State of the Farm: April 2026

We are just getting going on the farm. 

 

(Picture from here.)

 

There are two things going on. 

 

First, and possibly more important, is that I have sprouted peas in quantity for the first time. 

 

I planted them a month or so ago and they are growing in the cold. We’re supposed to have a freeze tomorrow night and I have hopes they will survive.

This is a big thing for me. I’ve never had a successful pea harvest. I always planted too early or too late. This year is a big maybe. But I’m hopeful.

 

The second is much more of an effort. 

 

The main garden is on a fairly steep hill on top of fairly shallow ledge. This has been a problem for years. Things just can’t get much of a foothold. Anything that needs root depth is stunted. 

 

This was brought home to us last year when we planted the same sweet potatoes in the main garden and in the raised beds. The beds are about three feet deep—plenty of room to grow down. The sweet potatoes in the beds grew well and we harvested them. The sweet potatoes in the main garden didn’t do well.

 

There were (as always) confounding factors. 

 

Our soil was old and we hadn’t amended it in some time. So, we actually ponied up and bought what we were told was composted horse manure. It was dirt. I’ll give it that. It was also nearly nutrient-less and full of cutworms. Areas we put the soil on actually did worse in the garden than where we didn’t use it. 

 

But we used the same soil in the raised beds. It wasn’t great but, still, crops in the beds did better than the main garden when both crops were the same.

 

We’ve decided to terrace the garden.

 

We have about an 18 inch drop east to west and an even larger drop north to south. The plan is to use stones we pulled out from another project—a project of some bitterness that I will discuss at a later time—as the southern base. Then, use other stones or blocks to build up the side. This will give us an increasing depth as the garden proceeds north to south—we have more depth of soil on the north side of the garden. The idea is that at the end we will have significantly deeper soil overall.

 

This is a big job. The stones we’re talking about range up to about four feet long and eighteen inches tall—probably a couple of hundred pounds or more. Too heavy for us to handle by hand.

 

Enter the Mini Skid Steer. (See here.)

 

The plan is to use the MSS to move the rocks into place and then move the purchased compost material into the new garden area. There are rules for renting these things so there are a lot of moving parts. I have to get the temporary license, get the dirt, and then rent the unit all within the required time frame. 

 

This might be fun.

 

If it works, we’ll have a new garden.