Strange spring days

What a strange spring we are having! Rain, rain, rain. I'm behind in the nursery work this year. I'd say again but last year I was way ahead of this year's schedule. I'm also staring down the business end of a carburetor rebuild for dad's little Farmall Cub which I have sort of developed a mental block against. And my bro is still trying to find time to get over here to finish bleeding the fuel lines on the Massey Ferguson. Which means all these things cancel out since the ground is too wet to plow much less plant anything in. Weeks of rains still in the forecast too.

I've been reading a lot of other farmer's accounts of this spring so I'm not feeling too bad about where I'm at. Many of us struggling with wet and cold conditions. And I have got a fair number of maters and melons in the nursery, just running a bit late which might not be bad at all if they can't go in until June.

Fielder mountain is gorgeous this morning with vivid green growth and a parade of puffy clouds strolling along with a few storm giants in front of it.

The bluejays, doves, grosbeak, finches and sparrows have been busy at the feeder this morning. I'll have to dump them the last of this bag of seed and pick up another soon. I've got to say if you have fruit trees especially apple or pear which are bothered by coddling moth it really pays to keep feeders in your yard. The birds love coddling moths for a snack. The pear tree in our yard never has any coddling moth holes in the fruit.

Wishing you each and all a splendid spring day.

Waking up to snow

A lot of us in Oregon waking up to snow on the ground this morning. A couple flurries have blown through here but most of the inch or so we had has melted off already.

Mom's 2 new solar dancers (a dinosaur and a "whale") are rockin' and jiggin' on the back of the couch by the front window. I just came in from putting the heater in her car so it'll be toasty when she goes to the Needlers meeting later on.

A bunch of little chores on my list today. We picked up perlite and vermiculite at Grange Coop yesterday so no more excuses, I'll be mixing soil today. Gotta wash trays & pots too.

I-5 has been rumblin' crazy busy since about 5 this morning. I can see a bunch of silvery flashes from cars and trucks racing by. The rest of Fielder above I-5 is completely vanished in a wall of heavy fog.

In the midst of life's pains, fears and worries there is still time for comfort, small joys and humble pleasures; don't ignore them!

A glorious late winter morning.

Settling in for a lazy Sunday morning nap. Oatmeal & toast for breakfast w/ Ayurvedic Roast coffee substitute & hazelnut creamer, so yummy!

Was watching "Values of the Founding Fathers" on CSPAN but it got kinda boring after the opening speech. Mom watched "Knit & Crochet now" off the DVR then snoozed off. Easy Listening on the Music Choice now.

Dreamt about Sparky last night. We curled up on the sofa and watched "Peanuts" cartoons with Snoopy. 1st time I ever cried in a dream but Sparky licked my face and made me laugh.

I've been called out to estimate a big orchard job near Provolt this week, fingers crossed. Not sure how big, just told it was "many" trees, grapes and berries.

The yard is frozen and the birds are busy at the feeders. Mt. Fielder has draped a shawl of fog across its shoulders.

"Midnight at the Oasis" just popped up on my Spotify list. Boy, that brings back a long corridor of memories. "You don't need to answer, there's no need to speak".

Y'all have a super awesome late winter day :)

Almost done planting

Just have 1 last row of late summer squash to plant tomorrow and we'll finally be "laid by". A nearly mythical state wherein the amount of work to be done suddenly drops off. Last year I planted well into August but that was just because we started so late.

Just about everything is in flower, tassel has begun to emerge in the corn and the early watermelon are already bigger than a softball.

Lots and lots of weed control to do but between the craftsman rototiller and the ol' Cub cultivating tractor I'm staying a pace ahead. Was tilling besides the cucumbers when I had the delightful realization that I would not be fighting tall weeds to pick my cukes this year. Last year I had to spend so much time fixing automobiles and equipment it was a real mess. Still some bad nutsedge which will cut into production but at least I won't be shaking Johnson grass seed out of my hair.

Gotta head out soon, sure hope it's cooled down a bit. So very glad the ditch has remained full after GPID did some repairs earlier in the week (during our water days unfortunately) I'm just about caught up again.

If everything keeps clicking along at this pace we should be ready to open for sales to the public in about 2 weeks. Our 29th year!

A wonderful summer evening to you each and all.

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and watermelon

Thousands of linear feet of summer fruits and veggies planted, gotta prep some fresh corn ground tomorrow. Low water on Sunday not even a surprise. Mulch and driptape mounds are soakin' wet and plants are lovin' it. Gotta do a few more things in the flower bed but we've got sprout there too.

