Valley Mama

Where have all the radishes gone?

Don't let the title scare you...we will have plenty of yummy radishes available this summer (if the farm kids don't eat them all first).  The thing about kids who participate in growing their own food is...they love to eat it.  My son, who claims to dislike just about anything spicy, will munch radishes with a bit of a kick.  All.  Day.  Long.  The same goes for peas (of course), lettuce, spinach, green onions, carrots and most other garden produce.  The kids love eating food straight from the garden.  

That's why we were not surprised when Mason and Bella were thrilled to eat the first radishes from the green house.  

And why we should not have been surprised when we walked in a little later to find most of the french breakfast radishes gone!  

We convinced them to leave the rest to get a little bigger before they ate them.  This was only a small patch in the greenhouse for our early season salads, so they can eat as many as they want.  We will have to keep a close eye on our radishes in the field though.  

There should be plenty of radishes for you to enjoy this summer.  Because radishes show up each week of the growing season, we try to keep them interesting by planting lots of varieties.  Slender french breakfast radishes with a little bite, mild and colorful easter egg radishes, spicy asian varieites, classic round reds, black spanish radishes with white insides, large radishes that look like watermelons, and plenty of daikons...hopefully we won't get bored with this easy garden vegetable!

 

 

Let the Planting Begin

What a week it has been!  Melissa, myself and the farm kids have been in the field every day laying drip lines, prepping rows, building pea fences and (finally) planting!  It always feels so nice to get the first crops in the ground.  

After Alan tilled, we spent most of a day just setting up the irrigation.  Since the shape of the garden is changing a bit this year, the layout of our drip lines has to change as well.  As we went about our work, cutting main lines to add new pieces, solving the puzzle of how to get water to all the spaces to be planted, connecting lines and rolling out new drip tape, I laughed to myself at how easy it all seemed now.  We have this irrigation thing down.  It may seem like I'm bragging, but when we first began this garden-to-market adventure I knew nothing about this mysterious process of irrigation. 

There were so many different sizes of everything, from the poly tubing to the drip tape (and what kind of drip tape was the best?), not to mention the various connectors, emitters, valves and tools to make it all work.  Luette was our irrigation specialist that first year.  (You can read more about how we got started here.)  After a few years of experience, I actually now enjoy this part of spring.

Getting-water-to-plants problems solved, we moved on to prepping rows.  This  means using our hoes to form hills, making a trench down the hill, and adding a little compost.  A lot of work, yes, but definitely worth it.

Oh how good it feels to plant those first rows!  We've planted the greenhouse, salad boxes and various starts, but there is nothing like digging your hands into a freshly prepared row in the field, carefully tucking in little potatoes and onion plants.  

While the recently cut potatoes were curing, onions went in the ground first.  We planted onion plants and sets.  Mason enjoyed helping plant the onion plants.  We'll have plenty of onions this year...red, yellow, white, scallions and even some cute little minature onions.

Utah has his milk while Melissa keeps planting onions.

Now he's ready to help plant onions!

The next thing in the ground was the potatoes,  and what a lot of potatoes we planted.  I believe the phrase of the day (thanks to my superhero obsessed farm boy) was, "Holy potatoes, Batman!"  Yukon golds, reds, fingerlings, and some purples for fun...we love potatoes.  We actually just finished eating last year's potatoes from the root cellar, so I'm excited for those tasty little new potatoes will get soon. 

Yesterday and today we worked on the pea rows. Sugar snap peas, snow peas and shelling peas...I love peas.  Of course planting peas means building pea fences, and we got that finished today as well.

As we work, we sit in a vast expanse of brown.  It's a good brown...a hopeful brown.  We plant, we talk, we watch the farm kids, and we marvel at the way this garden will look in a month.  We honor the brown, and are so excited to welcome the green.

