It took until lunch, but we were able to get it to look like this afterwards:
There has been some heat recently, which is helping the onions to bulb. Patrick said that when it's cool and rainy, the plants seem to put their energy into their leaves. However, when it gets hotter and drier, they work on their bulbs. Hence, there might be some onions soon! I am not really sure which ones are going to market or being grown for seed, but I hope we get to try some of the heirloom varieties that they are growing. One of the varieties is "rossa di milano," which is a rare variety that you can only get from a few seed providers in North America. They're supposed to be a tasty storage onion that is flat at the top, and pointy at the bottom.
After lunch, we came back and culled some garlic that has been afflicted by a nasty fungus. It seems to attack the bulb and the part of the stem that at or below the soil level. Here's what a healthy garlic plant looks like:
And here's a sick one:
When we removed these, we had to keep them separate from healthy plants. It was not safe to compost them, since that is just inviting the fungus back next year. For many people, this is the argument against organic growing--lower yields due to a farmer not having a full range of tools to fight disease. However, relative to the entire crop, we lost very few plants. It all added up to about 6 or 7 sacks that have to be disposed of off site. Since fungicide is not an option, their best defense is good crop rotation and making sure the plants get enough airflow. Across the whole farm, it's amazing to see how healthy everything is, and how few pests are affecting the plants.
One pest Patrick and Colleen have been wrestling with are a little bigger than garlic fungus. The deer have been sneaking into the field at night and nibbling on the lettuce. It doesn't appear that they've made off with too much lettuce as of yet, but if they don't get it under control, they're going to have some major crop losses. This is the first year they've had too worry too much about deer, probably because there used to be sheep on site, an electric fence around the perimeter of the property, and bison on the neighboring farm. The commotion from domestic animals and the fence most likely kept the deer away in the past, but no more.
At first, Patrick and Colleen tried sleeping in a tent at the edge of the farm where the deer appear to be entering:
Of course, this is only a temporary solution. They couldn't sleep out there forever. Therefore, Graham and I got to spend the late afternoon putting out some deterrents. We put out some 100% Certified Organic blood meal out in some plastic containers--the smell of a fresh kill apparently keeps deer at a distance. But we didn't stop there. We also got to put out some coyote urine, which also should keep the deer out:
We put the urine in some little plastic bottles that are tethered to wooden stakes at the edge of the farm. There are some holes in the bottles to let out the scent. And what a scent it is. Let me tell you, this is the foulest substance I have ever encountered in my entire life. But it was pretty expensive and stores sell out of it as fast as they get it in stock, so I think I might go back to Chicago to start a coyote urine dynasty. The stuff is liquid gold. Or golden liquid. Whatever. Here are the stakes:
Finally, if you were interested in what I wrote about local food and sustainable agriculture, you might want to check this link out: http://www.hardwickagriculture.org/. The movement is catching on! Here's another nice picture of the farm to end with:
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