Salamander Springs Farm/Permaculture Organics

We are grateful for the return of the sun and the warmth!  The middle of May 2013 found us still waking up with chilly hands and feet.  Warm tea and good work helped us start the day but our young heat loving plants have had less recourses to pull from.  We’ve been doing our very best with this unparalleled spring weather; the collection of too much rain, standing water and the cold nights have been a challenge to care for all of the various crops on the farm.

With the spring crops planted in the soil, our summer loving plants have been in a state of limbo. We followed suit; in the evenings we gathered the plastic sheeting, row cover fabric, buckets and whatever else we could find, (coolers and wheelbarrows, too!), to protect the poor plants from the cold, rain, early May hail and mid-May frost.   Until the warmth returned this week, any plants had to hang on too long in their trays, in the cold frame that has hay bale insulation to hold in the warmth the sun provides in the day. We lay the plants to sleep under the cover of storm windows, bubble rap, and an old tipi canvas.  The weather has called for inventive micro-climates. And we pray for abundance! 

There is always an abundance of activity at Salamander Springs Farm, whether it be chasing our lovely goose & ducks out of the popcorn, calling out in search for Bear, our great white Pyrenees friend and protector, feeding our hungry mama ducks when they take a break from their nest, moving chicken fencing, brewing Kombucha, butchering our long beloved rooster, making yogurt, harvesting and cutting the comfrey root for salve and propagation around the fruit trees, and wading knee deep in pond water for the harvest of cattail shoots. 

In between the rains we’ve been parting hay mulch in the gardens, preparing the cornfield to plant, adding compost and mulch to feed the soil for long-term fertility and a nutrient rich harvest.   We staked out the popcorn and heirloom cornmeal corn fields, orienting the rows to maximize their time facing sunlight.  Kayla marked both ends of cornfield rows with a sunflower seed. 

There's a lot of life in the soil which allows us to plant the vegetables like a close family.  We planted rows of several varieties for carrots, radishes, turnips and beets, snugly between our early potatoes.  It is fun to apply creative planting techniques to the garden; utilizing the wisdom of past experience and an openness to new possibilities.  We inter-planted chard and kale in a sunny side of the cornfield, inter-cropped cabbages in the garlic and onions.  Parsley and greens found their home below and behind the shade of the early tomatoes; cool loving garbanzo beans and peas are in shadier spots of our south facing gardens.

Then, sometimes there is a quiet that rides the breath of the wind. The willow is dancing and if you walk near to the earth, you can hear movement happening beneath its skin.

This is the movement of water. There has truly been an incessant flow! There has been so much water flowing in the soil this spring that it has collected and pooled beneath crops in our field.  We dug for for the still-alive (not rotted) French Fingerling and Austrian Crescent potatoes sitting the above muck. Tomato plants, cucumber, and squash and melons have all felt the effects of the rains.   Setbacks require that we farmers replant and change planting placement for the season, but who are we to stop the flow!

With the torrential rains this spring,  water flow and drainage have become eminent. We are grateful for the foundational work of Susana at Salamander Springs Farm.  At the top of the system is the spring box and cistern in the forest far above the farm.  Buried waterline brings our spring water from the cistern to the farm to wash & quench the thirst of all of us, animals and plants. Three ponds, three large water cisterns and an assortment of smaller rain barrels help to retain the rainwater that falls on Salamander Springs Farm for future use in the fields below.  Last spring these ran dry; this spring saw us emptying overflowing cisterns into overflowing ponds (sometimes in the middle of the night in torrential downpours).  Susana created channels for the surface waters to flow from the raised beds and the field to the ponds, and from lower pond down into the lower woods.  This year she dug more and deeper channels in the muck.

Last season we were blessed with an abundant corn crop through a serious drought, and this season we pray that with the hard work in drainage channels, we will still be able to support growth of life through the muck!

In the coming season we hope that you will visit all of us critters at Salamander Springs; Susana, Kayla, Mirra, our incoming helpers, Bear the dog, Samson the cat, ducks, goose, chickens, earthworms, and come witness the sunflowers in their full glory!  
We look forward to your smiles and conversation at the market and your openness in sharing the season as it unfolds with us.  We are working our darnedest to ensure a bountiful harvest and shall continue to do so.

Blessings for a beautiful week,
-Mirra Shapiro

for the Salamander Springs SWAT team (Salamander Women are Tough!)