2010 Tomatoes

Posted on January 20, 2010 by itfarmer
Test Tomatoes

Test Tomatoes

I’ve started six tomato plants; partly as a seed test, to ensure the seeds I’ve saved from last year will germinate, and partly to get a super early jump on the season. I plan on setting them out in the greenhouse around May, each in a large bucket.

Here is a list of the varieties growing:

1.) Cherokee Purple

2.) Cold Set

3.) Yellow Brandywine

4.) Roma

5.) Striped Tomatoes from China, name unknown

6.) Golden Girl

I made my own seed starters. You could buy the Jiffy pellets, but it would be cost prohibative for me to order so many. My seed starters are the bottom part of a styrofoam cup. I simply cut the top two rings off. I also poked some holes in the base to let the water in.

2-5-2010: Updated the photo with a newer one, that shows more detail.

Posted in Tomatoes & Peppers | 1 Comment

Rooting Cuttings

Posted on January 19, 2010 by itfarmer
An Elderberry Cutting

An Elderberry Cutting

Seeds aren’t the only way to start new plants, another method is cloning. With cloning, you basically take the genetic material from one plant, seperate it from the donor, and encourage the cuttings to generate new roots.

I have been expirementing with cuttings all winter, with some luck. I started when it was time to prune the fruit trees, and “planted” hundreds of cuttings in my grow room.   There are a few “Jonathan Apples” cuttings that I am very hopeful about.

Some plants are exceptionally easy to propogate, such as grapes, tomatoes and  elderberries; while other plants are exceptionally difficult to clone, such as fruit trees.

The basic steps involved with Cloning are:

1.) Find a good cutting by selecting canes that have several “buds” on them. This is the location when the plant starts to grow out of. Try to get two or three buds per cutting.

2.) Prepare a mixture of Miracle Grow and peat moss, half each in the mix.

3.) Poke the cuttings into the mixture.

4.)  Mix water with a “rooting hormone mix”, and use this solution to water the cuttings. (I used Miracle Grow Quick Start Transplant Solution.)

5.) Mist them. The greatest cause of failure for cloning most plants is lack of moisture.

Here’s why I am very happy today:

A "Jonathan Apple" Cutting.

A "Jonathan Apple" Cutting.

Out of hundreds of failed clones….. This one might just make it = )

Posted in Cloning / Propogating, Fruit Trees, How To's | 2 Comments

Repairing the Floor in Mom’s Barn.

Posted on November 7, 2009 by itfarmer

Mom’s barn lies in the heart of the farm, half way between my garden and George’s pigs. It was built in the late 1800’s, and is in need of some work. The basement floor was in particularly poor shape, and needed to be repaired.  A bunch of us family members decided it was time to repair the floor, so we started chopping out the old cement, only in the places that were damaged.

Old Barn Floor

Old Barn Floor

 Above, Mom surveys the current progress. I can’t help but notice the disappointment this picture portrays. We were all unsure wheather replacing the whole floor was a good idea, but we all finally decided that it wouldn’t be worth the effort unless we got a new floor from our work.

The Kids spreading cement. I'm the one on the right...

The Kids spreading cement. I'm the one on the right...

Davie started out as guy leveling the cement, but I soon asked to be taught. Before I knew it, I was the cement leveling guy, and I had some very eager helpers. This was our first floor, but I think the kids did a great job ! By the end of the day we were half way done.

Half-Way There

Half-Way There

 The cement is done now, and construction has changed into building new horse stalls.

Posted in Building and Construction, People | 3 Comments

Davie’s Barn all Finished.

Posted on November 2, 2009 by itfarmer
Davie's Barn all Finished

Davie's Barn all Finished

Here’s Davie’s barn all finished. There was some friendly disagreement about which way the doors should face, when I was there at the same time as an Amish man. The Amish put their doors pattern on the inside of the barn, and so their doors looks like the rest of the building. Davie put the crossbars on the outside of the door. Personally, I like the pattern facing out.

