Crops

[Travis Linds]

Being the first year we are not going to be able to plant too many crops, but we have planted a lot of beans, some potatoes, there are many perennials planted and we are seeding the plowed field for pasture. Plus we plan to soon build a fall/winter garden.

Planted over 500 linear feet of Beans - 6/6/11

Selecting Suitable Seeds - pretty late in the season to be planting.

 

Strawberries Planted among Mature Blueberries

Three Sisters (Pumpkins, Pole Beans, Corn and Sunflowers)

Potatoes

 

Planting 2 rows of Black Currants with 1 row of Raspberries already planted. 6/25/11

[Krista Rome]

500 RF! Nice Work!

[Travis Linds]

I have to admit, I had little to do with it. Chris Testa is the one who deserves all the credit :)

[Chris Wolf]

Last weekend we built a little improvised greenhouse at RiverHaven for tomatoes, and decided to plant a little Permaculture plant guild in there: tomatoes, garbanzo beans (nitrogen fixers) and basil (groundcover).  We'll see how it does!

We also mulched around the strawberries with grass that was cut and dried right there (instead of buying straw for mulch, why not use what is free and on hand?)... and ate our first ripe strawberry!!!

[Travis Linds]

SWEET! I had my first strawberry of the year last night from that patch too :)

[Krista Rome]

Garbanzos supposedly don't do so well in the heat - they are more like peas rather than beans. but they will still fix nitrogen even if your yields are low. A good experiement actually, I'd be curious to see how they do planted in June, so let me know!

Chris Wolf said:

Last weekend we built a little improvised greenhouse at RiverHaven for tomatoes, and decided to plant a little Permaculture plant guild in there: tomatoes, garbanzo beans (nitrogen fixers) and basil (groundcover).  We'll see how it does!

We also mulched around the strawberries with grass that was cut and dried right there (instead of buying straw for mulch, why not use what is free and on hand?)... and ate our first ripe strawberry!!!

[Heather K]

Recommended from Farmer Walter for local farmers to plant more of these 3 energy crops in the coming years to increase our local food security:

* Potaotoes (many varieities)

* Dried Beans -like kidney beans & the other dried beans good through winter storeage that grow well in our climate

* Spring Wheat

I think it would be worthwhile to ask Walter for a field consult, and also Krista Rome....Make it a potluck party and many of us will attend and help plant more edibles!

Hope you are planning for windbreaks and how to channel the water when it overflows the creek.

[Travis Linds]

Here are a couple pics showing the pasture, garden and cover crop trial area as of July 13th. Filling in nicely. It was a late start not doubt, but coming along well.

Cover Crop Trial to the far left, just starting to come up. This is a good test of how late in the season these crops can be planted too. The summer garden in the center and the pasture to the right.

This picture shows the pasture. In the Center and left is the 7 way mix. To the far right is the perennial rye grass. The dark green path is where I started to seed, applied a little heavier :)

[Krista Rome]

You should take another picture of that cover crop area from the same angle so I can compare the difference after just a few days!