Oatka Creek Farm Tour
A character I am actively developing is a gardener who frequently finds herself with guests in her home in need of advice. This character has a gift of matching just the right blend of tea from her garden to the visitor to help them move through their troubles. I have found myself struggling with some of the gardening scenes. I need her gardens to look a little wild, I need things to not look cookie cutter perfect yet still be perfect. Is that even a thing? Aren’t weeds in a garden always a bad thing?
As part of my CSA or farm share from Oatka Creek Farm https://www.oatkacreekfarm.com I was welcomed to their farm for a tomato tasting and tour of the farm. I always enjoy a fun field trip. Even if I do not picture myself ever needing to know how to farm, I write characters who need to know what to do.
During the tour of the farm, I learned a few amazing things that will strengthen my character. Not least of which, is that organic farms have weeds. It's not that weeds are exactly good, it's more that they are a sign you are doing things right. Without nasty chemicals to remove all the weeds there will be some weeds that remain. To keep the fruits and vegetables thriving and not smothered by weeds, the organic farmer relies on mechanical tools and deep knowledge of how weeds work. I was fascinated to learn about the weed seedbank. If you dig too deep you can expose weed seeds to the right conditions (cue that rainwater and sunshine!) and boom you are covered in even more weeds. The organic farmer knows this and avoids allowing thousands of weed seeds to come up and takeover. Some of these weed seeds could be decades old, perhaps even centuries old! I wonder what would happen if my gardener character dug too deep one day and found something very old and very sinister... Excuse me a moment.... I need to go write something down.....
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Okay I am back!
There are more things I learned that a character might benefit from knowing or perhaps discover during their journey. Perhaps they could help you too!
Heirloom tomatoes act much more wildly than farm field tomatoes.
Sometimes the irrigation is making the ground look wet but it's not actually getting enough water to the plants.
Tomatoes need a lot of calcium and potassium to grow. If they don't have enough, they get a bit of black rot – this is not totally a bad thing and won't spread. BUT a virus or bacteria needs to get removed completely or it could ruin crops to come.
Some plants can be started in the autumn and hibernate in the winter to be in prime condition come spring.
Various crops thrive in tunnels vs out in the open. Choosing the right space for your seeds and seedlings leads to better results.
Achieving Certified Organic certification is an adventure of its own. Congratulations Oatka Creek Farm!
The tomato tasting was great fun. Lots of varieties of tomatoes set out to try. Once you sampled them all you needed to consider which two were your favorite and cast your votes. I was happy to see that all the tomatoes got several votes. This just proves that everyone likes and needs something a little different to bring them the most joy.
