Socolofsky Farms Weblog

In the flurry of spring activities, making entries to the blog got swept under the carpet. Now all the planting is done and it's on to maintenance, so we can take a little breather. Summer around here will consist of making sure everything is weeded and watered, and then harvesting as needed. We are harvesting shell and snap peas and lettuces at the moment, with the remainder of the crops spread out over the rest of the summer and fall.
After a nice wet spring, we have good subsoil moisture and have had to do minimal watering. We prefer drip irrigation using T-Tape, since it is so much more efficient at water use than overhead irrigation. Plus, many crops don't like wet foliage. At the moment, the pole beans are a foot tall, the garlic is about two feet tall, and most other crops are doing well.
Although there are a number of bright areas, we have had more than our share of setbacks this spring, which have necessitated a few changes in our plans. The most regrettable is our primary retail outlet experiencing financial problems, which has resulted in us needing to pull our products from their stores. We also had total failure of most of the 4000+ plants we attempted to grow from seed in our propagation area. As a result, we will have no commercial quantities of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and essentially all herbs. This has required us to pull out of the Monument Farmers Market for the season, which was to be our primary marketing channel after the retail store option was closed for us.
We are courageously pushing on with the things that are growing well, and the pigs and rabbits continue to do their part. But for this season the vegetable production will likely be a non-event.
We are searching for God's plan in the midst of our setbacks, and do not have any answers yet. But we have faith that He has wonderful plans for us even if we can't see the big picture just yet.

Spring is the season for new life. It's such a blessing to watch life break free of the grip of winter. We are enjoying several new litters of pigs, a ewe that has delivered triplets, and numerous new litters of baby bunnies. We've had some difficulties as well, including some rabbit does that did not seem to want to be moms, and a ewe that had a terrifically hard delivery that resulted in us losing all her lambs. But by and large, the coming of spring means new life, and we are thankful for the new young we have.
We've been busy getting seeds planted and ground prepared for the growing season. Lately we've planted about 15,000 onion seed in flats indoors, along with 700 or so tomatoes, and leeks, peppers, and eggplants. We've also prepared the remainder of the beds in one of our hoophouses for planting, which we will begin next week.
We invested in a BCS 853 walk-behind tractor this year, and it is a wonderful machine. We bought the Berta rotary plow and the 30" tiller, along with a potato digger and a cultivator. So far we've used the rotary plow and the tiller, and the machine is a beast. It chews through practically anything, and does a fine job of it. It is built like real farm machinery, not like the cheap homeowner equipment. I think we'll get a good lifetime of service from it. So far we couldn't be more pleased with our investment.

Well, we got ourselves all excited about spring coming, and now winter has returned with a vengeance. Right now we are in a winter storm warning, with three to eight inches of snow expected, along with 40 mph winds. Since I last wrote, we've had four storms, dumping some much-needed snow on our parched pasture. We are thankful for the moisture and don't mind delaying our spring outdoor activities.
We have radishes and peas growing in one of our hoophouses, and even with the very cold temperatures (lows of around 5 degrees), the peas seem to be making it. The radishes look a bit frost-bitten, and probably won't make it. Since we are getting our typical March weather in April instead, we will probably delay more plantings for a few weeks.
One exciting development recently is that we've been experimenting with charcuterie (artisan sausage making and meat curing). We have for a couple of years offered bulk fresh sausages in three blends: sweet Italian, medium Italian, and breakfast. Well, we finally bought that stuffer we've been contemplating for a number of years, and the sausage making has greatly expanded.
Over the past couple of months we've worked up recipes for several new sausages. We now have an andouille that is very good and has received very positive reviews. We also have a tasso ham that is very good (a Cajun ham, not a stuffed sausage, but inspired by our experimentation with andouille). While also not sausages, we have two types of pancetta and two types of guanciale (both types of Italian bacon) now curing in our cooler. We also have three excellent bratwursts, three very different sausages patterned after different regions in Germany. Next on the list are a dry-cured Spanish chorizo and a fresh Mexican chorizo.
You can see that the ethic base for our interest in charcuterie is broad: Cajun, Italian, German, Spanish, Mexican. I am of German descent, and we have traveled over much of Europe over the past few decades and sampled the cuisine in many countries. Sausage is wonderful stuff. It's interesting to see how many totally unique flavors a person can make with three things on the ingredients list: pork, salt, and spices. It's of course the spices that make it interesting.
Sausage makers are a dime a dozen, and I can think of at least five in our immediate area, plus the grocery stores that make their own. Is there really a need for another? We believe what makes us unique are three primary factors: 1) We use our own pork, which is mostly Berkshire, and we know what's gone into the animals. We also don't just use scraps and trimmings -- the last batches have included most of the cuts from the pig, including the fresh hams. 2) We have a passion for developing delicious recipes that are as close to the ethnic intent as possible. 3) We don't use fillers such as soy protein powder, or ingredients like MSG or high fructose corn syrup. Certain types of dry cured sausages will initially have to have nitrates, but once we perfect a recipe we will start to experiment with making them like we make our bacon, with no added nitrates. We'll keep you posted on how that goes.

