In the world of Bare Hands Farm…
Greetings, everyone! I hope you all are finding a way to stay cool in this hot, dry heat and that nobody is being directly affected by the Sockeye Fire. We live in a fragile environment with lots of burnable fuel lying about. It’s times like these that remind us to clean up our properties of all that dead timber to try and diffuse the potential for out-of-control fires, at least around our homes. And to always be careful of ignitable sources in this kind of weather. It doesn’t take much.
Anyhow, sorry for the delay in the newsletter this week. It’s been busier than ever on the farm.
Greens: I think it’s safe to say that sowing and growing the perfect amount of micro greens throughout the season of ever-changing demand in Talkeetna in the summer, will always be a work in progress. With that said, I am indeed already out of greens in this first harvest of the week, with all of the new weekly orders that are coming in. Of course, I’m sowing much more seed and scaling up, but there’s a lag time of at least a week or 2 to get to where you want to be. Very sorry to anyone who was wanting greens in the early days of this week, but there should certainly be some available this Friday at the Farmers’ Market, and then tons from there on through the rest of the summer.
I am going to undergo an extra harvest, probably tomorrow or Thursday, to accommodate a few other weekly orders and there may be a few extra bags, so if you are in need, feel free to get ahold of me and inquire in the next couple of days. Otherwise, some see us at the Farmers’ Market on Friday.
Eggs: Although we don’t have micro greens today, we do have a few dozen eggs for anyone who may want some. Let me know if you’d like me to reserve a dozen for you!
Farm News: Most everyone around Talkeetna has been taking measures to beat the heat and farm plants and animals are no different. The low tunnel poly for the micro greens needs to peeled back as early as 9am before they start to roast. The ducks have been splashing around in their pools and bins of water and especially enjoy showers from the hose. Samson the goat has been spending much more time in his shady shelter. And the pigs have definitely discovered their instinctual behavior to wallow! It’s a great activity for them to be doing, and to do it where they’re doing it, for a number of reasons. Mainly, it is their way to regulate their body temperature, and also because they’re at work building us a pond (see above)!
“Gleying” is the act of forming a sort of film on the surface (or subsurface) of the soil, that in time, becomes impermeable to water and seals itself from the draining of water, in turn, forming a pond (of course, if there is a big enough depression in the ground at that spot). What we’re doing is using the pigs and their behaviors of wallowing, mucking, and otherwise disturbing the soil to the point where it seals itself off and begins to fill with water. At least that’s the hope. It can also be likened to the “Brazil Nut Effect”, whereby if you shake a container of nuts, the biggest nuts (Brazil nuts) always rise to the surface and everything underneath would settle in tightly on itself. Same idea of pigs and soil and gleying a pond. When the water is slowed enough, then that ground stays wet long enough and with enough organic matter (i.e. pig stuff and spent grains) anaerobic microbes will begin to populate the area and finish the sealing. We’ll let you know how it progresses, or better yet, just come check it out!
The other big projects is, as mentioned, animals structures. We’re very much looking forward to getting the animals out back and doing their thing. Here’s a sneak peak at it finally taking form (see above).
Tuesday Petting Zoo at Bare Hands Farm continues tonight from 5-9pm. Come out and see for yourself what we have going on at the farm. We love visitors!
Thank you so much for your support and please contact us with any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions.
– Graham and Mindy