Here’s what we’re doing at Faires Farms lately. Permaculture month is almost over, and so is my month-long project of a duck house and hugelkultur bed for the duck garden. It took me a while because I’m also doing all of the above. The 100’ high tunnel was added, which was much more difficult than the 40’ tunnels because it is so much taller. This tunnel cost us about $0.50 per square foot for about 2160 square feet and is made of wood and PVC pipe. The actual growing area is 1050 square feet because of 18” wide pathways. We reinforced the pipe inside with more 2x4s. It’s the beginning of June and we’re harvesting carrots, snow peas, kale, cilantro, escarole, green onions, microgreens, broccoli raab, beets and radishes.
Greenhouse #2 is almost done except the door. The raised beds are done, the paths mulched.
How do we use permaculture principles on a production farm? The raised beds will never be turned or tilled, we use natural mulches like leaves that come from our region only. We grow a diversity of crops, as many of them companion planted as possible. We build the soil, and conseve and reuse water. We grow year-round through the use of plastic in order to decrease our dependence on foreign production and petroleum, and we use no petroleum for producing the food, just delivering it. The real challenge is that as a SPIN farm, we have to travel to our farm plots. This is technically a Zone 3 area that we have to farm like a Zone 1 area in order to keep production high. To allleviate this we try to farm smart - using worms to help us compost faster and reduce turning, mulching, keeping on top of weeds before they seed, building the soil to make our plants more resistant, and putting in some timed irrigation. This is the future of food production.
For the curious, this greenhouse cost about $450 for 20 x 40. The basic materials are PVC, 2x4’s, and 6 mil plastic. It would not last well in a place that gets heavy snow, but it wouldn’t cost much more to invest in metal electrical conduit instead of PVC.
Things You Should Know About
The farm made an appearance at the Qualicum Beach Farmer’s Market today. This is Mike and Michelle, two of our farm workers who look pretty happy even though they had to wake up early.
It’s the spring market so we didn’t have much to sell yet, just microgreens and books and subscriptions. It was satisfying to do our first market of the season though.
It’s Easter weekend and everyone has some extra spare time so I thought I would share all of the things I have been absorbing that you should be too. First of all, our loyal farm worker Mike is also a talented musician. He just released his album Acrimony and it is truly amazing. Go take a listen on iTunes or Bandcamp and follow him on Twitter.
Our fellow island farmers to the south of us who run Saanich Organics launched a book recently.All the Dirt is a fascinating and useful look into the lives of three women farmers who have created a successful organic food business. It is filled with truthful stories of struggle and joy, as well as concrete tips that will help any beginning farmer get off the ground. Needless to say, I am really enjoying it, even though the very next day my youngest spilled watercolour paint water all over it. You know that new book smell that you love to savor for the first month? Gone. It is available from any online retailer, so I might just buy another one.
My own book, The Ultimate Guide to Permaculture, is still available for preorder from any retailer, many of them at a very low price. Order now to take advantage of all of that savings. If you aren’t sure what Permaculture is, it’s a system of sustainability that is designed to save you effort. Living self-reliantly and sustainably is undeniably more work than the mainstream lifestyle we are all used to. Permaculture is a way of getting there in a logical way, and my book demystifies it and turns it into a simple process.
I finally purchased my lovely friend Padmapani’s not-cookbooks. She is a raw food chef, and she and her husband converted a bus like we did. They live in Colorado now working on a farm and throwing amazing raw food retreats. I wanted to buy these recipe books because I just like Padmapani and H.H. a lot, but now that I have the books I am completely blown away. They are beautiful, the recipes are amazing and tasty and easy, and a lot of them taste like dessert but are absolutely good for you. It’s a miracle! Go to The Raw Seed to get these for yourself.
Speaking of raw food, I’ve been through a lot of different food adventures. I have experimented with raw, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten/casein free, mediterranean… I never stick to them completely, but they have all added important knowledge to my food repertoire. If you look through the blog archive you can read about some of it. I cook for an average of 8-12 people every day, and to try to do that with local and organic and whole foods from scratch is a supreme challenge. Adding to the difficulty is the wide variety of tastes and diets of the people who live here and the interns who are here only temporarily. One of the biggest challenges that I face is the cravings that my family and farm workers have for sugars, processed foods, and unhealthy fats. Totally depriving them of these addictions is the equivalent of taking away a smokers cigarrettes cold turkey, and the results are the same. It is a balancing act that never really resolves itself because I’m afraid people might kill each other.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, several people in the house have been having sudden health issues that can be blamed almost completely on diet. Soda, fast food, and high sodium snacks have taken a toll on people that shouldn’t have health problems at all, and it has been enough motivation to make some drastic changes. I feel bad for them but at the same time I’m rubbing my hands together and gleefully jumping on the opportunity to make our healthy meals even HEALTHIER! *evil laughter*
Organic fruit and veg made easy
One incredibly productive farmer in Wales grows produce worth £25,000 a year – and says you can copy him in your backyard
Primrose organics: a model of sustainability - audio-slideshow
Source: sustainable-sam
Some of the hoop houses, low tunnels, caterpillars… whatever you call them. I think I’m going to switch to calling them low tunnels. Now that spring is approaching we are really going full blast trying to get them all in and covered with plastic or fibre covers. This picture represents 2,160 square feet of growing space.
