Don’t forget to come on out this SATURDAY May 7th 12-4pm for Spring Forth Farm’s tours and mother’s day flowers! Spots still available for DiPrima Photography mini sessions too!
Author: Megan Cornett Leiss
To Till or Not To Till: Lessons Learned from Inexperience
Jonathan and I work very hard to research and learn about every aspect of anything new we introduce into our farm systems whether it is a new kind of flower or a new system of managing our permanent raised beds. But there is no way around it: we are young and inexperienced flower growers and we have made several mistakes over the season that have taught us invaluable lessons.
We are currently in the process of transitioning our farm over to “No-Till” management. We created permanent raised beds on the farm and we believe that the fastest way to return tilth, health and life to our soil is to never till the beds. This was an idea that I (Megan) had been thinking about for a while but simply had no idea where to start. What is “no-till” farming you might be wondering? Well, it is a method of farming that does not disturb the soil life and the soil layers with a tiller. It is more of a natural process of farming that is less invasive to the soil. It relies heavily on cover cropping and it also helps to reduce weed pressure on the farm by not turning over new weed seeds with the tiller. This year we ran across 2 different resources to help us get started.
Bare Mountain Farm in the Willamette Valley in Oregon runs a 2.5 acre cut flower farm using no-till methods. They have been posting their trials and what they have learned on their blog. We stumbled across their blog and I instantly felt that we had found a gold mine of information for how to begin this unusual method of farming. They are willing to answer any of our questions and are such an inspiration for Jonathan and I as we start out figuring out what No-till means on Spring Forth Farm. Thank you Tony and Denise!
The second resource we found was an organic farmer in Quebec who uses a no-till system on his farm in conjunction with silage tarps. His name is Jean-Martin Fortier and he wrote a book called The Market Gardner where he details a lot of his farming practices. He uses an old European method called “occultation.” This method uses large black silage tarps to kill weeds and speed up decomposition of organic matter on beds instead of tillage.
Well, we jumped off the deep end! We bought a silage tarp, stopped tilling and started tarping. Here is a photographic journey of what to do and what not to do!
(Above) We learned that we have to mow down everything before we put on the tarps or it doesn’t work. We felt a bit sheepish that we didn’t mow first. We will from now on!
(Above) When we bought the land in Nov 2013, it was formerly in tobacco and was left as a bare dirt field. We hastily seeded fescue and clover to prevent soil erosion. We made a rookie mistake and let them all go to seed! Fescue became a terrible weed in our new beds and we will be dealing with it for a while to come. So, we tarped the beds to see if it works when done properly.
(Above) Wow! after 4 weeks, the tarps killed the initial flush of weeds. There is a much smaller flush coming back, but it is more manageable. See the tarps in the left-hand part of the photo? That is what they should look like on the beds. Found earthworms for the first time in our beds too.
(Above) One of the biggest hurdles we are trying to figure out with the no-till system is how to get cover crop seed to germinate in beds that have crop residue in it, without tilling the seed in to get good soil contact. We tried putting a straw mulch down over the newly seeded beds this year. We will let you know if it works.
This past week we rushed about seeding beds of onions, garlic, and flowers before more rain came. In the process of doing this I gasped as I realized that we had a whole box of ranunculus corms (bulbs) that we had not planted yet. We ordered this flower in a fever of excitement over the summer even though we had never grown it before and knew that our soils were less than ideal for this flower. We would also need to build a temporary greenhouse tunnel over the bed for the crop to survive the winter and bloom in May. We decided this past Saturday, after much back and forth and tears (on my part!), to nix the crop and cut our losses. It was simply too overwhelming to figure out how to build a greenhouse tunnel this winter. We had taken on too much this year on the farm and with the home building in the mix, something had to go. This was yet another reminder to grow our business slowly and to carefully weigh each new crop or farming system before we add it.
Even though we have made lots of mistakes this year, we have had lots of successes too. We are already looking forward to improving and fine-tuning the management of Spring Forth Farm for the 2016 season!
Stay tuned for more updates on the no-till experiment.
December Update 2014: Windows, Doors, Stairs and Wreaths
This December has proven a busy one for Jonathan and I as we continue to work non-stop on our home. We are also planning the farm season for next year and working our full-time jobs. Finding a balance of work and rest is a constant struggle for us.
