Harvest 2009

Production is looking up at the Ashe farm (still looking for an official farm name to start our "business" next summer, selling to farmer's markets, schools, etc. Stay tuned for a poll!). Last year we had less than half the planted area we have this year, and harvest time is at least twice as busy. Because we planted a bit late (June vs. May), our harvest is later than others in the neighborhood, but that's not such a bad thing--we missed any early frosts and hail and are now enjoying the abundance for missing those harsh conditions.


Here are pics of one day's harvest these days. August and September will be busy months!




















In the photos: Japanese eggplant, yellow hot peppers, pickling cucumbers (which, by the way, make AWESOME half-ripe pickles, my favorite!), yellow sweet pear tomatoes, Chadwick cherry tomatoes, Lady Godiva squash, yellow bush zucchini, and monster radishes! You can also see the watermelon and honeydew melon patches ripening for market next week. We have about 40 melons on the vine so far, and we broke into one of the honeydews last night--a phenomenal experience, like nothing we've ever tasted from a store....


And the flowery, honey-like AROMA that emanated from that melon both before and after we cut into it--if we could bottle and sell that smell, we would be set for life!

Progress Report from the Farm

Our vegetable garden is burgeoning this summer! Here's a look at the honeydew, watermelons, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and herbs sprouting around the farm:

Jon left a patch of weeds in the far southeast corner of our melon patch (upper left in the photo below) to remind us what the area used to look like before all his hard work. What is now our vegetable planting area used to be covered in 4-foot weeds like these!










And the sunflowers are now blooming in our flower garden in the front. The hollyhocks are petering out, but Alma still enjoys sunning her paws beneath the leaves....

Kicking Off the Los Lunas Farmers' Market

June 16th was the first day of the Los Lunas Farmers' Market, just 6 miles south of our place. We've signed up to be vendors later in the season when our watermelon, honeydew, cucumbers, radishes, and beans mature (if they make it!), but Tuesday we went to the market as customers.

It was a fantastic turn out for Day One of a brand new farmers' market; they had a bluegrass band, several vendors (many we recognized from various Albuquerque markets), and the Master Gardeners Program volunteers selling plants--oh, and DELICIOUS Italian Ice. We rode our bikes the six miles to the market along the Rio Grande bosque with our friends and neighbors, Karen and Jerry.

The ride to the market was gorgeous: not too hot, not too dusty due to recent rains, but not muddy, either. The ride back, on the other hand, was rife with mobs of mosquitoes and flurries of cotton flying into our faces, noses, and throats. I was pocked with mosquito bites and hoarse from coughing and sneezing when we arrived home. But it was definitely worth the ride!

The vendors were amazing: a couple with a one-acre farm had already sold out of bushels of artichokes by the time we arrived but still had some Swiss chard and beets, which we purchased. Another vendor sold blackberry habenero jam, blueberry marmelade, and apricot jam, mostly from local fruit. Yet another offered frozen grass-fed and -finished beef and wild-caught Alaskan salmon and other fish (his sign read "The Fish Hugger"). Mr. Hugger also ensnared us in a long diatribe about the health and reproductive dangers of electro-magnetic fields (EMFs) and how carrying a small piece of magnetite can help deflect them. It was actually my fault that we got into that conversation, as I've been reading a lot about health and EMFs lately and for unknown reasons brought up the subject. My mistake....

Strange, drawn-out conversations aside, we plan to go to the market every week, if we can make it. The wild fish and grass-fed and -finished beef is definitely in our plans next week!

Pay Dirt

I often joke that Jon's second home is an organic dump just a few miles north of us called, "Soilutions". I call it an organic dump, because they only sell certified organic material by recycling materials from yard clippings, feed stalls, landscaping projects, etc. More details are on their website: http://www.soilutions.net/.

The past month or so, Jon has arrived home with trucksful of native mulch, compost, and topsoil several times a week to dump into our new vegetable patch to help nourish and turn over the soil before we put in our plants (they're still in pots while we fix the soil). Today, I joined him at Soilutions to check out the scene, take some pics, and meet his "second family".

