DoubleDogFarm
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Double Dog Farm 2012 Extended lunch with camera.

Can one work more than 24/7?

My at home Lawn and Garden Equipment repair business has been crazy busy. I'm basically working sun up to sun down. Saturdays are divided by repairing equipment and Farmers Market. I was about to call the market manager to tell her I'm done for the year, but my neighbor talked me out of it. "You have plants to sell and it's prime season. You better go." One more weekend. This leaves me Sunday for gardening.

Here are some pictures of this years sad garden.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012005.jpg[/img]
Music garlic
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012020.jpg[/img]
Napa Cabbage, Onions and Sunchokes
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012019.jpg[/img]
Lettuce blend
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012022.jpg[/img]
One row of Yukon Gold potato and onions waiting
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012029.jpg[/img]
Red choi and Napa
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012026.jpg[/img]
This is a partial row of Skagit Magic true seed potatoes. Notice the purple flowers and the white from the same seed.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012024.jpg[/img]
The next 3 pictures are 3 different plantings of Painted Mountain corn. About 500 row feet. Planted on May 19th and 20th.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012025.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012030.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/May31Garden2012031.jpg[/img]

Almost 2:00pm, I need to get back to work.
Last edited by DoubleDogFarm on Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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GardenRN
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Looks good Eric! Yeah it seems early to quit the market....especially considering how far north you are!

Jeremy brua
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Looks like a happy garden to me!

cynthia_h
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Welcome back, Eric DDF! :D beautiful photos, as always! I'd love some of that lettuce mix....

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orgoveg
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If that's a sad garden by your standards, you must have had some really impressive stuff in the past. I remember the photos of the rest of your place. It's real nice! Don't you still have warm weather crops to sell later?

Oh. I missed your point which is that you don't have time. Yeah, I can't imagine getting it all done with one day a week.

Tonio
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That's a sad garden??? :shock:

I've done ate my hat :x

Is a "farm stand " out of the question?

T

DoubleDogFarm
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GardenRN wrote:Looks good Eric! Yeah it seems early to quit the market....especially considering how far north you are!
Jeff, When I had a job, not a business, it was much easier to start hundreds of plants and sell them through early summer. Then I would transition into selling produce. This year it's to much. I've cooked more plants in the greenhouse then sold. Don't have the time to up-pot and fertilize. What doesn't sell on Saturday, will go into the garden. Will see about selling produce.

Thanks Cynthia,
It maybe a short stay. You never know, I may catch the fever and shirk my duties. :wink:

orgoveg,
Yes- lack of time. I'm spinning in circles. I need to pull the flats of seedlings out of the propagation chamber, No - I need to replace the spindle bearings in the customers John Deere mower, but wait the phone is ringing. Yes, I work on Toro mowers, I'll hook up the trailer and be right out. You want your mower yesterday, OK, right after the other five mowers I'll fix in my sleep. :roll: In the mean time, the seedlings are spindly, shriveled or burnt.

Marlingardener,
The dog in the two pictures is Kirby. At 4 1/2 months she weighs about 34lbs. Here she is chewing on a melon rind.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20Pepper%20Jacob%20and%20Kirby/May31Garden2012018.jpg[/img]
I started eight different varieties of true seed potatoes. The seeds are smaller than most tomato seed. Most of it was a failure, but the Skagit Magic are doing all right. I'm thinking there will be many variation in the harvest.
You should wear a hat, I know many people with skin cancer.

Tonio, Farm stand is not out, but there are hoops to jump through. Washington state, Counties and interest groups are trying to work things out. Selling directly to restaurants or CSA is propably the way to go.

Eric
Peppercorn and Kirby
Last edited by DoubleDogFarm on Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

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rainbowgardener
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Doing a CSA would be quite a bit of work, getting it organized and going, but if you were willing to do that, I think it is a fabulous option, win for everyone.

We finally quit our CSA after 5-6 years, just because we live in the city and the farm was too far away. Between the pick ups and the work hours, it was just too much driving. But we loved it. We got all the produce we could eat, plus a bit left over to freeze,all season (30 kinds of veggies) for a real reasonable price, paid once up front.

We came to the farm to pick it up, the farmer didn't have to go somewhere and sit at a farmer's market trying to sell stuff. We paid for ours a little bit in work hours, helping out with tasks needing to be done. I liked the work hours. Talk about knowing where your produce comes from! How about I helped weed that corn, I helped dig those potatoes.

This is our first year not in the CSA and I really miss it. We are shopping farmers markets now. I'm getting less produce and spending a lot more for it and don't feel the same connection to it. We'll see how this year goes. We may end up begging our CSA to take us back! :) (Or joining a different one, there are a couple closer).

And I agree with all the above comments; most people would die for a "sad" garden like yours! :)

mscratch
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How about summer hiring of teen(s)? surely someone in the area could use a few bucks for a few hours of potting or weeding? or the little things that need doing with limited experience to free you up some time.