Busy Spring 2016

Been poundin' busy for just over a week now. So far have finished soil prep and planted Bodacious sweet corn, Incredible sweet corn, Jubillee watermelon, Black Diamond watermelon, Charleston Grey watermelon, Moon-n-Stars watermelon, 4 kinds of cantaloupe, Ogen melon, Crenshaw melon, Juan De Canary melon, honeydew, Collective Farm Woman melon, Table Queen winter squash, Butternut, Delicata, Buttercup winter squash, Witch-Kissed pumpkins, Howden pumpkins, Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins and about a dozen more oddball things like radish, turnips, parsley, okra etc. which I had leftover from last year and just piled together and intercropped with the pumpkins.

Next week I will be planting 3 kinds of cucumbers and summer squash and beginning soil prep for the later fields of corn.

Rock on with your bad self! :)

Hey EverybodY! Sorry it's been so long. This season's farming has been fiercely tough so I've had to direct all my energy into work. Harvest is well under way with only the tomatoes still holding off in turning ripe. A giant pile of cantaloupe, Ogen melons and Juan De Canary melons have been giving me sore muscles instead.

Here's a great article any of my farming friends might find interesting: "They tell me not to get angry. But if I am honest, sometimes I do. "

On the precipice of planting

Fingers crossed I will be breaking ground tomorrow or Monday. Got the Cub International clucking along like a happy hen so I can jump the gun before the Massey-Ferguson is out of the shop and run the disk across what I hope will be the 1st field of corn.

Greenhouse busy

Tomato plants are nearing 6 inches tall. Ogen melon working on their 2nd true leaf while Crenshaw, Athena, Hannah's Choice and Hale's Best cantaloupe are all starting to emerge. Peppers are also up working on their 1st true leaf. Many more trays of plants to come some different some the same.

Supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow so won't be doing any tractor work yet. The Massey-Ferguson is still in the shop but I'm really gonna try to run the cub this week. Can't wait to try the plow, disc and terracer tools that came with it.

We're getting 3-4 calls a week interested in the farm but so far no one terribly sincere. Seems like most people don't understand we are selling a farm not a house. Sure there is a house but it is incidental to the farm. That's why we're figuring on running another year or even two if we must. You don't sell an operation like this to just anybody :)

Plum flower have already started setting fruit, pears and cherries are in full blossom and the 1st apple flowers opened up today. Even got a few peaches and nectarines set on. Various bees, wasps and diptera flies have been crazy busy getting that pollen moved.

Hope spring is filling your senses with delight.

Savage Creek Farm for sale

7.68 acres
1780 square foot residence.
Deep well with new pump.
Remodeled barn & other out buildings.
40+ fruit trees ranging in age from 80+ years to new.
30+ cottonwood trees ready to be cut for mushroom logs.
100s of grape vines of many varieties.
Sales building & big parking lot.
Rich, healthy soil loaded with life.
Plentiful irrigation.

Spectacular view of Mt. Fielder and surrounding area.

For 44 years this little family farm has been a successful business in the Rogue Valley. The last 27 years our family has been lucky to live here. We have raised and sold tremendous quantities of some of the finest tomatoes, corn, peppers, cantaloupe, melons, yams, grapes, apples, pears, plums, cherries and more products too numerous to list.

Sadly we lost dad three years ago and the work load along with navigating the stairs of a 2 story house have just become too much for me and mom. So she has decided to sell and we are hoping to find someone who will not only love the place as we have but also take advantage of the business we will be leaving behind. Many local clients are accustomed to stopping here throughout the spring and summer months.

In the picture the house & barn are located near the bottom & the sales room & parking area are near the top left. North is to the top which is also the bottom of the hill a stones throw away from the lovely & very fishable Rogue River.

For more info contact guy@savagecreekfarm.com or call 541-582-2059 between 9am & 6pm Pacific time.

Metamorphosis

Big news at Savage Creek Farm! After 27 years of fun and frolic we are moving on to other pursuits. Our little family farm has never failed us but this 2 story house and its stairs are getting to be too much for us old folks. We're really hoping we will be able to find someone who wants to continue farming here and running our great little fruit stand.

Winter suspension

Still fighting some virus or other but starting to feel a little better. Moved some furniture around today and realized quickly how out of shape being sick has made me.  Been popping fevers whenever I do even a little bit of activity too.