The reason we have to supplement our land with all this soil is because whoever occupied our land before must have used it as a construction dump. We imagine that they probably razed the previous house to the ground, dumped all the scrap into what we had planned to be our next vegetable patch, and probably didn't clean it up for many years. Jon has been digging for weeks, cleaning up countless cigarette butts, lighters, rusty construction nails, and pressboard around the areas we'd like to plant.

Needless to say, we're not planting in those areas until they're clean and new soil replaces whatever toxic mess is leftover. In order to apply for organic certification, we have to show that the soil has been "clean"--free from pesticides, chemicals, and waste such as what we're finding now--for at least three years. This farming gig, it's a journey....

So we'll plant this year's vegetables in the adjacent plot, which hasn't been polluted by construction waste. But we still need to churn in new soil and compost as the land hasn't seen irrigation or organic matter in decades. This is no small feat...we need all the good dirt we can get--plus, Jon just loooooves to play in it. :-)

Photos from a Farm

Eerily early monsoon season...a monster compost tumbler...thirsty rain barrels that now supply most of our water for farming, gardening, and growing trees...sheep grazing on the pasture...sunflower seedlings...these are a few of our favorite things:

Gutter Mouth

Jon invoked alarming new swear words this week, all due to hanging gutters for the first time along our rooflines to capture the torrential rainwater we're expecting from New Mexico's annual monsoon season (usually July-Sept). This is a project we've been talking about since we first moved in more than 1-1/2 years ago, and I must say, he did a *stellar* job (see photo at left. Impressive, no?). It's not easy, and it's not cheap.

But it's worth every new swear word Jon has uttered.













The gutters will run along the rooflines of our home, our detached garage/workout room/tack room/barn (kind of a large structure), and the lean-to shed.

I don't have the exact calculations handy, but with even just one of these roof surfaces, one can catch a shitload of rainwater from even a very light sprinkle in the middle of a desert (Albuquerque only averages about 7 inches of rain a year). Forgive the swearing--it's contagious....

Anyway, the cubic feet of water we can collect from that small amount of rain will enable us to water our ever growing garden area all summer long and then some. If you don't believe us, well--we experienced it last year, albeit by collecting rain water from the roof in 5-gallon buckets and running them off to dump into our gargantuan water tank; however, if you need further proof: http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/.

Hey, we're not complete nut-jobs. Just practical. Viva el agua!

P.S. Credit goes to our friend Ethan for coining Jon's new moniker, "Gutter Mouth".

Welcome Spring!

This weekend marked the beginning of Spring--hallelujah! The winter doldrums were getting to us...

But thankfully, we learned how to plant bulbs in the Fall to bloom very early in the Spring and usher us into our Spring Fever. Check out these early beauties:












We also invested some of our first homeowner tax return in a good dose of landscaping in our "backyard". This is just the small area immediately behind our house. Jon has been working very, very, VERY hard on the next iteration of our vegetable garden, which is becoming about the size of a farm...He's also planted our entire back acre with a nitrogen-rich cover crop called hairy vetch, which further nourishes the soil for our future plans to plant that area with lots of fruit and nut trees a couple years out.

Here are before/after pics of our backyard. Our friend Bard Erdington did a great job as he's just starting up his landscaping business. He wisely lined the pathways with recycled concrete that Jon had busted up from the old basketball court that came with our property when we bought it over a year ago, and it doesn't look half bad!

The planting area (dark areas) contains all native plants except the dwarf peach and pomegranate trees, asparagus, and artichoke plants. So exciting!

BEFORE:




AFTER:

We spent a lot of time on our front courtyard garden this weekend as well. Jon uprooted our old Kentucky bluegrass and re-sodded with a scary wonder-grass called Zoysia Grass. It will take a couple seasons to really take root and spread, but it should be gorgeous when it all comes together.

Last but not least, our buddy Lorrie came over Saturday to help us finally complete the American Clay walls we started in our living room last October. She's a PRO--Thanks Lorrie!

