Saturday, September 1, 2012
2012 Harvest, Saturday, September 1st
Saturday, April 14, 2012
SPRING PLANTING, APRIL 22, 2012
Friday, December 9, 2011
Field Date- Saturday, Dec. 10th, 2011
highlights from e-mail to membership, Dec. 9th (for November 27th Meeting Minutes, please see previous post):
First of all, a warm welcome to our two newest members, Kathleen Dunster and John Tansley!
Secondly, we have some hay being delivered this weekend to the SPUDS patch, and are hoping a few more members (and a couple of additional wheel barrows) will be on hand at 2:00 pm Saturday, December 10th, to move the bales inside our fenced area and under a tarp! So far, Ron and Sheila, Mike and Fireweed, and possibly Kevin, will be able to make it. Anyone else able to join us at that time for an hour or less?
Our hope is to 'stack' a few tasks, including the distribution of hay left over from last fall (wet now and decomposing nicely) onto specific areas of the field currently being mulched for spring planting. Also, to spread cardboard and help further our advances in weed suppression along the perimeter of the field where grass has a particularly aggressive habit of encroaching!
Please bring any outstanding membership fee for the year with you on Saturday, if you can! Also, feel free to request any additions or corrections to the Minutes attached. Thanks in advance for a quick rsvp about Saturday, and confirmation if you have a wheelbarrow you could bring! Other than that, a pair of gloves and appropriate footwear are probably all you need to think about. Hope to see you soon if you're free!
-Fireweed (for SPUDS Field Management sub-committee)
SPUDS General Meeting, November 27, 2011
Location: Dave and Tanya’s- 2585 Piercy Road
Minute Taker: Michael Nestor
In attendance: Ron Dobie, Kathleen Holden, Dave Graf, Tanya Quinn, Fireweed, Mike Nestor, Robert Fox
In absentia, but confirmed as 2012 members: Susan Marie Yoshihara, Vern Wright, Karl Goodwin, Kevin Mitchell, Ron Sakolsky, Sheila Nopper, John Tansley, and Kathleen Dunster
AGENDA:
1) Membership update
2) Slide Show- year in review
3) Financial Report
4) Field Management Update
5) Seed Ordering
6) Ideas for edging of field/weed suppression/minimal tillage
7) Ideas/plans for spring planting
8) Water catchment project update
9) Garden Party suggestion
10) Communications
11) Fundraising/grant ideas
12) Other
13) Next field date
1) Membership update
Fireweed and Mike report 10 family memberships are confirmed so far for 2012 (9 active*), and 3 single memberships
*Veronica Timmons will be supporting the co-op with a 2012 membership, but not renewing active participation due to other priorities. She kindly sends her regards to everyone, with the message: “My time with SPUDS has been wonderful, and a great learning opportunity”. Update: Veronica has also written again to say she will be dropping off some cardboard for us in the field…thx, V!
A warm welcome to our two newest members (not in attendance): John Tansley (who built our water catchment over the cistern!), and Dr. Kathleen Dunster
Members are encouraged to talk up SPUDS, and invite friends, new islanders, families, etc, to consider getting involved with our community food security project.
2) Slide Show
Fireweed presented a detailed slide show and overview of field activity from last winter through to this fall, including images from work bee gatherings, cover crop development in each of the four quadrants, our new cistern roof, new hose/watering system, planting dates, challenges, successes, and celebrations. (Plans for an edited version highlighting our efforts may eventually manifest in a YouTube video format to incorporate some of our now fairly extensive photo documentation better online- but don’t hold your breath!)
3) Financial Report
Mike provided an update on SPUDS finances (not a detailed annual report). Please refer to separate attachment. Note: Additional figures provided for clarification in email to membership accompanying this Minutes mailout, include donated funds to SPUDS account, and money recouped from the sale of extra potato seed
4) Field Management Update
Fireweed reported that sections of the field were quickly cover-cropped in clover and partly in pea, not long after our fall harvest. Mike Lindsay dropped by to help members of the Field Management sub-committee consider whether or not we should plow areas of the field quite overgrown with hairy vetch, and grass, and a decision was made to wait till spring before any further tillage. Minimizing soil disturbance, conserving funds, and allowing natural reseeding of our cover crop made sense, as the long growth dies back, adding humus to the soil. It is likely still going to be necessary to plow under grasses and weeds in the spring however, and until we are able to suppress field growth we don’t want more effectively- perhaps in part through introducing vigorous alternatives (ideas discussed later- see below)
We will be planting in the upper left hand quadrant next year. Progress has been made since our fall harvest, suppressing encroaching weed growth in this area along the fence line closest to the woods with cardboard and hay mulch (also along the top edge of the field). Dried hairy vetch raked up in the neighbouring quadrant (closest to the cistern), has been redistributed/used as mulch to mark potentially no-till, or minimal till planting strips for our 2012 potato crop. All cover crop seems to have successfully ‘taken’, so will hopefully survive the winter and continue building soil fertility.
