With Vernal Equinox in the air, Amber and Juliette had been watching for a break in the sunshine to utilize a brief mild weather window to sow seeds in - timed as close to the return of Spring rains as possible without hesitating so long that we would end up planting in the wet. Friday the 21st of March proved to be the day, and we loaded up 5 lbs of Seed from Alderley Grange, our rakes and cultivators, snacks of chocolate and clementines, then stopped in at Gathered Farm to collect donated cover fabric before making our way to Humble Ground. Danielle was sooo very welcoming and was already out working on their own seasonal growing activities. As we have been in our own gardens and neighbouring farms, we washed our boots and tools in a cleansing solution before entering the gate to help prevent spread of any undesirable microbes or fungi. The ground was a treat to work with. Already tilled and prepped by Ian, Amber and Juliette did a last pass each to pluck any rooted stragglers and level the rows. Amber then pressed the earth by standing on a board, then we densely broadcast the flax seed before giving it another light rake. The middle of the 3 rows was also tamped down after sowing. It took us about 3 hours to complete and in true divinely timed fashion, the rain began in earnest just as we did! Happy dancing ensued. You can see the whole production, dance included, on our instagram reel ;) Amber and Danielle agreed it would be best to give the long fabric covers a wash before laying them out tomorrow as protection against hungry birds and floating seeds should the rain turn to a real pish-oot. Now that the first seeds have been sown, our plan is to invite interested community members to join us for planting in a 2nd plot elsewhere on Humble Ground's farmland. Our email list is growing and people are excited to get dirty! YAY!
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On February 20, Juliette and Amber embarked on full day journey to Victoria BC to meet with Carol of Alderly Grange to purchase from her 5 pounds of Linore flax that she had grown herself and harvested the seeds from. Carol proved to be a wealth of knowledge, and has been growing flax for almost 10 years. Carol‘s family comes from Northern Ireland and has connections to working with Linore deep into her ancestry. Carol has been growing flax in the Victoria area on land she rents from local farmers. She hasn’t yet learned to spin it, but she is now very accustomed to growing it. She gave us some tips for hand sowing, including using a seed roller to compress the seeds into the earth to give them better purchase. She also mentioned we could cover them with a bit of compost to prevent the birds from getting them. She said that watery conditions after planting the seeds are best for them to germinate and grow. She offered to be a resource for us and provided us her contact information so that we could ask her questions anytime.
On February 18, 2024, Juliette and Amber had the opportunity to meet with Ian and Danielle of Humble Ground Farm. They oriented us to the land they steward, which is a total of 11 acres, with 5 acres of arable land, and 1 acre (aprox) in production or ready for production. Juliette and Amber were quite thrilled when farmer Ian offered them up to five 80'x2.5’ fully prepped growing rows for our flax planting. This was much more than expected, and our gratitude soared! It also opened us up to seeing much more possibility and scaling of our flax project. In addition, Ian offered use of unprepared soil outside of the production area to try growing some flax in newly tilled ground to determine its productivity there. Juliette and Amber decided that 3 rows plus the outside growing area would be a good start. They then went to the work of determining how much seed would be needed, and entering the learning curve of when and how to plant the flax! Humble Ground's self serve farm stand loaded with prize winning garlic (photo from the HG facebook page)
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