Lost Sierra Food Project staff report they have spent the past month bringing Rugged Roots Farm back to life for the growing season, planning the year’s crops and learning about compost tea.
Spring cleaning has commenced and beds are being prepared for planting, said LSFP. Staff laid out silage tarps, composting the winter cover crop and returning nutrients to the soil.
The hoop house is quickly filling up with seedlings so they can harden off and get transplanted. This spring LSFP will be building a brand new cat tunnel, thanks to California Department of Food and Agriculture Farm to School funding. This will allow staff to plant more crops that require warm conditions, like cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes.
After three years of fruiting, staff said their goodbyes to the oldest strawberry succession at the farm. The new strawberries will be planted in the coming month in the former u-pick flowers zone, while the flowers move to where the strawberries had been. Rotating crops like this supports healthy soils and helps reduce soil diseases, pests and weeds, says LSFP.
Another vital way LSFP supports soil life is with compost. Recently, Cody Reed taught LSFP staff and Plumas Unified School District garden managers how to brew compost tea using a recipe of compost, molasses, kelp meal and oatmeal. The tea was applied to the farm’s pollinator hedgerows with the goal of increasing crucial bacterial and fungal activity. Staff says compost will also be directly mixed into the soil after silage tarps are removed and before transplanting.
LSFP recently celebrated getting its pump into the creek and getting water onto the farm. “Soon we will seed carrots, beets, radishes and sugar snap peas and start transplanting hardy crops like cabbage and kale,” say staff. “Time is flying by and fresh produce will be here before we know it.”
LSFP says the best way the community can support early season farm work is by purchasing Farm Bucks. Purchases before May 1 receive a 5% added bonus. Farm Bucks are a 1:1 credit for purchasing produce, berries, flowers and pumpkins at the Rugged Roots farm stand and honor system fridge. They are available in amounts from $100 to $500.
