2017 State of the Farm

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2017 State of the Farm – Do you accept the challenge?

When I was 12 and collecting comic books, one of my favorite characters was Superman’s alter ego Bizzaro who lived on a planet that was a weirdly inverted duplicate of Earth. Everybody tried to go through life doing the opposite of Earthly things. The stories were amusing and in the end the real Superman would show up and straighten things out. With many things now going opposite of what we believe is good for the planet, I find myself hoping Superman will show up soon to save the day. Nevertheless, life goes on and as always, one of the best therapies is to escape to the garden. Watching flowers mature and bloom or patiently waiting for the first green cherry tomato to show a tinge of color, the outside world’s chaotic events seem to fade away at least temporarily. There’s a certain satisfaction in being able to bring order to the garden that you can’t realize in many day to day challenges.

Last year brought the challenge of drought. Fortunately we have a pretty good irrigation system in place and were able to keep all of the crops alive. Friends of ours on other farms had to walk away from certain fields because there just was not enough water. Our irrigation pond on the main farm got down to about 10 percent but our well on our land by the Connecticut River kept pumping at full capacity. Each year we invest in enough irrigation supplies to cover most of our crops with drip tape which we find to be more sustainable than overhead sprinklers. We do use some low volume sprays to germinate certain crops. We hired Derrig Excavating to install an under the road pipe that allowed us to reach two additional fields with water when needed. At our Elysian Hills farm we did suffer about 1/3 loss of our newly planted young Christmas trees so the goal this year is to develop an irrigation system with the limited water we have up there. Our first project was to have a custom planting wheel for our waterwheel transplanter that will soak the little seedlings down at planting. The summer was so dry we had to have one of the tree farm wells completely renovated. Hopefully the rains will become a bit more regular but with climate change who knows?

2017 marks three years since we began managing the tree farm organically and we will be applying for organic certification. We hope to make Elysian Hills the first Certified Organic Christmas Tree farm in Vermont. While that may not seem that important to a lot of folks, after all you don’t eat the trees, we feel that organics plays an important role in protecting the water, air and land. Our mission is to keep all our farmland healthy and clean so all the critters and plants can live safely as nature intended.

The past year saw another addition to the family. We completed construction of our first Rimol Rolling thunder moveable greenhouse. You can view our first move on YouTube here: Walker Farm Moveable Greenhouse. Moveable greenhouses allow us to plant multiple crops that can be covered and uncovered as the season progresses. We’re in the process of completing our 2nd moveable house for this spring. It will be greenhouse number 25. One way of dealing with extreme weather is to grow in a protected environment. Our greenhouses allow us to have a consistent production of flowers and vegetables which is not as easy as it used to be.

Cucurbit downy mildew, basil downy mildew, spotted wing drosophila, sweet midge, leafhopper, cabbage aphids. These are all diseases and pests that we didn’t have to deal with 15 years ago. Add those challenges to tomato late blight, phytophthora, powdery mildew, cabbage moth, European corn borer, corn earworm, leaf miner, tomato hornworm and it’s a wonder anything can grow. Luckily, good plant breeding, University of Vermont assistance and recent developments in safe biological sprays and “good” bugs have enabled growers to hang in there and deal with the new and old challenges. Because of the popularity of organic agriculture, these new organic materials just developed or being developed help safely control insects and diseases and allow us to consistently produce healthy foods.

Our garden center sales increased again last year with strong showings in our organic vegetable starts, fruit trees and bushes, conifers and specialty annuals. We saw a slight decline in perennial sales but a lot of that had to do with our decision not to carry a full line through the summer due to the drought. Again we had Derrig Excavation come to the rescue by rebuilding our weakened irrigation pond and increasing its capacity. We should have much more water for use this year. That’s good because we’re growing and getting in more plants than ever! Sometimes in May, when the greenhouses are full and the temperatures go past 80 degrees, we have 2 or 3 people watering all day.

Beside the challenges of the roller coaster weather patterns, we try to improve our marketing strategy each season. Currently we’re working on applying the “lean business” model to our farm system. While each season requires much planning, it’s essential that we work on anticipating the future. Walker Farm has undergone many changes since 1770 as our relatives transitioned from sheep and tobacco to dairy and lately to produce and nursery. Where do we go from here? That will be determined by our customers as we value their suggestions and opinions to help us decide the best path. We want to continue to stay unique yet connect with other farms in the area and state for a symbiotic relationship that fosters the special nature of Vermont agriculture.

Each season we spend a lot of time putting together a team that can help us with our goals. Sadly, we have to say “Goodbye” to some employees who move on to other opportunities and occupations. This year our former Tree Farm managers, Aaron and Justine, moved south to expand their horizons and be closer to family. Like many of our past workers, they left their special square on the Walker Farm quilt. We always seem to put together an amazing crew that make the farm better each year. This season is no exception as we have perhaps one of the strongest lineups ever in the farmstand, greenhouses and fields. That’s one of the highlights of our occupation as we get to meet energetic, creative folks that contribute their talents to our seasonal journey. Seems like just a short time ago a pregnant Karen was minding the little farmstand by the gas pumps and I was running out back to pick a fresh 35 cent head of Salad Bowl lettuce for Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker. Now it takes a large motivated and talented crew to bring our customers the beautiful flowers and organic produce from our 25 greenhouses and 35 certified organic acres. It’s certainly a challenge! Luckily we have the most appreciative and supportive clientele that any business could imagine and that makes the yearly challenge a task that we can happily accept!