Magicland Farms 2007 News

March 18, 2007

Well its been a while since I updated the Magicland Farms news. I am sorry for that. While it's really no good excuse for my tardiness regarding the matter, 3 weeks ago I did hurt my wrist and jammed my thumb, quite severely, during the process of cutting down a large pine tree. In fact, it still hurts some using the computer for any length of time. But it is improving.

Boy was that old injun right about the winter! While the timing was about 10 days off, it started out mild and then turned cold just like he said. Well, as I told everybody in the house (most weren't too pleased by my news) winter is dying!

I hope some of you are wondering how my book Snowball Launchers, Giant-Pumpkin Growers and Other COOL CONTRAPTIONS is doing. I have to say great! I have had very favorable reviews by School Library Journal, BOOKLIST , and the Muskegon chronicle. I don't know of any bad reviews--yet. Also, I got an email from one of the big honchos at the book publisher and he says they are pleased with the sales of the book and are considering a second printing. For those who want to see the reviews you can go to www.magiclandelectronics.com and then find your way to the review section. Also Amazon.com has two of the reviews online so you can also see the School Library Journal and BOOKLIST reviews there. This brings up a mystery. Apparently Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart.com , Alibris and others say they are out of stock and have been that way off and on for a couple of weeks. I received emails from Sterling saying they are looking into the matter and are also a bit mystified since their records are that they have something like over a thousand of books still in their warehouse. One possibility, of course, is that these books are about to be shipped to those who have ordered them but the paper work isn't done--libraries for instance. Well, I hope things get cleared up there. I am very pleased with Sterling for the way they have handled the book and renamed it--it was originally title Amazing Stuff You Can Make--the new title may be long but its better than my original one. Also, I am very pleased with my editor Claire Bazinet who did a real clean and good job--I can't find a boo boo yet although I wish they put in the numbers of the transistors in the parts list for the last project -- pn2222 (NPN) and 2N3055T (power). I know this is my fault for not catching it although really just about any NPN transistors will work as long as they are both NPN and the bigger ones shown in the drawing are the power type.

Getting back to farming, quite a few of our tomatoes and peppers are already coming up. Also, we are planning on putting a High-Tunnel at the farm so we can have earlier (and later) tomatoes this year. Its costing us near 2 grand, which is hard to come-by (especially this time of year) but we think (hope?) its worth it.

We are big into pruning the orchard although I mostly have been supervising since my accident. Also, it got down to -13 F at the market which is really close to the critical temperature for peach flower buds. We checked the peaches and they seem OK (cut off a few branches and they bloomed inside). However, most of our peach trees are young so we can't expect more peaches than last year.

April 22, 2007

Well it looks like my book Snowball Launchers, Giant-Pumpkin Growers and Other COOL CONTRAPTIONS is again available from many sources. For a while it appeared that online book sellers had a hard time getting a supply. Why? I still don't know.

That early April cold spell--from about April 4 through the 10th--was really something! Record setting, as far as I can remember. We are still uncertain of damages to our fruit trees but it doesn't seem too bad. We are quite fortunate our trees didn't have enough warm weather before the freeze to get them growing much--most of our apples were only in green tip at the most. No trees were in bloom before that freeze. We had daffodils open and they aren't as pretty after that freeze as they were before. The good news is that we have planted our potatoes. This year we have made a small planting of Yukon Gold (100 pounds of seed potatoes) in addition to our red potatoes (1000 pounds of seed potatoes). We also planted our small patch of cabbage and our snow peas. We already transplanted into peat pots about 1500 tomato plants. We are going big into heirloom and unusual tomatoes in addition to our standard large red tomatoes. Last year our Green Zebra was a big hit, this year we have added Red Zebra, Sioux, Ugly, Keepsake, Big Bite, Big Beef, Evergreen, Mortgage Lifter, Black Prince, Black Cherry, Rutgers, Juliet, Sungold and others. In addition to Green Zebra, we again planted Carolina Gold, Brandywine, Lemon Boy and other novelties. Of course the big news is our High Tunnel. That's the big thing you can see in our field around 500 feet east of our market. We hope to plant around 150 tomato plants in it around the first week of May. We plan on starting to harvest tomatoes from it for sale around July 15--hopefully even sooner! By the way, HIGH Tunnel is an apt name. Inside it is over 12 foot high!