It certainly feels like spring around here. What was a very cold December and January moderated toward the middle of February and now March has started off with extremely warm temperatures. Lots of wind, but I guess that's the March lion roaring about.
The warm weather has us thinking of spring planting. We're getting the equipment in shape, cleaning out the hoophouses, and actually starting to prepare the soil. This is very early for us to be tilling, but we're taking advantage of the warm dry stretch to get some of it out of the way.
Last weekend we actually put the first seeds in the ground, albeit in one of the hoophouses. We planted some early peas, radishes, and turnips. I'm pretty sure even if we get a cold snap (likely), they'll survive in the hoophouse and we could be enjoying the first fruits of the season with the radishes in a month! We also have a bunch of basil planted indoors.
Spring is lambing season for us, and we had a rough one last night with one of our ewes. She struggled during the delivery and we ended up losing her twins. Sad for us, but also sad for her, as she is looking forlornly around, knowing something is wrong. We'll pray the other ewes have smooth deliveries.

They say February is the three month period between January and March. I'm not sure I agree, because February is one of our most enjoyable months. Sure, the weather is cold and snowy, and there are certain chores that are more difficult, like feeding and watering livestock. And then there's the occasional burst water line in the rabbitry when a pipe freezes.
But on the other hand, February is the most relaxing month for us. We typically spend the time making plans for the next season and finishing our recuperation from the busy fall. If we can afford the cost and the time away, and if we can find someone to look after the animals, we like to take our vacation in February. We certainly don't have even a few minutes to get away during the spring, summer, and fall. We've learned to enjoy taking our vacations in the off-season. Most other folks are busy with their jobs and school, so the places we like to go can be nearly deserted. And we love the mountains in winter. The untouched snow on the high meadows looks like marshmallow cream. The pine trees draped with snow look like they should be on the front of a Christmas card.
This year we were blessed with a few days away in the San Juan mountains, in southern Colorado. It's perhaps my favorite part of the state, not only because it's so beautiful, but also because it seems to be a bit off the beaten path. Colorado's winter playground is in Summit county, further north, and the south part of the state is often quiet and lonely -- perfect for a bit of time away in which to reflect, plan, pray, and enjoy family.

For our farm, this is the time of year to plan and dream. I love sitting down with the seed catalogs and a cup of coffee and putting together a plan for spring planting. My wife and I were able to do some intensive planning this past week, and we rounded out the week by getting our seed orders placed. We're excited about getting started. The warm-ish stretch of weather we've been having over the past few weeks has helped fuel this anticipation. It's much too early to be having temperatures regularly in the 40s and 50s during the day. The temperature really needs to get back down where it belongs, or else the trees are going to be nipped in the bud. But we'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Anyway, back to the spring plan. We like to hear feedback from customers as to what you'd like to see available fresh, locally. The plan so far includes green beans, red and yellow beets, brussels sprouts, lots of carrots, sweet corn, pickling and slicing cucumbers, eggplant, leeks, lettuce, okra, red and yellow onions, snap peas, shell peas, sweet peppers, several types of hot peppers, red and russet potatoes, radishes, spinach, yellow squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, tomatoes (red, orange, green, and paste), and a variety of culinary herbs.
Most of these we have either grown in volume in past years or have at least experimented with on a small scale. Several of these, however, are experimental. For instance, we have not grown sweet potatoes before, but I was able to find a variety that may do well in our unforgiving climate.
We are also watching our winter hoophouse enjoy a resurgence of life, given the warm-ish weather. Several cold, bedraggled varieties are perking up, especially now that the day length is adequate to support growth. They will undoubtedly be zapped again sometime this month. But when spring does kick in for good, we should be able to get a month or two of respectable harvests of lettuces, greens, carrots, and beets.

So now I've added some details about two of our other projects on our projects pages: our hoophouses, and our attempts last winter to raise pigs in one of the hoophouses. The livestock in hoophouses project was part of a Western SARE grant we were privileged to win. I've posted a version of our final report to Western SARE on the website. I sincerely hope you will read and enjoy our experiences on our projects, and if you have questions or comments, please let us know. Also, we decided to combine the projects pages in with the rest of the main Socolofsky Farms website. After thinking about it, it just didn't make sense to have the two sites separate. Go to the Our Projects link off Socolofsky Farms website.

