Visions of a Greener Tomorrow

June 20th, 2014
As my third week this summer draws into a close, the future is looking bright. At the farm we have plenty of plants growing,

 


So this growing season is shaping up to be a very green one for the farm. But it’s also becoming more obvious that the further future of LaFarm is going to be very green. As my research on farm infrastructure has gotten underway, the potential for expansion with even small additions to the farm makes future growth seem very within our reach.

Right now, I’m working with our farm manager Sarah, as well as my faculty advisors and now USDA extension educator Tianna DuPont to learn what I need to plan our packinghouse and greenhouse by going out and visiting other farms as well as doing some good old fashioned book learning.

So far, I’ve visited Pennypack Farm and Education Center in Horsham Pennsylvania. Their 12 organic acres were very nice to see up and running with the help of their Farm Manager Devin Barto and their interns like Jenny and Josh, whom I met and who were nice enough to talk to me about Pennypack and farming in general as I helped weed for an hour.

I’ll hopefully be making more connections with more farmers soon.

-Joe Ingrao, Excel Scholar 2014

Getting into Gear at LaFarm

June 13th 2014
As my second week of work closes, LaFarm is really starting to get its production underway. On the 9th, Eric, Jenn and I took a few hours finally filling in the herb garden around the gazebo at the center of the farm. Now we have a nice rock-covered herb garden growing basil, bee balm, and several other healthy, fresh plants to beautify our scenic outdoor break room and meeting space.

 

The cover crop that we planted just last week has already begun to push itself up out of the soil, and our peas and strawberries are ready to harvest!

We sold 2 ½ quarts of strawberries and almost three pounds of sugar peas and snow peas to Gilberts and Marquis, to be eaten right here on campus.

Our June 9th Harvest

Our June 9th Harvest

 

On the 10th, we planted 515 row feet of tomatoes! That was a whole dang lot of tomatoes. Varieties from various Heirlooms to Roma to Amish paste are all in the ground now, fully staked and ready to grow.

 

Tomatoes, freshly planted. Featured stake drivers are Jenn Ruocco and Kelly Carpency

Tomatoes, freshly planted. Featured stake drivers are Jenn Ruocco and Kelly Carpency

Flowers from the greenhouse, about to be planted

Flowers from the greenhouse, about to be planted

After getting so much produce in the ground, we planted 4 rows of flowers in the back of the garden too! Now we’ll have celosias, salvias, zinnias and several other flowers growing up and making the whole garden feel like home. To round out the day, we also planted leeks and thyme.

 

 

Taking a look around the Easton Farmers Market this week, I decided to take notes on what’s currently available in our area. Our local mushroom growers, Primordia Mushroom Farm, had 6 varieties for sale, white trumpet, white elm, shiitake, blue oyster, crimini, and portobella. The various veggie farms had for sale a long list: asparagus, arugula, beets, broccoli, bok choy, carrots cucumbers, escarole, fennel, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, onions, peas, radishes, scallions, and swiss chard, and anyone selling fruit is still just selling strawberries. As for the herb market, basil, cilantro, chamomile, dill, mint, parsley, and verbena were all around.

Also, this week my job gained a lot more purpose connected to the future of the farm. In conjunction with my myriad bosses, Professors Cohen, Reiter, and Brandes, and of course Sarah here, I’ll be doing my best to plan a packinghouse and greenhouse for LaFarm, so we can expand our production and get more people involved with growing organic and local. First thing I’ll be doing is going out to visit other small farms to see what they’ve done when they went through similar expansion. Keep a watch out for more about what we’re doing here!

-Joe Ingrao, Excel Scholar 2014

First Week back at the Farm

June 4th, 2014
After a hiatus for my second academic year at Lafayette, I’m finally working out at LaFarm again, and this year I’ll be out here a lot more, doing a lot more.

