February 10, 2013 – 7:00 am
Mid summer is a relative term. Where we are, high in the hills, Spring comes late according the calendar, but at just the right time according to our land. And right now, it’s mid summer. In the Milkwood market garden and all around us.
The tomatoes are everywhere, the cucumbers are going nuts, the beans are climbing, the corn is ripening and the eggplants are quickly being consumed. It’s also time to give back to the garden: putting nutrients back in as we take them out in the form of harvest. It’s all part of the great cycle. Read More »
February 5, 2013 – 7:00 am
It was bound to happen. The beautiful insanity that is tomato season on a small farm. Big ones, little ones, fat ones, skinny ones. We’re eating them with breakfast and we’re eating them with dinner. Plenty of preserving happening, too.
This year, it’s passata, diced tomatoes and roast tomatoes in the vacola preserving jars. Experiments are afoot for lacto-fermented tomato sauce also. Read More »
January 29, 2013 – 5:47 am
When we moved in to the tiny house last August, our design plans for our edible courtyard were vast, and immediate. It would be a riot of color and flavor in no time – citrus trees ripening in the microclimate of the east-facing gabion wall, feasts of greens, herbs everywhere, scenting the air as pollinators buzzed, and my child laughing and playing, surrounded by an oversupply of butterflies attracted by the many small flowers that would be springing from every crack we could see.
I expected all this to take shape by mid spring, or early Summer at the latest. Hey, we’d lived through the build and we had moved in. What more was there to do but garden?
Well, there was life and a farm and permaculture education to run, and egg-cup dinosaurs to make, as it turned out. We hope to realise the design next winter in our quieter months. But in the meantime, bring on the glory of potted interim gardening! Never have I lived in such a happy space. Read More »
January 23, 2013 – 7:00 am
The Urban Farming Guidebook is a free pdf resource for helping local governments to plan the growing of food in their cities. Given that we’re all about bottom-up action, we feel that it’s best placed in the hands of potential growers, so they can get on with creating local food systems!
And that means you. This guide was written for Canadian councils in BC, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting, or useful, for the rest of us. There’s 4 case studies of successful urban farms in BC, and plenty of inspiration and workable ideas for more… Read More »
January 13, 2013 – 7:31 am
Last year it was so easy, the carrots seemed to grow themselves! This year, however… not so much.
Carrots are one of those crops that, in dry summers like this one, need a lot of love and care from before they’re even planted, all the way through to harvest. Under Michael’s tender care the carrots are flourishing, but there were many tricks to getting them this far! Read More »
December 4, 2012 – 7:00 am
So we’re into year 2 of community-scale tomato production. Last year the tomato yield was respectable, hailstorms and fruit fly notwithstanding.
This year, we’re trying to hone our technique a little in terms of infrastructure, as well as planning to preserve the harvest while preserving our sanity. Read More »
November 16, 2012 – 7:00 am
I just wanted to flag something at this point in Milkwood Farm’s development, regarding food. You know, those beautiful shots we share of honeycomb on sourdough scones, home-cured bacon and fresh rainbow radishes. They look nice, don’t they? and they are. They really are.
Feeding crew and students amazing food, grown and cooked with love, is a huge priority for us here – for reasons of ethics, health and because we want to walk the walk on clean food, not just talk about it. But there is a flipside, as we’re discovering… Read More »
November 12, 2012 – 10:14 am
Field pea harvest time… this calls for a pea party.
While no longer common in supermarkets, podded peas are on the menu at Milkwood Farm this week. Michael sowed them as a spring crop that would both improve the soil and give a yield, before we plant our summer veggies of capsicum, tomato, eggplant and root crops. They are one of my favorite veggies… Read More »
November 6, 2012 – 7:00 am
If you’re looking for a good resource on the actual practicalities of taking on market gardening, get a copy of this book. It’s full of deeply practical insights and uses multiple small-scale, successful vegetable growers direct experiences as templates for it’s planting and financial guides.
In the ways of synergies, Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers actually recommends Allan Savory’s holistic goal setting (developed for Holistic Management of cattle, but applicable to many situations) as an approach to planning your farm’s financial management. Because if you go broke, it doesn’t matter how awesome your veggies are, you probably can’t keep growing them for a living. Read More »