We got a late start on our wreath-making this season, thus only making a couple of wreaths for the practice of it. We used all vines, greenery and berries on the farm. Next season we hope to actually make some wreaths to sell with dried farm flowers and greenery. This is Jonathan’s first wreath ever given to my sister for her front door! I love how wild it is. We have a long way to go with the wreath learning but are off to a good start.
Early December we completed our stairs. We plan on building a recessed bookshelf in the living room that follows the staircase. The stairs were extremely challenging and we couldn’t have done it without the help of accomplished carpenter, Daryl White in Hillsborough. He helped us lay out the stringers and Jonathan and I built everything else on our own. Thanks Daryl!
We are also quite excited that we finished installing our windows and doors on December 27th and they are just gorgeous! They are energy efficient casement windows and we are delighted with the way they seal out the cold and let the light into the house. It certainly added character to the house to see them go in! Thank you Jeremy Coerper for teaching us how to install our windows and doors.
Coming next (if the weather will ever cooperate): The tin roof!
Stay tuned for a January update with more photos!
Approaching Winter
Winter approaches and we are excited: it is our first chance to plant trees since moving onto our land. One day we will have a fruit orchard and ornamental trees will grow around the farm but with the house project we’re starting small the year.
We planted three of one of our favorite trees, the native red maple. These trees flank entrances to the farm and we look forward to when we enter under the gateway of their branches.
With winter approaching our thoughts are also on next year’s flowers and next year’s weddings. We started preparing for our first wedding of next spring right after our last wedding of the fall.
Megan prepared our beds by mowing down this year’s flowers with our Gravely walk-behind tractor. The mower is very powerful and it easily took down the husks of the summer annuals. We planted some beds into cover crops and planted hardy annuals such as poppies, snapdragons, feverfew, and larkspur into others. They will grow strong roots over the winter for a profusion of spring blooms.
The farm may sleep through the winter but as we approach winter we are preparing for spring and for a lifetime on this land. Planting trees is an optimistic activity. We already dream of next spring’s blooms and future summer’s shade.
October Building…..
October has been a very busy month working on our farm house! We installed 1/2 inch rigid insulation all around the exterior and we started the housewrap. Jonathan and I are spending a lot of time making sure our house is well sealed and can work efficiently. We also built our 30ftx12ft porch! Can someone say party porch?
We also trenched in the water line and electrical wire for our well to our house, a nice long distance of 250ft! That was exhausting. While we were at it, we installed 2 frost-free hydrants for farm irrigation.
Stay tuned for the November update…..it might include doors, windows, stairs, a well house and more!!!!!
A beautiful Fall Wedding
So it has been silent for a few weeks on our blog front! We have been busy this fall planting tiny flower seedlings and sowing flowers for next spring. Some of these flowers include snapdragons, icelandic poppies, queen anne’s lace, love-in-a-mist, larkspur, black-eyed susan’s and more, oh we can’t wait for the spring blooms! We have also been working hard on our house (a photo post on that to come later with updates) and been making bouquets for weddings! Our last wedding of the season was mid-October and we were delighted to have the opportunity to make 2 bridal bouquets for our friends Erin and Grace. Jonathan and I each made a bouquet and we remarked how far we have come in developing our style of bouquet making. Floral design has become one of our favorite aspects of growing flowers. My goal before frost: learn to make a flower crown with the remaining flowers of the season.
We are now taking reservations for the wedding season 2015, so if you know anyone getting married who is interested in fresh, local blooms for their day, send them onto to Spring Forth Farm! Enjoy the photos of Erin and Grace’s bouquet!
As The Season Ends….
Well folks, we are coming to the close of our first season in business as Spring Forth Farm. What a fabulous first season it was with more weddings than we had counted for, some nice publicity, regular florist and business accounts and more. We will be reflecting more on all things farm related later this winter once the farm is put away for the winter. I am making our last flower deliveries to our florists Victoria Park Florist in Chapel Hill and Pine State Flowers in Durham. We also delivered our last bouquets to Radius Pizzeria for the season. Thanks so much to our wonderful clients and customers. Jonathan is back at the farm today seeding fescue and clover seed in our fields so the rain can help it to germinate. We are cleaning out beds, planting cover crops, and seeding flowers that grow through the winter. We look forward to some downtime as it gets colder, to reflect on the farm and plan for another great season next year….and of course more time to push forward on our home building!