Soil and Seedlings

We were inside the house attempting to clean (well, I  was attempting to clean), when we heard the sound of our gate opening.  When Mason saw that Alan was here, he jumped into his boots and ran outside.  Alan brought his tractor, a different one this time.  How many tractors does Alan have?  We had a little chat to confirm what was to be tilled, and then he got to work.  

I have to admit, I felt as excited as Mason, though not for the same exact reasons.  My farm boy darted around the yard to watch the action of the tilling from different views.  I busied myself in the greenhouse and tried to contain my excitement.  Now, it was really happening.  Now comes the hard work.  Now the garden would begin to come together before our eyes, springing to life as irrigation is run, rows are prepared, and seeds are planted.  This is the work I love.

River, however, is not so sure about the tractor, but she rolls with it as she does with everything (except being separated from me, of course).  

My thoughts turned to this soil, as I watched it become soft and smooth before my eyes.  This is good dirt.  This is soil that is loved, and offers up so much in return.  We have come a long way since we first planted this space, and our care for the soil shows.  I think about a shift to no-till gardening, something I've thought about a lot.  The idea behind no-till is that you leave the soil structure in place, and continually build the fertility with specific crops and organic matter.  It preserves the intregrity of the soil and allows all of the various organisms to thrive, and protects our precious topsoil from erosion.  We are trying it out on a small scale this year, so we'll see how it goes.  I still have a lot to read and learn about it.

As Alan was tilling, it started to rain.  Two days in a row of rain!  And not just a little sprinkle...we're talking a good, heavy rain.  I stepped back into the greenhouse, mostly for the baby on back.  The greenhouse if my absolute favorite place to be when it's raining, especially now that there are beautiful green seedlings everywhere.  

We thanked Alan, Mason jumped out of the boots he jumped into earlier, and ran around in the soil of the new garden plot in the rain.  Beautiful.  

Thank you Alan, thank you millions of soil organisms and thank you rain! 

Our story

It all started with a tree.  No really, here is a photo...

Well, it's a photo of Aaron in the tree, holding a pinata, but you get the picture.  I fell in love with this tree the first time I laid eyes on it.  It was a dark and stormy evening (we don't get many of those here in the San Luis Valley) and Aaron and I drove out to take a look at house a friend said might be for sale.  This friend was the neighbor to the house (now our neighbor) and wanted someone she loved next door.  I have to admit, I did not instantly love the house - it was going to need a lot of work.  

But the tree.  I loved that tree.  

After an eventful process (that's a whole other story), we ended up with a one bedroom little adobe house on a little over an acre of land.  Right on the edge of the city limits, so we could bike to town, but in the county so we could have livestock.  The tree (we call it Ama tree) stands in the middle of the backyard.  We climbed up in the tree to look over our property and our neigbors (whose land we could use), to sit, to dream and to be.  Now I watch our son Mason turn Ama tree into a fantasy world...a pirate ship one day, a castle the next.  A handmade wooden swing hangs from one branch and a beautiful hammock from another.  This tree is well loved.  

Aaron and I worked to make the property our own, planting trees (most eaten by deer that first year), an herb garden and a few vegetables.  

Fast forward two years after we bought the house to 2008, and a phone call from Luette Frost.  Luette and Becky Story (another friend) had been talking and they really wanted to grow some food.  Really grow food...enough to sell at the Farmer's Market...and they were interested in using our land, or Paula's (our neighbor).  I said yes, definitely, as long as I could be a part of it.  

And we did it.  We plowed the land that fall (with a little help, of course), planted in the spring and had a booth at the Alamosa Farmer's Market in the summer.  We focused on growing things that would acually do well here in the valley, like greens, brassicas and root crops.  Here is a photo of the three of us at our booth...

Those signs.  I could spot Luette Frost signs from anywhere.  We had a great summer, and though the early mornings were sometimes challenging (I was a new mom with baby), I loved it.

