Author: Timothy McDermott

2017 Hocking Hills Farmer’s Market

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I was absolutely sick to my stomach when I woke up, started reading the paper and saw that the Hocking Hills Dining Lodge had burned down.   The lodge provided jobs for many people as well as a place for local artists to showcase their art.  It was also the location of the Hocking Hills Farmer’s Market last year.  It was their first year in that location and the word was getting out.  Now they have to start over.

The good news is that they have a great new location for 2017 at the Hocking Hills Winery.

The market is still looking for produce vendors!!!   Think about that if you are looking to make some money as the market is an excellent small business incubator to showcase product with minor overhead costs.

Market Rules and Regulations —>  HOCKING HILLS FARMERS MARKET INFO-usj0tq

Vendor Application —>  2017 HOCKING HILLS FARMERS MARKET APPLICATION-25q2w80

I wish them luck and will help market the market.  Opening day is May 27th.

Planting has started at The Urban Farm

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The 2017 growing season is underway.  I had started a ton of seedlings to have as teaching tools for the many seed starting workshops that I have done in the last month or so. ( 10 classes on seed starting this season).   The first seeds were sown under the lights in my office seed start growing station in January.

Lettuce and Broccoli starts on 1/23, germination occurred two days after sowing.

At about a week or so of age, when the seedlings were at the true leaf stage of one or two leaves, I divided them and transplanted into cell packs.

11 days from sowing.

 

The seedlings were allowed to grow in 1″ cells for another couple weeks.  We had a really nice warm up lately and I knew I was going to be out of the office for a while for a conference so I took them to The Urban Farm to transplant.  I picked a bed to use that was close to the parking lot to make use of the nice warm microclimate that the blacktop would provide.  I had looked at the forecast to see the 60 degrees was going to go back to closer to normal.  The first thing to do was terminate the cover crop to get a planting area.

Turned winter rye under with a garden fork. At this stage will provide a nitrogen boost.

 

The soil was awesome at this point.  It had broken down further, was very friable and a nice dark color.  Extremely easy to work, I could plant with my fingers and did not need a trowel.

I spaced the plants for planned harvest.  The lettuce was on the edge and was on about 7″ centers.  The broccoli alternated with lettuce on 10″ centers.  As I harvest lettuce every other head, the remaining heads have room to get bigger, and when the lettuce comes out completely the broccoli can have that whole side of the bed to expand.  The leaves will quickly make a canopy over the soil making a nice microclimate to shade the soil to conserve moisture and help prevent weed germination.  Basic bio-intensive principals.

The whole bed was covered with medium weight row cover.  This will allow water, air and 90% of sunlight to penetrate to the plants while providing frost protection as well as predator (deer and rabbit) protection in this time of little forage.

Row cover loose on top of the seedlings. I will raise it up with hoops when I get some free time!

 

Now I need to see how the seedlings grow.  If you remember back when the growing medium was added I had concerns of chlorosis as the pH of the growing medium was a little too sweet.  The cover crop and ammonium sulfate should have corrected it, but I want proof before the May 1st target date.  If everything goes well we should be able to start private sales of this produce in a few weeks.

Seed Starting with the Logan Hocking High School Nursery and Greenhouse Program

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Mr. Delong invited me to come speak to the students on seed starting to the LHHS FFA Greenhouse and Nursery Program.  Seed Starting is one of my favorite things and one of the things that anyone can do at home to tremendously maximize food production for their family.

I brought a bunch of seeds for cold weather specific vegetables and herbs.  I know the 60 degree weather has folks thinking tomatoes, but we are not there yet.

The students planted seed of all of the varieties in flats, watered the flats and put them under the lights.   Germination will be about 3-5 days for most of these plants.

photo credit: A. Delong

 

A week later I went back.  I brought some seedlings I had planted prior as the student seedlings were only a week old.  Good timing for thinning, but seedlings need to be at the true leaf stage to transplant and these seedlings were at the seed leaf stage.

 

I will head back in a couple weeks to continue the process.  The students will be growing some transplants for use at The Urban Farm. I am grateful for that.  Whatever we cannot sell from the farm goes right into The Southeast Ohio Regional Kitchen for donation to hungry folk.

Right now the seedlings need to get a little older, then transplanted into cell packs and left to be watered and fertilized for several more weeks.  If you are interested in seed starting, I have a Seed Starting Workshop at Bishop Educational Gardens coming up soon.