The house building is keeping us busy right now of course. At the beginning of September I went back to teaching and Jonathan returned to the fire department after his month-long vacation in August when we were framing the house. The time to work on things has been scarcer and we are adjusting to a new rhythm. We did a very smart thing and hired experienced roofers to install our roof decking and roofing paper and the relief at seeing the roof go on was palpable. We are now focusing this next week on installing rigid insulation and house-wrap on the exterior of the house. It will feel great to get the house dried in and to focus on building the porch, interior walls, stairs, and installing windows and doors.
This year has held so much Jonathan and I and Spring Forth Farm. I can only imagine what next year will bring!
Framing Marathon Part II
August 31, 2014, all the rafters up in the house! Whew we have managed a lot over the past month!
August 28th, 2014, most of the rafters are up!
August 27th, 2014, our well is being drilled! We were blessed with 60 gallons/minute!
August 3rd, 2014, raising our first wall
As Jonathan and I both head back to the working world, we know it will be a challenge to continue to build the house in our free time. We are so blessed to have gotten the house to the point of finishing the rafters and we are now working on finishing up projects so that we can out on the roof in the next couple of weeks. We are looking forward to getting the house dried in and breathing a huge sigh of relief. Our deepest and heartfelt thanks to all our friends, family and neighbors who came on Sundays in August to help us lift walls.
House Framing Marathon!
Well, believe it or not, we have walls up and a second floor! Jonathan and I are working our tails off this August to get as much of our house framed out as possible before we both go back to work on September 2nd. We are tired, sun-burnt, humbled and thrilled with how far we have gotten so far. Over the last 3 Sunday workdays we have had over 10 volunteers show up each Sunday to help us lift heavy walls, put up floor joists and in general support us in this project with a huge moral booster! Our neighbors on Terry Rd leave us watermelons and show up in an instant’s notice to help us raise another wall. We couldn’t be where we are now without our friends and neighbors.
There are still two opportunities to come out and help us on the house. Sunday August 24th and Sunday August 31st. We work from 9-4pm. Come anytime and please RSVP so we can provide enough lunch for everyone. RSVP to Megan at 919-599-5531 or Jonathan at 919-667-4978
Enjoy the photo journey of our house taking shape. It is really exciting.
First walls going up, Sunday August 3, 2014.
Raising the first wall with family and friends
first wall
Holding the first wall!
More walls going up Sunday August 10, 2014
More walls going up
Thank you to our neighbors and volunteers
Most of the exterior walls
Eating lunch together
The home-owners and builders!
Our youngest volunteer
Getting the tall walls in place
Girders and Floor joists-Sunday August 17, 2014
Girder to hold the floor joists
cutting the floor joists
Brian and Jamie installing the floor joists
This week we are putting up the wall that sits under the ridge and we are raising the ridge on Saturday! Stay tuned!
Home Foundation Part II
We finished up the foundation of our house on Saturday July 26th. The week leading up to the pour of our foundation was fraught with 4 inches of rainfall, multiple nights working late to get things finished, inspections by the county so we could pour the floor, deciding to push back the pour due to weather multiple times, and of course a healthy dose of stress and anxiety! After all, this is our life savings, our baby, and we have a lot invested already. We worried about how much rain fell into our foundation, and every time it rained, we spent half a day pumping the water out of the slab and cleaning up the mud, only to have it rain another inch. On Tuesday night Jonathan and I were finishing up the work for the slab prep and it poured over an inch in 30 minutes, we worked through the storm pumping water out of the foundation as fast as it was filling up. After the storm a perfect rainbow appeared over the farm. We were encouraged. Finally, finally, we had two days of dry weather and Pedro Barcenas and his crew poured our foundation on Saturday July 26th.
Below is a photo of essay of the process of the work! The floor looks amazing! We are raising our first wall this Sunday.
Saturday July 26, 2014: Pouring the Foundation!
On Monday July 28th, Pedro came back and cut our floor in a tile pattern. Some cuts are necessary to help control cracking in the floor. Concrete wants to crack.
With heartfelt thanks to our neighbors who brought us fresh food, leaf blowers, air compressors and lots of encouragement, we are happy to finish up this phase of our house construction!
First walls are going up Sunday! We will be needing a lot of help in August. Stay tuned for work parties on our house to help us raise walls!
Spring Forth Farm of North Carolina 