Members in attendance were in favor of sticking with the same amount of plants for 2012 (we had reduced our crop size considerably for 2011, and found this helpful, commensurate with membership numbers, water availability, and time involved in crop management).
5) Seed Ordering
Ron Dobie confirmed that Max will be able to pick up our potato seed again on Vancouver Island, and Fireweed will check with our distributor to see what will be available this year. Those present were interested in planting Sieglindes again, but we might also consider another variety if we can acquire a small quantity of certified organic seed that suits us. We will order the minimum 50 pounds of Sieglindes to get in on the group discount we have been accustomed to, and once again offer for sale the extra certified organic seed we don’t need.
6) Ideas for edging of field/weed suppression/minimal tillage
Prospective edging crops- cover crops for mulch, comfrey, sunflowers, kale, companion plants suitable for potatoes, and less attractive to wireworms (or attractive to predators of wireworms!) Cranberries were mentioned as a possible crop for watery areas of the field less well suited for potatoes.
Ron Dobie agreed to do some research about companion planting and the pros and cons of some of the plants proposed as potential candidates for weed suppression, etc. Update: please refer to additional document attached, regarding Ron’s followup research, which favors comfrey and kale!
Fireweed will look into ordering of hairy vetch from Vancouver again (favored as an edging plant, for growing our own mulch), and the possibility of splitting a bag with Ironwood Farms in Fanny Bay (which helped cut our costs two years ago) Dave and Tanya said they might be able to pick it up from the distributor in the lower mainland (a significant savings over ordering it up island from a retail outlet).
7) Ideas/plans for spring planting
Hopefully we can plant early again in 2012… this year we got our potato seed in the ground on April 9th, over a month earlier than the year before (May 27th, 2010!) Fireweed and Mike have acquired a hand mower, and presented the idea of limited till on strips currently mulched by hairy vetch pilings, with cover crop then encouraged between these rows to be mowed by hand (to avoid excessive growth, and utilize the ‘trimmings’ as super rich mulch/soil enhancer). Some discussion ensued about planting the rows across the quadrant as opposed to straight up and down, although this might not be advantageous.
Bringing Mike Lindsay in to do a three quarters plus plowing of the field NOT slated for cultivation was suggested as a means of getting on top of weeds, and will require immediate reseeding with cover crop. This tillage would be more intensive than usual, possibly requiring an equipment change for a second round in order to really break down the existing growth in the field to build humus and hold back grass and weeds. Our budget is looking good for 2012, and it was suggested that the additional expense might be a really appropriate use of our funds at this stage of field management (also in light of having reduced our fossil fuel usage in 2011, as well as our need to contract tillage since we did all our own rototilling in the spring, let the cover crops self re-seed, and chose not to till in the fall, also sparing our funds at that time)
8) Water catchment project update
Dave will talk to John Tansley, builder of our cistern roof and new SPUDS member, about finishing up the water catchment with the addition of eaves. Our grant monies ran out before the final stage could be completed, and John has kindly offered to volunteer his services to assist with the remainder of the project. Mike and Ron Dobie both have some eaves parts/gutters that could be used for this project. We also have money in our budget to purchase additional hardware as required.
Dave is in touch with Keith Walker about his own successful water catchment system, and will be furthering his investigation into how best to insulate our tank valve so we can avoid any freezer damage during cold temperatures without draining our tank. Dave has also offered to build an insulated, protective covering. We may have to totally drain the tank, in order to turn the whole thing slightly, to adjust access to the water filling valve at the top. We’ll do this altogether when we have a group available, or else John may be able to simply move a brace holding up the roof structure to alleviate any potential difficulty with fire department fillings.
Mike will ask Charlie about which option would be preferable from the standpoint of the Fire department which has so generously accommodated us with water, and will no doubt be appreciated again for that, during our next dry season.
