furlong forest farm

We are getting so close....

so close to maybe being able to say we are actually creating a small farm. Certainly it's very small for a farm that might be able to allow us to make a little money, but it's certainly the biggest garden we've ever had.

Before we moved to Sebastopol we were "farming" on a hilltop in the backyard that literally would produce maybe a handful of yummy edibles at a time. The sun wasn't enough, it could be very cold and windy, and basically we made little raised garden beds by bringing in enough soil to give us maybe a foot of depth if we were lucky. And there was a mole or vole that was hanging out in the raised garden area that would tunnel around and push up our soil (that was only maybe a foot deep). It was more of a hobby garden, but it kept us happy and always wishing we had more; more space, more sun, more soil, more vegetables and more fruits to eat. And we are getting closer and closer to that crazy dream we have.

At least we are finally on the right path and working towards it. We've made more mistakes we'd like to admit these first 6 months or so, but we are learning a lot and with time we won't be making as many amateur mistakes and if we do make mistakes, hopefully they will be at least worthwhile so that we won't do it again. I think most of us out there know that we actually become more knowledgeable about something the more we get to know it inside, out, backwards, forwards, done right and done wrong.

All that being said here's the progress we have made in the last few weeks and I must say we are getting close... getting close to at least having all the seeds and plants in the ground that we had envisioned for at least this first go.

May 20th

day of the annular solar eclipse

planting Turkey Craw seeds into a prepared bed. Turkey Craw is a pole bean so we will have a trellis system in place

planting more tomatoes and peppers. we had to buy in most of our peppers because the slugs kept eating our transplants. we managed to get a handful of seedlings after sowing pepper seeds 2-3 times though. they were small, but big enough to put in the ground


a new potato protection design. Mountain Rose potatoes are planted in here

A bit of a Panoramic shot for May 20th

the shadows and light was odd around the peak time of the eclipse. this photo was around 6:20ish

May 21st

setting up irrigation and planting some melon seeds

May 25th

sprouting!

German Butterball Potatoes

tomatoes


the "bullseye" in the keyhole block planted with Hopi red lima beans, Hopi black dye sunflowers, a Malabar spinach plant in the center and cilantro around the base

beans sprouting! Painted Pony

remember those beds we were hoeing and scraping back in April? Well we prepared them just enough to throw in some squash seeds and this is what they looked like at the end of the day on the 25th. due to area that we worked and how the blocks and pathways are set up this is what this block is shaping up to look like at this time. basically we are working what will become two separate blocks. right now it's a block and a half.

May 28th

more sprouting and preparing and sowing

first squash seedling! Guatemalan Blue Banana squash germinated first

red radicchio Palla Rossa seedlings with a tiny flea beetle. flea beetles munch upon the cotyledons of the radish seedlings

first melon seedlings!

we decided that I planted the potatoes in my box too close so we dug them up and then put some into a new contraption and also in the squash block where we had a few beds unused. these are La Ratte fingerling potatoes

potaotes just put right into a bed without any cage to keep them safe from the gophers and moles. we will see what happens (maybe it will protect our squash plants if the potatoes keep them busy)