The Storm of the Century: Act 1

The youngest son looks out, pondering the fate of his family's farm in this post-storm state.

ATTENTION: This is your author speaking. Real Name - Dylan Walsh O'Brien IV. Code Name - Kohlrabi King. Reporting from the remote desert regions of Paulden, Arizona. Current Location - Whipstone Farm, Latitude: N 34° 51' 33.0833", Longitude W 112° 29' 34.8173" Current Star Date: March 25, two thousand and twelve.


Dear America: Im sorry it has taken me a week to get this blog post out into the world, i am a procrastinator by nature. 

Just when we think we are on schedule...The instant we think that nothing can stop the massive-farm-momentum we have spent weeks building... The moment I think, "what could possibly slow us down now?" We have a snow storm, and the all-important field work is put on hold until the ground is dry enough to get the tractor back out there. We squeezed in a planting of carrots, green onions, and radishes before the squall hit, and rolled out burlap to help keep moisture in the soil for the seeds that take a long time to germinate. 
So with rubber boots on our feet, we set out to find other projects where mud wouldn't be a factor. there is always lots of seeding to be done for our future transplants. It is not an easy task managing the succession dates of our various crops; this being an ever-evolving process, we are forced to constantly rethink when, how, and where to plant and not plant. we keep plugging away on the new greenhouse, trying to get it ready for our early tomatoes. The sooner the better. There is a mountain of paperwork that seems to be growing bigger with each day, but at the peak is a new piece of property! If all goes well, we could be breaking ground in the next week or two.


SIDENOTE: I am passionate about my work on Whipstone Farm, and i strongly believe in the local food movement and providing people with fresh, local veggies. That said, there are times when i wished we didn't have to be so dependent on fuel or plastic, but these are the choices we make to provide as many people as possible with local produce in the system we have created. i certainly cannot imagine being at this scale of production without a tractor or plastic mulch or drip irrigation. In case you are wondering where i am going with this, here it is:

BROADFORK-A tool used to manually break up densely packed soil, like hardpan, to improve aeration and drainage. 


We have had issues with drainage from our raised beds in the big greenhouse, along with compaction and high clay content.  So i took our broadfork and loosened the soil in order to prepare them for our first planting of tomatoes! As i forked around for a few hours, sweating profusely and cussing at the hard spots, i felt a certain satisfaction from using this tool that came before the tiller, disc, or plow. It was nice to not feel bound to some form of fossil fuel. It was refreshing to connect with the more primitive roots of farming. I hope we can continue to try and reduce our carbon footprint, but i believe if this is the system we are apart of, it is a heck of a lot better to buy your food locally.