“Here Comes sunshine!”
Hello Sunshine! Goodbye Doom and Gloom.
June has been quite a busy month here at Fibonacci Farm! Although we have finalized our big projects, market season has arrived and we are harvesting our hearts out. All of the hard work that we put into planning, planting, and general farm duties comes down to these 4 to 5 months of intense harvests. Marathon days are frequent, eating for the sake of needing fuel rather than for satisfaction. Our step count has been hitting 20,000. We work and we sleep, repeat. We really can’t complain though, it is good for us and it is what we have been working toward all year! We are getting very strong and fit from the physical activity. We love that we are eating rich, colorful, and healthy food again. Now that the cold and clouds seem to be years behind us, we are rich in Vitamin D from the sun almighty and are feeling quite happy.
We are also business owners. Administration work is a big part of our job. A lot of the time we want and need to be on the field which makes it hard to find the time to get all of the finance, email communication, marketing, and website updates done. As diverse market farmers, we need to be flexible and shuffle a lot of tasks at once. Since March, our list of things to do has increased slowly and has steadily built up pace, most likely to peak from July through September until we get our first frost of the season. Last year it was on August 20th… Our first year, we kind of felt like we were flying by the seat of our pants, but we have been doing our best to be efficient and organized this season; making sure we are analyzing and prioritizing what we need to do, assigning days when to accomplish tasks and setting reminders in our calendars so we don’t forget. All while successfully growing 240 different crops. But we couldn’t do it without help.
We are happy to say that we just brought on our second intern for the next three months and we couldn’t have her help at a better time. The sun has arrived and it’s harvest time! Our intern Stacey drove all the way from Florida to work here and is the farthest west she has ever been before. She cannot believe the vast beauty that is Central Oregon. She has been taken aback by how much nicer people are here in Oregon than back home, saying that it is almost surreal.
On Stacey’s first day, which just so happened to be a dark and stormy morning, as we were giving her a tour of the flower farm we were approaching the chicken coop talking about how happy and healthy our hens were when we noticed several dead chickens in their run. It was a horrible sight especially for a couple of vegans… We ended up finding a hole at the bottom of the fence and are assuming it was a raccoon by the way the chicken’s bodies had been left. All intact, but just dead. Apparently raccoons kill chickens just for fun. We lost about 15% of our flock that day which has been a pretty big financial hit for us since the stress from the event coupled with the head count losses has lead to a pretty serious drop in egg count. We have been trying to trap that stinking raccoon, but he hasn’t been back; all that we have caught is our barn cats!
As the season progresses and we start to deal with new and more clever pests, we also get to experience new and more delicious tasting vegetables! Our Kale and Mustard Greens are thriving. Spring peas have made their entry and how sweet it is! Our baby greens section is looking amazing; Arugula, Baby Greens Mix, Mizuna and our utmost delicious spinach we have ever tasted! We have had so many people come back and tell us the same. This makes us incredibly happy because of how nutrient filled this crop is. We are spreading good health to the community and boy does that feel good. :)
We have been waiting oh-so-long for flowers to make their appearance and now we can see them all over the farm. All of our tunnels are filled to the brim with flowers, getting ready to burst with color. From Blue Monday Sage Salvia, Agrostemma, Chrysanthemums, Penny Cress, Snapdragons, Eucalyptus, Carnations, Cosmos and Zinnias and SO MUCH MORE to come!
We however have less flowers in our field than we had planned for this season, due to frost, wind, and the large amounts of rain that caused intense weed pressure we couldn’t keep up with. All of the flowers that were planted outside were cold-hardy perennials, so they were made to last for the high desert climate for years to come. However, if you remember us from last year, we had pretty bad Marmot (rock chuck) issues. Well, they are back. Our solar powered electric fence which is there to keep them out, had been turned off and we had at least 10 marmots pillage the field leaving only a nub left of the plant. Between May and June it happened multiple times, so we were constantly trying to replace or replant something different or plant whatever we had left. Also, direct sowing wasn’t as successful this year because of the late cold spring we experienced, we weren’t able to get as many sunflowers as we planned due to poor germination and the weeds ultimately taking over.
We say all this, BUT we are still riding high on the flower train. Currently we have over 2,000 bed ft of flowers planted altogether. Which is a ton (technically….?).
If you are in the area and want to come check out our flowers and produce, don’t forget to come visit us at the Redmond Farmer’s Market (now taking SNAP benefits!) in Downtown Redmond near City Hall on Thursday’s from 3pm - 7pm and at the Northwest Crossing Farmer’s Market in Bend every Saturday from 10am - 2pm.
