Tag: Modern Farmer

Forget Miami peas; Forget industrial hemp; Optimize your Asian greens

Forget Miami peas

For years I have been mentioning “Miami Peas” in my presentations about cover crops. At the Carolina Farm Stewardship conference I was asked what they are, by Mark Schonbeck, who knows cover crops well. (This is one of the wonderful benefits of attending conferences – meeting peers and mentors, and learning new things.)
I said it is a frost tender cover crop pea of the field pea type (not a southern pea). I can’t remember where I first heard about this cover crop, and we haven’t been using it on our farm, so it was time for a reality check when I got home. I can’t find any reference to Miami peas apart from the ones I’ve made! I believe it’s a type of Canadian field pea, but maybe it no longer goes by the Miami name, or maybe it never did! It’s embarrassing to promote untruths.
Spring forage peas from Seven Springs Farm, Virginia

Pinetree Seeds says:

This short term green manure smothers weeds well and adds nitrogen and other nutrients to the soil. Peas are often mixed with vetch, oats, or rye as an effective cover crop. The sprouts are delicious and you can even harvest the peas themselves for soup. This annual prefers cool well drained soil and has no frost tolerance. Sow 3 to 4 lbs per 1000 sq. ft.

For clarity, here’s what I now believe:
  • “Forage pea” and “Field pea” are terms that include the  hardy Austrian winter peas, that we do use and are big fans of, as well as frost-tender spring peas, also known as Canadian field peas.
  • Canadian field peas are not frost tolerant and are sold by Pinetree Seeds. among others.
  • SARE lists Canadian field peas as Spring Peas. SARE is a very reliable source of information. They say

These annual “spring peas” can outgrow spring-planted winter peas. They often are seeded with triticale or another small grain. Spring peas have larger seeds, so there are fewer seeds per pound and seeding rates are higher, about 100 to 160 lb./A. However, spring pea seed is a bit less expensive than Austrian winter pea seed. TRAPPER is the most common Canadian field pea cultivar.

  • Other spring pea varieties are Dundale and Arvika
  • There’s also a tropical Pigeon Pea, Cajanus cajan, which can grow in the Southern US, but that looks pretty different, and I don’t think that’s what I meant.
Pigeon Pea flowers, Cajanus cajan
Photo Wikipedia

 

Forget industrial hemp

I have been alarmed at how many small-scale growers are trying industrial hemp. Partly I’m hoping it won’t cause a shortage in locally grown food! I also wonder how well an industrial field crop grows on a small scale, and how the growers would deal with the permits, the processing and the marketing.

Read this report from The Modern Farmer about how industrial hemp is unsuccessful for most growers and how the market is swamped with would-be suppliers:

Thousands Began Farming Hemp This Year. It Hasn’t Gone How They Hoped.

Optimize your Asian greens production

Here’s my updated slideshow on Asian greens, which I presented at the Carolina Farm Stewardship conference. 

Check their website for details about other workshop sessions too. I believe my handouts, and those of other speakers, will soon be available on their website.

Click the diagonal arrow symbol to view this full screen., and click the forward arrow to start viewing.

Senposai is our star of Asian greens. Here’s a bed of senposai outdoors in spring.
Photo Kathryn Simmons

Sustainable Farming Practices slideshow, Mother Earth News blogposts, Modern Farmer

Greenhouse interior with early spring seedling flats.
Photo Kathryn Simmons

I just got home from the Organic Growers’ School Spring Conference near Asheville, NC. On Friday, I gave an all-day workshop with Ira Wallace, on Year-Round Growing on the Farm and Garden. The classroom at Creekside Farm, Arden was packed. This farm also has an educational center, which made a great setting for our workshop. The weather was awful, so we didn’t explore the very wet farm much. We had plenty of indoor teaching material including show-and-tell. The funniest part was my Julia Child chicken-on-the-floor moment when I dropped a freshly -made soil block on the nice wood floor.

On Saturday and Sunday, I gave  my Sustainable Farming Practices presentation, which is now on www.SlideShare.net, and posted here for convenient viewing. Just click the diagonal arrow icon to see it full screen.

Now I have a couple of lovely days at home, working in the hoophouse and greenhouse. The crew is steadily composting more beds, sowing peas and transplanting endless spinach beds (our spring is short and then heats up, so to get a longer spring spinach season, we do all transplants.)

Summer Lettuce Nursery Seedbed with Concept, De Morges Braun, New Red Fire and Loma lettuces.
Photo Bridget Aleshire

My post 20 Tips for Success in Germinating Seeds in Hot Weather was #8 in the top blogposts for 2018. My newest post on Mother Earth News Organic Gardening blog is

We transplant all our spring spinach, to maximize the length of the harvest period
Photo Denny Ray McElyea

The Pros and Cons of Direct Sowing and Transplanting

One of the pages in our Field Manual, which we revise each winter.
Photo VABF

In early January I posted 13 Steps to Planning your Vegetable Garden

Elsewhere for interesting gardening and farming reading, I am enjoying The Modern Farmer an online and digital subscription magazine with lots of thought-provoking and useful articles. Some recent ones I really like include

Can Hydroponic Farming Be Organic? The Battle Over The Future Of Organic Is Getting Heated.

Does Milk Actually Make Kids Grow Taller?

Trump Administration Rolls Back School Nutrition Standards

Ten Great Farming Podcasts to Listen to Now

America’s First Cash Crop: Tobacco

Urban Gardening 101: How to Deal with Contaminated Soil

My next speaking event is the Virginia Festival of the Book,and then the Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville, NC. There I’m presenting Lettuce Year Round and Cool Season Hoophouse Crops. Here’s the probable schedule. This is a change from what I posted earlier. I”m replacing Cold-Hardy Winter Vegetables with a new one, Cool Season Hoophouse Crops.

