Amending Soils

The questions are flowing in almost faster than we are able to handle these days on Joesfarm.blogspot.com. No need to worry, we will find a way to answer the questions in between harvests and crop cultivation. Our latest question was submitted to us from Jim OC who is representing the bitter cold northeastern United States of America.

Jim OC, The northeast of the United States of America is a region that I am all to familiar with. I am a little concerned for your farm this coming season. In a perfect world you would have turned that lawn over last fall and mixed in some manure or perhaps some leftover leaves and other organic materials and just mixed that into a big hot steaming pile of dirt and organics. This way you give it the winter to join together in the form of healthy, nutrient rich soil that will turn out some of the finest vegetables east of the Mississippi, north of the Mason Dixon line, south of Oswego, and northeast from Marcellus. Long story short, they would have been delicious, nutritious, and bountiful.

You are going to be alright. You are blessed with good soils in the northeast, so if you heed Joes Farm advice everything will come up aces.

At this late stage of the game Jim OC this is going to be my personalized game plan for your farm.

Step 1 - Just dig up that grass and maybe use that to start your compost pile.

Step 2 - OCRRA is the location http://www.ocrra.org/yardwaste_sites.asp and get as much compost as you can carry, wear cargo pants and put some in your pockets. If you have it available bring a wagon, or you could go to the local nursery and purchase some compost from them.

Step 3 - Extract the compost from your person and wagon from step 2 and till it into your field.

Step 4 - Stop! and let it sit for a few days to a week to settle in. while this is under way make sure to plan the farm layout.

Step 5 - Farm Time! - Plant your crops

Step 6 - And then eat your crops

Step 7 - Redistribute your crops. Your farm is so abundant that there is no possible way that you could ever eat that many vegetables.

Step 8 - MMM, Solve world hunger.

JimOC, if you ever get into a pinch and forget a step of the plan just think JoesFarm and you will remember. It is proven to work. Look at this carrot harvest from Joes Farm.

Joes Farm Carrot Spokes Model of the Year 2011

Congratulations Susan!!!

Joes Farm Fans

I would like to take this time and valuable web page real estate to spend some time answering a user submitted question. The question is from Larson & Sons Farm in Baltimore Maryland. Larson & Sons Farm asked about the different varieties of wood that was used in the construction of Joes Farm. Larson & Sons Farm has been a supporter of Joes Farm from Joes Farms inception. While Larson & Sons Farm is thousands if not millions of miles away from Joes Farm they have been there every step of the way.

For those who have been following Joes Farm from the early days know, we (Joes Farm) built our first field out of cinder blocks. We chose cinder block because it was inexpensive and easy to use. After the first season of farming, Joes Farm knew that cinder block was not going to cut it. The reasons for that are the lack of soil depth and the overwhelming heat that the cinder blocks absorbed. Joes Farm then scoured the world looking for alternatives. We found that there are some affordable options available for field construction. Pressure treated lumber was recommended by the Home Depot but the fact that it is laden with chemicals it was crossed off the list.

Through Joes farm research we were able to decide on Premium Douglas Fir. It comes in a variety of sizes and did not have the pressure treated chemical after taste. It is more affordable that the finer woods like cedar and redwood. I would also recommend a pine or a maple. They come in untreated planks like the premium Doug fir and are in the same price range. There are options available in composites but Joes Farm wanted to stay one with nature. What we give up by choosing untreated wood and non-composite wood is longevity. Joes Farm is starting to see some deterioration on the older fields after one year. That is the trade off that has to be made.

Just thinking out loud right now, I think another option would be to head on over to Patterson Park and chop down a Horse Chestnut or a Babylon Weeping Willow. That might present some logistical issues and I don't imagine you have access to a saw mill. Good brain storm. Any how, my suggestion to you would be to look into some Premium Douglas Fir, Pine, or Maple from the local hardware store.

Happy farming to Larson & Sons Farm and all of the other Joes Farm Fans.

Spring 2011 Outlook

Joes Farm is once again going full steam ahead and plowing through spring 2011. Warm weather has returned and we have big bold plans for Joes Farm again. Due to the incredible performance of Joes Farm over the past several seasons we have recently received approval from our land trustee to more than double the size of Joes Farm. Needless to say we (Joes Farm) are delighted.

