video of first planting!

I've posted all the videos made so far on www.mudcreekfarm.com, look under "Press" ...

the first plants go in! & etc. photos from the farm...

Well, here we go! There was a great turnout for the first planting party-- we planted onions,

...and more onions,
...and also cabbage, kale, swiss chard. All in all, we planted over 5,300 onions!
Thanks to everyone who came out to help. Paul helped finish laying out irrigation drip tape with me,

And we put a blanket of frost-cloth, or "row cover", on them, to give them a little bit of added warmth. Sandbags filled with rocks picked out from the field help to weigh down the cloth. What a weekend, we really got a lot accomplished!
I bought this amazing little 1948 Farmall Cub tractor to do cultivating with. It is in almost mint condition, fixed up by a hobbyist in Hilton, and sold to me at a pretty good price. I couldn't resist. I bought a set of rusty cultivators to hook up underneath it, so I can zip down the beds, weeding in between the rows. Thanks to Chris who is helping me get it all set up for our bed system!
The sign went up on McMahon Road-- thanks Mom & Dad! I learned to use the router & had fun practicing with these cursive letters.
That cold week when it snowed, I came out to the greenhouse to shake the heavy snow off the roof... a glove on the end of a board worked pretty well!
Baby scallions coming up:
Here she is, Princess Rose the 3rd:
Kale, broccoli, and bok choi, looking stunning in the evening light of the greenhouse:
I am running out of room on my tables!
What broccoli looks like when it hatches:
Swiss chard:
The new Kubota being delivered!
I can hardly go a week without being hassled by the paparazzi.
Just kidding, check out Tina Yee's videos (Democrat & Chronicle photographer, RocEarth)-- I've started chronicling them on my website www.mudcreekfarm.com Stay tuned for more throughout the season!
The plants that we planted in the ground this week (above)
and the plow I'm borrowing from Jack:
Shining up the ol' plow:
It's been a great spring so far.

another video about the farm!

The Democrat & Chronicle has done another video about the farm, check it out at:

www.democratandchronicle.com

and look under "Multimedia" > "Video"

Enjoy!

new tractor!

Well, I'm buying a new tractor. The first tractor I've ever actually owned. Brand-shiny-new, and orange. The local Kubota dealership was kind enough to bring it out to the farm, let me hook up a borrowed plow (thanks to farmer Jack down the road), and give her a spin. I needed to judge for myself how well it would handle a pretty large (16" moldboards) 3-bottom plow. We tried it out on Jack's land, since that's where we picked up the plow-- in 4-wheel-drive, 3rd gear, with the plow lifted up halfway so the depth was shallower, it had no problem doing a sufficient job of turning the sod over. No problem except the plow was too wide for the width of the tractor. This resulted in 2 1/2 furrows instead of 3. A half-turned over row of sod does not do a great job at killing the grass-- it will just regrow. I will have to look for another plow, because I've fallen in love with this tractor.
They left the tractor with me overnight, and I couldn't resist playing with it. I did a little mowing with the Bush-hog as the sun was going down. I saw the rain in the forecast for the next week, and that urgency to Do Things was rampant. Dry weather like this is perfect for tractor adventures, but as soon as the soil gets muddy, you'll do some real damage on the land if you drive 4000 lbs over it.
I put her to sleep in my barn for the night (the tarped portable-garage). What a responsibility this will be, learning how to best use and take care of this tool.
But we still found time to celebrate! Woohoo!