Next steps: We'll spend April and May starting and planting the wide variety of vegetable and herb seeds we purchased last month in the vegetable garden that Jon is preparing:

Pumpkin

Sweet Basil

Sunflowers

Squash

Radish

Chili Peppers

Celery

Corn

Blue Lake Beans

Zucchini

Chives

Eggplant

Onion

Shallots

Potatoes

Carrots

Leeks

Cilantro

Parsley

Dill

Broccoli

Watermelon

Honeydew melon

Fennel

Yay! Spring is here!

Spring Projects

The weather is warming up here in New Mexico, and while storms are approaching next week, it's a nice preview into what's in store over the next few months. We have so much to do to prepare for springtime:

- Finish our indoor projects: American clay on the walls of our common living areas, replacing baseboards, and finishing a painting or two to hang on our new walls!

- Set up our guest house as my new art studio: we haven't used it since we moved here over a year ago, and the garage was completely uninspiring. The house has heat and a swamp cooler, so it will be more comfortable for artistic endeavors. Plus, there's a bathroom and a kitchenette where I can clean my brushes, etc.

- Set up gutters and water tanks for rain catchment on our detached garage and the house

- Choose vegetable and herb seeds for our new garden area in the back (4x the size we planted last year--we're growing, literally!)

- Read up on keeping chickens (for next spring--not this spring) so we can begin converting part of our horse barn into a roost

- Read up on preserving and canning vegetables so we know what to do with the huge harvest we'll likely have this summer and fall

I planted bulbs in December and can't wait to see them peek through in about a month. Apparently, it's the gardener's secret: sprouting spring bulbs give you some gratification while you wait for warmer weather to grow the rest of your stuff. I like this idea, and can't wait to see the tulips, daffodils, crocuses, and hyacinths peeping out to greet us.

That's all for now, folks. Until next time....

Article #10: Why Food Matters

This month, we published an article about why food matters--the crux of why we moved back to New Mexico to own land in a rural area.

The article is a brief amalgamation of all the reading and research we've done over the past year, also a summary of the many conversations we've had with the intriguing people we've met here and elsewhere, who are thinking along the same lines. Read on for why food matters not only to me and Jon--but to all of us.

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/12/why-food-matters.cfm

Article #8: To Organic or Not to Organic

In this article, Jon explains what we would have to do for organic certification. No easy task....

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/10/organic-organic-certification.cfm

Article #7: A Sustainable Farm Prepares for Winter

Read Jon's article on our winter plans for the farm:

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/10/sustainable-farm-prepares-winter.cfm

Article #6: The Experimental Garden Tent

Jon's foray into building a tent to protect our first crop from the brutal New Mexico sunshine and fierce winds (and our initial squabble over the tent--which is black and very close to our house--not the most aesthetically pleasing structure!) is the feature of this Matter Network article.

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/9/the-experimental-garden-tent.cfm

Article #5 in Our MatterNetwork Series - The Role of Community

Tune in for the fifth and latest article in our series on moving from an urban lifestyle to rural, sustainable farming!

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/9/farming-it-takes-a-community.cfm

Article #4 in Our MatterNetwork Series - Farming Ain't Cheap!

This installment goes into detail about the costs of setting up our rain catchment and rainwater irrigation system--which we haven't done yet due to lack of funds (donations accepted, of course! Wouldn't you love to help out your local farmer?!?) We also need the experience and a few good tips from experts before committing to laying down drip lines and installing gutters...

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/8/free-water-doesnt-come-cheap.cfm

Our First Harvest!

On Labor Day, we enjoyed the first fruit of our labors from this summer (well, Jon's labors--I've been too busy traveling for work, unfortunately). The photo you see is a tiny sample of what we've harvested since--after the first harvest, the plants go on overdrive!

Jon chose to grow gorgeous purple bell peppers, five other varieties of sweet peppers, seven varieties of tomatoes (my favorites are the tiny, concentrated yellow pears and cherries--delicious!), string beans, and a few varieties of dark, leafy greens.

He planted pretty late in the season (mid-June, then again in late July), so we're having the latest harvest in the neighborhood. It's kinda living on the edge around here as the season's first frost will come any day now, so we are picking everything we can and saving seeds for next season.