In the photo above, we just finished throwing hay from the truck, up into the second story of the barn for storage.

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The other end of the farm…

Posted on September 8, 2009 by itfarmer
The other end of the Farm...

The other end of the Farm...

My brother George, who lives literally, on the other end of the farm. As I have been learning gardening, he has been learning how to raise pigs. He looks quite proud of his harvest, and I must say, home grown food always tastes better.

The food on the grill is from his efforts, but we don’t yet process the food ourselves. We still truck it to a local meat processor where professionals do the work.

Posted in People, Pigs | 2 Comments

The Ridge Piece

Posted on August 22, 2009 by itfarmer
The Ridge Piece, which Finishes the Roof

The Ridge Piece, which Finishes the Roof. Photo by Nate D.

I was going to use aluminum flashing to cover over the ridge of the roof, but luckily, Davie had some left over ridge pieces from his barn project. They were a bit awkward to transport from Davie’s to my house, in of all things a Chevy Cobalt. Imagine following me down the road with this giant chunk of metal sticking out from my trunk. 

In order to get up there to secure it down, I constructed a temporary ladder, and secured it to the ground. Then, all that was left was climbing up on top, without breaking through the roof, or worse, falling off the roof.

The string in my hand was used to lower the drill back down to the ground.

Posted in Building and Construction, Greenhouse, People, Tools | Leave a comment

A bittersweet harvest

Posted on August 18, 2009 by itfarmer
A Bittersweet Harvest

A Bittersweet Harvest

A nice harvest of tomatoes to be sure, but I bet your wondering why I didn’t let them rippen on the vine ? This year has been terrible for gardens in the area, with rainy weather, a lack of much sunshine, and word of the Late Blight traveling far and wide. I’ve picked these tomatoes green, in the hopes of saving my harvest altogether. 

Edit 1/22/2010: The late blight hit the tomatoes in my garden a few weeks after this photo. They were all destroyed. Luckily, it has been cold enough this winter the kill the Blight spores.

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A Symbolic Step

Posted on August 16, 2009 by itfarmer
The first piece of Polycarbonate Sheeting Secured

The first piece of Polycarbonate Sheeting Secured

I used some 2 inch wide boards from the barn as a level roof base, and it took the majority of a Saturday to nail them down. I was working in the HOT sun, and I knew my back was going to be bright red, but I had to secure at least one plastic panel before hanging up the tools for the day.

So there it is, The roof is finally starting to come together. Now, for some Aloe Vera, and nice long nap…

Posted in Building and Construction, Greenhouse | Leave a comment

Trail Time

Posted on August 12, 2009 by itfarmer
Trail Time

Trail Time

In the picture above, Sandy teaches my niece  the basics of the Equestrian Arts, i.e., Don’t Fall off = )

 These days, I’m not much of a horse person, but before I got my license, I had a horse named Casper. I didn’t ride him into town, or to the mall, but we did spend a lot of time exploring the woods. He was an old horse, but loved to run, and he was so well behaved that we didn’t fence him in. He would roam the yard, keeping the grass short, but when the sun was low in the sky, he would happily come running home. In the morning, we set him free, and in the evening we would provide protection from the unkown. If only more things in life would work out as well as that arrangement with Casper.

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Long Range Plans

Posted on August 7, 2009 by itfarmer
Long Range Plans, Blueberries

Long Range Plans, Blueberries

George bought 30 little blueberry plants, and here is their home. Each was planted in 2008, and they are slowly growing, some of them a even a bit taller then the stakes used to mark their location.  It may take years before we get a harvest, but what a harvest it will be !

Next to the blueberry patch, you might notice the Grape Trellis. George planted his grapes in 2008, a year before I got the grow grapes bug.

In the background is Mike’s treestand, used for hunting deer. We have never really been hunters, and year’s ago, Mike and my Father came to an agreement about the stand. It’s a very well built building, and It’s quite fun to climb up in and enjoy the view. Their is another stand on the hill over looking my garden, also with a beautiful view.

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