paul's blog

I've admittedly put "blog posting" pretty darn low on my list of farm priorities. But tonight, instead of going to bed (as I should) I decided to take a moment here in my 19th waking hour of the day to just say that the farm is still going quite strong and that most of my crops are finally growing quite contentedly! The weather has warmed and we're getting consistent sun for once - though that means being on top of watering. However, I've managed to delegate some of the watering to folks who live near or on the properties where the gardens are, which saves me a huge amount of running around (not to mention stress). I've also shelled out the dough to pick up a couple water timers, so that has really helped to put me at ease. (Stressed out plants make for a stressed out farmer!)

I've constructed a "What we grow" page with pictures and descriptions of NUA's seasonal crops - check it out! Well, here are some thumbnails to whet your appetite...

It's been rain, rain, and more rain here in Nelson for the last, oh, two months or so. But here's a sampling of the various vegetables that are quite happy to grow in this kind of weather. And believe it or not, seeing them so contentedly perky in the gardens does help to brighten my days!

(Another thing to help brighten my day is the announcement by the EcoSociety today: turning the main block of Baker St. into a pedestrian zone for the benefit of market vendors! Almost seems too progressive to be true...)

Yesterday was our first week at the market this season. We had a spicy lettuce mix, baby arugula, our multipurpose baby greens mix, spinach, green onions, radishes and gigantic rhubarb. I carried all this stuff from Fairview to Cottonwood Market on my beast of a bike and trailer:

Look at what's about to come out of the gardens! How very exciting. Hoping to have some of this harvested for this coming Saturday market!

The tomatoes in the hotbed are looking quite healthy, too. This was five days ago, and now they're maybe 50% bigger, with little green berries forming on them...

Some may think it's a bit early, but like many farmers, I like to take risks, so I planted a bunch of my tomato seedlings into the ground last week. I was actually running out of space in my hotbed and they were running out of nutrition, so it seemed that the threat of cold temperatures was a lower risk than the threat of overcrowded circumstances. Plus it's been very warm and summery here this past week. Risk of frost my foot.

I planted the tomatoes in one of my favourite gardens, that of Eileen Delehanty Pearkes'. In the past she has observed that her garden space stays very warm in the summer, and will likely be an ideal spot for tomatoes. I took her up on it, but as the space was a little large for just tomatoes I decided to combine it with herbs: cilantro, dill, parsley and basil.

Here's a recent example of how I converted a lawn into something much more exciting: food gardens!

I began with a lawn. Let's see if I have a photo from last summer... ah, we're in luck! I actually bothered to take a "before" picture:

There's a lot growing in the gardens already! In one garden I have baby greens, radishes and scallions well on their way towards the first harvest, and elsewhere there are already carrots, beets, bok choy, dill, cilantro, parsley, and basil that have been direct-seeded. Today I transplanted tomatoes outdoors (with protection), while the peppers, cucumbers and later-season tomatoes wait patiently at home for warmer soils.

I was recently asked to participate in a short interview about the farm by a reporter on examiner.com:

Nelson Urban Acres is a multi-plot urban farm in the city of Nelson, BC.

Paul Hoepfner-Homme is one of the farmers at this urban agricultural enterprise.

BE; How did you get started in urban farming?

PH: I've had an interest in gardening ever since I was a child living in the suburban town of Oakville, Ontario. My mother was a keen organic gardener and I remember getting excited about the edible delights that would fruit in our gardens over the course of a growing season. However I didn't do any serious gardening until much later.

...

 

You can read the full article here.

While it is indeed spring here in Nelson, it still snows sometimes (as it did this morning – white-out conditions even!). So I can't just plop my tomato seedlings straight into the ground just yet. That's where my trusty hotbed comes in. If you have been following my blog, you'll remember that I built a hotbed last year. I've since moved to another part of town, but with the help of our dependable community same-day courier, I managed to get it to my new place in one piece.

(It's a beast of a thing, though. In the process of moving it, I discovered that hardwood pallets can become extremely unwieldy after absorbing rainwater for a year.)

This year I'm setting up the hotbed on the south-facing side of our garage. There's a little sheltered corridor there that will provide great wind protection and hopefully a warmer microclimate.

We've been having quite the favourable weather here in Nelson this last week: warm, sunny days accompanied by gentle, mild breezes. I just returned from a trip out east (southern Ontario), where the style of wind and precipitation were—to be frank—totally uncool. Granted, there were a few springlike days now and then, but as I was leaving it was all snow and bone-chilling winds. Compared to Toronto, Nelson feels like a walk in the park. Well, a hike in a park, to be more precise.

The crocuses are in full bloom here, and we have snowdrops that have been up for over a month now. Yes, that's me trying to convince you to move here.