ONIONS!!!

Onions arrived this morning! White and red onions that totaled 5,000.


So I made my beds and used my "dibble board" to mark the spacing (6" diagonal).


Next I dropped the onions by the holes left by the "dibble board."


Then I came back and pushed them into their place.

2010 Planning Time

This is the time of year that there is finally enough time to sit down and plan out the crops to come. I use a spread sheet, catalogs, and a few websites to get my information together. Johnny's Selected Seeds is a great resource for growing information.



Under each specific variety there is a "Growing Info" tab that lists helpful data for those planning a larger than family size garden. Including seeds per ounce, cultural information, seeds per foot, desired soil temperature for germination, and lots of other important things that make growing these plants much easier.

Bags of greens

Since building my walk-in cooler I have started storing surplus from harvest to test how things react to that climate. I discovered that greens start to dry out with the constant air circulation. The solution for this is large bags from Lowe's which help hold in the moisture.


Each bag holds around 20 lbs.

Bug sighting

I'm no expert in bugs. I have limited knowledge and books on bugs. But I love the challenge of trying to track a new one down. So after I find a new bug, I run to my barn and grab a camera and take a few pictures. Then at the end of the day I spend time trying to track down what kind of buy it is... but this is the second one that has eluded my searches. The first one was this Yellowmargined leaf beetle larvae. So after I get totally frustrated with my untrained searching, I send a picture to Dr. Ian Stocks at Clemson University and the speed at which he identifies them makes me wonder why I tried in the first place. His answer to this latest bug was : This is a stink bug (Pentatomidae)nymph in the subfamily Asopinae, the predatory stinkbugs.

Walk-in Cooler in operation

This is one of the final pictures of my walk-in cooler. It only takes a matter minuets to cool down 40 deg from 70 deg. In my 7'x8' cooler the compressor rarely runs if I'm not in and out of it and the fan runs intermittently just to keep the air moving. All in all a very simple and successful project.



Hopefully over the next few weeks I will provide a step by step with more detailed pictures and information.

cool article

Interesting article I stumbled across.
Street Farmer

Making Compost

This is my first try at composting. I have been told that it isn't a hard thing to figure out. So we will see. I started this compost pile on Nov. 12 and have been steadily adding to it layer by layer. I have some large sticks and things on the bottom layer, followed by a layer of green plant material, and then a layer of brown plant material (straw) and then a thin layer of compost or soil on top of that. I hope this method works out. I haven't seen any steam rising from it yet... so I have some more trouble shooting to do.


Pulled my fall bean plants from the field to boost the size of my pile.


Adding the thin compost layer.


Adding the brown plant material layer.

insect sighting

Saturday was an interesting day spent in the company of hardy citrus hobbyist which I am not, yet... And as I was wondering how people could get so excited about all the small differences in citrus, I was reminded that I am a werido too. I got excited when I recognized this Assassin bug / Wheel bug (Arilus cristatus) crawling on my shoe.

Palmetto Institute Agribusiness Summit

Last Friday I attended the 2009 Agribusiness Summit in Charleston, SC. It was an excellent event put together by the Palmetto Institute, a think-tank dedicated to finding ways to increase the income of South Carolina residents.



This summits direction focused on increasing profits in agriculture related areas. The challenge from the Palmetto Institute is to increase the economic impact of SC's ag sector from 34 billion annually to 50 billion annually by 2020. A study found that SC trails North Carolina in per acre profits by $700+ and Georgia by $400+. That information make the 50 billion dollar goal seem very reachable. I also provide rainbow chard for an "All South Carolina" meal. All very exciting!

Beautiful Delivery

This is a cooler packed with produce and ready for delivery to Hunter Gatherer in Columbia, SC.



Lacinato Kale, Rainbow Chard, Chioggia Beets, Valentines Day Mix Radish.

Bugs on my mustard

Anyone have a clue what these 1/4" long pests are?

Harvested Heirloom Kale

This heirloom kale is known as Lacinato, Dinosaur, Black Cabbage, Italian Black, or Tuscan. It is an excellent variety and looks wonderful!



I harvest the mature leaves when they reach 8"-12" in length. Then wash and rinse the leaves in ice water to remove field heat. I have the kale tied in generous half pound bundles (.5lbs - .7lbs each) using kitchen twine to tie them together. I am currently in the process of tracking down some good rubber bands to replace the twine and speed up the process.

Walk-in Cooler Day 2

Day 2 progress on the walk-in cooler.


Final wall finished and insulated.


Insulation board cut and fit into ceiling.


Floor laid. 3 layers of 1" R5 insulation board, with 5/8" plywood on top, toenailed into the sides. The insulation board is so sturdy that no additional floor support was required.


Interior finished, except for sealing joints and painting.


Joints sealed with "Great Stuff" from HomeDepot.


Door Installed and painting commencing. Behr Porch Paint Ultra White is the route I went. 3 coats.


More painting.

This is where our day ended today. The AC unit is ordered (12,000 BTU) and the Cool Bot (storeitcold.com) is on the way. There is plenty of field work to keep us busy until they arrive.

Walk-in Cooler

Here is today's progress on the walk-in cooler. I hope to do an entire materials list at the end of the project and possibly a step by step.