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applestar
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Yay! Glad to see you back Eric. Thanks for letting us catch up on your garden -- it's always an inspiration :D

Keep those pics of Kirby coming. She is adorable!:()

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GardenRN
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Sounds like it's time to hire help Eric!

PhillyGardener
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rainbowgardener wrote:We finally quit our CSA after 5-6 years, just because we live in the city and the farm was too far away. Between the pick ups and the work hours, it was just too much driving.
Interesting...here in Philly all the CSAs I know about have drop-offs around the city so you don't have to drive anywhere! I was able to pick up mine with my bike and a couple of panniers--it was only about 7 or 8 blocks away. Of course, working the farm is an entirely different experience!

A 1/2 vegetarian share was $350 for ~5 months, or about $18 per week for a huge box full of fresh veggies. It was nice, but I found I couldn't use (or even preserve) it all. So this year, I expanded the garden a bit and plan to supplement with the farmer's market :)

DoubleDogFarm
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3:00pm, back from the Farmers market and the truck is unloaded. $104.00 :twisted: Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Time to stuff several hundred plants into the garden.

Kirby sleeping on the job. * Skip foward to about 2:30 *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGD2PyVoaJo

More later
Eric

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mtmickey
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:lol: That is one tired puppy. What a cutie!

DoubleDogFarm
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I'ts hard work being a puppy.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20Pepper%20Jacob%20and%20Kirby/PepperandKirbyJune12012031.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20Pepper%20Jacob%20and%20Kirby/PepperandKirbyJune12012038.jpg[/img]


Kirby

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jal_ut
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Looking good!

You are lucky to be busy. Here some are having a hard time finding work.

My first market will be on June 6. I have a few things ready to sell.

Thanks for sharing the pics.

DoubleDogFarm
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jal_ut wrote:Looking good!

You are lucky to be busy. Here some are having a hard time finding work.

My first market will be on June 6. I have a few things ready to sell.

Thanks for sharing the pics.
Thanks James. Sorry I haven't responded on Face book.
I'm not really complaining, maybe I am, but thinking out load. If I drop the Farmers Market for now, I can concentrate on my business and garden. Better to do two things well, than three things poorly.

Mid week Market would not work for me at all, but I wish you the best of luck or at least have fun anyway. :D

Nose to the grind stone
Eric

DoubleDogFarm
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Here's a row of onions I planted yesterday. I'm about a month behind on these, but will see what happens.

Red Log of Tropea
Copra
Patterson
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/OnionsplantedJune32012003.jpg[/img]

Eric

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Sounds like you need to help the economy and hire some help, either in the garden or the shop. Garden looks good though. BTW- what's CSA stand for?

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jal_ut
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[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture]Community Supported Agriculture[/url]

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lakngulf
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DoubleDogFarm wrote:If I drop the Farmers Market for now, I can concentrate on my business and garden. Better to do two things well, than three things poorly. Eric
I feel your pain.....mind spinning with all to get done, and you have to figure where the cost/benefit curve lands. Most of mine are hobby related but I try to do too much.....my mother tells me that, my wife tells me that. But then my mother comes to visit for a weekend. I decide to not too anything, just visit, ride the boat, sit on porch. My mother (87) takes a look at the flower beds in front yard. On Friday night she says she needs a long sleeve shirt and gloves so she can begin weeding the flower beds on Saturday morning. Well, you know what that means. Before the day was over, my mother and my wife (who both say I try to do too much) were happy to have me do what they wanted me to do. But the flower beds and the 124 iris plants that we dug up and replanted look really good.

On regular weekends, and for a few hours after work, I feel like I am a bird fluttering around my yard, garden and sheds. I light down every now and then and scratch a bit here, then off to another place and scratch some there. Never getting anything completely done.

But its fun, I guess.

DoubleDogFarm
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"But its fun, I guess"

:lol: I guess we all need to pick our battles.

Planted 60 tomato plants this evening. I planted them in the potato rows. They are roughly 3ft apart from each in all directions. I figure if I have to hill the potatoes some, the tomatoes won't mind

14 - Japanese Black Trifele ( Heirloom 74 days )
14 - Oregon Spring ( 60 days determinate )
16 - Valley Girl ( 65 days determinate )
16 - Polbig ( 60 days determinate )
I'm grow mostly short season bush varieties this year. More varieties to plant, but where? :roll:
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/TomatoespotatoesJune52012002.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/TomatoespotatoesJune52012001.jpg[/img]

I also peeked under the floating row covers at the Kenearly yellow eye beans. The pictures make the germination look spotty, but the rest are coming along. I'll look again in a week.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/TomatoespotatoesJune52012005.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/TomatoespotatoesJune52012004.jpg[/img]

Eric

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Purple and yellow bush beans June, 6 2012.

