Back at it on the Barn

Shortly after the first of March MDK came back and started replacing the missing and damaged siding on our barn, then moved on to removing the damaged shingles at the gable ends.
We tried unsuccessfully to acquire more grant monies to complete the barn project. We met this winter with our employees and I pitched a number of different projects for the farm to pursue this season. Everyone got behind completing the barn. With limited funds available I begged and pleaded with the contractors, and volunteered myself and dedicated some field crew to try and get the exterior finished. While MDK replaces the shingles we scrape and replace siding and trim.

MDK finished the East gable today and we have prepped the North and South sides for paint. By the end of next week if the weather cooperates the old girl should have a fresh coat of paint to match the house.

Against my Better Judgement

Well, despite the fact that I have been a hold out against season extension, and have always advocated shortening the season to a point that we actually only farm for a week to ten days in the middle of September, after the heat of summer has passed, I was finally prodded into erecting some inexpensive cold frames. We set PVC pipe at 8 foot intervals and have covered roughly 8000sq feet.

First we prepped and fertilized the beds, then we planted out early lettuce and green onions. Everybody got in on it; some planting, some tilling, others setting posts and anchors and still others building sand castles.
The design borrows heavily from a Kentucky County Extension design and gains most of its strength from the use of earth anchors and rope. Thank you Tim Coolong for your help and your patience.
I have to admit I am pleased with how the structures turned out and excited to see how well they work for early crops and even more so how they will help with some of the heat loving crops that we just barely get away with in the North West like tomatoes and peppers.

Here we go Again

Well here we go again. I have not posted for some time, in part because many of the activities here at the farm over winter are less than exciting. We meet a lot, we set schedules, order seeds, define and refine job descriptions, make tons of copies, meet some more, brainstorm, perform maintenance on equipment, create budgets, meet some more, evaluate employees, reorganize, refine our safety program, attend meetings (meet some more), create advertising, stare and compare the farms performance relative to years past, then meet some more.

Then suddenly one day we seed in the greenhouse. Then, usually in mid February we get some unseasonably warm weather and all of a sudden it feels like spring. Our greenhouse is starting to overflow with plants, we will begin moving flats to greenhouse 2 this week. Patrick and I could not stand it and went out and seeded some early greens, then went back and seeded an early planting of roots; beets and carrots. We often experience less than ideal germination followed by weather that makes these early seedings impossible to manage successfully but our fingers are crossed. Everything in the field is nesteled under a layer of row cover and early indications show much better germination than expected. We have weeded the perennials and garlic and have a good jump on early cultivation. Yesterday I signed with our house contractor and this week we will begin prepping the barn for paint. We will be repairing and or replacing all the exterior trim and siding and should be painting late this month or early next; more on that as it happens.

Above you can see Boistfort peak sporting a dusting of snow this morning. Local lore dictates that you not plant a garden until there is no snow on Bawfaw. But well, I never have been a good listener.

Thomas Jefferson on Agriculture

Having spent a full half hour trying to craft a clever introduction to the following quotes, I give up. They stand alone; thoughtful, timely and inspiring.

"The class principally defective is that of agriculture. It is the first in utility, and ought to be the first in respect. The same artificial means which have been used to produce a competition in learning, may be equally successful in restoring agriculture to its primary dignity in the eyes of men. It is a science of the very first order. It counts among it handmaids of the most respectable sciences, such as Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Mathematics generally, Natural History, Botany. In every College and University, a professorship of agriculture, and the class of its students, might be honored as the first. Young men closing their academical education with this, as the crown of all other sciences, fascinated with its solid charms, and at a time when they are to choose an occupation, instead of crowding the other classes, would return to the farms of their fathers, their own, or those of others, and replenish and invigorate a calling, now languishing under contempt and oppression. The charitable schools, instead of storing their pupils with a lore which the present state of society does not call for, converted into schools of agriculture, might restore them to that branch qualified to enrich and honor themselves, and to increase the productions of the nation instead of consuming them." (TJ to David Williams, L&B.10.429-30)

And another thing:

"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever He had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIX, 1782. ME 2:229

Boistfort Valley Farm Voted Wildlife Habitat Steward of the Year

Boistfort Valley Farm has been recognized by the Lewis County Conservation District for our efforts to enhance diversity and maintain habitat for wildlife here on the farm. We have been working with the Conservation District to plant and maintain a riparian buffer bordering the South Fork of the Chehalis where it flows through the property. The Conservation District has provided us a grant which reimburses us for the trees and labor, as well as provides incentives for the ongoing maintenance of the project. It has been a very real pleasure to work with this organization. It was a hoot to attend their recent Board meeting, and an honor to sit in a room full of such dedicated local farmers and others.


Apart from being instrumental in facilitating this project, the Conservation District is an excellent resource for information and grant funding of other projects. They provide information, technical services and cost share opportunities for projects which keep land and water healthy and productive. Their services are available to farms and forestry concerns of any size. http://www.scc.wa.gov/ The Conservation district works in partnership with a host of other County, State and Federal entities such as; Farm Services, USDA, Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service, and the Department of Ecology.

I would also like to thank the Conservation District of Lewis County at this time for their help and support after the flooding of 2007. Through a special appropriation, the Conservation District offered reimbursement for expenses to repair and replace irrigation equipment, to replace perennial plants, and to clear and rehabilitate lands damaged by flooding on the farm.
Thank you.

Just When I Thought I could Stop Crying

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Back to Work

Once back we celebrated the New Year at the local Grange with a potluck, music and dancing.

Then we set to work on the seed order. We have always done this at the dining room table with seed catalogues spread everywhere, notes from last year and lots of snacks. It is about a three day affair to complete the order and Heidi is inside faxing and phoning in the orders today.



In the mean time we service and maintain our tractors and field trucks, inspect and repair the delivery vehicles and generally go through all our equipment and facilities and effect the repairs for which a hectic summer schedule does not allow the time.



Last but not least, operating on the premise that man does not live by bread alone, I have dropped a high performance motor in my old 1967 Ford pickup. This motor, combined with an antiquated chassis and running gear makes for a profoundly dangerous combination of horsepower and poor handling and braking. The gentleman who built the motor suggests that I only use the truck to go to the store. I look forward to the challenges and eventual outcome of a project of this nature. I have had this truck since I was 25 and will endeavor to restore it in stages over the next year or two. More later.