What did we do today? We direct seeded 16 beds of squash and cucumber. That took a few hours. Then we had an amazing, and very impromptu, workshop on soil with geologist John Slack (sp?).
Our previous soil workshop was excellent and gave us all the right foundation for what we learned today -- which was a whole lot more. John worked his talk around the soil profile he extracted from the ground using his "dutch auger" (I reckon that's a decent bad band name, or at least lead singer). He explained how taking soil for a soil test from only the first foot is really only worthwhile if you're trying to sell someone fertilizer -- instead, everything down to the "parent layer" is extremely important. He explained different nutrient cycles, the importance of calcium, limestone formation in southern Ontario, what goes on in each soil layer and how they're formed, how soil life adapts to the nutrients available, and on and on. Such an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guy. After learning all of this stuff about soil I'm starting to wonder why I'm not going into soil sciences (seriously!).
He also recommended this site: www.soilandhealth.org as a good resource.
Anyhow, after lunch we put down drip tape for the beds we had seeded, and we covered each of them with floating row cover. There's something very beautiful about seeing the field broken up into even lines like this. (Pictures coming). There's also something vaguely creepy -- it seems incredibly unnatural and somehow... disfiguring... like putting masking tape over someone's eyes.
After that Ali prepared beds for tomorrows seeding, and Jeff and I talked irrigation. He'd like to use sprinklers over part of the field (the early root crops and peas) so that we don't have to run drip tape. I'll have to write more about drip tape, but basically the way we're using it makes it extremely painful. Mostly because we have to keep removing and putting it out again and again, each time the beds are cultivated (by hand or with the tractor). Using sprinklers would save a lot this hassle.
2 comments:
Hey Jon!
Long time no hear - and then Jeremy tipped me off about your blog! It's good to see your northern hemispheric face again and hear all that you've been up to as we begin the slide into winter!
Joel (Adelaide, SA)
Sheesh. Joel! My northern hemispheric face is smiling in only the way a northern hemispheric face can! Well, I'm glad you're both here following along. I hope you and Jeremy are well, and same with the whole Adelaide gang (*ahem* CERESSA gang).
You know, I think people at the farm are getting sick of me saying, "on the farm I worked at in Australia...", or "In Australia, a bunch of us, ..."
I miss you guys!
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