Terrace Walk and Lab Time! ~ November 21st

November 21st was a brisk morning with temperatures ranging from 3-12 degrees Celsius and rain spattering throughout the day. We started off our morning taking a walk through the terraces and looking at the preparations that had been made for the end of the season.

 As you can see, all of the plants are gone! Everything has been pulled up except for the, the irrigation lines have been removed and the perennials are dying back as they slowly transfer their energy from their shoots to their roots for the winter. pulling out the dead material Soon it will be time to put hay over the perennials to prevent frost damage so they will be ready to grow come spring. Of course having bare soil all winter long is not a good idea, so Torin has seeded the terraces with a winter cover crop! Cover cropping this area is an excellent idea because it is such a new area to farming, the cover crop will lock nutrients into the soil that other wise may leech out over the winter, and will provide a structure to the soil that will keep it from blowing away in harsh winds or breaking down over time. This year we are using a combination of crimson clover, a rye, and a vetch in order to fix nitrogen, create a hefty mulch for the spring and build up the soil structure.

As you can see in the photos above, the cover crop is just starting to peek out of the soil! it hasn't gotten too cold yet so hopefully we will see a nice cover by the time full on winter sets in!






After we walked through the terraces to check out the cover crop, we headed up to the lab for the majority of our class to talk about and work on our final projects! Our final project is all about identifying plants and bugs that are commonly found on the farm. We have spent all summer and much of our fall on the farm keeping our eyes peeled for interesting  bugs and weeds, and now it is time to put everything together! Rebecca and Mike brought us up to the lab and showed us where all of the supplies for our pinning and taping were and gave us the rest of the class to have at it!

Here you see Kirsten taping her plants to paper so that each sample is neatly displayed for examination and identification. Kirsten is also one of the students that decided to get the project done earlier rather than later and is almost done!

Here we see Lindsay and Hazel pinning their insect samples into the perfect positions so that they can dry in spread out forms that are easy to examine. Each bug must be spread out and pinned and then left to dry out in the correct position before being placed into the final shoe box that will be handed in. Lindsay is still working on the initial pinning process but hazel has already moved on to the final pin into the shoe box! This process of pinning, drying, identifying, labeling,  and pinning again takes quite a long time, but the end result can be quite impressive as we see in the finished shoe boxes of other students. 
This is the second last week of classes and even though everyone is feeling the stress of the final crunch to end of semester, we all manage to smile and laugh as we slowly work through this project. Only in agriculture so we see people smiling and laughing while surrounded by bugs.

Second-last market

Our second to last harvest. Photo: Mike Bomford

This week was the second to last harvest for the market! The harvest list included beets, carrots, potatoes, leeks, brussel sprouts, pumpkins and squash. With this being our second to last market many of us were reflecting about how quickly the season has gone by.

The class prepping the harvest for market. Photo: Mike Bomford

During our walk about today we looked at all the interesting things still happening on the farm. First, we checked out our carrot variety trial which will be harvested and saved for evaluation later on in the year. This trial is an awesome collaboration with BC Eco-Seeds comparing the growth of carrots from various seed producers.

Styrian Pumpkin. Photo: Australian Seed

We took a look at the squashes which are still in he field. The spaghetti squash will be left for a at least one week longer to ensure more shell hardening. This extra time ripening in the field will allow the squash to stay in storage longer. The Styrian squash which is an extra special variety that produces hulless seeds, perfect for pumpkin seeds that can be snacked on or used in recipes. 

We learned about how the brassica remains in the field can become an  excellent bio-fumigant which will protect the field from future pests. First, we must transfer  the remains to the compost bin will will allow for the leaves to decompose in an environment that produces heat.The heat will allow for proper decomposition making the resulting compost an excellent soil amendment. 

Nic Walser standing next to the compost pile full of brassica remains. Photo: Mike Bomford

We also spent some time learning about Stark's strawberry field trials which is comparing the growth from a control treatment which has no coverage and compares it to another treatment using a row cover and another which is using a low tunnel. The results from his research are still to come and we look forward to finding out more in his final research presentation. 

A Late Post about the Last Market

The season is done and the year will follow shortly, but what a year it’s been! The time has flown and we’ve grown along with it, experiencing much of what a full farming season entails, getting first hand experience with our boots in the dirt. We spreaded soil amendments and took samples, prepared beds both by hand and machine, seeded and transplanted, weeded and hand gathered the fruits (but mostly vegetables) of our labour.

One of the better experiences personally was the time we got to spend sharing those fruits, swapping stories and jokes with the locals who joined us for our weekly market. While the market started slow, the final months were a roaring success and the last market of the year was no exception. On the spookiest day of the year, Torin and I set up the Kwantlen booth only to have several families fawning over the diverse selection of hearty fall vegetables before the market had officially begun. A rainbow of beets, mountains of butternut, acorn and spaghetti squash, bundles of leeks and carrots, potatoes, brussels sprouts, and sweet sweet sorghum awaited purchase, and the day did not disappoint.

It was a parade of characters that day, some in costume and some not; Spiderman serenading us all with a five string guitar and Willie Nelson covers, along with some lesser known comic book characters who were only passing through, even Leeloo from The Fifth Element made a brief appearance. Dogs in costumes, cats AS costumes, along with myself dressed as a cow were spotted (subtle cow joke there), thanks Eric for lending me the costume! Torin was decked out as a farmer, classic!!... He may or may not have actually been in costume.

The day was busy, folks quickly snatched up our carrots and beets, anxious to make some hearty warm soup. Both the bulk beets and bundles were popular, the bundles for their beautiful colour and the bulk for the sweet deal. However there was no sweeter deal than the candy we were giving out, sweet sorghum that I’d been waiting to taste all summer. Some families needed a bit of coaxing to try the treat (suspecting a trick perhaps), but everyone loved it once they’d given it a chew. By the end of the day we had a couple families come back to see how much was left; we’d had more than we knew what to do with since the start and happily saw them off with a shopping bag full of the stuff, with the dad grinning more than his son. I will admit I had to demonstrate the sorghum eating technique with just about every person I gave some to, more than making up for the candy I wouldn’t gorge on that evening now that my trick or treating days were over. Sorghum is no substitute for lunch however, so I got to show off my spots in the nearby senior center’s cafeteria. It was a hit!

Now just because we were having a blast selling produce didn’t mean the learning was over! Torin’s day was about to get interesting, as he spotted an older fellow on a tricked out bicycle who wandered over to buy some beets and leeks. We’ve learned that knowing your market is crucial for every size of farm, but especially ones that sell direct to the consumer, and Torin had unknowingly just spotted a friendly and informative source of knowledge about some of the particulars of selling fresh vegetables in Richmond. This wealth of knowledge became apparent within a few minutes of conversation, and he quickly filled our heads with suggestions for traditional Asian vegetables that would be in high demand if they were produced next year, along with ideas of how to better market the more western fare to many of the market patrons. Many of the customers were with their grandchildren and are of course interested in giving those kids the support they need nutrition-wise; marketing around the health benefits for growing kids could go a long way and help the Kwantlen market continue to grow over the course of next season.

Safe to say our season ended on a high note, with a successful and busy market, along with some good laughs and free candy. I was glad I got to be apart of it! Maybe Rebecca and Mike will let me tag along outside of Agroecosystems next year, though I’ll probably leave the cow costume at home. (Just kidding Eric!)