Had part of a poem come to me in the dark last night:

Barefoot on the cliff of history
toes curled over the edge of the abyss
balanced above the void
the future vast expanse
beyond all visions and thought

Winter head cold.

A runny nose is soooo infuriating. It makes it hard to work, concentrate or be comfortably productive. It's disappointing that 100 years of intense medical advances, scientific breakthroughs and other modern marvels have never yielded anything like a remedy for this tedious suffering. The closest thing I've ever found is a pint of my mom's spicy salsa juice. It works great at reducing discomfort but only for about 40 minutes and I just can't drink it all day long, it's too spicy!

I spent the day moving wood chips and cleaning up around the place between bouts of self-pity and nose-blowing. Ma went to the Needlers in Rogue River for some social crafting.

Gotta go put in the pizza now, y'all take care and stay warm.

Happy 2015, all 7 billion+ of you.

Brought my baby Kiwi plants in before the hard frost settled in. I've got another 100 or so seeds waiting to plant in a week. If this cold doesn't hold, my potting soil is frozen hard.

Wishing everyone a happy 2015. Despite all the worrisome things, it is still a glorious world full of wonder and beauty.

Solstice solicitudes.

Wow! Around three quarters of a year since I posted here. Gonna stick a speed tag in my browser and start trying to write here more. Thoroughly fed up with reddit and Twitter, I would feel better shouting into my own echo-y tin can here. Paul McCartney is on the radio and I'm studying neural networks with Geoff Hinton via Coursera. Good stuff, I've worked with neural nets before, way back in the late 80s but so much has changed since then. Fun to stretch my brain a little but for the first time in my life learning something new is tiring. I've literally fallen asleep during several lectures and that should be hard because Geoff is a hoot. His sense of humor is subtle and deep. It's just a bit past the winter solstice and I'd like to wish you each and all a prosperous winter/summer (depending on your equatorial relationship.) a very Merry Christmas and an especially happy new year.

nothing like some time mixing soil in the greenhouse to restore my inner peace. Kinda feeling a little melancholy as I continue on with this years farming operation, suppose I'm missing Dad. But the melons, peppers, and tomatoes are sprouting good under the fluorescent lights in the plant room. Gonna eat my pork salad wrap for lunch then finish planting another tray of bell peppers and some ogen melons. After that the lawn should be dry enough for me to prune on the apples some more. Y'all have a rockin' great late winter day.

2014 underway

Tomato plants are a couple inches tall in the sprout room and the small greenhouse is prepared to receive them tho I still have some clean-up to do in there. Gotta get the seed order out this week, it's getting late with less than a month of winter left. There's been some snow in the hills but we're short of water. Nothing like the catastrophe faced by southern California and still a lot of rainy season left so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it will be enough.

So, so busy

It's still above 95 out there so I've taken a little time after dinner to flop down in the dark, cool basement. The season is finally starting to shape up. All the crops are dialed in so we'll have at least a little of all of our mainline products with at least 2 plantings of each variety. A few weeks ago I was on the verge of despair that we'd ever catch up but in the last week a lot of plants just sort of exploded. Now I'm in a panic to get my tomatoes staked and wired up before they sprawl beyond saving. With all the planting done my schedule has gotten simpler but every hour is still used up with things that should've been done yesterday. Stay cool!

Playing with the 21st century!

Donate Bitcoins Setting up my accounts and stuff to accept bitcoins. If I can talk mom into it we might be accepting these at the stand this year.

Minty wintery delight

Every few years I like to try a new endeavor on the farm. Last year it was beneficial herbs and teas. I even managed to get a tea Camilla which is still doing well. But last year was a pretty tough solo mission for the Guyman and I just barely managed to end up harvesting some miserly little piles and bags of leaf and flower. (nothing federally disapproved of, so don't ask) I was a little disappointed but I know these things aren't one-shots and settled my mind on other things while giving the tea thing a rest.

Just now as I came back from the greenhouse on a whim I stopped at the shelf where I dried my herbs. I gathered a nice bag's worth to half-fill a tea ball. Agastache, small leaf Japanese green tea [leaf and flower], Manuka, and Wintergreen berries. Agastache is sorta like minty catnip and Manuka has a sagey taste tho it's no sage.

YEAH! It's really good. Much of my disappointment has been washed away by this single cup of tea.

I hope your winter day has been surprised with some undisappointing delight too or will be soon. Rock on!