We're excited to introduce a new series of web pages describing some of the projects we find ourselves involved in on our farm. It's at http://www.socresearch.com It is our hope that some of the projects we are working on will be of interest to you and provide you with ideas for your own operation. Currently there are details of our in-vessel composter, a recently completed project (well, it needs a bit of tweaking). Soon to follow will be some thoughts and details about our hoophouses, plus our recently completed project testing the viability of raising pigs inside one of the hoophouses. Take a look and see what you think. Feedback is always welcome.

I was looking at the blog today and realized it's been over two months since I wrote anything. Shame on me.
To be true, we've had a heck of a busy winter so far, but that's no excuse. It seems no matter how much we prepare for winter during the summer and fall, we are never as ready as we'd like to be. The main chore for us during the cold is trying to keep the water to the animals open. Since ours is a livestock-based operation, this can be challenging. A few years ago we installed automatic, heated waterers for the pigs, and that has been a lifesaver the past two winters. That's been good, because we've needed the extra time the last two winters to struggle with the rabbit watering. Today it never got above about 15 degrees, and I worked for hours trying to see that all the rabbits got fresh water. We'll have to do something to solve this problem permanently.
Today we had a bit of a blizzard. We only got about five inches of snow, but coupled with 35 mph winds, it made for a pretty tough day outside. Our winter greenhouse is still doing pretty well, in spite of the cold. We've had many nights in the single digits and several below zero. We've had to run a heater occasionally at night, to keep the plants from feezing solid. We still have several types of greens doing well, plus carrots and beets that are doing extremely well. Every day we pull a few carrots for our own use - organic, fresh carrots in Colorado in the middle of January! Our customers are enjoying the fresh, locally grown salad as well.

From about the first of September until the time we get a good, hard frost is fly season in our part of Colorado. We've had a warm fall so far, and the flies have enjoyed the extended opportunity for reproduction. Our fly control methods have included a collection of products and techniques. Being an organic farm, we don't use chemical controls. We use fly strips and tape, and fly traps, which do their thing and rapidly fill up with carcasses. We use fly predators, although we can't really determine if they're effective. We use a flame weeder if we find a group of maggots when we're cleaning pens, and this method is great fun. But this year we've discovered a new approach that not only kills thousands of flies, but it's wonderfully therapeutic, as well. We have a small vacuum that hangs from the shoulder and has quite a bit of suction, and this is our new weapon for committing mass fly murder.
There are several locations on our property that flies like to gather during the evening to spend the night: our front porch and the South wall in one of our greenhouses being the favorites. They congregate there in groups of 20 or so and huddle together on cool nights. When it's in the 30s and 40s the flies are cold and can't seem to fly. They start waking up in the upper 40s it seems. So lately we've been going out with the vacuum before sun-up and just vacuuming them up. This morning in the greenhouse it was like something out of a horror movie, with thousands of flies all over the South wall. 15 minutes later, my vacuum bag was full and the wall was clean. Plus any stress I was feeling had evaporated. Like I said, wonderful therapy. We did learn the hard way to cover the end of the suction hose with a piece of wide tape when finished, though.

Now that I've decided to make this blog available from our website, I guess I should start adding some content.

This summer, especially the late summer, has been a whirlwind of activity around the farm. Our vegetable harvest is still going strong for the most part, plus we've had a few pigs to process recently.

As for the vegetable harvest, we are still pulling hundreds of pounds of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes off the vines in one of our hoophouses. I say "still" because we could get a killing frost anytime now at our elevation (7250'). The cucumbers and okra are still going strong, as well. It looks like the pole beans are about done for the season. We are harvesting the last of the sweet corn, as well. We thank God for every additional day we get to harvest before the cold weather sets in.

Outside, the garlic has been harvested for several weeks and is now cured. The onions, carrots, and beets are mature and we are pulling them as we need them.

Processing all this bounty has consumed a lot of our time this fall. We have been able to keep our one retail store stocked with fresh vegetables, plus we have a pantry full of canned goods for ourselves this winter.

Two weeks ago we planted our winter crops in the second hoophouse, and we have greens, beets, and carrots sprouting in the beds. If we can get a few more weeks of warm weather, even if it's cold at night, the crops in this hoophouse should do well. We are following ideas from Eliot Coleman in the winter hoophouse regarding techniques, crop selection, etc.

Well, now we've added a blog to our website. If you like these things, and can tolerate rambling and ranting, then you might enjoy this area. If you aren't much for windy rhetoric, then you might want to pass. I plan to use the blog area as a way to provide updates in several areas: what is happening on the farm, some of the successes and struggles we are facing, and my thoughts on agricultural issues (sustainability, local, organic, humane, etc.). Please comment if you would like to respond, and if not, I hope you still enjoy (or at least tolerate) reading my thoughts. I haven't yet figured out how to make the blog look like the rest of our website. I fear I may never be able to, so we may have to tolerate the different look.