3-12-10

MORNING MILKING LESSONS

NEW TALAVAN FARMS

JEN TRANSPLANTS CHARD

A TIME FOR REFLECTING

ANOTHER ENCHANTED FOREST

HEY LOOK OVER HERE!

BLAKE MAKES FRIENDS

There are fire ants here at New Talavan, and they mean business. They build these dome shaped sand castles for homes and if you accidentally step on one, or pull a weed out by one, you're in big trouble. Thousands of ants appear in a chaotic frenzy like they're on speed. It's an incredible sight to see them go nuts. They climb all over your shoes and hands and if you are unlucky, they'll bite you. Their bites aren't quite as bad as getting stung by a bee, but it still stings. We've both been bit a handful of times, but we are told this time of year is when many of them still are hibernating. Rumor has it in the peak of summer, they are everywhere, waiting to get you!

After milking the cows again this morning, we worked in the greenhouse learning how to transplant baby plants. If you put seeds directly into the garden, their chances of survival are very low, but if you sow seeds in trays and keep them in a controlled environment, their survival rate skyrockets. Depending on which plants you grow, their time in the greenhouse varies. Some plants can go outside sooner than others, while others need extra protection from the elements. Today we transplanted chard and cabbage from small trays to 3 inch by 3 inch pots. The plants had already established roots, but were still too young and weak to go into the garden outside. Instead of using store bought potting mix, we made our own blend by combining equal parts compost and garden soil. Transplanting is extremely delicate, and we all refrained from wearing gloves for fear we would destroy the fragile budding roots. The chard and cabbage will grow in their new homes for a few more weeks, then be ready to go outside. You always must water after transplanting, preferably with compost tea, or kelp water.

In the afternoon, we worked in the orchard planting four blueberry bushes, and pruning apple, fig, persimmon, grape, and asian pear treas. We learned blueberry bushes don't like getting planted too deeply below the ground. If you plant them too deeply, they may not shoot up properly, since their roots grow more out then down. With pruning, we learned you never want to cut off more than 25% of the new growth of a tree per year, which could shock the tree and prevent it from yielding fruit. By pruning the weak and/or interlocking branches, you assure the tree gets more sunlight and more air circulation. The sunlight and breeze allow the fruit to grow bigger, juicier, and prevents mildew or fungus buildup from damaging the fruit. Shaping the tree is important so that you can easily harvest, and even though by chopping off some limbs you will sacrifice some fruit, your overall harvest will be better. If you don't prune, you'll get many smaller, less flavorful fruit.

Overall our stay at New Talavan Farms has been extremely educational. This was the first time we were able to put our hands in the soil every single day. We appreciate the theoretical discussion we've had with other farmers up till now, and we've learned a lot, but nothing can substitute hands on experience. We were grateful to have Blake teach us so many new techniques and share so much information with us. He's been a great and especially patient teacher. At the beginning of the week, we felt a little intimidated by devotees who preached the religious and spiritual teachings of Krishna. But by the end of the week, we focused all our energy on trying to learn as much as possible about organic gardening, and we reached a mutual understanding with the devotees here. The food in the garden is ultimately grown for Krishna. By helping grow food, we helped provide a service for Krishna, and since everyone just wants to serve Krishna, our contributions were tremendously valued. Although we didn't necessarily grow food because we wanted to make offerings specifically for Krishna, we are glad we were able to help grow high quality, nutritious organic food. Regardless of your motives, food is love and we want to help in the local, organic food movement.