Brining it home

2008 - Year 2 In Review 

While there are still a few things to finish most of this year’s activities have ended. Here’s a recap of what happened, both good and bad.

Probably the development with the most long term effect is that I now have a core of agricultural equipment.  Last year I purchased a tractor attachment that allowed me to make a raised bed, lay an irrigation line, and plastic mulch.  This year I purchased a water wheel planter.  With this I can quickly plant my transplants.  I was also able to purchase a new tractor with a bucket, tiller, and front forks.  Now I do not have to worry or waste time with mechanical breakdowns.  I can ready my soil for planting and I can move skids. The only downside is that I now have a monthly payment.

You are reading this on my web site which was also new this year.  Admittedly it suffered from lack of updating during busy summer season. I promise that that will not happen again.

While I was disappointed that I didn’t get the roadside stand open, I did participate in two Farmer’s Markets. The first was the Hertel Avenue Market and the second was University of Buffalo North Campus.

Two culverts were completed.  One gave me my own access to

Thanks to Cooperative Extension I was able to attend workshops on such topics as irrigation, soil blocking, financial record management, marketing and organic farming.

I was able to expand my vendors.  I purchased seeds from South Africa and European seeds from a specialized US vendor.  I will add a list of links to my site.

Probably the event that will have the biggest effect is my change of residence.  When Sean Manning and I purchased our parts of the farm from my mother he ended up with all the buildings, including my old home.  I was living in Williamsville, NY a Buffalo suburb.  While this was a wonderful place and I appreciated my dear friend providing me with a home, it did mean that I had a ½ hour commute to the farm every day.  Now I am 5 minutes away.  I moved in August so the move did not have a major effect this year but it will in the future.  Also I now have the space to start my seeds without relying on Mr. Buetel’s greenhouse.

The year was not without disappointments. One was the weather.  Here in Western New York there was not much of a summer. Few were the hot days.  Nonexistent were the hot nights.  Hot peppers get much of their hot from hot weather. Rainy days outnumbered dry days.  Planting could not be done in mud especially with that new transplanter with 150 gallons of water.  As a result not everything was planted and what did get planted was under increased disease pressure.

The wet weather also brought difficult cultivation and excessive weed growth.  The growth was overwhelming, especially between the plastic rows.  The problem was not the weeds as they exist every year.  It was the amount of cultivation required to keep them under control and the resulting time requirement.  But this did enforce my need to change my thinking from manual to mechanical. I have a wheel hoe. Especially when set correctly this makes cultivation very easy.  But ease is lost as the weeds grow and many trips down the same row required.  I purchased a tractor cultivation attachment.  Time was spent on fine tuning but in the future this task will be just as effective but much less time consuming.   Another example occurred when I was removing the plastic mulch.  I started pulling it up by hand but changed to using the tractor.  But I did not succumb to herbicide use.

Rocks and stones were another problem.  The machines that would make this an easy process are beyond my means.  My tractor rake removed too much dirt.  I have to do much more thinking on this one.  Any suggestions are appreciated.  Hopefully you won’t see this next year.

Things I hoped to accomplish but didn’t get done included moving and completing the hop house, opening a roadside stand, building solar dryers, and no winter cover crop.