This week or so in Wildlife
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Its springtime and the living world is very busy. We’ve had our usual (visual) contacts with lots of animals and plants on and around the farm in the past week.
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Weathering the Storm
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The sound of thunder, both rumbling and cracking, are familiar to our ears at this time of year. Lately, so is the Wheatland’s storm warning siren 3 miles away, that we can just hear on the farm. This has been a very wet and cool spring so far, and now these weather events have become somewhat more concerning. Our town got a little tossed around this last week.
Read MoreYes the rumors are true...
/Yes, the rumors are true. . . after nine years, we will be no longer have our tent space at Brookside Farmers Market. In fact, the Saturday May 25, 2019 market will be our last at BFM.
Read MoreThe Business of Farming
/Like all businesses, our farm business faces many challenges. Making our outputs (total income) exceed our inputs (total expenses) on an annual basis is daunting. Farming must always deal with ever different seasonality and weather issues among other factors, which in Missouri, creates a fairly long period between growing seasons without any fresh produce or fruit sales. We are in that long stretch of winter right now, the time every year that can devastate a farm business that needs cash flow to pay the bills. Budgeting is critical of course, but spreading out income streams and generating “off season” sales and cash income is also vitally important to the success and survival of our farm business.
Read MorePlanting Hope on the Farm
/When it comes to farm planning, our eyes are always bigger than our stomachs when thinking about all that we can accomplish in the coming year. But isn’t that what farming is all about, hope? A seed is a perfect metaphor for hope. All the possibilities for a plant are contained in its seed. That is what we build our farm plan around. We start with thinking about the markets we will be selling to and then work our way backwards until we arrive at the types and number of seeds we will need to plant in order for our plans to have any hope of success.
Read MoreOxygen Please! Pond Management
/Our pond is small; maybe a 70 foot by 50 foot oval, and only about 5 foot deep in the middle. Located about 100 feet from the house and close to the road, it is very useful for keeping the ducks and geese occupied and more comfortable throughout the year. They seem to love it. They forage in it, clean and preen their feathers in it, both cool off and keep warm in it, and do a whole lot of socializing in it. The water is sometimes a thick brown liquid, although it does contain frogs and minnows.
Read More"and that's the way it is..."
/This week we took a trip up north for the annual Great Plains Growers Conference (GPGC) in St. Joseph, MO. These types of annual farming related events occur during the winter months across the country, in an effort to take advantage of an increasingly short and rare “season off” for farmers. Unfortunately the threat of winter weather forced the cancellation of the first day of GPGC workshops this year, and Friday and Saturday enjoyed very cold temperatures. This conference is our first choice for attending because of its focus: growing and selling food in the KC area and the large amount of research-based information.
Read MoreThawing and Wet!
/Farming and weather have always been closely linked, so we were very happy to finally got a decent rain. Slow and long, we recorded 0.69 inches of rain over Sunday into Monday’s dense morning fog and drizzle. The low temperature of 30 degrees made it feel almost balmy,...
Read MoreFrozen - Week 1 of 2018
/We are in the middle of our seventh year here on our farm. It’s the coldest winter so far, and we are in the middle of a couple larger projects that are part of our “first 10 years on the farm” plan for the farm. The metal sided barn is being converted into our food handling, processing and storage facility by adding electricity, water, equipment and refrigeration to it. This project is nearing completion. We’ve also broken now frozen ground on our third high tunnel, and are hoping for a January thaw that will allow us to complete the 96’ by 30’ tunnel soon. The barn project will enable us to handle, store and sell more of our produce and fruits every year. The newest high tunnel enables us to rotate our annual crop production more effectively.
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