The Age of Squeamishness

I had the most interesting experience at the American Association of University Women's 'Clatsop Girls United Leadership Day' (to give it the official title) or 'Girl Power Day', as my friend Iris called it.  We were both there to give talks to girls from local elementary and middle schools about the career and education opportunities available to them in their future, and basically to just get them thinking about different possibilities for their lives.  Iris talked to them about baking (she is one of the owners of the great Blue Scorcher Bakery in Astoria), and I got to talk to them about Composting with Worms.  

Here is the thought provoking thing that I observed. 

I spoke to two groups of girls, the first were 7th and 8th graders, and the second were 5th and 6th graders.  They were both great, and both groups asked good questions, but the older girls were SO much more squeamish about the worms! One girl wouldn't even come up and look, but sat at the back of the room insisting that she would throw up if she even saw them.  A few of them were willing to touch the worms, and handle the worm castings, and there was one fantastic young woman (who told me she wants to be a zoologist when she is older) who gave the group an excellent explanation of the physical attributes of worms.   But for the most part they were fairly reserved and fine with just watching and listening.

But the younger girls!  As soon as I gathered them round and dug into the bucket of compost with worms in it, they were completely into it, digging their hands into the pile, feeling the worm castings, letting the worms crawl on their hands, looking for worm babies- I brought along several containers of nightcrawlers purchased at a local bait shop to show the difference between red wigglers (good for compost) and earthworms, or nightcrawlers (great in the soil, not good for compost), and they took the containers off to their desks in groups and began pulling the worms out to hold them, asking about which was the head and which was the tail, and squealing "Oh!  The worm is pooping on my hand!  Look!"  I had completely lost their attention at that point, they were just so into the worms.

It was so cool.

And my question is this:  What happens between 6th grade and 7th grade that changes girls from hopping up and down with the excitement at the thought of plunging their hands into a pile of composting vegetable matter filled with worms, into girls hanging back looking to see if anyone else is going to touch the worm first before they think maybe they might be OK with it, but just for a second?

 

Because whatever that is, that's what we need to help girls (and boys) overcome.  When people are excited about something, and able to show it, and just plunge right in without fear of what other people will think, great things can happen.  And since these girls are some of the people who will be running the show when I am old and (hopefully not too) decrepit, I want them to be able to make as many great things happen as possible in their lifetimes.

In the meantime, I hope they are all perhaps just a wee bit less afraid of worms, which really are some of the most amazing creatures out there. 

I released the captive nightcrawlers into the soil throughout the farm later that day.  I just took the containers and turned them over onto the soil, leaving the container there to provide some shade.  Within an hour, the worms had all disappeared into the ground.  I hope they have a good time down there.

Market Madness

Eddie the Cat supervises the loading of the van

We meant to take a lot of 'action shots' at the Astoria Sunday Market's opening day but honestly, it was a complete blur and there wasn't a moment to take the camera out!  All I remember is an enormous wave of people coming through our market booth, steadily wearing down the great wall of plants that we had brought with us that day.  If you came by to say hello and we had no time to chat or catch up, I apologize!  It was just a crazy day, but in a good way. Do come by again soon.

 I loved seeing so many people excited about growing edible plants this year, whether they were old hands coming back to experiment with a new tomato variety, or people growing their very first head of lettuce.  I think there are going to be a lot of great homegrown meals served up on the North Coast this summer.

The main topic on everyone's mind was, as usual, TOMATOES.  It is such a tragic love we have with them here, as they are such a challenge to grow on the coast.  And yet...  when it works, and you bite into that ripe, delicious tomato that you grew in your very own garden on the coast, it is the most satisfying thing imaginable.  So I get it, and want to help everyone have as successful a tomato growing experience as possible.  I got a little crazy with the number of varieties we are growing this year, but I wanted to give everyone lots of options for great, short season, smaller sized tomatoes that have a good chance of making it here.  We are close to selling out of a few varieties, so if there is one you are really wanting to try, drop us an e mail and we can reserve it for you to pick up at the next market.

We can't do anything about the weather, but we can do something about how we respond to it!  If you didn't get a chance to pick up our 'Tomato Growing Tips for the North Coast', just follow the link and it will take you to our websites plant growing tips section.  (Yes, I know, so far there is ONLY the tomato growing tips!  More coming soon, I promise.)

There were three questions we heard all day long.  

1.  "Do you have any basil?"  The answer to this is technically yes, but it is still young and we won't bring it to market until it has at least a fighting chance of surviving outside.   May is just TOO EARLY TO PLANT BASIL OUTSIDE ON THE COAST.  I know that sucks, but it just is.  Be Patient.  Summer is coming.

