Farming – Page 3 – Mason Bees and Phragmites tubes for sale

All in the Grain

A slice through a willow .. I took this photo of the patterns in a split willow. This summer we purchased a new wood-splitter along with our neighbours…now splitting wood is fun !!

The tractor pays its way again

In the last week I have been removing old diseased apple trees from the orchard, as we plan to plant new rootstock and better varieties.. Heres how the tractor helped in that operation

I find that using a raised bed with recycled windows for cover and planting winter crops in September is a great solution here for supply of winter lettuces and spinach for early spring harvest. Here is the process I used:
12 – 2’X2’concrete pavers were used and scrap lumber was used to tie it together

Used fence posts were carried to the garden

2×2 concrete pavers ware placed inside the post frame

The tractor fills the structure with compost which holds up the pavers .

when the pavers stanbd up, pieces of old lumber are used to stabilize the top of the pavers

Pine Nut Harvest

Well not much of a harvest yet this year but my two trees planted over 10 years ago have finally produced some cones..2 each!! They fell off near the beginning of September and now I am keeping them in a warm place until they ripen. The cones exude sap so its best to wear disposable gloves when handling. The key to transplanting Pinenuts is that you must scatter soil and needles from the ground around another pine… any variety, around the base of the new tree in order to inoculate the soil with the mycorrhiza necessary for growth.

There are many websites available with information on how to grow and harvest the nuts.

Apparently the real challenge comes in having to crack the hard casing of each seed in order to yield the nut inside which is prized for eating.

Strong west winds fell an old Pear Tree

While we were away, high winds brought a power outage for a day and this casualty: A very old Bosc Pear tree fell over. Today I sawed off the branches and hauled them with the tractor up to the pile for chipping and turning into compost. Some of the 4inch sized branches I have saved for future mushroom logs.

Kiwi Fruit Harvest

Picked the Kiwi fruit today to move in to the refrigerator so they will last through the winter.

This year we have had some of the largest Kiwi fruit produced here yet.

33 Kg were harvested from the 4 trees near the house

The long summer and a late release of Mason Bees for pollination have certainly helped

Final Stages- a catchment drainage pipe through barn pasture.

After thegarden fields were levelled, we got a heavy rain. However a afer a few dry days they were still able to finish the drainage ditch in the barn field and install heavy gauge 6 ” PVC drain pipe.

standpipe where drain leaves Alex’s field

water flowing before installing 6″ drain

Leveling the Field

Alex and the backhoe operator were trying to get the leveling done today before the rains are scheduled to arrive.

The Whole Field is Trenched now for Drainage

trenches are backfilled with topsoil while this clay is used to level the field later.

Clearing the topsoil in order to level the lower part of the field

Infilling and leveling with clay so from the trenches so that topsoil can be placed back on top

The roots of the pear trees travel horizontally over 10 metres and the roots of Garry Oaks on the south side of the field travelled even further

Farm Improvements: Drainage.

This summer, our son Alex and his partner Virginie have taken a year off for their Wind-whipped Farm , “the Local Food Box Project,” to improve infrastructure for their farming business. This week it has been the excavation of their garden area for the installation of weeping tile for drainage. The purpose is to allow them to get on the land a month or two earlier in the spring. I took this set of photos to show the extent of the job. It gave us a great opportunity to have a “window into the underground”, and see what the glaciers left 10,000 years ago.