Farm Report: April 2006
by Erica Renaud

It seems like every time I sit down to write a Farm Report, I become obsessed with communicating about the weather. Today for example, I have opened the window to hear and smell the rain. I even called my colleague Emily Gatch, to bring the rain to her attention, and she exclaimed her exhilaration at the sound and smell of it. As I have harped on in many a Farm Report, rain is a novelty around here and at a fifty-year low; we are reacting to this reality by expanding our drip irrigation throughout the farm and have drawn plans for a water catchment system. Water collected from the roof of the seed-cleaning building will be gravity fed to the greenhouse, where the rainwater will be used to water our seedlings. The project is twofold, as the drought has expedited the need for this process. Our original intent was to address excess salts in our well water, which contains twice the maximum sodium level recommended for greenhouse use. Collecting rainwater will also enable us to harness a valuable resource during droughts.

Meanwhile, our early season seedlings of perennial flowers, onions, and peppers are vigorous and growing well under the care of Maria Rhodes, Greenhouse Assistant, and Emily Gatch, Greenhouse and Pathology Coordinator. Emily has been diluting elemental sulfur and applying it to our seedlings to mitigate the sodium impact. Thus far, the sulphur application appears to be functioning positively, but Emily contends it is too early to tell the longer-term effects. With over 1,000 yacon plants now being prepared for shipping, the greenhouse space will open up to later spring seedlings including over eighty tomato varieties and innumerable brassicas and herbs. By modifying ratios of peat moss to compost to coir to various amendments, Emily has continued her quest for the ideal potting mix. Through this quest, she has identified varieties that perform best under certain mediums but not under others. Overall, success in the greenhouse is continuing to improve, allowing us better potential results in the field and new products for the catalogue. Emily's 2005 research brought Fox Farm products into the 2006 Catalog; her research also brought us Down to Earth's Vegan Mix fertilizer for those of you who do not want any animal by-products in your potting mix.

Spring growth in the greenhouse means preparation in the fields and maintenance in the orchard. While Emily is concocting new organic solutions for seed germination, Field Coordinator Kelle Carter and Maintenance and Repair Coordinator Joe Martinez are modifying the irrigation system and preparing the fields. In April we planted our first seed crop for the year, Valencia onion. Bulbs grown by Colorado seed grower Rich Pecoraro arrived at the Research Farm in November, where they have been stored at 45°F and 90% relative humidity. The bulbs were then planted at two-inch spacing, two inches below the soil surface. Valencia, a yellow, sweet Spanish onion strain has a mild flavor and good storage life and has been very popular among those who appreciate slightly milder onions.

While the fieldwork is underway, the annual pruning of our fruit tree orchard came to an end. As part of a three-year restoration plan, our thirty-year-old apple, peach, and apricot orchard is once again being rejuvenated. While the trees have supported a multistory cropping system by contributing shade canopy to understory cover crops, their branches were overgrown and were beginning to breakoff. So, in 2005, we began the first phase of a permaculture plan: part of that plan was the restoration of our existing orchard and the implementation of a new one. In 2006, we will begin planting an organic fruit tree orchard that contains all our wonderful heirloom offerings such as Arkansas Black, Cox's Orange Pippin, and Pink Pearl apple trees. While this will be a long process and reaping the benefits of this investment are far off, we are excited at the prospect of these old, flavorful varieties gracing our fields, attracting beneficials, and providing further dimension to the farm. In the interim, the apricots have budded their wonderful pink, the peaches are now in full-white bloom, and the apples are soon to follow. Apple-budding time is sincerely one of my favorite seasons in northern New Mexico. As a fruit-producing area, the Española Valley is permeated with the scent of blooms, which tell us that if our peas are not five inches by now, we have missed the window.

External activity has now overtaken internal activities, but a remnant lot of Broad Windsor Fava Bean has consumed the time of Erazmo Marquez and Emily Skelton of late. Too large to be color sorted by machine, the lot gets a gravity screening followed by traditional hand picking (accompanied by random Mexican music ballads and the voice of NPR). With the last seed lot of the season cleaned, Emily Skelton found the time to study and prepare for her first exam for her Registered Seed Technician Course through Colorado State University. We are very proud of Emily as she finished top in her class with a 100% grade. Go girl! This is the first of five exams of the two-year training that Emily will receive to attain the certification. She will apply this training to her seed cleaning and quality work at Seeds of Change, where she manages the cleaning and seed-health testing process.

Well, the rain is calling, and while many of you might hide through such a downpour, those of us in the dessert want to dance in it!

Happy singing in the rain!
From Erica Renaud, Research & Farm Manager,
and the Staff of the Seeds of Change Research Farm

Photo Captions: (1) Emily Skelton, Seed Cleaning & Quality Coordinator, pulling pure seed samples to attach to our Seeds of Change Grower Crop Standard Operating Procedures. (2) Emily Gatch, Greenhouse & Pathology Coordinator, checking yellow, sticky pheromone traps for insect populations in the yacon production area. (3) Erazmo Marquez flaming the acequia ditch that has to be maintained on an annual basis to support the local irrigation ditch system (4) Erazmo Marquez sorting through off-types in fava beans looking for wrong colored seeds.