So far from our daily harvests, we've made amazing fresh salads, roasted stuffed peppers, salsa, and gazpacho. The difference is like night and day between store-bought processed versions of these foods, and what has come from our garden. Maybe it's the knowledge of what it takes to grow these beautiful vegetables--or maybe it's the absence of pesticides, fertilizers, preservatives, and eating them fresh picked from the plant. Regardless, it's been heavenly.

And all of this is just from the small, 10x20 experimental area of our backyard. Imagine what we'll be able to grow on that back acre...can't wait til next season to expand and possibly get some chickens to help with fertilizer!

Article #3 in Our Article Series on Farming: Reining in the Rain

This month, Jon writes about harvesting rain water on our property for MatterNetwork.com. We've already received an encouraging email from a denizen of Delaware who just began to harvest rain from his suburban home with a couple of 55-gallon tanks, but, inspired by Jon's article, is now looking into more sophisticated rain catchment systems to capture more water. As his email states, "why didn't we all think of this simple solution earlier?" Amen, brotha.

Planting Trees

I needed a break from an intense work-week today. So, Jon and I drove down the road to a native plant arboretum/nursery called Trees that Please in Tome. We had a few trees in mind, starting with shade trees (catalpas, golden rain trees, poplars) since we have not one tree on our 2-acre property yet(!), then fruit trees once we do some market analysis to figure out what might be in demand in 3-5 years, when the trees are mature.

And then, it was love at first sight....

When we walked into the arboretum, we were immediately struck by an enormous shade tree, about 30' tall, with delicate, fern-like leaves near the entrance to the greenhouse. When we asked what the tree was, they told us it was a New Mexico redwood, and it was only 12 years old. Imagine our surprise--redwoods in New Mexico! Turns out, they had a few more mature redwoods around the arboretum, each one more gorgeous than the next.

They then told us the story behind the trees: they're actually cuttings from the only two NM redwoods left standing in nature near El Paso, TX (Spanish colonists logged the area, once full of redwoods, to build their towns in the 1500-1700s). The founder of the arboretum was the one who found the lone trees over a decade ago, and he took cuttings to propogate them. They're now federally protected and the public can't even go to look at them.

We planted four trees in a row about 50 feet behind our house to create a private, shaded picnic area over time (another bonus to these trees: they grow very deep tap roots and thrive on high water tables like ours--no risk of the roots breaking up our house foundation).














They are simply gorgeous--I've never seen anything like them. We're so excited to have them, it's as if they're new members of our family. I never thought I could feel this way about a tree. Welcome, leafy friends!

Rainwater Harvesting

Introducing our latest addition: a 1600-gallon rainwater catchment tank, which so far is holding about 350 gallons of water from rain that's rolled off the roof of our home the past two weeks. All this without routing from a gutter system yet--just direct drip into the tank and us filling buckets strategically around the house, then dumping them into the tank! Jon will install gutters shortly, and we're already using the water to drench our vegetable and flower gardens and new trees. Just from the roof of our house alone (not including the roof on our detached garage/barn/workroom and the roof on the small guest house and nearby lean-to), we can easily fill the tank within the next two months of monsoon rain!

The tank will eventually reside behind the guest house, and we'll hook it up to a drip irrigation system for the trees. Jon is writing an article on all this for his next installment on Matter Network, so I can't give away too much about our watering plans at this point...Stay tuned!

Article #2 in Our Series...

This time, Jon's article is the headliner!

http://www.matternetwork.com/

Or, if you're reading this post after July 13th, it may be posted here:

http://featured.matternetwork.com/2008/7/flooding-the-farm.cfm

Can't wait to read the discussion boards on this one. Can't touch this!

Maintenance Post

Not much new to report these days...it's hot here, but things are growing. Jon has a few flowers on the tomato and pepper plants in his experimental "bedouin tent" out back. The plants have withstood several days of strong winds and a heavy rain yesterday, so it looks like the tent saved them. Mostly, it was an experiment to see how natural windbreaks and shade might help the plants along, so we can plan where to plant trees and shrubs around the farm property accordingly.

Autodesk has given us the week off, but some of our plans fell through. So, just hanging around the homestead, maybe a road trip or two. It's kinda nice not having any plans.

Happy 4th!