Boy was it a hot one today! But unlike many of us a farmer cannot just stay inside in the air conditioning just because the temperature is in the triple digits. Everyone I visited today was outside working when I arrived.
Usually when I visit Jarred Juhl in Wathena, Kansas I only see a small part of where he is farming. This year I had Jarred meet me in downtown Wathena and drive me to all of his many locations. I am so glad he was driving since most of the time we were going down steep dirt paths and bouncing along through the fields. Most of the land Jarred farms is land that belonged to his Grandfather and father or he is renting it from a neighbor who no longer farms. There is no way I would have been able to find each field. As we were walking through one of the many fields, Jarred showed me a very old piece of equipment used for digging potatoes. The blade is drug through the field digging up the potatoes; the potatoes are pushed onto a grid where most of the dirt falls through leaving just the potatoes. The potatoes are then forced off the back and fall into the field, Jarred then goes through the field and picks up the potatoes which are on top of the soil. I often wonder who invents some of this equipment. Jarred is one of the few vendors at the market that raises heirloom tomatoes. Heirlooms come in many colors and are usually not the same shape and sometimes have small cracks by the stem. They are a little softer and do not keep as long as the tomatoes most of us eat, which is why you won’t find them in a grocery store. If you have never tried one you are in for a real treat. While we were walking through one of the corn fields I noticed an ear of corn which had been chewed on, Jarred said he has a real problem with raccoons. He said sometimes he gets a little obsessed and sleeps in the field, when he hears the raccoons pulling back the husk he runs over with a flash light and tries to find them, raccoons can destroy a crop. Jarred had black plastic in most of his fields with a drip line underneath. When the plants need water he hauls it in big drums from town and hooks a hose to the line. Drip lines are a very efficient way to water plants. Jarred sells at three other markets on Saturday so his sister Jessica and her daughters handle his City Market stalls. They are located in the 3rd farmers shed in stalls 138, 139 and 140 on Saturday and hopefully starting this week will be at the market on Sunday in stalls 124 & 125.
I didn’t have to far to go to get to my next farm since it is also in Wathena. Goode Acres is located on a hill overlooking the Missouri River, the view is beautiful. John was busy tilling up the weeds between the rows of peppers when I arrived, he was pretty lucky since his tractor was air-conditioned. The peppers in the field were not quite ready but should be in a few weeks. John is currently working to get his organic certification and should be certified by the first of February. He will be the only vendor at the market that is certified organic. John has received a few grants over the past few years to have his farm terraced and to get three high tunnels. He currently has three tunnels and has one more to put up. The first tunnel we entered was filled with pepper plants, squash and cucumbers. John is having a problem with white flies which are doing a lot of damage to his cucumber plants. Since he can’t use any sprays he will just have to let them go and replant. The second tunnel was filled with tomato plants covered with green tomatoes, there were a few that are ready to pick. John also grows heirloom tomatoes. The third tunnel had a few herbs and Swiss chard but was pretty much done and will be replanted once the weather breaks, the extreme heat is very hard on plants which have just been transplanted. In addition to produce John also has a row of red and black raspberries, blackberries and he chips up various types of wood for BBQ. For additional information visit Goode Acres website at www.goodeacres.com
I decided to cut over to Plattsburg after leaving Wathena and visit Windy Ridge Greenhouse. Clara and William Hanks have been vendors at the market for years and have currently relocated from shed two to shed one. On my way to their farm I pulled over to let a farm tractor go by and to my surprise it was William, he was on his way to another field to cut straw. Since I have been to their farm many times I just showed myself around, I sure did not want to keep him from what he was doing. Windy Ridge has three greenhouses where they grow bedding plants, herbs, vegetable plants and beautiful roses in the spring. This time of year they have closed their greenhouses to the public and are concentrating on their fields. They had summer squash ready to pick and a few small cucumbers. Eventually they will also be picking melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers; things just are not quite ready yet. For more information visit their web site at www.windyridgegreenhouse.com
I will be staying close to home next week since I will only be working a half day on Thursday. We have quite a few vendors who travel less than 20 minutes to get to the market so I will have plenty to choose from.
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