2. "What do you think about those upside down tomato containers?"  The answer to this is...hmm.  Well, a LOT of people seem very excited about these this year, and I understand that there have been several advertisements in heavy rotation on television recently, promising great things using this method. (We don't have cable, and thus out here we don't get television, so I miss these things.)  

I had a moment to chat with Vicki from the wonderful Sungold Farm last Sunday- they have also been getting a lot of questions about these upside down tomato growing thingys.  We both agreed that it seems kind of weird to us, and couldn't figure out the answer to the main question, "Why?!"  I guess it's a space saving thing.  And neither of us could figure this out: When you water them, where does the water run off go?!  Because it seems like it would just run out the bottom and get your tomato plant all wet, which the plant will hate.  I don't want to say they don't work, because I've never tried it, so if you have, or if you are trying it for the first time, will you e mail me and let me know what your experience is?  I will say that if you want to try it out, you would want to pick a determinate tomato variety to grow, not an indeterminate one.

Which brings me to the last question.

3." What does 'determinate' and 'indeterminate' mean?"

Tomato plants come in many, many flavors, but two basic styles- determinate and indeterminate.  Determinate tomatoes are also known as bush tomatoes- they have a finite size, and the plant will grow to that size and then stop.  It will continue to flower and fruit, the plant just won't get bigger.  These are good tomatoes for containers, because they don't get too big, and their root system isn't as big.  A lot of hybrid tomatoes are determinate, as the plants have been bred to stay smaller.

Indeterminate tomatoes are vining plants, and they will just keep growing- vines can get 8-10 feet tall if you let them.  You do not have to let them, you can prune away at the tops once they get too big.  Most heirloom varieties are indeterminate, because plant size has only really become an issue in more recent years with people wanting less rambling plants in their garden. Indeterminate varieties will need support- we like to grow our up against a  trellis, which helps with air circulation and ripening, and makes it easier to cover up with row cover fabric when those damn summer storms blow through.  And it is good to pinch out suckers on indeterminate tomatoes to control the rampant growth.

Later in the year (when we can take illustrative photos) I will post on pruning and training for tomatoes.  For now just keep them warm and as dry as you can, and hope for sun.

I am looking outside my window at a glorious early morning- clear blue sky, no wind, and the faint roar of the ocean way off in the distance.  A Good Day for Tomatoes.  After savoring the beauty of the moment, and thinking, "ahhhhhh.....", my next thought was "Tell Packy To Water The Greenhouse!!". 

Not that I'm not willing to do it myself, but I'm off this morning to give a couple of talks about Worm Composting to groups of young girls at the American Association of University Women's 'Girls Esteem Day' in Astoria.  

Handfuls of decomposing plant matter full of wriggling red worms + 8-13 year old girls.

Should be a fun morning!

Come by and see us at the market soon.  My fabulous father, Ralph-Dad Retzlaff is visiting us right now and helping out on Sundays (well mostly he is just trying to stay warm in the afternoon Astoria wind tunnel that is the market street!), and we are looking forward to catching up with old friends, and hearing about your garden adventures.

Eddie the Cat will be staying back at the farm, guarding the greenhouse and working on his tan.

Maybe this afternoon I'll get to take a nap in the greenhouse too.

To Market, To Market!

Hopefully we can remember how to put the market tent up....

Considering that the next part of that line in the nursery rhyme is 'to buy a fat pig', perhaps I should have tried to think of another blog post title, given the current world attitude towards swine. However, that line has been humming in my head for days now, as we are less than a week away from Opening Day of the Astoria Sunday Market. 

Yikes!

I never understand how time seems to moves so fast, as I'm pretty sure we just took down our tent on Twelfth Street for the last time of the season a few weeks ago.  Yet here we are again, with a greenhouse and nursery loaded with plants (SO many cool tomatoes!) and so many other good things on the way, and next Sunday at 7 am we will be pulling into our spot in front of Lucy's Books, sleepy but excited. Opening Day always feels like the first day back at school to me- seeing old friends for the first time in months, swapping stories and checking out what everyone grew or made for this year.

We'll be spending the week getting as many of the last minute details sorted out as we can (I know we'll forget something), as well as continuing to get more seeds started, more transplants transplanted and more plants in the ground. So much to do, but somehow everything that needs to get done seems to get done in the end.

Spring  greens are ready to plant!

Do come out and see us this Sunday, because you know that what your Mom really wants for Mother's Day are some gorgeous heirloom vegetable and herb plant starts, grown right here on the coast, with maybe a few flower plants mixed in to attract the beneficial insects and make everything look colorful and bright.

