Orders

Join the Stock Pot Farm email list to learn what produce is available each week. We pick to order, primarily concentrating on root crops and storage vegetables for your enjoyment. Email us at stockpotfarm@gmail.com for more information.

Season's Close

In keeping with the too much to do, not enough time to do it tradition I never did get around to constructing T-tape reels over the summer and suddenly everything comes to a head at the end of the season when the fields have to be put to bed and equipment needs to be pulled up to allow for the cover crop to be planted and I'm caught without T-Tape winders and baby Noelani is coming early! Thankfully Aunt Kathy came to help with the newborn and I was able to get away to clean up the fields and construct the winders,

  

Sunchokes

Sunchokes, aka Jerusalem artichokes, aka  girasole articocco, are a variety of sunflower native to the Americas that produces a tuber that looks a bit like ginger with thinner skin. We grew a couple of beds this year since I love the flavor and they are a decent storage crop, lasting well over a month in a cool, moist environment like the crisper draw in your refrigerator. They seemed to tolerate the low nitrogen levels at the farm this year and produced quite well with 3 to 10 pounds of tubers per plant! Best of all they were way easier to harvest than a potato, the tubers remained close to the ground surface an pulled up easily along with the long, 5-6 foot high sunflower like stalk. I was very happy with the result.

Sunchokes poking through the soil in June

Tall Flowering Stalks in September

Tubers ready for harvest in October

They may be eaten raw (sliced thin) or cooked, but they are most often thinly sliced and sauted in butter or roasted either whole or in chunks. Although I like the crisp fresh taste of them raw I prefer them cooked since it brings out the artichoke flavor to me. Sunchokes go well with butter and cream so gratins and of course a soup are also great.

Sunsets on the Farm

Having a day job means there are lots of long days, thankfully Mother Nature makes it all worth while...

Some of the crops

Sunchokes

Fall Brassicas

Butter Oak Lettuce

Arugula

 Cauliflower

  Tomatoes

 Eggplant (well the pretty flower)

Purple Cauliflower 

 Kohlrabi

Cool they Grew!

Super excited that our Okra is growing! Okra is a real stretch for the Pacific NW as it prefers a hotter climate but since it has such beautiful flowers and I like to experiment I gave a few plants a shot. Should have planted more since a harvest of 3 or 4 pods isn't really much of a harvest and since they get tough quickly you have harvest them when they are young and you can't wait for a bumper crop. Beautiful flowers!

Hurry Plant!

Having a day job that sends you across the country for weeks at a time greatly affects your planting schedule, especially when everything takes longer than you expect on a farm. Thankfully, I have a great set of friends who come out for planting parties. This weekend we tried to plant our dried beans, winter squash, corn, tomatoes, eggplant, okra, melons and misc. brassicas! A crazy, all out planting party! Thanks to Karen, Russ, Sean and Kath for giving up precious weekend moments (especially sunny weekend moments) to work on the farm.

Before we leave I quickly have to protect our Solanaceae crops with row cover to protect these heat loving crops from the colder nights of the NW.

 

Mother's Day with Baby Goats

Took some time away from the farm to volunteer for a great local organization, Friends of Family Farmers (FoFF) this Mother's Day. FoFF had an outreach booth at the OMSI Mother's Day Brunch where we provided information on eating locally and entertained Mom and kiddie alike with cute cuddly goats from Terra Farma in Corbett. Time for gratuitous baby goat photos:

Irrigation Time

As a soil water conservation agency it is no surprise that the EMSWCD is promoting the use of organic farming practices and targeted irrigation. All the farmers this tear have elected to use drip tape or "T" tape to supply water to their crops. Drip tape slowly drips water to the base of the plants where it is needed most without watering the pathways where weeds can thrive. It all starts at the EMSWCD supplied irrigation riser:

Which the farmers connects to using oval tube:

From which the valves and drip tape is attached to create the crop rows;

Let the planting begin! We'd like to tank Fisher Supply in Canby for all the great advice on setting up the irrigation system. We got a great deal on emitter style drip tape (As opposed to slit style). It worked great but be aware that making end closures for the drip line is tricky, you can't fold an emitter. Instead I just cut a blank where there is no emitterr.

Spreading Compost

In order to add both nitrogen (to fertilize the crops) and organic matter (for tilth), Rick at Abundant Fields Farm and I went in on a lead of organic composted cow manure from Mt. Scott. It arrived on a rainy day when the truck couldn't reach our fields so a large pile if compost had to be spread across the fields, A tough task when new farmers don't have a tractor or a compost spreader? Thankfully teamwork prevailed, Rowan used the EMSWCD's utility tractor to till in the spread compost, our Friend Rick brought his tractor down from Sandy to load truck loads of compost for transfer to our fields and Farmer Rick and I used elbow grease to spread out the compost. 

End of Season PS: Sadly I anticipated a relatively healthy reserve of organic matter in the soil that would break down and release nitrogen to the growing plants. Therefore I under applied the composted manure which resulted in stunted early season growth until I determined the problem early in the summer. At past farms I worked we would only apply the compost or fertilizer onto the growing beds instead or across the entire field, however since I am without a tractor I did not have an option to apply the compost over the course of the season as I established beds, but instead had to apply it all at once. The result is I ended up diluting the compost by applying it on areas that would become paths. First year farmer lesson learned #1.

The Blank Slate

Spring is arriving on the farm and compost is being spread on the newly cleared and tilled fields. This former nursery has been transformed into the Headwaters Farm Incubator a program of the East Multnomah Soil Water Conservation District (EMSWCD). Approximately 60 acres if land has been protected from development and will remain in agricultural production due to the efforts of the EMSWCD. Approximately 15 acres of land has been set aside along a tributary of Johnson Creek to protect the watershed and the remaining acres have been set aside as a business incubator for new farmers. Farmers receive access to water, reduced rent on plots from 1-3 acres, farm related business classes, and guidance from farm mentor Rowan Steele of Fiddlehead Farm. This is the first year of the program and 5 farmers have signed on with diverse offerings from honey to flowers and of course fresh produce.  All this in an idyllic setting with views of Mount Hood and great sunsets!