1" R5 insulation board to fill walls


First wall framed and attached to the building wall. Foam board in part of the wall.


Expanding foam (Great Stuff from Home Depot) filing gaps in the foam board inside the walls.


First wall almost complete.


First wall complete.


Framing up the second wall.


Wall framed and stud nailed in place, ready for plywood to be attached.


Plywood being attached.


Three walls up. Completing the final outside wall.

More updates tomorrow.

Dibble Board

I saw this cool idea for a quick way to space garlic and onions and just had to make one of my own. Here are some images of the construction in progress and the final product. It works great! I will be building my walk-in cooler this week so check back for updates on its progress.


3'x3' 3/4" plywood sheet


plywood with 6" grid in an alternating pattern


how we cut out the pegs to make the holes, we cut them out of a 2"x6" board which created perfect 1 1/2" holes when used


pegs attached and ropes added to the board so one person could maneuver the board with out bending over

It was an enjoyable project.

Kale Yeah!

Last night we had a big dinner at the farm. Kale pie was on the menu. It was created for us by the head chef (Kathy) of one of our excellent restaurants in town, Foodscapes. It was delicious!



Anyone else have any cool kale recipes?

Frost Protection

Frost protection fabric
Originally uploaded by clements.evan

I am in a very low lying part of South Carolina. It also seems that the property that I am on is even lower lying within that low lying region. I'm not terribly worried that my kale, collards, cabbage, broccoli, and chard can't withstand the cold temperatures alone, but the way that cool air settles in my fields do. This year being my first year at this location I decided to be ready for the worst. I acquired frost protection fabric (20'x1000' roll) that is rated to give 4 degrees of protection while still allowing 85% light transmission. I planned on suspending the fabric from a series of t-posts and wire that ran the length of my fields, but during our test of this the wind really gets under the fabric and causes problems. The fix for this problem was very simple, this fabric is light eneough (.55 oz / square yard) to lay directly on the plants without causing damage. Hopefully this will work.

Busy Months

Well after the field trip I have had a busy couple of months. September and October has been full of planting and getting ready for the winter.

I have a mile of brassicas planted this fall, not including beans, radish, and beets.

This fall / winter I have a rye and hairy vetch cover crop planted. Rye for organic material and a trellis for the vetch. Vetch is a nitrogen fixer.

Field Trip

I am away from the farm today on a 2 day field trip to the Raleigh, NC area to visit some great places and get some inspiration. It was a great day today. Visited a couple great places in North Carolina. The first stop we (Jenks Farmer, Bo Cooper, Kellen Goodell and myself) made was at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems located in Goldsboro, NC. We were guided around the research station by Steve Moore the farm manager and a expert in high tunnel production. It was a fantastic experience and very informative. Next stop was at the J.C. Rauleston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC amazing place, if you are in the area it would be a shame not to visit. Our last stop of the day was just south of Bahama, NC. This area is home to Hoffman Nursery, the premiere landscape grasses source in the south east and still growing. These great sites made me forget about how dreary and cool it was today for late summer.

Back at the farm I have been doing alot of planting in the greenhouse, hopefully when I get back I will update everyone on what I am planting for the fall season.

Jean Elliot Manning - Farm in my front yard

Get Your Own Free Hypster.com Playlist.

plastic mulch

This fall I am trying something new to hopefully fix a problem I ran into during the summer. The weed pressure in this field is very intense as you can probably tell from the upper right part of the photo. To remedy this I am using a 1mm plastic film from Peaceful Valley and then mulching over with hay. It has been 4 weeks since I took this picture and the beds are staying relatively weed free, except for the occasional nut sedge which has been spotted growing through impervious things such as asphalt before, so that was expected. My major weed problem from the summer, crab grass, has been totally solved and plastic mulch seems to be the best fix so far.

Cover crop

DSC02085
Originally uploaded by clements.evan

This summer I used a buckwheat (makes phosphorus in the soil more accessible)/ cow pea (nitrogen fixer) mix for a cover crop. In addition to the added nutrients and organic material it provides, cover cropping also aides in weed suppression. Buckwheat is also a great temporary honey crop since it blooms for 30 days and only 4-6 weeks after planting.

Deer Fence

I totally enclosed my fields with plastic deer fencing from Hoover Fence. I used 8' T-posts and a coated steel wire and hung the fencing like a curtain using zip ties. Then I used ground stables to secure the bottom of the fence to the ground pulling the bottom of the fence away from the top wire to give the fence a 3 dimensional appearance which was supposed to ward off deer. This kept the deer away for a few weeks until they got brave and just started jumping through it. Since then I have attached an electric tape to the outside of my deer fencing and use an 11,000 volt fencer to deter the deer. After I put up the electric fence and dabbed peanut butter on it about every 30', the deer have changed their mind about coming directly through my fields.

My Field

DSCF1985
Originally uploaded by clements.evan

This is what my plot of land looked like when I arrived. The field had been uncultivated for 8 years at this time. It was cut twice a year when the grass and weeds got about shoulder high. And I also discovered it was a major deer traffic area. I have been farming here since March of this year so periodically I will post some older pictures to get everyone up to speed on what I have done so far.