Hocking County 2017 Ag Days

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Ag Days will be held at the Hocking County Fairgrounds on the weekend of April 8th and 9th.   Extension will have several events, programs and presentations during the festival.

First up is the Pie Baking Contest

Do you have what it takes to take down the CHAMP????

2016 Champ Anna

Details:

Do you have what it takes?

The Hocking County 4-H Youth Board will hold a Pie Bake-Off on Saturday, April 8 as part of Ag Days. Pies should be brought to the Youth Center, located on the Hocking County Fairgrounds before 9:15 AM on April 8. Judging begins at 9:30 AM with 1st, 2nd and 3rd places being awarded. All pies must be in a disposable container. The winning pies will be auctioned at 10 AM.  All types of pies will be accepted. Please call OSU Extension at 740-385-3222 for more information. All pies/proceeds benefit the Hocking Co. Youth Board.

 

Two other events on Saturday at Ag Days are:

  • Hocking County Farm Bureau  Workers Comp credits are available by attending a two hour presentation in the Soil and Water Room from 10 – Noon
    • First Hour 10 – 11 “Updates on The Veterinary Feed Directive”
    • Second Hour 11-12 Ag Safety.
    • Anyone can attend either or both hours,  for full credit for Farm Bureau, both hours need attended.
  • Pollinators for Vegetables – For kids of all ages
    • 1 – 2pm,  at the Children’s Education Garden.   We will be planting some seeds for both veggies and pollinators and have some pollinator seed packets to hand out as well.

 

Hoping that we do not have a blizzard for Ag Days like last year!!  Looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Save The Date!! “Tick Prevention” at Hocking Valley Community Hospital 4/3/17 at 6pm

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With spring upcoming and people starting to head back outdoors it is time to think about protection from ticks.  Ticks are a major vector of many diseases affecting humans, companion animals and livestock and the prevalence of these diseases has been rapidly increasing over the last decade.  On Monday, April 3rd at 6pm at Hocking Valley Community Hospital I will discuss tick diseases, identification and prevention methods.  The class is free and open to the public.

How to identify which tick is important,  different ticks carry different diseases and all ticks carry more than one disease.

 

Source: Tickencounter.org

 

We will discuss lifecycles.

Source: CDC

 

And go over how to protect yourself, your family, your pets and your livestock.   Ticks are tough to repel, many of the most common products are ineffective.

We will discuss what works and what does not work.

 

Space is limited to about 20-25 and classes at HVCH generally fill up.  The class is free so bring your friends and your questions.

Contact information:

Class instructor is Tim McDermott, DVM from OSU Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Office. Call (740) 380-8336 or email ljohnston@hvch.org to RSVP.

 

The Urban Farm – Winter Update

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I know I told you all that The Urban Farm was done for the season, but actually there is something important going on right now that will be critical to our success in 2017.  The cover crop seed I planted in November has been slowly growing and helping the overall soil health.  It was very fortunate that we lucked out with lots of rain and moderate temps for the first half of winter.  I go to the farm and take pics every few weeks or so.  Here is the timeline in pictures:

shortly after germination, picture taken on November 29th

 

picture taken December 7th

 

some great growth so far. Picture taken January 3rd

 

Picture taken January 19th.

 

As soon as the daylight hours increase and it gets warmer, the rye will take off like a rocket, easily getting over 3 – 4 feet tall.

Seed Starting Grow Station

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In preparation for the upcoming growing year and with projects at:

I decided I needed a spot to grow as many of the vegetable starts myself as I could.  I have started my own seeds for decades.  I think it is one of the most rewarding and inexpensive ways to maximize what you grow and how much you grow and it allows you to pick whatever is in a seed catalog and not have to rely on sale at a plant store.  The economy of scale is simple:

$2  =  One head of lettuce  =  one six pack of lettuce transplants  =  one packet of 1000 lettuce seeds  =  $2

So I am going to show how you can make your own grow station at home.

First  thing to do is to pick your spot. Mind it needs to have close electric.  You also need access to water to water your plants.  Shop lights are four feet long so factor that in.  You also need to watch how cold or hot your spot gets.  This is a table top spot I am going to use in my office.  Water is halfway close across the hall,  electric is right there.

Table top area is 2′ x 4′. Has a socket right next to it. Perfect size to fit three flats without crowding.