The construction of the additional fields is nearly complete. Our last and most important step is the creation of the world famous Joes Farm soil. This is no easy task. We are awaiting the delivery of the aggregate to complete this mixture.The aggregate is only a small part of Joes Farm world famous soil mixture. The most important portion of this mixture comes from the i care organics composting/vermicomposting facility that is operated by Joes Farm. Joes Farm i care oragnics compost and vermicompost is proudly made by Americans for Americans. Upon completion of the soil creation Joes Farm is going to begin planting crops in the new fields. We (Joes Farm) already have crops growing in the older more established fields. Winter crops are nearing harvest, spring time crops are growing by leaps and bounds, and Summer Crops are in the Joes Farm incubator.

Here are the new fields as they are being built. Please Enjoy.

STORM WATCH 2011

Joes Farm brings you good tidings for the new year. We had a monstrously successful year on the farm in 2010 and there is no doubt that 2011 will bring another record breaking harvest. Although we have the highest hopes for 2011 it has had a rough beginning.

Much like the rest of the country, Joes Farm has been under the grips of STORM WATCH 2011. We have been receiving arctic blasts of cold air and blizzards of biblical proportions. With temperatures plummeting as low as 30 degrees. While the farm is still thriving we did have our concerns. Our fans and followers have also had their concerns. I wanted to assure everyone in the world that Joes Farm not only survived STORM WATCH 2011 but that we thrived in during STORM WATCH 2011. Thank you all for your concern. Below is a picture of the damage and destruction  from the winter storm that ravaged the las vegas valley.

Joe's Farm Gives Thanks

We have so much to be thankful at Joes Farm. We are healthy, wealthy, and wise over here at Joes Farm. I credit most of that health, wealth, and wisdom to the high quality produce that is jam packed with vitamins and minerals that we grow at Joes Farm.

I am taking a quick break away from the kitchen and the farm to write this update. We had a bit of a disaster last night that was caused by the freezing temperatures that have rolled into Las Vegas. The tomato and pepper plants that were turning out natures bounty have died as a result of the freezing cold temperatures.

As we always do on Joes Farm, we look at the positive side of things. We had a thanksgiving miracle today with a record harvest of green bell peppers. We also bagged a few tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.

This is what we are thankful for today at Joes Farm.
Feel free to share with us what you are thankful for today by writing a comment below.

Deal of a Lifetime

I have never done anything like this on the Joes Farm blog and I am a little concerned that I am opening Pandora's box. But, I found one heck of a deal today on http://www.woot.com/ and I would not be able to live with myself if I did not pass on this steal of a deal on to all the faithful Joes farm blog readers. They are giving away ecomposters with a spider base. If you love sustainable "organic" micro farming like I do then you need to make your own compost and with deals like this how can you not get one. I would buy one but I already have a state of the art ecomposter with a 120 gallon capacity.

So if you don't have a composting facility already, take a look at this. Composting is good for the planet, good for the farm, and it is fun for the whole family. Act now! They probably will sell out soon after this is posted.

The Dog Days of August

We are back to the farm after a long hot July. This July was the hottest July in the history of the world. That is science. The temperatures in Las Vegas have never been hotter. The farm took a beating but kept on producing. I could not be happier.

Due to the overwhelming power of the Las Vegas sun in the hottest month in the history of the world I was forced to install a state of the art sun shade to help protect my crops against the destructive solar rays. The crops did sustain some damage over the past several weeks. I did my best to help the crops pull through. I had two beautiful watermelons growing before the onset of heatwave 2010. I do not exactly what happened to them but I can only blame their demise on the heat. One day when I was inspecting the melons I felt around to the backside and they both had gaping cracks in them. I turned them around and found that they had both split open and had become infested with little garden critters. It was like the ants and beetles were having dinner at the Bellagio buffet, only it wasn't the Bellagio buffet it was my watermelons. When I saw this I became enraged with anger and I broke them off and smashed them on the ground. In hindsight I should have taken some photos, but this time the anger won.

Some positive notes from the farm.

we harvested out first potato

The watermelon plants are going full steam ahead and there is a new watermelon that is growing at an alarming rate.

There are some bell peppers that are doing pretty well. you can see that some of them are sustaining damage from the suns harmful rays.

This is a wide shot of the garden. The Watermelon plants are taking over the garden right now. latching on to the tomato plants. They have plenty of blossoms and I have bees cruising around everyday. The watermelon outlook is good.

Here you can see the zucchini plants. I have been dealing with an infestation of what I believe to be squash bugs. I have dealt with them in the harshest way I know how, but they keep coming back.

I have some big things planned for the farm and on how to make this blog even more interesting and educational. Stay tuned and thank you for your continued support and interest.