In only 2 days I jumped right back into work weeding, laying cover crop, planting and transplanting potatoes and asparagus, and watering our strawberries, rhubarb, horseradish, and pleurisy root. I also got to meet three of my co-workers for this summer: Jenn, a recent graduate and aspiring farmer; Kelly, a fellow rising junior; and Serim, a rising sophomore.

In just these two days, we have already done so much.

 

Rhubarb, under a tarp. you can see the leaves poking up where there's straw!

Rhubarb, under a tarp. you can see the leaves poking up where there’s straw!

Here is what will be, in a few years, a (hopefully very productive) strawberry patch!

Here is what will be, in a few years, a (hopefully very productive) strawberry patch!

And we cleaned up our new beds of rhubarb and strawberries.

Much of these patches just look like indiscriminate dirt with maybe some straw right now, but it won’t be too long until these plants are recognizable and even producing food. That’s the magic of agriculture, with a little help from humans, nature does the hard part (actually growing into food.)

I wasn’t able to post anything here until this week (the week of June 20th) so I’ll be posting everything up until this week right away, but from then on expect weekly updates!

-Joe Ingrao, Excel Scholar 2014

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed

Office Farmers

 

 “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

–Francis Bacon

Well, spring is here…but alas the farm work is still mostly being done inside.

Office Farmers

Our Volunteer ‘Office Farmers’ are Stuck Inside as Easton awaits a Spring Snowstorm

We must work with a force so great as nature, and oh there is work to be done at LaFarm… even if we are stuck in the office as we wait for it to dry out and warm up out at our Metzgar Fields farm.

Our great Lafayette College volunteers Ben & Julia were hard at work today. Ben was saving seeds from last years ‘Bling Bling’ Cosmos,  Organic Burgundy Okra, and ‘Bishops Children’ Dahlia.

office farming

Office Farmers!

Julia was busy inputting information in our AgSquared crop management database about the average number of seeds per ounce for specific crops.  These numbers are used to calculate our total seed order needs for the year so that LaFarm can grow as much fresh produce for the Lafayette College as possible.

Last year we grew over 1 ton of produce on our tiny but might 1/2 acre production garden.  Go LAF!

 

Time to Cut Back…

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Branches from the 2014 Pruning at LaFarm

Will you floss more in the new year?  Or, as Julia Child called dieting, is it in your nature to ‘reduce’?  In these days of resolving it is nice to step back and look with clarity at why we desire to reinstate order in the new year.  Is it the recovery from overindulgent holidays? Does the new calendar year help us make changes that have been on our minds during the daily routine of the year before?  Is it the hope of a clean slate?

In the cold zone 6B of LaFarm I like to see this time of year as a natural time to see underneath the wild summer growth of the garden.  I like to take a look at the bones of the production farm and see what is, what worked last year and what could be in the new season. Whether you make (…errr, or stick to your own) resolutions or not, it is a truism that this time of year is a sound time to look under the overgrowth and attempt to tidy up or pare down.

Tree Pruning Illustration by Kim Duffy

Tree Pruning Illustration by Kim Duffy

In the garden this tendency to make resolutions manifests in many ways, one of which is in pruning.  When the leaves are off the perennials, the roots are in a deep freeze and the beds are a blank canvas I can see how I want the garden to develop.    This vision stirs the desire to plan better and embrace the ambitions that seem so impossible in the heat of summer.  It is also a nice time to be reminded that a little cutting back now often leads to a bounty later.

This winter I was careful to prune the LaFarm apple trees in a stretch of weather free from forecasted warm spells, as pruning breaks the dormancy of plants and a warm spell can produce a false spring, taking a toll on production.  (Thanks to the folks at County Line Orchard in Kempton PA, for that info).

The Row of Fruit Trees at LaFarm, Planted in Memory of Brian Hendrickson

The Row of Fruit Trees at LaFarm, Planted in Memory of Bryan Hendrickson

I also looked to the Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening and the Mother Earth News article from Richard Korst, 1st published in 1976.  My pruning strategy was to clear away dead branches, open the tree up for air and light and identify and strengthen the central leader of our young fruit trees.  If a leader was not easily isolated I worked to train the tree to an open center form.

