Friday, May 28, 2010

Finney Farm

I made it to my second farm on Monday: Finney Farm in Concrete, WA!  Everyone is super welcoming and nice.  This week I've worked with two other WWOOFers from Washington who have been at Finney for a month (They both leave today - bye Cat and Jason!).

Finney!
The ever-welcoming 100 foot tall ex-concrete mill in Concrete

Main street with the Cascades behind
Skagit River

Herb garden with the barn behind

While here I've done various odd projects like transplanting vegetable starts, weeding, and scattering hay on top of grain beds for a mulch layer.  Additionally, I've worked on the brand, spankin' new Finney Farm greenhouse.  When I first arrived all it consisted of was a metal and wood frame atop non-level ground.  Since I've started working we've put the plastic covering on, leveled the ground, built up beds, covered them in plastic, and began transplanting tomatoes.

Though the greenhouse project isn't entirely cohesive with the Finney Farm goal of sustainability (Jennie, the WWOOF coordinator, described it as a "plastic altar"), growing tomatoes does offset other purchases on the farm.  By growing a crop of vegetables unaccustomed to Washington weather in a greenhouse, the farm can eliminate future purchases of ketchup, salsa, canned tomatoes, and fresh tomatoes.  By making and canning their own tomato products, the farm owners reduce the carbon footprint of their meals by eliminating transportation from farm to store to home.

Hay-covered grain bed and greenhouse

Shaping beds

Black, plastic covering on the beds to further raise the soil temperature in the steamy greenhouse

Tomatoes ready to be transplanted!

This weekend I'm heading to Bellingham, WA to check out the town and work on schedule planning for fall.

3 comments:

  1. These pictures are so sick! Washington looks beautiful...if only it didn't rain so much! But then again it wouldn't be as beautiful if it didn't rain so much...

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  2. This is amazing. When are you going to La Push? I'm sure you saw this question coming.

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  3. Chris - Thanks! I like the rain right now, but I'm sure if I were to be here year round I would get sick of it. By the way, which Chris is this? White? Connell? Sefcik?

    Nick - I went there on my way up! See this post - http://nataliewwoofs.blogspot.com/2010/05/drive-upfirst-day-at-red-dog-farm.html - for a picture.

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