The Hoop House is Making Vegetables

We planted the hoop house last week and there is already a ton of stuff coming up.  Radishes are coming up with a vengeance; the peas, kale and chard are just peaking through.  With some more sunny days on the way it should give everything a nice boost.  The mixed greens that we planted are also coming up and it won't be long before we are eating baby greens.

Mixed greens

Look at all those radishes
Spinach is just starting
Peas!
Green stuff! 
This is a tarragon plant that has spent the winter in the hoop house.  Tarragon as well as a few other herbs like mint and sage are perennials.

Lissa and I also started to get the gardens ready, did some weeding and getting some of the dead stuff out form last year.  In the next couple of weeks we will be able to do some planting and then not long after that we will enjoy Lissa's beautiful gardens once again.

Chickens!

In a yard about 4 miles from the farm, my boyfriend and I have decided to raise chickens.  He has a nice big yard and some serious skills when it comes to building things.  I have always wanted chickens and was surprised when I found out that he also has always wanted chickens.  The only reasonable thing to do was get some chickens.  We have been collecting little pieces of advice for the last couple of weeks and turning to the internet when we get confused.

cozy little nesting boxes
We started out deliberating over size and shape of the coop.  I wanted a picture perfect, cute and cozy coop; my boyfriend wanted it very functional. We finally came up with a design that we both loved;  Cute and cozy for me and easy to clean for him.  My boyfriend had a lot of lumber and random materials laying around so we did not have to invest very much into the coop; it was pretty much a gallon of paint, chicken wire and some hinges. It was really fun watching our vision come to life. 
We placed it in a semi shady area of the yard, chickens have a body temperature of 107 degrees so they like to stay cool.
A friends dad has been raising chickens for the last 6 years and was willing to sell us a few; since we don't really know anything about having chickens, we started with 6 established layers.  After we picked up the chickens and saw the operation they had...we realized we had a few more things to do before the chickens could get in the coop.  We needed a door, a light and radio in the coop, we needed to erect something they could roost on outside and most importantly some hay for the boxes.

Almost done.
Good looking birds!
 And then we got our first egg!!!

Awesome!

The tomatoes we started on Monday are up and growing quickly! We also have some broccoli and cabbage coming up. It is great to start seeing some green stuff again; I was really getting sick of white and brown. It will still be a little while til we plant the tomatoes in the hoop house; they need to be at least 6-10 inches tall.
Tomatoes
Asian Cabbage
Broccoli
John and I spent the morning building a few more troughs for the mixed greens.  I always like when something needs to be built because John always lets me use the power tools.  We needed three more to fill the rest of the row; we now have 140 feet of mixed greens/lettuces planted! 

 Just need to fill them up with soil and plant some seeds!

Planting

Drip tape is laid in all the hoop house rows
John made the rows and laid down drip tape, we will not be able to turn on the irrigation for a few weeks yet but we will be ready as soon as the ground is totally thawed.  We rigged up a temporary watering system with some hoses and sprinklers, it isn't ideal but the plants don't really care where the water is coming from as long as they are getting water.  Next, Lissa and I went in and planted peas, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, mixed greens, chard, kale, and lots and lots of radishes. The entire first hoop house is planted...and it is only March 14th!  It is amazing to think that this time last year I hadn't even arrived at the farm yet.

DONE!

Here We Go Again!

We have officially started the growing season!  I remember last spring it was cold and rainy and gross for the first month and a half I was working on the farm.  Not this year; I think it got up to 90 degrees yesterday in the hoop house.  John, Lissa, Grant, Christy and I spent the day starting tomatoes, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.  Since Minnesota has such a short growing season it is nice that we can start some crops early.  Starting these crops also allows us to give them an ideal environment for germination.  John set up a staging area for us inside the hoop house.  We purchased bags of really good/nutrient dense dirt.  Using this dirt will give the seeds the best shot for germinating and there are no weeds in this dirt...which is awesome!  
Dirt!
Flats ready to be seeded
Cherry Tomatoes
We started almost 1300 tomato plants!  We start this many to have plenty of plants for both of the farms as well as plants to sell at the farmers market.  We also factor in some loss; some seeds wont germinate or the plant will die before we can get it in the ground.  We will be keeping them in the sun room of the farmhouse so we can regulate temperature and airflow. We laid down plastic and set up tables, I will keep an eye on them until we can plant them in the hoop house



After all the seeds were snug and warm in there temporary home we head back to the hoop house to prepare it for planting; we did a little weeding and John tilled.  Tomorrow we will plant radishes, chard, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas.  It is so exciting!

The tools of the trade!
 I bet the tools are just as excited to get dirty, they have been laying unused in the garage for too long!
Tulips are growing quickly

This year we will grow all of our lettuce in these raised beds.  We filled the beds with the dirt we bought, this will ensure there will be no weeds.  It will be nice to have the beds raised; it will keep the slugs out and it will be much easier to harvest. I can't wait for a salad!

John also found the first two rocks of the season; I am sure there will be many more to come.

I AM SO EXCITED!

The farm is still covered in snow but the sun is shining and spring is so so so so close.  John and Lissa will soon return from a vacation in Mexico (well tanned and rested), and we will be starting plants and getting the farm back in shape for summer.  I went out to take a few pictures the other day...
It looks really cold outside but inside the hoop house it feels pretty good. 
As I was enjoying the warm hoop house...
TULIPS ARE UP!! This is super exciting for me, I don't know if you all know how much I hate winter. I hate being cold and I hate icy roads.  On the bright side; I surely enjoy spring much more having endured the long northern Minnesota winter.