I needed to build a frame that will allow me to hang the shop lights.  The lights are the cheapest 4 foot shop lights from Home Depot or Lowe’s that you can find.  I will splurge on the bulbs as the amount of light is critical.  I just cut some wood and used the chains and hooks that came with the lights to hang them.  I set the lights at one height and then move the plants.  Much easier that way.

Then I hooked up the lights using a basic timer and a power strip.  The timer is set for 15 hours of sun, which is basically mid-summer.  One common problem many have if they grow at home is not enough light.  You are trying to mimic the effect of the sun in summer. There are no windowsills in Ohio sunny enough in March and April to grow tomatoes, they will get leggy and do poorly.

Then I started some seeds.  Why not?  I have a seed starting class coming up at Bishop Educational Gardens and I will need to bring plants at many growth stages to have good examples.

Lettuce and Asian cabbages are great plants to start with when you are learning to start seeds. They germinate rapidly and reliably and take to transplanting very well.

 

A little bit on what bulbs to buy. You are trying to mimic daylight in terms of brightness and spectrum.  When I first started growing there was only one choice of bulb and it worked OK.  Now you have many.  I bought highest on the Kelvin scale which is basically looking at the “color temperature” of light.  The daylight one is the best for new seedlings.  If I was going to full maturity on plants or trying to get fruit in my basement or office I would mix up the bulbs a bit to get a fuller spectrum but since the plants finish under the sun, I am only looking for a great start.

LED’s are out there that would do a great job too.  They are out of my budget right now but I am looking forward to using them in the future due to their extreme long life.

pic source: foodiegardener.com

I will be able to start and grow hundreds of transplants to use in area gardens with this technique.

Plants need to be very close to the light source, only 2-3″ away maximum or they will get leggy.

 

So now I have some awesome mood lighting in my office.  Stop by and take a look if you want.  I will post updates on growth as it happens.

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Projects at Logan Hocking High School

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I want to thank Andrew DeLong,  Agricultural Education teacher at Logan Hocking High School, for inviting me to come speak to some of his students this past Thursday.  I had a tremendous time and wanted to share some fun projects we are working on at the school and let you know what we are planning.

A fun presentation I have done in the past is a gross dissection class of a system.  The best one to start with is the cardiopulmonary system as pretty much all the mammal species have the exact same system, just different sizes.  Mr. DeLong was able to source the perfect specimens, two full cardiopulmonary systems from swine.  Pigs are a lot like people.  The organs are near the same size and we use pig heart valves as replacement for defective human valves.

After a short classroom discussion on heart sounds, anatomy and the circulation pathway, it was out onto the shop floor.

We had two tongues, two complete systems from larynx to diaphragm and microscope stations with different things to look at really close.

Then it was time to glove up and get in with it.  The kids were knowledgeable and full of questions.  The future looks bright at LHHS.

Talking to Mr. DeLong with have some ideas for future programs that will be fun.  I will keep you all in the loop.

 

The other fun thing we have started planning for is using the greenhouse to grow vegetable starts for The Urban Farm at Southeast Ohio Regional Kitchen.

The greenhouse is huge and has a ton of cool projects going on in every nook and cranny.  One really interesting thing is the aquaculture experiment where fish swim and create a nutrient rich water that then feeds plants without the need for soil.  I have an interest in aquaculture and Extension has some researchers working on developing this further.  I look forward to working with Mr. DeLong on this project.

Fish in the tub, plants in the tubing.

 

Lots of fun things to do.   I am looking forward to partnering with Logan Hocking High School on lots more fun projects.

Save the Date!! Seed Starting Class at Bishop Educational Garden, Wednesday March 1st.

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OSU Extension and Hocking Soil and Water Conservation District will be partnering to present a FREE workshop at Bishop Educational Gardens, the home of Lilyfest, on Wednesday March 1st from 6:30 to 8pm.

lettuce

Basic techniques for starting your own flowers, herbs and vegetables will be demonstrated as well as a discussion on how to construct your own home growing environment.

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Registration is recommended to ensure we have enough seating.  Bring your questions and your friends.  Bishop Educational Garden is located at 13200 Little Cola Rd. Rockbridge, OH 43149  (click for google map)

For more information or to register contact Rebecca Miller, HSWCD,  at 740-385-3016 or Tim McDermott OSUE at 740-385-3222 or email to McDermott.15@osu.edu

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