Soil Testing

Wow, I have been absent for a while. A quick trip back to the East Coast and all gets out of whack. it was a whirlwind, working up in Baltimore and then fitting in a some time with my mom and Miss Puzzle and seeing some great friends too. And a huge thanks to Katie W. for puppy sitting - and putting up with their antics while both Kyle and I were gone. Apparently they forced her to feed them cookies non-stop, made her sleep on the coach with them with Ziggy on her chest.....apparently they are quite persuasive.

The other weekend my other great Geologist friend, Jess, came up and we did some soil sampling at the farm. We took two samples from two different spots on the farm to have analyzed to determine what we need to do to prep the soil for growing. We went to the middle of each of the areas to be tested and dug down 6-8 inches and filled our little bags. We recorded the GPS coordinates of the sampling spots and labeled the bags accordingly and then sent them off the to lab.

Sunland Labs in Rancho Cordova

The results are IN!!!

The one area where there has been years of steady drainage from our overflowing spring (we need to capture that water and store it  now for irrigation) is perfect growing soil. It has the right Ph balance for blueberries and is perfectly primed and ready to plant. The other is area is drier and more clay based, it will need some sulfur and compost tilled into it but at least we know and can start prepping that area so in a year or so when we want to expand it will be ready.

We are still researching the blueberry farm possibilities for our land. I think our next move it to take a trip to Oregon to Fall Creek Nursery and have a chat with their experts for some guidance. And to contact the North American Blueberry Council to find out more about the market, wholesalers and organic requirements.

Anyway, its getting exciting and, though we never bought the land intending to really do anything with it, now we are finding ways to make it pay for itself and be productive, its very exciting. I can see why this farming thing is addictive. Something so satisfying to having the land be so productive.