Author: MARK BOTHWELL

Yesterday High & Dry Farm was honored by the visit of our congressional representative Kim Schrier.

Representative Schrier was the first customer at High & Dry Farm’s new farmstand. Talk about a grand opening!

Our USDA EQIP high tunnel grant application didn’t get funded initially, but then USDA found some loose change behind their sofa cushions and belatedly awarded the grant to us. Follow us as we race to get our 30’x95′ veg cathedral completed soon enuf for a Fall crop.

Here is a list of some project milestones:

• Grant contract signed -Done
• Rototill site – Done
• Fed approval of contract – Pending
• Set position of 4 corner posts and check for square
• Order high tunnel kit from Oregon Valley Greenhouse
• Site visit by archeologist and NCRS Cultural Resources approval.
• Preassemble bow assemblies.
• Rent stump grinder to remove 3 stumps
• Roughly level site (max 5% incline allowed) and sculp drainage channels along sides
• Set 4 corner posts
• Install perimeter landscape fabric
• Set side posts
• Mount bows
• Install diagonal bracing on sides
• Construct endwall frame
• Cover endwalls with polycarbonate
• Attach baseboards and hip boards
• Attach wigglewire channel
• Mount poly skin
• Install side roll-up devices

In northern (or southern) latitudes, vegetable growth virtually ceases when day-length becomes less than ten hours. Days are shorter than ten hours for at least a few days any place on the globe above latitude 30 or below latitude -30. This includes almost all the United States except the most southern parts of Texas, Louisiana and Florida. The calendar months during which there are fewer than ten hours between sunrise and sunset have been dubbed the “Persephone period” by Eliot Coleman. Although plants grow little during the Persephone period, mature plants may remain healthy. Thus, winter harvest of many salad greens is possible if they are planted in Fall, allowing enough time for them to reach maturity before the beginning of Persephone.

Johnny’s Select Seeds has published a chart that helps chose, depending on the date at which Persephone begins at your latitude, the best Fall planting date for various salad greens to allow winter harvest. However, the chart is awkward to use. Based on this chart, I have created a free database that automatically calculates the best Fall planting dates for your location. To use it, sign up for a free Airtable account here. Once you have signed up, download a copy of the Fall Planting for Winter Harvest to your Airtable account here.