Tomato plants early on

This past week on the PCF

Eggs that never were, brought to us by the actions of bald eagle.



Chorus frog keeping it real over the eastern pond



a questionable location for a field perhaps?



The farm's own first stall of this year

Greenhouse pt.3

The location of the new greenhouse is ideal for the farm's layout but the soil will need a lot of work. Parts of it are a pretty nice dark sandy loam, but about half of the site is depleted mineral soil and clay. We grew a cover crop straight into it over the winter, before the greenhouse went in. After plowing and tilling it in, we'll plant another one and till it in along with a 2" layer of okara, a tofu waste product from the island. Two inches is pretty thick (10 cubic yards) but we think the soil can take it - and we aren't in a hurry to get a crop in so we can let the soil digest the inputs.

Greenhouse pt.2

subterranean dwellers

This one was resting beneath the raspberries under black landscape fabric.



Western long-toed salamander larvae are preyed upon by dragonfly larvae, predacious diving beetles, gartersnakes, fish, kingfishers, and wading birds. Adults are taken by gartersnakes, pesky bullfrogs, fish and herons. In turn adult long-toes eat woodlice, crickets, beetles centipedes, earthworms and spiders, while larvae feed on zooplankton, and small macroinvertebrates like immature insects, crustaceans, snails, tadpoles and leeches.

This one was occupying a cool moist habitat beneath plywood and a straw-filled tarp (one of our waterline insulating efforts).



Oregon ensatinas can live up to 15 years and take 3-4 years to mature. They never enter water, preferring instead to inhabit moist soils. They retreat deeper in the dry months. They have an elaborate hours long mating dance which culminates in the male placing a spermatophore on the forest floor which the female then picks up with her cloaca. In desperate times of danger, it will drop its tail which trashes wildly about while the individual gets away.

the final touches for the garlic

opening up earth 2

opening up earth 1

a young spring