Planted two raised beds 4ft wide x 20ft long. 1 bed of each.
Snap bean, Purple, Royal Burgunday (53 days )
Snap bean, Yellow wax, Rocdor ( 52 days )

Next I'll plant a bed of Snap bean, Jade ( 53 days )

Eric

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Quick up date. Sorry to the dial-up members. June 10th 2012

The Kenearly dry beans are filling in.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenJune102012001.jpg[/img]
Fenced in Painted Mtn corn. The leaves are taking on some color.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenJune102012006.jpg[/img]
Red Choi. The floating row cover work fairly well, but not 100% against Flea Beetle.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenJune102012008.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenJune102012007.jpg[/img]
The salad blend is keeping the soil cool and chocking out most of the weeds.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenJune102012002.jpg[/img]
Purple, blue, yellow and white flowers on the Skagit Magic true potatoes
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenJune102012005.jpg[/img]

Eric

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jal_ut
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Looking really good. That Red Choi is impressive.

DoubleDogFarm
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Thanks James.

Do you grow any Asian greens?

Eric

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jal_ut
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I have not grown any Asian greens. You should see the leaves of my turnips and mustard, then you would know what those Asian greens would look like here. Darn little black clik beetles punch them full of holes.

DoubleDogFarm
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jal_ut wrote:I have not grown any Asian greens. You should see the leaves of my turnips and mustard, then you would know what those Asian greens would look like here. Darn little black clik beetles punch them full of holes.
I can understand that. We have the same problem. Take a look at this Tah Tsai. Looks like they maybe out growing the little monsters. The center leaves look clean. I will also add that holes don't change the flavor. :wink:
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/TahTsai001.jpg[/img]

Eric

DoubleDogFarm
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Another picture of the garden. It's starting to look like something. :roll: Onions still don't look like much.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/GardenorchardJune192012003.jpg[/img]

Back to work
Eric

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Kisal
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That video of Kirby is absolutely adorable! I think she has stolen my heart. :D

SOB
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Looks great! What's the dimensions of that area...by counting the posts I'm guessing around 30x40?

DoubleDogFarm
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About 8ft between the post. 54FT x 72ft and another roughly 50Ft x 50ft outside the fence

Eric

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The 6lbs of Music garlic scapes, I harvested last Sunday, sold to a local caterer / farmers market vendor. $8.00 per pound. $48.00 for cut - bagged and delivered. Selling bulk to restaurants and caterers seems like th best way to go.

Eric

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gixxerific
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DoubleDogFarm wrote:The 6lbs of Music garlic scapes, I harvested last Sunday, sold to a local caterer / farmers market vendor. $8.00 per pound. $48.00 for cut - bagged and delivered. Selling bulk to restaurants and caterers seems like th best way to go.

Eric
You can just mail me my cut.

Thanks

DoubleDogFarm
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How about some asian pears. :)

The Chesnok scapes are much smaller than the Music scapes. You get half a pear. :P

Eric

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gixxerific
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DoubleDogFarm wrote:How about some asian pears. :)

The Chesnok scapes are much smaller than the Music scapes. You get half a pear. :P

Eric
Deal. The o es I got last year were great. Half of one would be awesome. :lol:

DoubleDogFarm
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No soup for you!

My 80ft of Yukon Gold potatoes have few flowers on them. You may have potatoes below and not even know it, if you are waiting for flowers. Flowers are not always a good indicator. Do a little prospecting.

This evening I harvested 18 Yukon Gold potatoes from my 4 - 20ft rows.

From this hole I harvested 2 little gold nuggets
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Vegetables%20and%20%20Fruits/YukonGoldpotatoesJune252012002.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Vegetables%20and%20%20Fruits/YukonGoldpotatoesJune252012001.jpg[/img]

This evenings pot of gold. Looks like no wireworm damage. :D
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Vegetables%20and%20%20Fruits/YukonGoldpotatoesJune252012005.jpg[/img]

Eric

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applestar
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Nice! I harvested 4 little (about jumbo egg size) red and blue potatoes for my kids yesterday too. I had to rummage through a layer of coffee grounds that still smelled like coffeee. No wireworm damage. :D

DoubleDogFarm
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July 3 2012.

Updated pictures of the garden.

This patch of Paint Mtn corn is about knee high.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/VegetableGardenJuly32012022.jpg[/img]

and the rest of the garden.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/VegetableGardenJuly32012005.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/VegetableGardenJuly32012004.jpg[/img]

Purple Burgundy and Yellow wax bush snap beans
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/VegetableGardenJuly32012014.jpg[/img]

Garlic and Kenearly dry beans
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/VegetableGardenJuly32012016.jpg[/img]

Yukon Gold potatoes
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Garden%20Vegetables/VegetableGardenJuly32012018.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20%20%20Vegetables%20and%20%20Fruits/PotatoesJune30th2012002.jpg[/img]

Eric

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jal_ut
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Looking good. Nice neat layout.



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