If you have some pruning to do this year, I hope this information helps.  If you have done your pruning already lets hope for a good harvest in 2014.  Here’s to a great new year!

 

 

Winter is soooo SWEET!

Emily and Maddie harvest a monster bunch of sweet winter carrots from their garden plot at LaFarm, The Lafayette College Community Garden and Working Farm!

Emily and Maddie, Lafayette Students,  harvest a monster bunch of sweet winter carrots from their garden plot at LaFarm, The Lafayette College Community Garden and Working Farm!

Have you ever heard that veggies are sweeter if they have been harvested after a frost or light freeze?  Better yet,  have you tasted hardy fresh veggies touched by cool weather?  If you have you know it is not in your head nor is it a myth.  According to Lora Bailey from Kentucky’s Franklin County Cooperative Extension Service, “Cool temperatures slow the internal respiration of the greens, allowing more sugars to accumulate, making them slightly sweeter.”  This is also true for carrots, and other cold tolerant root vegetables…they taste sweeter because they are ramping up the extra sugar.

 

True also is that most good farming and gardening takes place about a year before the garden grows.  Check out this simple and great guide to succession planting.  So as you plan your seed orders this year don’t forget your second successions and get some seeds to take your garden into NEXT winter!

Solstice Soil Test

2013/2014 Solstice at LaFarm
LaFarm Winter Solstice 2013

LaFarm Winter Solstice 2013

We all want to grow healthy vegetables, but do you consider how important it is to ‘grow’ healthy soil in your gardens, too?  LaFarm does a yearly soil test to see how our soil has improved or has been depleted after each growing season.  The test results also point the way towards how LaFarm can best amend the soil in the coming months.  Knowing your soil needs is a great way to apply the correct amount of the right micro and macro nutrients for your particular garden. Applying too few amendments may mean compromised crops and the slew of issues that brings.  Applying too much or the incorrect amendments may mean wasted money or harmful imbalances in your soil.  The Penn State Extension folks recommend testing your soil at about the same time each year, and to test regularly with no more than 3 years in between tests.

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A great day for 2013/2014 LaFarm Soil Test

A great day for 2013/2014 LaFarm Soil Test
LaFarm Winter Solstice 2013

LaFarm Winter Solstice 2013 Soil Collection Field B

 

The 2012/2013 LaFarm soil test was done on a mild December day during a mild winter.  This year the test was done on a rare thaw during our coldest winter in years.  It happened to be the solstice on the day that we could get into the soil and take our sample, and I may be inspired by that to start a traditional Solstice Day soil test.  What better a day to look back and plan forward than on the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun’?  The soil test was done by the LaFarm manager and a volunteer, with the help of the Penn State Extension soil probe, a useful little tool for proper soil tests.  When we get the test results back we will post them here.  It is important to get your own soil testing envelope kit and follow soil sample directions carefully.  You can test your soil any time of the year, spring and fall are often the most popular times.  Get all the info you need to test the soil at your farm or garden here, on the Master Gardener site for the Lehigh Valley.

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Some Spring Inspiration from the Root Simple Folks

Soooo getting back into the garden is exciting, right?  You’ve planned. you’ve dreamed, you’ve procured, and hopefully you have done some bed prep.

Greenhouse Starts

Celosia Starts in the Greenhouse LaFarm- April 2013

You may have forgotten how disheartening that first spring weeding can be, though, or blocked out the memory of the achy back that comes with planting the first round of spring onions.  This is the time of year, too, when those over flowing baskets of tomatoes do still seem hopelessly far away.  For a bit of inspiration check out this great video from the folks at Root Simple, a blog of urban homesteading.  It is a four minute look into a year long community garden plot and to me it sums up all of the joy of having a garden of one’s own.  Check it out:  One Year of Gardening in Four Minutes