We grew our first garden for market in 2009, and the field has been planted every year since.  Luette and Becky became busy with other adventures and travels (though they both still help out when they're around).  Luette works tirelessly for the health of our community in various ways, and Becky is teaching children in Bhutan.  I am so thankful to them both...I don't think I would have ever  attempted such an undertaking without them.  I was fairly new to gardening when we began, especially gardening in this arid, high moutain valley, and I learned so much from the both..

A couple of years ago I switched from selling at the Farmer's Market to having a quasi-CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) style email list.  This has been great, and I have awesome customers.  

This year, I have a new garden partner (Melissa), and we have big dreams.  We are doubling the size of the garden, and will be sharing a Farmer's Market booth with our good friend Melinda of Green Frog Juice, in addition to continuing the CSA/email list.  We may be a little crazy, but we are loving every second so far.  We both do nearly everything with our babies on our backs, while our older children help/play/explore.  This blog will attempt to chronicle our experience, and provide information to our customers and valley community.  

"Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow"  - lyrics from the Garden Song by David Mallett.

 

Spring Update

Happy spring everyone!  I've started a blog for the garden.  Finally.  I've been wanting to do it for years.  I'm still working on it, and will be adding more content soon.  This first post is a spring update that customers received via the email list.  It seemed an appropriate beginning for a new blog!  

We are in full spring swing here, and I'm loving it.  As I sit here thinking about what I'd like to include in this update, River is making her first attempt at crawling on the braided wool rug on the living room floor.  The familiar sounds of Mason playing come from behind me (something related to superheros, I think).  I can look out of one window and see freshly turned earth.  I look out of another window and see the metal frame and lumber that will soon be put back together to become a greenhouse.  I feel so incredibly thankful.  For so much.  So, I offer a garden update this spring in the form of my thanks.  Right now I am incredibly grateful and thankful for...

                                                                    

This amazing Mother Earth, who continues to provide.  From the millions of little organisms in the soil I hold in my hands, to the water that comes from the snow in the mountains.  Melissa and I planted garlic earlier this spring, and there is nothing like digging my hands into the soil for the first time of the season.  

                                                        

One truly incredible partner, who's hard work makes this life possible.  I get to be with my children every day, and grow food for my family and yours...there is nothing else in the world I would rather be doing.  Without Aaron and his ability to put up quick fences for my ever-expanding garden, the animals would have eaten everything.      

                             

Two amazing little people who provide the inspiration and the joy for all of this.  Farm boy is such a big helper this year, and farm girl just had her first taste of soil...I think she liked it.  

                  

Did you hear?  I have an amazing garden partner this year.  Or maybe I should say three, because with Melissa comes Bella and Utah, and I can already tell we're going to have a blast.  Babies on backs, while the farm kids play...we are going to make some amazing things happen this summer.

                          

Alan Simpson.  With his generous help (and his tractor) we are increasing the size of the garden this year.  Seriously.  What would we do without Alan?

                                   

My parents are in Creede full-time now, which means lots of grandma and grandpa time for the farm kids.  They are already helping in our garden endeavor as well.  Just this week they came down from Creede with their truck and trailer and we headed to Jaroso for some of David West's compost and greenhouse soil.  

                         

The gift of a greenhouse from our friends Angie, Russ and Cecily.  Also their time and energy to disassemble this greenhouse (in the rain), load it up, drive it here, and unload it.  They are a beautiful family, and I'm so happy to know them.

                                

Tom Barr, the best sheep shearer in the Valley, who just this week stopped by because he was in the area and sheared the sheep.

                                   

My circle of mamas (you know who you are).  For being inspirational and working to nourish the health and wholeness of us all.   

                                              

All of you.  For buying veggies, offering lovely, kind words of encouragement, and supporting local food in this community.          

                           

For one tiny seed, literally and metaphorically speaking.  Oh how much potential for life and growth can be contained in something so small. 

                              

Also...green tea and functioning septic systems.     

                            

Happy spring to you all!