And maybe you need a few wonderful tomato plants for yourself, too.

 Garden fresh tomatoes are always worth the effort

Keep your fingers crossed for sunshine, and come say hello!  We've got stories to tell about the winter, and we want to hear yours.  We look forward to a great day, and a wonderful season. 

See you soon!

Burning (Chair) Man '09

One of the best things about small-scale farming is the kind of community that can build up around it.  When you work and farm right next to where your fellow market vendors, customers and co-workers live and work, it isn't long before friendships form and ideas are exchanged, and help and support are offered and received.

We've had Farm Days off and on over the last few years- it started the year I broke my wrist in January (an encounter with a bad patch of black ice) and had to break down and accept that if we were going to have a market season at all that year, we just needed help.  We put out a call, and had so many friends show up and generously spend a day weeding, chopping, planting and mulching, getting us back on track for the season. We shared good food (we are blessed to know many fantastic cooks) and good stories, and the kids got to run around like wild things, pick daffodils and poke around in the creek.  

We've also had a few bonfires-  there is something just so primal and satisfying about setting a huge pile of debris on fire, especially when it largely consists of blackberry vines.  I know, I know, it screws up our whole carbon footprint thing, but we do our best to offset this every day, I promise.  Plus it is a great excuse to make homemade marshmallows and graham crackers and eat the best s'mores ever.  Although after eating just one, you kind of have to go lie down and recover.

So this year, when I was scrambling to figure out what to do for Packy's birthday, which falls at this time of year when I am so consumed with transplanting and weeding and mulching and planting that he is lucky if he gets a homemade cake, I had a last minute thought- we'd have a Farm Day, ON his birthday, AND set fire to the huge pile of debris that had been collecting in the 'to be burned' pile in the pasture.

The cold, rainy, gloomy weather we had been stuck with for the last few weeks hung on until about 10:30 that morning, pelting us with one last shower of hail before breaking up and heading East.  The sun managed to break through, friends showed up bearing some truly delicious food and drink, and all were amazingly eager to work- so eager that I had to ring the dinner bell and go out and roust them to come in and partake of the amazing meal that was laid out.  

The best Farm Crew in the world. Until we tapped the keg.

There was a lot of laughing, way too much sugar consumed, a great keg of Sunrise Oatmeal Pale Ale supplied by the Fabulous Fort George Brewery (we love you, guys!) and possibly one of the best Spontaneous Combustible Art Moments I have had the good fortune to participate in.

I'm not sure whose idea it was.   There was a decrepit rocking chair sitting there, waiting it's turn to go on the bonfire.  Someone commented that we needed a effigy to sit in the chair while it burned, and I think it was Martin who piped up, "Old Man Winter!  We need to Burn Old Man Winter!"  Given that we had all been suffering through the most wretched month of cold rain and sleet, the idea of burning Winter Personified was tremendously appealing to us all, and after a bit of creative scrounging around,  suddenly sitting there in the chair was a cobbled together Old Man Winter. The final touch was shoving one of the bundles of flash powder (that the crew from Lance's Farm Vittles had brought Packy as a birthday gift) into Mr. Winter's head.

It was all SO satisfying.

Old Man Winter, aka  Burning (Chair) Man

Taking advantage of Old Man Winter's slow ignition to roast

 just a few more marshmallows....

And do you know, the last two days have been Truly Beautiful- clear, sunny and warm, the first two days this year where it has actually felt like Spring. 

So maybe it worked, after all.

Resting in between s'mores...

We are already thinking about Burning (Chair) Man 2010....

What We Are Growing, and Where You Can Buy It

It seems an obvious thing to have a comprehensive list of all the varieties of vegetables that we are growing in a season, and to make that list available to you, our loyal customers and friends. Each year I've meant to do it, and each year I realize that it's August, and the list is still lying in pieces around me.

But not this year!

Follow this link to the snappy new Plant List Page on the recently updated Ostman Farm Website. There you will find listed everything that will be coming to market at some point this season, including our ever popular Tomato List.  (I tried to control myself this year when ordering seeds, but failed miserably, so we are growing 29 varieties of tomatoes this year (!!), up from about 13 last year.)

As always, we will only bring things to market when it is reasonably safe to plant them outside, so don't look for basil or squash in early May.  If there is something on the list that you really need to have, get in touch with us and we will work out a way to make that happen.  If you have a greenhouse and want to get a jump start on things, we will find a way to get plants to you early.

We are excited to have two events coming up  in April where you early birds can get a jump on market season and buy your plants way before the Astoria Sunday Market even opens.

