Upgrading the Infrastructure & Adding

Two major “buildings” have been added to the farm since January. The first, a high tunnel, is an unheated greenhouse that allows us to extend the growing season in both the spring and the fall and grow tropicals including ginger and turmeric. We received it as part of a grant program from the National Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The second, a shipping container, will serve as storage and work space. It was just delivered yesterday and will take some work to create windows and man doors.

As for crops, the sun porch in the house is filled with Bob’s seedlings: herbs, greens, tomatoes and flowers. Some of them will get moved into the high tunnel to grow. The grant requires that crops in the tunnel be planted in the ground.

I allowed my ginger and turmeric to stay in their pots until the end of December. Once they were harvested, I gave them a month to dry. I cut the ginger into small pieces, being sure that each piece had a few eyes, and dipped them in clorox water to sterilize them. They dried for another week or so and then I planted them in sterilized one gallon pots that included sterilized dirt, mushroom compost and peat moss. The pots are now in a small greenhouse in an upstairs room. They’ve been sitting for three weeks and I haven’t seen any sign of life. I’m tempted to dig one up to see what’s happening under the ground.

I decided to sprout the turmeric outside of dirt. I cut the roots off the original rhizome and laid them in a tray. I’ve been spritzing them with water to keep them moist and a few are showing signs of life.

Here are a few photos and one video of the shipping container:

Spring 2017 Farm

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