The Sweet Onion: Patience and Payoff
August first! Feeling like it’s finally peak season around here. Peak season means harvest, harvest, and harvest! Bounty! Abundance! Summer hot crops! And for me this year, August first and peak season means the end of my job as greenhouse manager on the farm. Just last week I moved the last of the plants out of the greenhouse to prepare them for planting. Now as I walk through the greenhouse, there are no more plants to pet, just empty tables waiting to be filled next season. We grow everything from seed here except berries. This means that...
read moreA Legacy of Farm Work
As I begin another harvest day on the farm, I look up and see the beauty of the mountains and trees around me and hear the conversation and laughter of my coworkers starting the day. Later, as I cut spinach and I look at the soil on my hands, I can’t help but think of my grandfather, who worked on farms here in Washington so long ago. My grandfather is, in a way, still here. Growing up, I was often told about my grandparents’ work as migrant farm workers. I listened to my aunts, uncles and cousins talk about favorite crops they...
read moreStrawberries like Gifts from the Earth
This season has left many of us Pacific Northwesterners feeling like an audience on the edge of our seats, awaiting the climatic shift of the seasons. Needless to say, this spring wasn’t just raining cats and dogs — mane coons and St. Bernards fell like drops from the sky! As you can imagine, this record-breakingly wet spring has had a dramatic affect on the crops. So as we continue to greet the long summer days… Finally! We have reached the mouthwatering and delicious berry tsunami that we warmly greet each year. As I look out on the...
read morePlanting an Ecosystem
Being certified organic means Red Dog is required to “maintain or improve the natural resources of the operation, including soil and water quality,” according to the rules of organic certification. One way the farm has done this is to plant dozens if not hundreds of native shrubs and trees around the property. As you come up the driveway to the Farmstand, you pass a row of assorted shrubs. Right now, a couple blue elderberries are flowering, and both Nootka and baldhip roses perfume the air. Black twinberry have just finished flowering and...
read moreSummer Playlist
After this weekend, I think it’s fair to say that we all feel the summertime (finally) setting in. Here at the farm we’ve been able to get more plants in the ground, more varieties of delicious vegetables into our CSA shares, Farmstand, and farmers market tables, and prepare for the busiest part of our year. And with the flush of beautiful weather comes more beach days, barbecues, and camping trips for us to enjoy (and hopefully cook up some great, local produce). And what is a day outside in the summer without a great playlist to go along...
read moreFinally Sunshine!
It seems that we can see the (sun)light at the end of the late-rainy-spring tunnel! Finally a week full of sunny days in the forecast, the ground is becoming less saturated, and our fields are slowly filling up with plants. The drier fields and roads enable us to drive our tractors and trucks around the farm…which means cultivation, transplant, and more streamlined harvests as the days warm up! We all celebrated today when we were able to get one of our farm trucks out to the farthest field for the first time this year. We have already put...
read moreA Taste of Summer
After the soggiest start to a season we’ve had in a while, things are starting to look really abundant around here at Red Dog! As I walk the fields, I see the baby plant starts we recently transplanted growing big and strong as they soak up the glorious – albeit intermittent – sunshine. Such a colorful array greets the eyes – the gorgeous stems of red chard, the deep forest-green of lacinato kale, and the whimsical purple stems of red Russian kale. The farm also smells lovely! Nootka rose is blooming, as is wild chamomile, and...
read moreWhat motivates you?
In the midst of a Thursday transplant moment I found myself shuffling down a row, tucking delicata squash starts into the earth for the season. (If you pass by the farm on Center Road, the rows closest to the road will be one of our delicata squash lands this year.) I was amazed at how quickly my fellow farmers were hustling down the bed and got curious about what motivates them to do such hard work so well. So this week, I’d like to share with you all a little bit about what motivates this small but mighty crew. The first response I got came...
read moreWorking on Grandpa the Tractor
There’s nothing quite like spring in the Pacific Northwest. Here at Red Dog the long days of late May are a blessing of light bestowed upon us all, and the cold rains and bitter winds really let you know you’re alive! Here in the shop the swallows watch with glib interest from their nest of molded mud, tucked up tight in the rafters, as the endless projects are tackled in preparation for the onslaught of summer. One of our most beloved tractors, known as ‘Grandpa,’ has come in for a brake job and sits in a state of deconstruction, both rear...
read moreFinally Spring at Red Dog Farm!
After one of the coldest and wettest springs of the last decade, it feels like spring is finally here in Center Valley. All this rain has added up to some difficulties, obstacles and delays for us—but with some adaption, perseverance and nice weather last week, the farm is kicking into full gear. Green fields are turning black as we incorporate the cover crops from winter into the soil. Jets of water shoot into the air like geysers while our irrigation team flushes out water lines not used since last summer; swallows duck and dive after the...
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