The first is:

 Spring Into Gardening!  on Saturday April 18th from 8:00 am -4:30 pm. 

The annual Garden Love-Fest put on by Clatsop County Master Gardeners is always a fun event, and a great way to get inspired about the coming growing season here on the coast. The theme this year is 'Home Grown Made Simple', which is a concept close to our hearts here at Ostman Farm.  The MG Website gives a bare bones description of the event, which is somewhat useful, if not very inspiring. (We really need a garden enthusiast with good technical chops to join Master Gardeners!  Anyone out there?) There is a much better description in this week's Daily Astorian 'Coast Weekend' edition here.   I'm not sure how long they leave their links up, so if the link no longer works, e mail me and I'll try to get the information to you.  There is a great line up of speakers this year, I am really looking forward to hearing them.

The first speaker starts at 9:00, but the doors open at 8:00 am so you can come early and get first crack at the MG plant sale, and of course Ostman Farm's great selection of fabulous plants. We are bringing a lot of edibles this year, so make room in your veggie garden, or make a bigger garden! (Who needs a lawn, anyway?)  There are going to be a lot of great vendors this year, and as always the vendor marketplace is open FREE to the public all day long.  

Admission for the speaker series is well worth it.   Register by April 16th, and it's $15 for the whole day, $12 for seniors and Master Gardeners. Admission at the door is $18.  Students are Free!  We are very excited about some of the speakers this year, and Packy and I are already negotiating about who gets to hear which speaker, and who has to stay and mind the booth.

9:00 am The keynote speaker is Vern Nelson, taking you 'Beyond Peas and Carrots'.  Vern is the owner of A New Leaf Edible Landscape Design, and he has, among many other  cool accomplishments, written  a guide for kitchen gardens in the northwest.

Then at 10:50 you have to choose between:

'Fruit Tree Care and Pruning' with Luke Colvin, an ISA certified arborist.  I haven't heard Luke speak yet, but anyone that can help demystify fruit tree pruning is well worth listening to.

-and-

'Children (and other people) In the Garden' with Sunny Hunt, our own OSU extension service Master Gardener Instructor, and coordinator of the local community garden project.

At 1 pm, the choice is between:

'Home Entertainment- Wild Birds in the Garden' with Mike Patterson.  Mike is a famous local naturalist, and a GREAT speaker.  This guy knows his birds, and you will learn a lot about how to make your garden into wonderful bird habitat.

-and-

'Organic Food Production' with Liza Ehle, who operates By-the-Sea Gardens on the South Oregon Coast.  You can never know too much about growing organically!

I think the final sessions start at 2:00 pm, and then you have to choose between:

'Tips for Gardeners' with Chip Bubl, who is the Agricultural and Community Horticulture Faculty and Staff Chair for OSU Extension Service in Columbia County.  Chip comes and teaches some of the regular MG classes in Astoria each year, and I can tell you from experience, he is a fantastic speaker with great stories to tell.  You will learn a lot, and be entertained while you learn it.

-and- 

'Growing Cut Flowers' with Linda Beutler.  I own a copy of Linda's wonderful book, Garden to Vase- Growing and Using Your Own Cut Flowers, and I LOVE it.  Love it. I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who likes to grow flowers to cut and arrange.  I love it so much I may go all fan-girl on the day and bring it along to have her sign it for me.  I've learned a lot from this book, and am so looking forward to hearing her speak, and I curse the person who scheduled her to speak at the same time as Chip.

The second opportunity to buy your veggie starts early from us will be at the 

Cannon Beach Earth Day Celebration on April 25th, 2009

I don't know a whole lot about the event yet, and will post more information when I do.  But I do know that we will be setting up our booth and selling edible plant starts- and absolutely no cut flowers! :) from probably 12:00 pm-2:00 pm (it might be 10-2, I'm not quite sure yet.)  We will be set up in the US Bank parking lot, next to the Cannon Beach Farmers Market booth.  Part of the proceeds from our sales will go to benefit the new Cannon Beach Community Garden program, so come buy a lot for your spring garden and know that you will be benefitting the community as well.

So there you  have it.  Two great ways to get a jump on the season and get some great plants from Ostman Farm.  

Market Season starts in May, with the Astoria Sunday Market starting on Mother's Day.  Then look for the Cannon Beach Farmers Market and the Manzanita Farmers Market to start up mid-June.  

It's going to be a great year for locally grown produce, whether it comes from your own garden or your favorite local farmer.  See you all soon!

