Growing Growers workshop and a little farm update

This was another very busy week. Our days were full of stress at our day jobs, scheduling meetings with home construction contractors, barn builders and preparing for putting our Shawnee house on the market.

There were very few visible updates at the farm. But on my visit to meet with a potential contractor about the alpaca barn, I saw this…

Garage doors installed.

The garage doors are installed and there are temporary handles and locks on most of the doors. I hadn't anticipated encountering locked doors. It was nice to realize the structure is now a secure space capable of keeping things inside safe.

Saturday I attended another Growing Growers workshop. This was the sixth that I've attended. These workshops are intended for future farmers and, in addition to the workshops, have an apprenticeship component. Even though my full-time job doesn't allow time for apprentice work, the workshops have been very educational. My favorite part has been the farm tours and meeting with people in the business of growing plants.

The workshop on Saturday was at Powell Gardens and covered Small Fruit Production. We heard talks from Missouri experts with the University of Missouri Extension as well as from local growers like Dan Hoerz of Duncan's Berry Farm. After lunch we took a tour of the Heartland Harvest garden with the garden manager.

Here are some pictures from the tour:

Tomato and pepper garden - part of a patchwork quilt design/layout.

Beautiful elderberry outside a structure supporting kiwi vines.

A veggie garden with a nice Gothic arch that also support tomatoes.

One part of a large vineyard with many rows and arbors.

Lastly, we saw the high tunnel project.
These tunnels cover an acre of land - all planted with tomatoes.

Our busy week ended with a Father's Day celebration at home. Brent is a hard worker and, even on his celebration day/weekend, he was working constantly! Saturday he and Logan salvaged siding and roofing materials at the farm for use on farm outbuildings. Sunday the boys and I gave Brent another Festool power tool for his collection and we ate apple cake (a recipe from Brent's mom, the late Barbara Ragsdale). And we all worked to pack up our clutter to make our home look nice for potential buyers.

Slowly, our future as farmers is getting closer and closer :-)