Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

Carol did a little more gardening this morning inside the high-tunnel and I did a some clean-up on the outside.  Carol made several trips from the garden to the house to get more seed and supplies.  On one of her trips, she grabbed a thermometer to hang in the high-tunnel (some folks call these structures ‘hoop-houses’… they are simply an unheated green-house).  When she first hung the thermometer it was 70°F…  within an hour it was pegged at 120°F. On one of my many trips to and from the house and the shed, I brought a camera to record the temp.  Outside, the temp was inching towards a cool 60°F.

Yep! It's hot. It shows 115° but it got hotter.

One might ask themselves, is 120 degrees too hot to work in?  Carol is proof that the answer in a resounding “No.”

Here’s a couple of photos of our hops.

We are excited about our newly formed hops

Looking up a hop filled bine

I’m not sure how many ounces of hops we’re going to be able to harvest, but it’s looking good so far.

Carol, Madison & I buckled-down and got to the task of constructing the high-tunnel.  We ran level string-line to make sure we had a plum building site.  It turned out the one corner of the high-tunnel will be trenched approx. 14″ into the garden bed (hill-side).  Where we placed the building, we thought was the most level area on the farm for it.  We had no idea it was so ‘off.’

The girls laid out the structure’s frame work on the ground, where I then assembled the individual framing units.  Later, Carol and I lifted 2 of the frames into place, over the ground stakes.  Not knowing if the wind would pick-up, we assembled the cross frame supports , tying the 2 pieces together.  It should keep the frame from blowing over.

Last week, daughter Madison took some corn out of the farm’s 4 row planter.  She then put them into a baggy, containing a moist paper towel.  Within days she had healthy little corn plants sprouting, then growing their way out of the baggy and into a small container.  We then talked about planting some of the kernels from an ear of pod-corn we had on the wall (for decoration).  A few days ago, she planted 6 kernels – 3 with the pods and 3 without.

As of today, the pod-corn has not germinated.

An ear of pod corn.

Pod-corn is the oldest corn variety known, with one ancestor… that being a grass.

I got a phone call from our local Natural Resources and Conservation Services (NRCS) office, located in Willmar, MN.  The official on the line said, “Rich, I have some bad news.“  It turns out that the application I filled out for the Federal High-Tunnel Grant Program had been declined.  It seems as though all the applications in Kandiyohi County (as well as many other area counties) had been declined, due to funding issues.  There was a slight pause.  Then the guy on the other end of the line mentioned he may have some good news as well.  He told me that he might be able to re-write my High-Tunnel Grant application under the Organic Initiative.  If I qualify, I will be approved as there is plenty of money under that initiative.  This is because of the low sign-up numbers of those who are either Certified Organic or in Transition to become Certified.