Dunton Family Farm News

Here in Oregon, when the weather is nice, we have to take advantage of it.  I apologize for the lack of tweeting and blogging but with working outside as much as I can, it is all that I can do to keep up with necessary paperwork, CRMs, and email.  And here I sit, midday, in the office, blogging

Not for long though.  It is still nice outside – actually beautiful and sunny – and so I am heading back out into it.  This stretch of nice weather is forecast to end on Friday so I will catch up with office work then.

Yesterday I got about an acre of ground tilled up.  It was the second pass.  About 1/3 of the area I did as been in hay since 1961.  That is, it has been lying fallow my whole life and should be a nice, fertile area.  The only issue is that it is well established sod so will take another couple of passes with the tiller before planting.

This afternoon I am back out to the tree planting project.  I have 210 more Austrian Pines that I need to get either in the ground of potted up.  They are bare root and I have them banked in using potting mix.

I did get all of the tomato seedlings potted.  I finished up on Saturday.  I am about two weeks behind on that task so they are a bit on the small and scraggly side.  However,  just in the few days they have have room to stretch  their roots in pots and have been in the warmth of the greenhouse, they look a lot better and are growing.  I don’t yet have a final count on the number of plants or number of varieties.

Sunday I spent the whole afternoon and into the last bit of dusk, mowing.  My Dad usually keeps up with that ( I am sure not something he planned doing in his retirement).  But he is on vacation with my Mom visiting my sister in Illinois.  So, I mowed.  Like tilling, mowing is one of those jobs that requires two hands and just the littlest amount of brain power.  That leaves a lot of capacity in the noggin for planning, day dreaming, etc.  I actually look forward to those times as they are relatively rare for me.  Anyway, things looked pretty nice around here for a day or so.  Probably should mow again tomorrow before the rain starts in again.

Out in the seedhouse, the crew is cranking out orders pretty much within a day of receiving them.  So now is the time to order if you need something relatively fast.  Don’t forget that we also have a pretty good line of old-time, nostalgic candies and gum.  The quickest way to find them is to go to www.victorysweets.com.

That’s it from the farm.  I hope that all is well in your neck of the woods.

I am just trying to get a feel for how much (or how little) to blog about.   I don’t want to be underwhelming or the opposite.  With many decades of experience under my belt, I know that I cannot make everyone happy all of the time, but it is am my nature to try.  I am continually looking for balance in all things.

I suppose I will just write this as if it were a personal journal of the events and occurrences happening here on the farm and at the Victory Seed Company.  I suppose a little personal life is bound to creep in . . . since our seed preservation, historical research, farming and family are all completely intertwined and inseparable, it is unavoidable.  So, if the post happens to hit some chord within you, keep reading.  If it seems boring or irrelevant to your interests, hit the back button on your browser. No harm, no foul.

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John has been home from college this week for Spring Break.  It has been nice to see him and to get his help on various little projects around the place.  Today he and little sis worked on getting our tomato seeds sown.  This is about two weeks earlier than I like to get started but it is the only chance I will have the help.

Earlier this week, he and I decided that we (well I will since he will be back at school) would open up about 1/3 as much land, converting it from hay production to growing space.  This will allow us space to increase both the quantity and number of varieties we can grow this year.  Like ever decision we make in life, there are consequences.  In this particular case, it means that I am over capacity in our current greenhouse and need a bigger space.

Last night I was chatting with a buddy of mine, David Pendergrass (owner of New Hope Seed), describing the situation, and he sent me a link to a greenhouse company in my backyard.  So I will contact them next week and see if there is a chance of getting a new structure installed here in the next couple of weeks.  If it works out, this may be the stepping stone necessary to fulfill we are always getting from our local customers – a place to come and purchase tomato and other plant starts.  Don’t get too excited, this won’t happen in time for this spring’s planting, but perhaps we will be ready for next year.