9) Garden Party suggestion
A proposal was made to the group that we consider hosting a garden party (mini work bee) for a former SPUDSter (who has been a very supportive member in the past, and has experienced debilitating back problems this year- alongside his partner’s sprained ankle). All in attendance supported the idea in principle, and Fireweed will pursue whether or not such a gesture would be appropriately helpful before we set anything into motion.
10) Communications
Ron suggested that we include mention in a new year’s article about SPUDS, that we will have extra potato seed for sale, and enhance our networking that way. If we have lots of interest prior to placing our own order, we could even acquire a couple of cases of seed to share outside the co-op membership. Fireweed has volunteered to write something up for the January Flagstone.
Sheila Nopper and Fireweed are currently on the Communications team, and Sheila has compiled a hard copy of SPUDS material for public access in the library. Additional members are welcome to help out with communications and field management planning at any time. Dave Graf will be staying on board the Field Management sub-committee for 2012, along with Mike and Fireweed, and hopefully Tanya (if she has the time!)
11) Fundraising/grant ideas
Mike will reapply for a Regional Grant for 2012 (deadline in February). He explained that our acquisition of the Economic Enhancement Grant for our water catchment system project in 2011 resulted in us not qualifying for any additional RG funding in 2011.
12) Other- Cardboard, and Hay
We could really use more large cardboard, to suppress invasive grass and weed growth all around the entire perimeter of the field. Members are encouraged to keep on the lookout in town for large brown box cardboard without staples or colored ink. We can use cardboard with tape, as long as it is removed.
Kathy let us know that she has recently purchased hay from Fern and Dave Neidermoser for 2.50 a bale, and agreed to contact Dave to see how much we might acquire for $50. Tom Dennis’ hay was mentioned, but concerns raised about canary grass content. We have received free old hay from Doug Wright in previous years, and had discussed paying him the next time, as he does normally sell his hay as well.
Update: Dave Neidermoser will be delivering twenty bales of hay to the field for a total cost of $65, which includes transport and a reduced price on the bales (he normally charges $3 per bale, but had given Kathy a deal and has kindly agreed to extend this same price to SPUDS as well.)
13) Next field date
A short work bee was proposed for distributing the hay remaining from last year onto specific areas of the field to be planted next spring, and to position existing cardboard…sometime soon. Update: on Saturday, December 10th, at 2:oo pm, members are encouraged to come on out to also help move the hay that will now be delivered that day by Dave Neidermoser into our fenced area.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
2012 Planning Meeting SUNDAY, November 27th, 7 pm
Saturday, August 20, 2011
SPUDS WEEDING & HARVEST DATES!
Friday, July 15, 2011
SPUDS UPDATE!
1) ALL ABOUT WATER:
Thanks to everyone who helped water the field while we were waiting on the cistern fillup, and thanks to Steve Ireland for making that arrangement for us while poor CharlieJohnston was recovering from his back injury, and to Peter Marshall and volunteers from the Fire Department for doing the deed!
The field was watered by hand a total of six times over the week to ten days prior to the filling on Wednesday, July 6th, and hopefully some of that water made it down to the roots where it was needed most during this crucial time of plant development. Many thanks to those who assisted and or provided water. Sheila Nopper's Lee Valley hose pump was especially 'back-saving', allowing Mike to fill wine bottles without continuing to lift heavy containers!
The generous donation of new, super lightweight dripline to SPUDS from Denman organic produce grower (and West Jet pilot) Dave Pick was very easy to install. It is elevated along the fence line before it hits the field, due to the fact that by the time it was gifted to us our potato mounds were far above ground level. Thankyou to Graham Hayman as well for his assistance positioning all the hoses. Mike and I anchored the hose to the mounds with found wire from the recycling centre, which we used along the fence as well to hold up the line. We split old cedar shakes to stake the mainline tightly in place. The water distribution throughout the field is very, very even...a big improvement over our former system due in no small part of course to our decrease in plant numbers.Our plants (totalling around 280) have been watered twice now by the cistern, which released the equivilant amount of water on the field in three hours that it took six whole field waterings by hand to accomplish. We LOVE the cistern! :)
Field Management Subcommittee member (and genius!) Dave Graf has just rigged up a buoy system for the cistern which will now allow us to monitor the amount of H20 we are releasing on the field per watering, without having to get up on a ladder with our long dip-stick. While we are hoping for an additional 6 or 7 waterings from the cistern before receiving a second filling from the Fire Department, the amount of time it actually takes to release water is increasing as the pressure in the tank drops.
