Written on March 25, 2017
I think I’m still recuperating from last weekend’s planting frenzy! When Chad got home from farmer’s market on Saturday we planted until dark, planted most of the day Sunday, and Chad took the day off on Monday (he’s doing taxes during tax season since he quit his full-time job last August) so we could finish up planting and play catch up on all the other things we need to do.
Though we planted onions in February I’ll start with potatoes. A few weeks ago Chad asked me how many pounds of potatoes to plant. We only planted 300 pounds last year and we sold out of them. This year we have a restaurant in Tulsa wanting 200 pounds a week, plus we have to have enough for market and our buying groups. I’m sure I told him to just plant the same as last year since I tend to become insanely overwhelmed at the thought of increasing the work we already have trouble staying on top of. So when he brought home 18 bags of potatoes, which is 900 pounds, I may have literally shed a few tears and had a mild panic attack. I’m not going to act like this life is a piece of cake, because my personality and farming DO NOT go hand in hand at all! I really struggle with anxiety and not freaking out about all the things farming entails. So the fact that our little farming business is growing faster than Chad, me, and little Eden can keep up with is a bit stressful at times. 900 pounds of potatoes may seem like a lot to some people, but to many vegetable farmers it’s nothing! I have to keep that in mind during my mini freak out sessions!
But in just one weekend we got all the potatoes in the ground without any trouble and it feels great to have that checked off the list. Now, when it’s time to dig them this summer I’m sure I’ll be in freak out mode again! 🙂
18 bags of seed potatoes: 10 gold and 8 red
This sexy momma cut all the potatoes with this super awesome potato cutter! Eden’s papa fenced in the yard so when he wasn’t watching her she could play in the front yard while I worked! 🙂
Chad fertilized and tilled the ground for the potatoes.
Normally I ride on the transplanter while Chad drives the tractor, but potato planting goes better if Chad plants and I drive. Thankful for tractors and transplanters so we don’t have to use a hoe and shovel like we did 4 years ago when we were getting started!
My rows aren’t the straightest but they get the job done!
Nothing like planting with the gorgeous sunset to look at!
You can’t plant potatoes without lots of selfies, right?!
Day 2 of potato planting!
We are finished! 900 pounds of potatoes in the ground! May God send rain and multiply the seed!
ONIONS:
We plant onions every February. I’m not exactly sure how many we plant, but I know it’s four crates full. 4 years ago we planted them all by hand (which took about a week!), but we now we have two different transplanters. We use the older one for potatoes. Our newer transplanter is called a water-wheel transplanter and it has two tanks on the top that hold water. The wheels make holes in the ground where the plant is to be place and water runs into each hole with the plant. We use the waterwheel transplanter with everything except potatoes. We were able to plant all the onions in about half a day! Beats doing it by hand for a whole week!
Chad tilling the ground prepping for onion planting.
We also have a piece of equipment called a bed shaper that goes behind the tractor. We plant the onions and many other things we grow on raised beds to help improve drainage and give better root development. Also, if you look very closely you’ll see two rows of garlic coming up on the left side of the field near the fence.
Onion planting is one of the few things we plant where we have to have a second person on the transplanter. The plants are so close together that two people are needed to keep up. My father-in-law is a trooper and helps us plant onions every year. He really is the best!
You can’t plant onions without a selfie! He really is good lookin’ though!
Onion crop 2017 planted! Yay!
Well there you have it! Spring is in the air! It feels so good to have our two biggest crops in the ground! Now if we can stay on top of our green house and high tunnel we’ll be good to go in the produce department!
Miss Eden got to hang out with Nana and Aunt Beth while we were planting! We sure are thankful for always having them to help out with her. Chad threatens to strap her car seat to the transplanter, but I’m not sure how I feel about that! 😉
Oklahoma Farm Wife 