New Beginings

We have dived into all aspects of Farming now.  We recently visited an animal auction in Vernon BC and we came home with more than we bargained for.  We ended up buying 2 goats & 2 sheep (which was expected) and one Alpaca (which was not expected) but he was going for $7.50 and nobody seemed to want him so we just said yes.  And now Sesen Farms will also be offering Alpaca wool.  After purchasing these animals it set off a chain reaction - we had to get the Alpaca a friend so we sought out and bought another Llama along with 2 more Ewes & 1 more goat.  We cleaned out the old barn that was on the property and let the animals into the heavy weeds in the barn yard.  They literally cleared out all the weeds in a 2000 square foot area in less than 2 days, so we are now working on a movable shelter to pull around the pasture so the animals can roam & eat all the weeds in the field.  We purchased an old camperized van today that we plan to turn into an "Egg Mobile", I know it sounds crazy but it's going to be amazing & a new definition of "Free Range Eggs" will be set.  We just received 125 baby chicks in the mail on Friday - and they are doing really well, we only lost 4 birds so far (3 during shipping & 1 freak accident).  Today we bought a Maremma Sheep Dog to protect the heard, her name is Luna (which means Moon in Italian).  She is the cutest, fuzziest dog...it was hard for us to put her into her new home but the lady who sold her to us told us that she would be out of place if we let her stay indoors since she has been outside from day one.  She is our new farm dog.  We have attended 3 farmers markets now and they have all gone really well.  We are selling our Lettuce to a few local grocery stores & to a few local restaurants as well as the farmers market.  All our plants in the field are going well and the weeds are out of control, if anyone feels like coming by to weed for a head or two or even three of Lettuce come on by!!  

The Oliver Farmers Market Experience

This morning we were up at 5:30 am to prepare for the Oliver Farmers Market.  We picked lettuce & fresh Kale.  We loaded up a small selection of Herbs & Seeds to take with us as well.  We did not know what to expect so we brought a moderate amount of product to test it out.  Everything went well!  We met a lot of local people that gave us good pointers on planting, selling & products for the future.  We sold out of the lettuce that we brought - but we were not so lucky with the Kale.  We found out that as soon as you cut Kale it needs to be cooled which we did not do, so halfway through the morning it was wilted & no amount of ice could revive it...better luck next time!  In the field we are about 3/4 planted.  Some pear tomatoes are already growing & the sun has finally arrived for good we think... the summer took a lot longer than usual to arrive but today it was 29 degrees.  All in all we were pleased with the turn out & the sales at the farmers market & we are excited to be there every saturday until October.  There are so many upcoming events for us to look forward to on the farm next week & so forth.  We ordered 100 chickens (50 layers & 50 broilers) and 25 turkeys.  It will be fun to raise them from babies.... we are also attending a livestock auction next week and we hope to add Sheep & Pigs to the farm (we need something to eat all the weeds we have accumulated in the pasture area). Stay tuned for next weeks events! 

The Final Big Move...

And here we are, official residents of Oliver BC!  It was a rough 6 months traveling back and forth from Vancouver to Oliver every 4 days trying to set up the farm & then heading back to our city jobs.  We finally made the big move, we are no longer with our city jobs & now we are full time farming.  It is a big risk to take... leaving comfortable, reliable work to farm but it is what we really want to do and what we really love doing everyday.  We have been here for a week almost steady and we have been working at least 10 hour days, sometimes 16 but it really doesn't feel like it.  The mild winter that Oliver had this year has been lingering... so the few heat loving plants that we planted are not doing so well but they will recover... plants are resilient.  Riccardo tilled the field with our tractor from the 50's that came with the farm and now we are in full planting mode.  We are doing things a little differently than most of the farmers in the area, we are companion planting without any plastic mulch or pesticides.  We have been using organic fish fertilizers to give our plants a head start & it seems to be just the key!  So we are well on our way in the fruit and vegetable department & up next is our biggest challenge ever, we have 100 chickens arriving and 25 turkeys.  We need to come up with shelters, feeders, coops & a plan on how we are going to care for these animals.  Basically we are going to build summer housing for them & use a greenhouse for winter housing... build portable coops for the egg layers & moveable cages for the broilers.  We are very excited to offer these birds organic feed & the opportunity to be real chickens and to forage all day on real land with fresh air.  So I think that we have our work cut out for us but it is the most rewarding so far.  Dave, Maria's father lives on the property as well and he is in the process of building a wheel hoe for us which he is calling Dave Jr.... hopefully this helps us out in the weed department because there are sooooo many weeds here to deal with & we are not using any chemicals.  Cheers until next week!

Thunder and Lighting on the farm

The past weekend was transplanting time, our neighbour tom told us that it would have been the best weekend for transplanting because of the cool day and a forecast of rain in the evening. So we did, 800 strawberry plants were put in the middle of the orchard to fully utilize the space until the trees get big and to minimize the amount of weeds in the orchard. Also in the field the lettuce is growing strong and tall. The chickens had a taste of the sweet lettuce and made us jealous. we planted lots of different varieties of ground crops, such as Tomatoes yellow pear and German, black beauty Zucchini , red pontiac yukon gold and norland potatoes, golden batham corn, and figured that we just planted an eight of our field. The raspberries are alive!!! after the hard work and the long wait we have new shoots on thirty percent of the plants which is a great relief. Here is Maria walking thru the lettuce and cabbage rows and in the background is our greenhouse tractor and truck it was an overcast day, and in the evening it turned out to be a thunder and lighting storm, which sure did water the whole garden and also the lighting fixates nitrogen into the soil which is extremely beneficial for the plants and one of the reason why crops grow overnight after a storm. Grow plants grow. Next weekend is going to be even more busy with the transplanting of the Beets and beans and more tomatoes and hot and sweet peppers very exciting anyone that wants to come and help is always welcome!!!

until next week. 

A few setbacks but still kicking!!

Last weekend we transplanted the Pea's.  We started 3 different types and planted around 600 feet so far in total 6" apart.  We soon found out that the wind doesn't help with establishment & growth of the peas.  A few days later we inspected them & the leaves are pretty dried out but they are still alive & there is still hope that they will pull through.  We experienced the most wind ever last week we even saw a small Tornado in the making behind the river about half a kilometer away from where we were planting.  It is very common for this type of wind we are now told...this is our first season in Oliver.  All the plants in the greenhouse are looking really good.  Tonight was the first night that we dined on fresh Kale & Spinach, it was so good!  It truly feels amazing to eat from your own garden and to know exactly what went into growing and producing the product that you are putting into your body.  This week we plan to finish planting the rest of the peas, lettuce & to install the second roll up side on our greenhouse for heat management.  We also need to spread out the piles of manure onto our field to prepare for major crop planting at the end of this month.  As we look to the mountains to the east we are told that when the last patch of snow melts than it is time for us to plant, that will be the sign.  We are a little worried about the 100 fir tree's that we planted last month, it looks like only about 30% of them show signs of new growth and the rest seem pretty fragile, dry & wind damaged.  We are doing our best to bring them back but we may have to chalk this up to a loss & a lesson learned.  Until next week!