June 10, 2007

The Magicland Kids strawberries are selling well -- problem is picking enough. Their crop is below earlier expectations since the new patch didn't do well. However, weather can't be blamed because it has been near perfect. It looks like they will still be picking strawberries for at least another week. The Snow Peas look great and they will probably start picking them sometime this week. For more information on Snow Peas from the University of Maine click here. It looks like we may be setting a Magicland Farms record for the earlies sweet corn and beans this year. Our previous record was July 6 for the first day of sales of sweet corn and me thinks it will be even earlier this year--perhaps even right on Independence day. We will let you know for sure on June 20 if we will break the record. By the way, that previous record early corn was for a super early variety which we no longer plant because of its small size and only good--not great--flavor. This year we start with a really great tasting corn with medium sized ears! By the way, despite the fact that field corn prices are up over 60% over last year we plan on keeping our sweet corn prices the same as last year despite huge increases in prices of fertilizer and fuel. We hope to do this because of an increase in yield. If this increase in yield doesn't occur, as hoped, we will be forced to ask more for our corn.

Our high tunnel tomatoes are unbelievable. Most are now over 3 feet high and are loaded with small green tomatoes--the largest being roughly 2 inches in diameter. I hope to pick our first ripe tomato on the fourth of July and have them for sale about a week later--again check back on June 20 for more information.

Things are starting to get dry and have started our rather crude type of irrigation system to keep stuff growing rapidly. The forecast is for no rain for at least a week!

July 2, 2007

The good news is we did have a decent rain since the last update (June 10). The bad news it was way back on the 16th--we got around 7/10". A few days later we got just over a tenth of an inch (more at the lake). More bad news--nothing since! Water sensitive crops we couldn't get to with our MM (Micky Mouse) irrigation system are really suffering. I noticed recently lawns that weren't watered around here are completely brown and dormant--burnt up is one phrase commonly used. Happily, with earlier timely rains and irrigation our first corn is past water problems and will be ready in a week, if not a bit sooner. We have our MM system going 24/7 (I hate that "in" phrase). The weather forecast is for a good chance of showers the next 3 days. Let us pray that the forecast is correct and there is no damaging weather associated with it.

Obviously, the main problem right now is lack of water. The last couple of days have been quite cool. However, the growing season so far has been substantially warmer than normal -- more typical of southern Indiana/northern Kentucky. What concerns me a bit is this is similar to what happened the summer of '95 where we also had a cool spell around the 4th--if you've been around these parts you have to remember '95!

AS you probably guessed stuff is early--perhaps the earliest ever. Also, despite the lack of rain just about everything is doing well. Our high-tunnel tomatoes are especially interesting because they are new to us. They look big and beautiful. Even our apples seem earlier--perhaps we will have some early apples ready in less than 3 weeks.

Stuff coming up real soon, includes corn (of course), slicing cucumbers, cole-slaw cabbage, garlic and sunflowers. Oh yes, we planted garlic last fall and it looks great (big bulbs) although the size of the planting is small.

July 15, 2007

Yesterday we had a real good rain between 10 and 11. We got soaked although we were under cover of the heaviest downpours. Altogether we had about 3/4 of an inch--the day before we had a quarter of an inch. The day turned out quite busy, especially after the sun came out in the afternoon.

We hope to start harvesting our garlic this week, although quantities will be very limited. Also, we hope to start picking our high-tunnel tomatoes the end of the week. Quantities will start out very small and will grow next week. The week after that we hope to have start picking our open grown field tomatoes. (The high-tunnel tomatoes are basically just field tomatoes with a 12 foot clear plastic cover.)

Coleslaw lovers be sure to try our cabbage. It was especially chosen for its sweetness, tenderness, crispness and mild flavor. It makes fantastic coleslaw! Our red cabbage is also just about ready!

July 22, 2007

We only have had a trace of rain since the 15th. Its getting dry. We are really starting to pick apples, both Quinte and Vista Bella. Yesterday was real, real busy. Word has gotten out that our corn is really great--big and tasty. On the 19th we planted our last corn after we disked up our first corn. It is 80 day corn and hope to harvest it in early October. Our cabbage is really coming in and we hope to start picking a great bean patch tomorrow. The high-tunnel tomatoes are growing well although they are ripening slower than we hoped. Cabbage is doing great.

August 5, 2007

Yesterday, a rather cloudy day, was hectic at Magicland Farms. Customers arrived about a half hour before we officially open (10AM) which makes things more hectic because we not only have to get the market setup with freshly picked stuff but we have to help them. About 10:20 a woman remarked about how busy we were--she should have seen the joint a bit later when things weren't only busy but hectic. Between 11 and 11:30 I and my picking crew (the kids) were out in the apple orchard picking Viking and Jersey macs and we left Anne alone at the market. When we left there were only 2 cars in the lot but when we got back the place was full and Anne was helping a couple put 2 bushels of corn in their vehicle! That frightened me because she has had trouble with her back and hip and I know hauling those bushels tot he other side of the lot wasn't the best for her! I plan on trying to have someone around on Saturdays to help Anne but this isn't always possible.

Our apple crop looks nice this year and despite the dryness it looks like they will size well. There are no Golden Delicious this year and the Mutsu (Crispin) crop is very, very short. Most everything else (except Wold River which has a 0 crop) looks good and is definitely manageable-- which means in orchardist's lingo--a slightly smaller than normal crop.

