug beds after the initial work is done on the soil, which is my long-term goal for maintaining soil health.
The baby goats are running around playing and growing fast, the chickens are breaking egg records almost every day, and the weather just can't seem to make up its mind. I've heard a saying around here regarding this fickle weather: “Welcome to North Carolina, if you don't like the weather, stick around a couple days, it'll change!” I guess it at least makes things interesting!
Since winter production is slow, we are not going to the Western Wake market next week, but we will be at the Wake Forest market with plenty of chicken and eggs. Hope everyone is staying warm with this blast of cold air this weekend!
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