Strawberry Fields Forever, a crash course in strawberries

Spring has most definitely sprung, and with that the Redwood Farm's seedlings and plants are flourishing. This week especially, our farm came alive. And after a winter of hard work, bed prep, cover crops, and weeding, it feels very satisfying to see our farm's success. I, especially, have begun to notice the wonderful strawberries popping up in the strawing bed. So I decided it would be interesting to look into how strawberries are grown and how we can maintain the most successful strawberries. According to the University of Illinois, it is best to plant strawberries as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring. This is usually in March or April because it allows the plants to become well established before the hot weather arrives. Strawberries should be planted on a cloudy day or during the late afternoon. For best results, plant the strawberry seedling in the soil so that the soil is just covering the tops of the roots. Do not cover the crown. After four or five weeks, the seedlings will produce runners and new daughter plants. There are many different systems for growing strawberries, however, the preferred system for growing Junebearer's (recommended for a home garden) would be in the system where the strawberry plants are set eighteen to thirty inches apart in rows three to four feet apart. After planting, general care for strawberries is fairly simple. They need about one inch of water a week, well drained soil that is high in organic matter, and lots and lots of sunlight. Some tips and tricks for growing the best strawberries are to keep the plant bed well mulched to retain moisture, control weeds and prevent the fruit from contacting the soil. Some straw will do the trick, hence the name "straw" berry. Also, for the best flavour pick berries when they are fully ripe on a sunny afternoon. And that concludes my little crash course on growing strawberries! With this information, I can confidently say that the Redwood farm, is doing a good job with our strawberry growing!

Thanks Sustainable Agriculture!

• Inês

Potato What?

My birthday was this last week and I got two really great presents form my brother. First of all he came down from the Seattle area to visit me and my family. Two, he's going to help me build A potato tower-- now you may ask what a potato tower is and I'll tell you. It mimics nature by being very compacted with lots of soil and nutrients however you can grow hundreds of pounds without taking arable land. It grows vertically, with layers. 

You could buy one but my brother and I are going it build it out of lumber. I was thinking of testing out the bio intensive sustainable agriculture way of cutting up the potatoes vs the the traditional way of letting them sprout and seeing which has more yield. Then based on the data I'll bring it into the farm for my final project. Explaining why that us the better method. It will use less arable land and many people at markets enjoy potatoes. It will provide lots of food!

By: Skylar Vos— 

Built!:

Interplanting on the Farm!

In our A1 bed we have started interplanting.  This is where you plant crops with deep roots, like carrots or tomatoes, in between shallow vegetables like broccoli, lettuce, and kale.  Another way of interplanting could be planting fast growing plants like spinach around slowly maturing plant like corn.

Interplanting, is very useful for several reasons. This type of gardening takes some planting knowledge, but vegetable intercropping can reduce disease and pests when done in proper combinations. The practice involves pairing taller plants with shorter ones growing under them. It also includes combinations of companion plants, which help repel pests. It also allows the small space gardener to grow many different crops, minimizes open spaces that encourage formation of competitive weeds, enhances soil fertility and promotes cooperation among different species to enhance the health of all the plants.

Intercropping with nitrogen-rich plants, such as beans, allows them to fix nitrogen in the soil and increase this macro-nutrients availability for other plants. Cyclical plantings for consistent harvest are also an important facet of interplanting. No matter what area you focus upon, the basic idea of interplanting and intensive gardening is to create a favorable relationship among all the crops and increase yields and variety.

In our own bed we have planted a few crops in this style.  We first planted kale and broccoli which is about 15 inches apart, following the in bed spacing. Then we noticed a lot of room between the plants and decided to plant carrots weaving through the kale and broccoli. The carrots worked well in the small areas because they have only 4 inch in bed spacing.  Not only did we save space in our bed, but we can water less, produce more, and the plants are working together.

Star Route Farms

Three weeks ago me and two others within the Sustainable Agriculture class of Redwood visited Star Rout Farms. Star Rout Farms is located within Bolinas and was founded in 1974. From the beggining, it was Organic and is actually California's oldest continual organic farm. Originally the farm began on five acres and depended on horse drawn plows but has since upgraded to 38 acres of farmable land using precision planters and hydrocooling equipment.

Since Bolinas is cool weathered with consistent fog Star Rout Farms grows cool weather crops. Crops such as lettuce and winter squash. From observing their farm I also noticed fields of bell beans and purple artichoke. The farm uses organic techniques such as natural fertilizer and cover cropping for desirable crop production. They also grow alyssum the flower to attract beneficial animals to consume pest. Their water source derives from a reservoir at a higher elevation then the farm. The higher elevation is used to water their plants through low impact sprinklers.

Star Rout Farms in the 70's sold primarily to growing number of natural food stores within the Bay Area. In the 80's they supplied chiefs with produce who were innovating California Cuisine such as Paul Bertolli and Joyce Goldstein. Throughout the 80's and 90's Star Rout Farm's production grew to feed the growing organic movement, but when large organic growers entered the market in the late 90's they were forced to cut back. Presently they focus on supplying eighty restaurants and three farmers markets.

Mateo Vega