We are now into our sixth patch of beans--we have 8 patches this year. It is a humdinger of a patch and it looks like we planted a large amount of yellow beans in it so we should have big supply of yellow and green beans for at least 10 days. By the way, the last (eighth) patch should start in mid-September.

We have been picking our high-tunnel tomatoes since the 26th of July. Nonetheless, they are ripening a lot slower than expected--we have learned a lot, however. Perhaps I will write about it or perhaps I will use the knowledge in applying for a grant.

August 12, 2007

Well we had rain twice this week--a half inch on the the 7th and something like 2/3rd an inch early today. Reports have been that most areas in this part of the state were a lot dryer--however just about everybody got a decent rain this morning.

We are now picking primarily field tomatoes the high-tunnel ones are still coming on slow. We are into a learning experience with our high-tunnel tomatoes. Squash and pumpkins are really ripening and we are now picking spaghetti squash and plan on picking acorn soon. Looks like a good apple crop and are now picking Viking (just about done) and Paulared. Will start soon with Gravenstein, which makes the best pies and applesauce there is, the only one that can compete with it for pies is the Calville Blanc which looks nice this year but doesn't ripen till mid October. Be advised here apples are ripening very early and we may start picking our fall crop (Macs and Cortland) as early as September 1.

August 20, 2007

Well, I don't think we will be talking about being too dry for sometime. Its raining as I write (5:49 am 8/20/2007) and it rained most of the night and a good part of yesterday. However, it has been light and I estimate around 2/3 of an inch so far.

Looking at the weather maps it seems like we maybe in for a stretch of really beautiful weather. There is this low in south central Canada and it looks like its going to meander slowly northeastward. This, as I recall, brings great weather to the area especially this late in the summer. We will see.

This year just about everything has grown exceptionally well. Rainfall has been a bit lower than optimum but I have learned from the past this is a lot better than much more than optimum. My Grandma, who grew up on a farm in northeast Nebraska, talked about all the dry weather that hurt crops. However, she said the only seasons that were a disaster were those that were way too wet! We have a small irrigation system which helps fill in between rains but there is nothing we can do about too much rain!

Our main problem this year wasn't dryness, bugs or disease but DEER! They are everywhere and not just at our farm! They are causing lots of damage. They have completed destroyed our largest patch of watermelon which is near our woods. The only thing I think that's helping are the coyotes.

August 26, 2007

The rains started last Sunday--8/19--and kept up, off and on, until about 9AM Saturday 8/25. We had a total of close to 2-3/4 inches and they were frequent. It was a tough week for us although sales ended the week nearly as good as the same week last year. We did especially good on Saturday after the sun came out. Our heirloom tomatoes have been a big hit this year--the Brandywines, Sungold, Evergreen and, of course, Green Zebras have been especially good sellers. This week we hope to fill up the stand quite a bit with winter squash, pumpkins, gourds and apples.

September 3, 2007

We have had perfect weather for the past week. It couldn't be nicer. Friday and Saturday were as busy as we hoped. Also we achieved our goal of putting a whole bunch of stuff out for sale like sweet corn, apples, pears, winter squash, pumpkins, gourds, tomatoes, beans, cabbage, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, potatoes, popcorn on the ear and more. We also had a good selection of homemade crafts including jewelry, gourd creations, hats, shawls, sweaters and more. Also available were signed copies of my book Snowball Laumchers, Giant-Pumpkin Grower and Other COOL CONTRAPTIONS.

September 9, 2007

We are slowly harvesting our ripe giant pumpkins. So far we only put our biggest pumpkin --225.0 pounds-- inside. See photo on our home page. The seed for this giant pumpkin was around $2.50. We hope to use some seeds of it for next year--we also might wind up selling some seeds from it. By and by, we hope to have at least one even larger pumpkin but it probably won't be as good looking.

Our high tunnel tomatoes are really producing now. We were a little disappointed with the tomatoes since they didn't ripen as early as we hoped. However, we are pleasantly surprised by the flavor of the high-tunnel tomatoes. We hope to be able to pick high-tunnel tomatoes on Halloween this year--we will see.

We planted beets this year on August 13 and hope to start pulling some on October 5 and finish harvesting them on November 5. This is something new for us but doing a little research, we think it might work out.

We are really into apple picking now and are picking our early fall apples like Macs and Cortland. We will soon be picking Spartans and Jonathans.

September 23, 2007

Last Sunday (the 19th) there was some light frost on the grass and car windshields. No damage was done-- it got down to about 37-38 at the farm and about 45 near Pickerel Lake. We've had summer weather ever since (Injun' Summer?).

October 1, 2007

Injun' Summer still hangs around. Happily we received two 1/3 inch rains this last 10 days--otherwise it would have been even drier. The long range forecast is for continued warm temperatures.

