Phosphorous came out very low in our soil samples.  We had an average of 5ppm where 20ppm are recommended for most vegetable crops.  In the future we would like to have chickens on rotation in the fields since they have high P content in their manure, not possible this year so the rock phosphate will do the job.  It is organic approved but we are weary because it comes from a mine, has traveled, and came packaged because we do not yet have the means to transport amendments in bulk  (we have our eye on this truck , perhaps once we make a couple dollars).  Many studies have shown that there are up to 40% lower yield with P deficiencies so we figured it would be worth it and bought 1 ton.

It was cold, -20˚C, but we decided to apply it now since we will certainly be busy in the spring and once the snow melts it will start reacting right away.  We used our Earthway broadcast spreader, it was fun!  We added a little bit of bloodmeal to the rock phosphate so it would attract organisms that help to break down the phosphate to plant available forms.  Whether it will be around next spring I am uncertain since a significant amount of N volatilizes over the winter and made a mess of our outfits.   Tomorrow we are moving into our rental cabin which is 3km from one of the pieces of land with 1 acre and 6km from the 4 acres at the Tschopps up the Pemberton Meadows... Very exciting!  Happy New Year~

Organic Certification

We started our application for organic certification in November, and we have just recently sent off our last soil sample results. We were really encouraged by the whole process; it was rigorous and thorough, and the Verification Officer was unbiased but helpful. It's good to see certification is not simply jumping through hoops, but rather a thoughtful planning and verification process, so it feels like its a certification we can stand behind and be proud of... The whole process included making detailed maps of our farm, a concise soil input plan, a crop rotation plan, statements from the land owners, observations of neighbour's agricultural activities, soil samples, a visit from a verification officer and a lot more. Our land has not been sprayed in over 5 years, so we are hoping that the certifying body will grant us the 1 year waiting period for full organic certification, rather than the 3 year wait. But while we will be transitional organic until the waiting period is up, we will still be using 100% organic methods. Once we get full certification we can start calling ourselves "Ice Cap Organics"! That'll be great, we're really stoked on the certification and what it stands for, but we also think farming the organic way is the only way to do it, regardless of certification, so really it's a part of our belief system. We couldn't imagine starting a food farm knowing what we know, in this day and age, and not doing it organically...

Garlic Root-down!

It's been just over 3 weeks since we planted the garlic, so we thought we should have a look at its progress. We dug one clove up and it has some promising root growth. The basal plate, where the roots are coming out, had no roots at all when we planted it. It's been raining with enthusiasm in Pemberton, and it doesn't seem to be letting up soon, so the garlic is getting lots of water, and the ground hasn't been freezing for a while, so its a good time for the bulbs to by sprouting vigorously underground.

Soil Analysis

We got our soil samples back and we are busy reviewing what we have to work with. Its pouring rain around here so it seems like a good day to stay inside and get all nerdy with macro and micro nutrients. We're happy to see a good pH level of 6.4 where we planted the garlic, we made the right choice there, as the other fields are low at 5.5 and 5.7. It seems like we'll be making a few soil amendments, as we are low in a couple areas–but every apparent deficiency is within a correctable range, and the only crop already in the ground is the garlic, which we already added nitrogen and phosphorous to. So with lots of work and investments, we should have good growing soil come planting season. The information from these soil samples seems essential, we really would be diving in blind if it weren't for these, so its probably the best money we've spent so far. We used Pacific Soil Analysis, located in Richmond, and they seem pretty nifty.

Popped, Planted, Mulched–Our first crop is in the ground!

Yesterday we finished the garlic. It was a bit of a process. First we had to track down a large quantity of fine organic seed garlic; we ended up getting it from four different sources, some of them were local connections from the farmer's markets, and others were commercial seed growers like Salt Spring or Boundary Garlic. Then we prepped the land chosen for garlic, which was three 40 meter rows. Prepping involved adding organic blood-meal and rock phosphate to give the garlic a dose of nitrogen for the winter, and phosphate is good for bulb plant density and mass. Eventually, once the farm is more established, we will used our own composts.  After tilling this and some green manure into the beds, we measured them out, and drew 30 cm by 20 cm grids on them, which was our spacing for the garlic cloves. Then we hand planted over 3000 cloves and tamped them down to get good soil to clove contact. And finally we mulched the beds with straw to thermally protect the little cloves so they don't freeze and thaw too much over the winter. We referred to Growing Great Garlic by Ron Engeland throughout this process, and found the book to be pretty good. It was thorough and concise.  Next project... How will we, and can we, become a certified organic farm?

Popping Garlic

Delaney breaking garlic bulbs apart to get the cloves ready for planting. We will be planting several different varieties, like Music, Chesnok Red, Yugoslavian Porcelain and Armenian. The garlic will be going in the ground in the next couple days.

Cover Crops Growing

Our cover crop is coming up quick, despite the sub zero temps.

Soil Samples!

Soil samples from our fields. We are having them tested for nutrient levels in the big city at Pacific Soil Analysis Inc. to see if we have any deficiencies and to see what crops would be most suitable mmmmm, crops.  

Cover Crop's in the ground.

We seeded our cover crop a few days ago, it feels a little late, but my sources tell me it should still have time to take... We used a mix of mostly fall rye, some winter peas and a very small amount of hairy vetch. This mix is suppose to out-compete weeds, prevent erosion and nutrients from leaching out of the soil, and fix nitrogen. 

Putting in the first line

Here's Delaney breaking the first line on one of of fields with the BCS. The ground was really hard to break because it had such a thick sod root mass from years of hay production, but the Berta plow did the job...

Urban Garden!

Check out this urban garden in downtown Vancouver, its great to see these popping up all over in the city, hopefully it keeps happening. Apparently Vancouver city planners want to have 2010 urban garden by the year 2010. You can check out Vancouver Park Board's website for a publicly accessibe garden in your arera...

Poor man's tractor!

We got our tractor today, and we're stoked, this thing looks like it will till the land up like crazy. After a lot of research and thinking we decided not to get a 4 wheel tractor because they are a lot pricier, they compact the soil and they aren't as versatile for a farm the size of ours (5 acres). So we got a BCS 853 with an 11 hp Lombardini diesel motor from Joel at Earthtool. It has a PTO and can spin a whole bunch of different implements. These tractors are commonly used all over Europe for small-scale agriculture. For breaking up new land that has waist high hay and grass growing on it, and that hasn't been tilled in over a year, we will use the Berta rotary plow (shown above). Check out this video of the Berta plow at work. We'll post again once we start using it.

Breaking in the land

Anna Helmer came over to help us with the tilling, she brought her John Deere and rotovater over to get things done a bit quicker, so we can get our cover crop in soon.

We're starting a farm!

Here we go, we got some land to use and we're diving in. We've been dreaming about this for years and working towards this reality and it's finally paying off. We are so thankful to the land owners, who are letting use a good chunk of their land, which exists in 2 separate parcels of about 5 acres, in the Pemberton meadows. The land itself is beautiful, fertile soil. It is sedimentary loam from several millennium of flooding from the Lillooet and Ryan rivers, draining from the Lillooet and Pemberton Ice Caps. It is literally teeming with nutrients, and has never been sprayed or treated with chemicals. So now we are getting ready to prepare the land; cover crops and tillage, composting and planning out our fields... Alisha is still in full on school mode, as she works through her last full course load (7 courses!) at UBC in Agroecology, and Delaney is getting his hand dirty on the farm as he finished his degree last year. Its almost October so we have lots to do to get ready for winter to ensure we have good, usable land come spring planting season...