Hoophouse beds in November.
Photo Ethan Hirsh

 

Winter Gardening and Farming Conferences and Reading

I’ve just updated my Events page with more details about the events I’m speaking at. Coming up really soon is the Virginia Association for Biological Farming Conference. Here is a flyer for it:

I’ll be offering a half-day (1-5 pm) workshop on Friday 1/11: Year Round Hoophouse Vegetables.

On Saturday 1/12, 2.30 – 4 pm, I’m offering a 90 minute workshop on Cold Hardy Winter Vegetables, and on Sunday 1/13, 4 – 5.30 pm a 90 minute workshop on Crop Planning for Sustainable Vegetable Production.  

I’ll provide handouts for all my workshops, and there will be book signings and sales after each workshop. You can read more details on my Events page or on the VABF website.

I’m having a busy January! The very next weekend, January 17-19 (Thurs – Sat), I’ll be at the 2019 Future Harvest CASA, at College Park Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. I’m offering two 90 min workshops, with book sales and signings after the workshops.

Lettuce Year-Round, Friday 1/18 2.00 – 3.30 pm and  Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers, Saturday 1/19 2.00 – 3.30 pm

And then January 23-26, 2019 (Weds to Sat), I’ll be at the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference, Little Rock, AR.

On Thursday January 24, I’m doing a 1 – 5pm Mini-course (4 hours) Hoophouse Production of Cool Season Crops

On Friday January 25, 8 – 9.15 am (75 mins), I’m offering Diversify Your Vegetable Crops.

Book sales and signing Thursday evening.

And then it’s February, and I’m on to the PASA Conference

February 6-9 2019 Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture. Lancaster County Convention Center.  I’m offering three 90 min workshops:

Sequential Planting of Cool Season Crops in a High Tunnel, Friday 8.45 am – 10.15 am

Lettuce Year Round, Saturday 8.45 am- 10.15 am

Succession Planting for Continuous Vegetable Harvests Saturday 10.30 am -12 noon.

Handouts, Book-signing, Recordings for sale.

——————————————————————————————————–

And if you can’t make it to these events, I have found plenty of good reading on gardening and sustainable agriculture.

Reader Anne Donley sent a link to this fascinating news from the Guardian.com:

Finalists for the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa prize reveal their designs, The team has shortlisted 16 African inventors from six countries to receive funding, training and mentoring for projects intended to revolutionize sectors from agriculture and science to women’s health. Some of the ideas presented include

  • Vertical vegetable growing boxes which grow up to 200 plants and  include a wormery! Wonderful step to more food security.
  • Moisture extraction from the air using silica gels, then solar power to heat up the moisture to provide clean water. Kenyan Beth Koigi  points out that

“There’s six times more water in the air than in all the rivers in the world. With every 1F increase in temperature, water begins to evaporate on the ground but increases by about 4% in the atmosphere, and that’s water that’s not being tapped.”

  • Gloves that translate sign language into speech

  • Smart lockers that dispense medicines.

Growing for Market January issue is out

The Organic Broadcaster is out

Gena Moore at Carolina Farm Stewardship has some great research on the efficacy of various biopesticides.

Modern Farmer is a good online resource for news. They offer a weekly digest via email, or you can go to their site and click on the stories you are interested in. Themes include Farm, Food and Lifestyle, Animal Heroes, News.

Hoophouse Many Crops slideshow, Hoophouse Squash article in Growing for Market, Modern Farmer

Here’s my Many Crops, Many Plantings slideshow from my shared Friday morning pre-conference intensive workshop at the Carolina Farm Stewardship Conference.

Scaling Up: Maximizing High Tunnel Production
Gena Moore, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, and Pam Dawling, Twin Oaks Community

High tunnels provide high-value space for growing various crops throughout the year, but maximizing production comes with challenges. In this workshop, Gena and Pam will discuss how to effectively use high tunnels to maximize potential. Topics include monocropping for wholesale production, diversified high tunnel production, and effective management throughout the year.

The November/December issue of Growing for Market is out, including my article on Hoophouse Squash and Cucumbers for Crop Rotation.

We transplant one bed each of summer squash and bush cucumbers in our hoophouse on April 1st. This gives us harvests a month earlier than the outdoor crops. It also helps us have a crop rotation (compared to tomatoes and peppers in all the beds every year.) We find that people really enjoy early squash and cucumbers, as a welcome change from winter crops, and a harbinger of what is to come. We end the squash and cucumber sin July, once the outdoor plantings are bearing well, and use the hoophouse space for cowpeas or edamame, usually. Summer cover crops would be another fine option.

Hoophouse squash between beds of tomatoes in July.
Photo Alexis Yamashita

A great resource I discovered quite recently is Modern Farmer. 

Lots of interesting article, including the good news for certified Organic growers that the paperpot system is now accepted under Organic regulations. See

Machine Makes Planting a Breeze https://youtu.be/J_ia4KpVLKs via @YouTube

Paperpot transplanter.
Photo Johnny’s Seeds

There are sections on animals, how-to, politics, videos, environment, lifestyle, recipes, food & drink, plants and technology. You can sign up to receive their weekly newsletter.

While at teh CFSA Conference I participated in the High Tunnels Bus Tour, and saw a whole hoophouse planted wall-to-wall with lettuces at 6″ spacing using one of these. For next week, I’ll sort out my photos from that event and also my visit to Potomac Vegetable Farms where Zach Lester is focusing on protected crops using hoophouses and caterpillar tunnels.

Lastly (how can I forget), my publisher, New Society, is doing a Book Giveaway on Facebook this week (starting Nov 15) with my new book The Year-Round Hoophouse. It’s on their Facebook page and Instagram. Enter a question, I answer it, and someone wins a copy of the book at the end of the week (very soon!)