The main event of the week was spending time at Gaining Ground. I volunteered there for my first time on Friday, and what a great experience it was! The staff and volunteers were very welcoming and enthusiastically shared their knowledge and information about the farm. I’ll go over the main tasks we completed while I was there and then a couple highlights from what I learned.
The first task was helping move a hoop house to its new location. It’s a moving hoop house that rolls along rails and covers three separate fields. (See the quick video they have posted on Instagram here!) The crew had it ready to roll, and as a group we pushed it along to the far side of the field. Check out the photo to the left: it started over the greens in the foreground, and we moved it to the far side where it is pictured. Once in place, some worked on locking it in place while Doug, Jared, and I worked on re-installing the end panels. It was interesting to see that over time the spread of the rails must have changed, and Doug ended up having to drill new holes for some of the screws. We also had to dig out some dirt for the panels to fit, as the rails were lower to the ground.
After we finished with the hoop house, I went to help Hannah and another volunteer. We worked on uncovering a field that was covered with silage tarps. We removed the sandbags, dragged the tarps off the field (one at a time) and folded them up. Then the one remaining tarp was rearranged to cover three rows that needed to remain covered, and sandbags put back in place to secure it.
While we were working on the tarps, a big delivery arrived! It was a new hoop house. It was in a very large – but flat – wooden crate, so it took a team effort to unload it from the delivery truck. Doug expertly maneuvered the forklift and the staff eventually got the awkward item to the ground. I could tell it was pretty exciting but also a little frustrating just trying to accept the delivery.
Next, we moved into a hoop house to harvest greens. It was neat to learn that they had already done one cutting, and this second one would be the last. (Next week tomatoes are being planted inside that hoop house!) We worked on mustard greens, cutting with small knives. At one point, Doug brought in a harvesting tool/machine and he made quick work of some of the other greens. I was curious so I did a little research – I think it might be the “Quick Cut Greens Harvester”. What an incredibly valuable tool for small farms!
After the greens were complete, we took the baskets and bins to the wash station. The crew gave the greens a quick wash before they took their lunch break, and I was done for the day. It was a drizzly morning, but the morning had gone by so fast! It was a great experience, and it felt good to give a little to such an awesome organization.
Throughout the morning, I picked up various tidbits of information. One of the most interesting was learning about the silage tarps. I have learned about cover crops and their importance to soil health/protecting the soil, but in the context of farms that use tilling methods. Since Gaining Ground is a no-till farm, they can’t use cover crops in the same way (though this week I did learn that there are ways to use cover crops in no-till farming). So, the silage tarps help protect the soil while also suppressing weed growth. When I looked further into the use of silage tarps, I also learned that they can help reduce nutrient leaching because the tarp prevents moisture exchange (the moisture inside stays in while moisture/precipitation outside stays out). Another known benefit is that the tarps can help warm the soil, a benefit not specific to no-till farming. There are some good articles and research about the topic. A good summary is provided on the Cornell Small Farms site – also read the linked article about Seeds of Solidarity farm using tarps and no-till methods (NOFA/Mass also has an article about that farm here). I was also pleasantly surprised to find information about – and promoting – no-till farming on farmers.gov!
Something else I learned was that the new fruit trees being planted at Gaining Ground are planted so that different types are planted together. Doug explained to me that the purpose is to “confuse” pests. When looking into this after my morning at the farm, I also found some interesting information about companion planting for fruit trees. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? With all the research I did on companion planting for my garden planning this year, it never even crossed my mind that companion planting would extend to other plants, such as fruit trees. Perhaps next year my big project can be constructing companion plant beds for the fruit trees.
Overall, my morning at Gaining Ground was rewarding and informative. I plan to volunteer there again as much as I can fit it into my schedule. It was energizing to see just a piece of what their operations looks like, and considering their outputs of donated produce, it is really inspiring.
The usual activities continue at home, too. The peach trees are just about to bloom, ferns are emerging, we found a frog keeping warm in the garden, and we saw lots and lots of worms! I potted up some seedlings, prepared all of the garden beds, got more seeds in the ground, and made progress on my son’s “garden fort”. The weather has been cool and we’ve had a lot of rain, which is good in some ways but not great for my beekeeping. I haven’t done a full inspection because of the cold, damp, and windy days this week. It looks like Monday will be over 60, so I really need to get in there and take a look! Hopefully I’ll have an update on that in my next post.
Have a wonderful week!