Trials and Errors

Ladies and gents (or possibly just gent - hi Sam) planting season has arrived! The plasticulture is down, the beds are prepared, and the vegetables will be in place very soon. And so, with no further ado, I bring you the official unveiling of the first ever crop to be planted at Southwood Farm & Market!

Well, maybe a little bit of further ado: first I have to acknowledge there is a possibility that this entire crop will die. We're pretty good growers, so we have that going for us. But last summer in Oklahoma was brutally hot, and if that happens again, our crops, along with everybody else's, will suffer. This is the reality for all small farmers. I'm going to get back to that in a minute, though.

The Market
106 E. Apache (now called Aquarium Place) in Jenks

Audrey wields the shovel while Micah lays the plasticulture from the tractor.
The rig on the back lays an irrigation drip line and the plastic at the same time.

Being the more public of the two locations, this garden is more for show. The farm garden, which is bigger (market = 360 linear feet of plasticulture; farm = 2,800 linear feet) will be the more functional producer. So our fun market garden will be a salsa garden: tomatoes, onions, peppers and herbs. The working plan is that after we harvest, we'll throw a Salsa Party at Southwood. We'll give people a basket of our Southwood grown ingredients and have a salsa contest, bring in a guest chef to cook a Mexican dinner using local ingredients, and invite a group of salsa dancers to perform. We are all about excuses to have a party, and harvests are historically just that. Ole!

The Farm
Jenks, just south of Creek Turnpike and east of Elm

The plasticulture beds. This is the view looking north, toward the Creek Turnpike.

The farm house, mid-remodel. The farm foreman or caretaker will live here.

So, while the market garden produces party supplies, the farm garden will be participating in educational research.  We are working with Oklahoma State University Professor Dr. Lynn Brandenberger to perform a tomato trial through their department.  Working with one of Dr. B's colleagues, we'll grow several varieties of heirloom tomatoes. We will be comparing plants grown from traditional "seed saver" seeds, started in the OSU greenhouses in Stillwater, to the same varieties grafted onto hardy root stock, started by one of suppliers. We will receive all of the plants as plugs, about the size of a test tube, and plant them all in about a week or two.

The trial itself will be performed at harvest time. This is my first vegetable trial, but essentially we'll be separating the fruits into marketable and unmarketable, performing various weights and measures and noting why we culled what we did. And of course, unmarketable does not mean inedible, though there will be those as well, so we'll be cooking up or donating what we can't sell but can still eat.

This is going to be a lot of work, so cross your fingers for us! If it works out as we hope, you're all invited to the Southwood Salsa Party. If not, we'll wash our hands, sharpen our tools and plant the next crop.

Which brings me back to the small farmer topic for a second - The more I read and write and tweet and live and breathe this project, the more I'm becoming aware of what life is like for small farmers in the 21st century. Farming in America has reached a critical point. Our food supply in this country is held hostage by huge corporations like Monsanto. Two of the best documentaries I'm aware of are Food Inc. and The World According to Monsanto (which is actually available to watch free online, if you'll follow the link). Both of these are well worth two hours of your time, if you eat.

I'll write more about this subject next week, because this Monday, April 9, 2012, Joe and I will be participating in the first ever Local Food Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol. I'm sure it's going to be a very informative and interesting day!

I'll finish the post with my farmer Joe, being himself.