Our Photo Shoot is Hijacked by Junkies

We've been working hard to update our website with new plant lists (more on that soon!) and new photos, and had finally gotten around to shooting the catnip stuff this afternoon.

We're all excited about 'Eddie's Homegrown', our new bags of Straight Up Catnip, which we have been trying to get organized for a while now and will finally have at our 2009 markets.

Some of us were more excited than others.

 

And then they tried to get us to order them a pizza.  

Grow Your Own

WWII Victory Garden poster, 1945

Last year we noticed a surge of interest in home grown vegetables among our customers.  We were intrigued by the number of people that came by our market booth looking for vegetable plant starts- both seasoned gardeners wanting to add to their home started seedlings, or first-time gardeners wanting to try growing some of their own food for a change.  All ages, backgrounds, economic levels and hairstyles- everyone wanted home grown veggies on their table.

It seemed to be a combination of tightening economic times and the wave of food scares that happened last year- remember the tainted spinach, the salmonella tomatoes?  Every time one of those industrial food system bombs went off, more people showed up on our doorstep, looking to bypass the system altogether and get their food straight from their own gardens.

Some people had read Michael Pollen's recent books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, or the wonderful and inspiring Animal, Vegetable, Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver, and were determined to change how they ate, and where their food came from. (If you haven't read these books, I highly recommend them all.)

Whatever their reason for wanting to grow edible stuff,  it was great fun for us to help so many people through their first food-growing experiences, and to talk to such a number of enthusiastic gardeners about the joys and challenges of growing food wherever they were from, but especially here on the coast.  ( I think we need to start a 'Coastal Tomato and Basil Growers Support Group.  Or maybe it should be grief counseling!) 

WWI Department of Agriculture poster

This year the swell of interest in home-grown produce is becoming an enormous wave.  From people advocating for a Farmer in the White House to seed companies running out of their most popular varieties due to overwhelming demand from customers, this year the Victory Garden is really back in style.  I've read where some media people are trying to dub this new wave of home vegetable growing 'Recession Gardens', but I find that a rather gloomy name for something so positive.  It also implies that the only time anyone would want to grow their own food is during hard economic times.  I'm sure that's true for some, but I hope many in this new generation of gardeners learning to rotate their crops and thin their carrots will stick with it long after the global economy has rebounded.  I'm pretty confident that once a person experiences what vegetables should taste like, and the has the satisfaction of eating food they've grown themselves, it will be hard to go back to tasteless supermarket veggies and fruits.

I still like the name Victory Gardens- not just because I love the great poster art that was produced in support of the concept during both WWI and WWII, but because of what the gardens did for individuals and communities.  They truly  helped people achieve victory over deprivation and hardship.  The statistic most often quoted says that during WWII, forty percent of the food supply in the United States came from home gardens.  Forty Percent!  If we today cannot accomplish even a fraction of what our parents and grandparents (and great-grandparents, for some) did during the last Great Depression and World Wars, then we really should hang our heads in shame.  There is also no reason why we can't have a damn good time while we're at it too- share seeds and plants with friends and neighbors, swap recipes, trade produce, get your kids involved, try making jam, sing while you weed, whatever it takes. Growing food can be fun.

WWII Department of Agriculture poster

If you can't grow your own, make your way to your nearest farmer's market- there are thousands of them now all across the country, and those that are seasonal will be starting up soon.  We here on the North Coast are blessed with three- the wonderful and fun Manzanita Farmer's Market, the huge and yet still enjoyable Astoria Sunday Market, and the new kid on the block, back for their second year of fantastic edibles, the Cannon Beach Farmer's Market.  There are great farmers and local food producers at all of them, and I encourage everyone to try and shop truly locally this season, and make sure at least some of the food you eat is produced here on the North Coast.  (Or near your own community, wherever that may be.)

On a final note, I am so happy to see that poster art of the sort that came from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the first Great Depression is alive and well. Recently,  ReadyMade Magazine asked five artists to reimagine the populist poster art of that era; you can read the article here.  The one created by Christopher Silas Neal deserves to be displayed in every kitchen, garden mud room, farmer's market and supermarket across the country, not just because it is a great image, but because of the sentiment behind it:

 " Solving the world's energy and food problems would do a great deal to strengthen the global economy, prevent disease, and reverse the effects of climate change.  The original Victory Garden program was designed to ease pressure on the public agriculture supply and support the war effort by encouraging families to grow their own food.  I wanted to expand this idea to the more broader concept of buying and eating local food."

You can download a free copy of the poster here.  Check out the others in the series here, they are all great.  We know our bicycle-mad friends over at the Blue Scorcher Bakery will especially like the bike one.