Youth Farm: And the kids keep coming.

What a week at the Youth Farm.  We started off with the daunting and special task of planting our onions.  We grow onions in roughly 600 linear feet of bed space – which is close to 2100 square ft.  Now that might not seem all too crazy, but just imagine putting a baby onion every 6 inches in a 2100 square ft. house.  Its a big job.  As for it being a special crop, the onions are the first to get going in the green house, and they are very often the last of the season’s goods to be eaten.  I still have a 5 gallon bucket of onions from last years harvest!

In addition to the onion marathon we also had to deal with some pretty chilly nights here in the valley, so we had some late-night covering of our young plants with floating row cover, otherwise known of as Remay.  Remay is a very close friend to many a northern climate grower, as it helps to keep temperature and moisture levels up, as well as acting as a pest barrier.  That said, the relationship between grower and Remay is a complicated one, as it is also very easy to dislike the dusty, spun plastic material that clings to your already dried and cracked hands.  But it does its job well, so we use it.  So I guess I should say thank you again Remay, but more importantly, thanks to all the hands that helped.

On Friday, the Youth Homes Inner Roads crew came out to the farm, and as always they were rock stars, or more like farm stars.  In the hours they were at the Youth Farm we put our last pea trellis up, we seeded tractor paths with Dutch White clover (one of my favorite varieties), we planted our first succession of Gypsy broccoli, we worked on irrigation, we finished planting the onions, we weeded, mulched, covered plants, and so much more. So many jobs were completed with a great team. Thanks Inner Roads kids. 

If you would like more information about the Youth Farm and our goings-on, please check us out at www.gardencityharvest.org and www.Youthhomes.com, and check out more blog posts!