As farmers, we are kind of obsessed about the weather, and Wednesday this week was one for the books. A new record high was set for both Ashland (55 degrees!) and Duluth (49 degrees, from way back in 1877!)
Here at the farm, it was still over 50 degrees at 5 pm on Weds, and mud season made a brief appearance. Last weekend was our daughter's birthday, and to celebrate I took the kids skitching (pulled in sleds) behind the tractor through the snowy fields. Now all that snow is gone, and ski practice is on hold until the weather turns itself back around. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some new snow soon so we can get back out there! But we could sure do without that wind. Thankfully we didn't have any wind damage here at the farm, and the hoophouses held fast in the storm. I hope you and yours fared as well.
This week we have been catching up on a variety of projects, from plumbing in the microgreen room (fewer 5 gallon buckets of water to haul up and down the stairs is always a good thing!) to finishing our seed order for the 2022 growing season. While it appears that most seeds are in good supply, we want to lock in our order asap to make sure we get all the seeds we need. Even farmers are getting crunched by the supply chain shortages.
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The warmer weather this week has contributed to some quicker than expected regrowth on our hoophouse spinach, so there's a decent chance that there will be another round ready for harvest with the next warm spell that comes our way. We're seeing very little caterpillar sign, so hopefully the little buggers froze out finally, or more likely are too cold to munch for a while now.
The weeds you see in the 2 beds on the left are a nasty one called galinsoga. The tops look dead, but I assure you the roots are still very much alive. It spreads by root and seed, and is extremely difficult to control mechanically without herbicides. We have done a pretty good job of keeping it in check, but as you can see any missed plants quickly spread. When we planted that spinach in late August, those beds were fresh turned bare dirt, with no living plants.
I think the seeds snuck in to our farm in a batch of feed many years ago when we raised a lot of livestock, and it will continue be a perennial thorn in our sides for the long haul. Colder winters seem to set it back more, so the next time you are cussing the bitter cold outside, just remember there's an upside to those cold temps as well!
Next door to the spinach, the garlic we planted is setting down some nice roots already. Isn't it amazing that something is just starting to get growing as we head into the deep part of winter here in the Northwoods? Plants. They're crazy.
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The trick to having productive hoophouse garlic is making sure that root development (but no real shoot development) takes place in the fall - that way it's ready to grow like crazy come spring. If planted too early and shoots begin to grow in the fall, the tops can take some winter cold damage. On the other hand, if planted too late, the bulbs could just freeze out and die before they "come alive" again and begin to put down roots. As with most everything, there's always a balance.
Meanwhile, our storage crops of onions and winter squash are still holding well. We're starting to run low on delicata squash now, but that is to be expected as they don't store quite as long as some other varieties do. They are definitely a fan favorite, though - so sweet and creamy!
I do have one clarification on our squash: what we've been calling Red Kuri is actually red Sunshine! We'll be calling it Sunshine from here on out - when you see the name change for items to choose in your veggie box, now you will know what's up. Sorry about the mixup! Most of you probably don't care WHAT we call it, but for the squash aficionados out there - or if you'd like to try growing it in your garden next summer - we hereby officially correct the record.
Here's a peek at the bins of squash and onions we've got squirreled away in the storage room.
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Finally, this winter we are fostering a puppy until she's old enough to be put up for adoption - only ONE puppy this winter, as opposed to the litter of 9 and their mama that we fostered last winter! She's a Great Dane who thinks she is a lap dog, and she's awfully cute.
She loves to cuddle, and loves to play with our younger border collie Hobbes. Like our other dogs (uh, and really our entire human family too!) she enjoys relaxing on the warm bench around our masonry wood stove during the winter. We'll have her for a few more weeks, and then she'll be off to meet her new forever family. If you like fun bigger dogs, keep an eye out at the Chequamegon Humane Association for a sweet little black and white speckled Dane. She's going to make somebody pretty happy this winter.
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That's it from the farm this week. Take good care of each other, and stay warm!
In community,
Farmer Chris
Great Oak Farm
