Thursday, April 28, 2011

Breakup is upon us!

A week of warm weather has melted virtually all of the snow in my clearing.  I am starting to uncover my grapevines, prep my vegetable beds, and clean out my greenhouse.  Budbreak on the grapevines is still a month away, so I have plenty of time to tend to other tasks before I will need to focus on them.

It looks like the resident moose munched on my currant bushes.  They are now only 6-12 inches high, rather than 2.5 to 3 ft.  No worries, they will grow back in no time.  I'm thinking of starting some more currants from dormant cuttings.  They are amazingly easy to propagate!  Just stick them in the ground and keep well-watered.  In fact, I might have another White Imperial bush started from a cutting I stuck in the ground last summer.

I am also in the midst of planting lots of seeds for my plant sale that starts May 21st.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to commit as much time as I needed, so some of my seedlings will be a little behind.

I am seriously contemplating purchasing a tractor, so I can get more done in less time.  I have tried to keep expenses down, but the flip side is that I don't accomplish nearly as much as I need to each summer.  I have some 200 grape vines from last summer that need to be planted and have about 150 more that have already arrived or will be arriving next month.  All of these will require lots of digging, not to mention some stump removal.  We will see how it all works out.

I'd better go get something done!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Farm website

Don't forget to checkout my farm website at www.solitudespringsfarm.com

My first blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I have wanted to set one up for over a year and it has finally happened!  The topics of this blog will be related to my farming ventures.  I currently operate a very small (1 acre) farm and "vineyard".  I will post developments from time to time, as my journey into agriculture in the far north takes shape.

I started the farm three years ago.  Each year I sell flower and vegetable seedlings in May and June.  I also sell produce from July through early October.  Two years ago, I decided that I would start growing grapes. What a learning experience it has been!  A lot different from growing grapes in Fresno, CA, where I grew up.  I also grow raspberries (who doesn't here in interior Alaska?), strawberries, currants, and rhubarb.  With a new summer almost upon us, it will be interesting to see how much I will be able to expand my operation.  I will post again soon with pictures, so you can see my farm!