The Storm: Act II

Hey America, Kohlrabi King here, bringing you inside the world of a whipstoner, giving you all the latest news, grooves, and gossip from the heart of Arizona's most visited city, yup, you guessed it, PAULDEN!
I have had some time to reflect since the last time we spoke, and i have come to a conclusion. Although the snow slowed us down some, we actually didn't get behind too bad. now is the time to plant some of our crops for a second time, and after checking some dates from last year, we were only a few days behind on our Greenhouse tomatoes. There was a point last season when we had planted some things too close together and our succession was not as fluid, which can be just as bad as being late. So, you could say the snow kept us on track, somewhat.


The other thing that is funny about the snow is this: plants that are established LOVE IT!! Its hard to be too upset after a storm, because everything is just so GREEN!! One chore we knocked off the list was cutting down all of the perennial growth on the asparagus plants so there is plenty of room and energy for those new shoots. And believe it or not, its already coming up!

Left: Dont worry America, this asparagus came up and then froze. there will be plenty of straight plants to come. 
Right: Then I ate it.

So as plants are popping out of the ground, rabbits are nibbling them the next day, and weeds get bigger. But it is an exciting time of year, and i dont know about you America, but i am ready for another kick-ass season from the people who bring you everything from Japanese Salad Turnips to Winter Squash to Sweet potatoes (new this year!) to Chilepenos to Swiss Chard. Until next time, this is your host, the king, signing out.

Dont be Ranonkulus

The day of the daffodil is upon us

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.

Multi-Purpose Sheep

The farm allows for a certain amount of escape from the current social climate (my life is vastly improved with the absence of Santorum and Romney infiltrating my psyche), but we cannot run from this global climate change!  This lazy Sunday marks day two of my Spring Training sunburn recovery; so imagine my surprise when we awoke to a fresh snow cover.  And it's still snowing, but not really sticking. Skip spring showers and go straight to frozen ground – fingers crossed our hearty transplants survive.

Babies!

Speaking of springtime, we have so many baby sheep.  Jude, our dashing resident ram, is doing some serious work.  He has a good dozen little ones baa-ing up a storm.  Nature is not always kind, however.  There have been at least two complicated births.  In both instances, the baby was twisted the wrong way inside the mother and its shoulder was caught.  Whoever was around and had the smallest hands – with the right experience – did their best to pull out the lamb, sometimes using a hay tie for leverage.  The first time, we thought the lamb was a stillborn, but the little guy – who was actually huge for a baby - pulled through and the momma took to it right away.  That bond that occurred after the birth made all the difference.

Momma still has a hard time standing, but two days later they are doing well.

Baaaaa

The second momma sheep was much smaller than the first making the birthing process more traumatic.  Because of this and whatever other processes of nature, she didn’t care for the lamb after it was born and, if not for her domesticators, wouldn’t have let it nurse.  In any case, the momma didn’t make it.  There was a slight chance the other new momma sheep would adopt the babe, but she had her hooves full with a growing boy.  Unable to nurse and unprotected from the harsh elements, the baby soon followed its momma.

Olive isn't pleased but Jasper enjoys kisses.

“And so it goes” - Kurt Vonnegut (and personal mantra of the Whipstone interns).  The new baby will start to vie for territory in six to eight months, just in time for the end of the year party where there will be numerous hungry mouths craving rack o’ knobbly-knees.

Knobble Knees - cute and delicious