Rippling Waters Blog Take 2

The Farm Journal

I would like to welcome readers to what will become a record of the work, accomplishments, failures and everything in between, written by the staff of Rippling Waters Organic Farm!

While there may not be much happening on farm in December, I thought this would be a good time to reflect on the the work we did this fall and provide some of my New Year's Resolutions for the following year.

Fortunately for the field workers, we had an exceptionally long Indian Summer. This allowed us to prepare as many of the fields and hoophouses as possible for the Spring, cutting back on the time it takes to prep beds in April and May. Julee and I have taken on a number of projects which we, not surprisingly, hadn't finished before the first snow came. Here is a brief rundown of a few of these projects:

1) Year-Round Mulch. About a quarter of our fields are under a blanket of hay or leaves or a mixture of both. Thanks to the community, we have been receiving leaves to spread over our fields. Keeping our fields in year-round mulch will reduce our dependency on tilling, which can be harmful to soil health. It also brings us one step closer to permaculture.

2) Permaculture. We have leveled off a half acre field which will be home to a permaculture "educational and experimental" garden next year. It should be the site and home for a variety of perennial vegetables and herbs, unique plant varieties, circular gardening, no till, and year round mulch.

3) Raised Beds in our Hoophouses. Ultimately, we would like to have raised beds in 3 out of our 4 hoophouses suffering from drainage problems. This has easily been one of the most difficult tasks this year and probably next year too. We have finished one 100ft raised bed this year and just began work on a second one.

4) Seed trials. This was Julee's idea. We directed seeded a variety of crops and have covered with thick layers re-may, leaves, and hay in the hope that they will sprout early spring. Some crops we are experimenting with include, brussel sprouts, beans, turnips, carrots, among other hardy varieties.

5) Winter over. We have left some kale and arugula in the ground and heavily covered it to see if it will survive the winter so we can have an early harvest in the spring!

So I hope next year will be full of surprises.

Something I learned this year was of the importance of record keeping. With so many programs and staff doing all sorts of things on the farm, what better way to collaborate and record our progress than a Farm Journal presented in a blog. So my (farm) resolutions for next year will be to 1) Write in this blog. 2) Communicate extensively to our CSA customers. 3) And continue to offer quality organic food from a farm and farmer committed to healing the environment while satisfying your appetite!

Happy Holidays,

Joey Listro
Field Supervisor