What's Going On in the Greenhouses?

We've been so busy in the fields lately that I feel like I've almost forgotten about the greenhouses. A couple of weeks ago, we went in and cut down all the grass, cleaned things up, and reorganized, so things are looking good.

Most of our starts have already been transplanted into the fields, but there's still some cool stuff waiting to be planted.











From top to bottom, those are beets, corn, red sails lettuce, freckles romaine lettuce, and more romaine lettuce. There's a good chance, however, that I'm off on those lettuce varieties.

And speaking of greenhouses, I went on a farm tour of Haliburton Farm near Victoria and was hot-diggity-dog impressed with some of their greenhouses. Here are some photos of a couple of Farmer Ray's greenhouses and healthy looking veggie plants.

Tomaterly Hills 90210

Apprentice Tim and I transplanted some tomatoes into the older greenhouse the other day. We tried to get them in a straight, mounded row down the middle of the greenhouse. The row has three different varieties of early season tomatoes and the plan is to eventually have rows of strawberries on either side, too.

Here's Tim showing off his mounding and raking skills. The soil in the greenhouse was nice and fluffy because Farmer Brock had just tilled it.

A line of drip tape along the top of the mound will water the plants:



As you can see, our row's a little bent. I blame Tim.



And in other news, Tim and I have taken to watching episodes of the original Beverly Hills 90210 in the RV after a little dinner and maybe with a couple of Cariboos. (See? The title of this post isn't just a lame tomato mound joke/early 1990's pop culture reference.) We've watched a few episodes from the very first season and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We especially enjoyed the pilot episode which featured a short-lived Jason Priestly mullet, a lot of talk concerning Kelly's summer nose job, and Steve Sanders' drunk and loutish behavior at a party where everyone else in attendance appeared to be drinking Pepsi.

The next couple of episodes, truth be told, were a little disappointing. We were pretty close to giving up on the whole show, but thankfully we hunkered down and watched an excellent episode where Brandon lost his virginity and that ended with a spirited game of pickup basketball between he and his father. Who knew the two-handed layup and blind, over-the-shoulder hook shot could be so effective?

5 Photos From Today

1) It was a little muddy today.



2) An older, currently unused greenhouse. Freshly tilled!



3) Near the end of the day, this strange upside down rainbow appeared way up high in the sky.



4) A greenhouse ready for bed - plant starts covered in remay cloth for extra warmth.



5) Did I mention there's a lot of mud on the farm these days?

Greenhouse Madness

Despite some crazy winds and uncooperative vapour plastic, we finished building a greenhouse today! It's around 48' X 23' and according to Farmer Brock, the farming bossman, the materials are easy to find and cost less than $500. Not too shabby!

The weather is still pretty chilly and rainy, so the greenhouse is needed to provide a warm home free of ravens and bugs for all the vegetable seeds. Once they've had time to grow and the weather gets better, they'll be transplanted into the fields.



In other news, I'm learning to tame that majestic orange beast that you see grazing behind the greenhouse. I'll provide photo evidence some time soon!