It’s nearing the end of January, and here at Further Up Farms, we are gearing up for our second garden, but our first real season of selling produce: Summer 2023.
Over the past few months since we planted the garlic and put the garden to bed for the fall, we have talked a lot about what worked, what didn’t work in our 2022 garden in an effort to make this second garden better. It’s a steep learning curve. Some of us have gardened and farmed before, but not with these methods. We know some, but it always seems like never enough. The information is endless. We are doing our best to care for the soil and the pollinators, while also making the workload manageable for our (still very part time) farmers. The variables are endless. On the crops we didn’t have as much success with we found ourselves wondering; was it the seeds? The way we started them? The variable temperature in the greenhouse? Too much water? Too little water? Not ripe enough? Or perhaps too ripe? A fungus? Or a pest? What went wrong? What went right? And where it went right, how can we make it go right again?
So many questions. And we have some of the answers, but not all of them. It’s nerve wracking and crazy. But it’s also incredibly fun. Our team is our family, and as family does, sometimes we butt heads—but there is never a shortage of determined creativity that keeps us inspired and excited as we continue to move forward with a united vision for a place, and the beautiful food we hope to grow here for our local community.
The garlic sleeps away. And the farmers in the house plan and plot for squashes and cabbage, for lettuces and tomatoes. For green beans, and carrots, and scary numbers of cucumbers.
Spring will be here before we know it. We are working hard. And we simply can’t wait.
Some things we are excited for this year:
- Trying out Soil Blocking for our seed starts
- To try our hand (again) with onions
- Our Aquaponics System installation. (We’ve been working with a wonderful company called Aquaponic Source.)
- ALL. THE. LETTUCE.
- Seeing how big the garlic gets since we actually were able to get it in the ground in the fall this year.
- Tomatoes? Yes please.
- Sharing our love of delicious, sustainable, pollinator friendly veggies with friends new and old.