It may be interesting here to comment on how the North American Wise One's summer forecast turned out. Remember back in Spring I went and talked to him? If you don't remember here is a copy of our conversation:

Well, on Father's Day I finally got enough guts to mosey down to our famous North American Wise One. By this time I sort of knew down deep about the summer but wasn't sure how he'd break the bad news to me. I soon found out...

When I first walked into his tepee I sort of figured out what the Wise One would tell me. There were three boxes. The small box had "Six Inch Desk Fan" written on it. The medium sized box had "REMOTE CONTROLLED PEDESTAL FAN" on the box. But, the tell tale sign of what the old Injun thought about the coming summer had to be what was printed on the humongous box which took up about a third of the teepee's room. On this box were written the word's "Category Five Hurricane Fan Enclosed." While I was studying the box I was startled by a surprisingly brittle voice!

  • Native American: Hi White Man! Why so grumpy looking? No need to worry about cutting firewood for at least three moons!
  • Me: I think I could have guessed that! I think I also can guess what you think about the coming summer!
  • Native American: Ugh! Me don't like you grumpy! Want puff from pipe?
  • Me: No thanks, Wise One. I feel better already. Perhaps it's because you seem a bit gentler in your old age!
  • Native American: Old age! I've only seen 100 winters! You should talk to my great granddad!
  • Me: Maybe I'll do that! Where is he?
  • Native American: In his tepee laying on his blanket!
  • Me: Oh, its tough getting old. How long has he been there?
  • Native American: Since moon appeared. Played slots for three hours straight!
  • Me: Oh. Well, what exactly do you think about this summer!
  • Native American: Cool for Apache but warm for Ojibway like me! No blankets for 3 moons and no firewood for 4 moons.
  • Me: In plain language then, you think it will be a very warm latter half of summer and a warm early fall. Right!
  • (The Wise One nodded.)
  • Me: What about the rain. Will there be enough for the crops?
  • Native American: I don't go to Casino!
  • Me: Hmm, well . Despite the bad news, it was real nice talking to you. Is it okay if I stop by in a week or so and see that big fan in operation?
  • Native American: Ugh! Ugh!

As I walked out the tepee into the smoke free air I pondered the meaning of the last two ughs. When I pay him another visit soon perhaps I'll discover their meaning.

Looking back, and especially the weather the last few weeks I think Joe Bastardi could learn something from our own North American Wise One! Or did the wise one learn .... oh well, whatever. I can hardly wait to talk to our wise one about the coming winter.

For those who are interested in how Magicland Farms is doing I want to let you know we experienced a 15% sales growth over last year. Too bad with skyrocketing costs of fertilizer, seeds and fuel our profits aren't up nearly that much. Still, we are pleased with the operation this year.

November 5, 2007

Well Halloween has come and gone and so have our pumpkins. This year we sold them all except for our largest--285.2 pounds--which we priced high enough so it wouldn't likely sell--we planned on saving the seeds and planting them and perhaps selling the seeds as well. One of the interesting comments, by a kind lady, about our pumpkins went something like this (this happened around October 1):

At the time we had what looked like a good supply of pumpkins. She commented that I should have made arrangements with the town of Fremont to buy a bunch of pumpkins--she figured we would never sell them. I told her our supply was real short this year and she looked around at the piles of pumpkins and shook her head. Well, we sold them all out about a week before Halloween. I was right--we didn't have enough. In years past people driving by, day after day, during October look at our place and see what they think are the same pumpkins. What they don't know is that we picked a huge wagonload of pumpkins every 3 days during late September and the week before Halloween. This year we couldn't do this since we didn't have enough! What was the problem? First, deer. But the real problem is that they were nearly all ripe in mid August so they went bad out in the field. Also, of course, the heat and dryness really hurt. However, we had perhaps are biggest and nicest squash crop in our history and we just might wind up selling all of them--except for the ones we will eat!

The big news this year was the consistent heat--things ripened a lot faster than normal. We started with our sweet corn on July 9 (and we still were picking a little in mid October). The big disappointment this year had to do with our tomatoes--the crop was a lot smaller than we hoped. This primarily affected our canning tomatoes since we generally had enough slicing tomatoes for sale at any time during our season (late July through mid October). Our high tunnel was a bit disappointing in that we didn't get neither the quantity of tomatoes out of it we hoped and they didn't ripen as early as we hoped. (By the way, we hope to finish picking the green tomatoes in the high tunnel today.) We learned a lot, though. One thing we learned is to plant the tomatoes a lot earlier in the high tunnel! One reason we didn't do this was simple--we weren't done putting it up until May 1!

We plan on staying open this year until at least Thanksgiving--weather permitting. However, we will be closed on Thanksgiving Day! We also hope to have available gift apple packs. When we have them set we will mention more about them on the first page of our website!