Graham Hayman has kindly offered to monitor the next several waterings while all FSC members are off island on holidays. In our absence, members Ron Dobie, Karl Goodwin, and Fox will be taking turns turning on the tank every three days. Graham will be turning off the tank each time so one person can be responsible for keeping an accurate record of water levels and flow rate as the tank drains.
The FSC has also mulched the entire field with additional hay to help retain moisture in the mounds, since our drip line is on top of the potato hill and must wick down to reach developing tubers. Fortunately, the heavy rain on Wednesday penetrated the soil all around our potato plants, which doesn't normally happen because the ground in our pathways is so compact.
2) TUBER DEVELOPMENT:
FSC members removed all flowers from blossoming plants this past week, in order to help concentrate plant energy in the roots. We are NOT seeing tuber development in the mounds randomly checked, which could be for a variety of reasons...
i) everything is behind this year by 2-3 weeks due to our cold wet spring
ii) nutrient level in this quadrant is still depleted given that it has been previously planted and our new four year rotation and cover cropping regime was only begun last year.
iii) maybe we waited too long to get to our first hilling....
iv) the tubers are forming closer to the original seed potato beneath ground level (in addition to all of the above!)
In any event, we will keep our fingers crossed for a decent harvest by the end of August!
3) COVER CROPS:
The field was buzzing with a kazillion happy bees when our hairy vetch and volunteer pea were blooming last month! They did indeed catch up with the grass that is also thriving in the field, although we worried they might not! The clover crop has been far less successful in the upper half of the field, and a mystery plant dominated the lower end of our 2011 quadrant, but which has provided great ground cover mixed with our clover there!
We did NOT plant clover between the rows as proposed after final hilling...conditions were not conducive at the time. Additional hay has been distributed between the rows instead to act as weed suppressant and moisture mulch. it will be several years now before we plant potatoes in this area again, leaving us lots of time to boost soil fertility levels through ongoing cover cropping.
After harvest we will need to decide whether or not to till the upper half of the field again for a replanting of a nutrient rich cover crop that can perhaps better suppress the growth of unwanted grass in the area currently designated for our 2012 patch.
4) HARVEST:
Due to our earlier planting this year, we will be harvesting before the Blackberry Faire! Stay tuned for details, but the weekend of August 27th and 28th is likely, if we allow our plants to mature fully and die back naturally.
5) BLOG POSTING:
This year's photos are not all up on the blog...when I'm back from holidays at the end of the month I hope to have a great photo stream of our collective efforts from April on, finally ready for members to enjoy!
6) DENMAN WORKS GRANT and our WATER CATCHMENT SYSTEM:
Work on our water catchment cistern roof should commence around the beginning of August, by local builder John Tansley. Denman Works exists to promote community economic enhancement, so a portion of our grant is designated for materials and the remainder for labor costs. We have tried to source supplies as locally as possible, so some of the wood we are using will have been milled here on Denman. The job won't take long, and we'll be sure to document all progress, as Denman Works requires that we provide regular reports. Please see Dave Graf's draft design here on the spuds blog for general overview.
7) LUCKY SEVEN! If you've read this far, you are a perfect candidate for SPUDS Field Management Sub-Committee! This is just a reminder that anyone interested in helping coordinate field management is welcome and encouraged to participate. Mike and Fireweed, and Tanya and Dave have been meeting this year to coordinate and commiserate...some deliberations happen online, over the phone, or in the field! It's definitely a time commitment, so additional help is always welcome!
8) MEMBERSHIP: This year it was suggested that members commit to at least five or six work bees in the field per membership, in the interests of SPUDS Cooperative sustainability. It's always understood that not everyone can make it out to each and every scheduled event, so please get in touch if you'd like to be contacted to help with additional chores if you haven't been able to get to the field much this year. Every member is valuable, and we want to keep you onboard!
- We could use volunteers to sit with SPUDS display at the Blackberry Faire, and encourage interested islanders to join us!
- If anyone is traveling to the lower mainland, a pickup of our over-wintering cover crop seed from the distributor would save us a little cash over ordering it locally.
- fundraising ideas are always welcome too, including grant research!
9) PLANNING AHEAD: The FSC hasn't talked about a meeting of the whole membership after harvest, but hopefully we can plan ahead for 2012 with input from all members, sometime after the Blackberry Faire!