Hempfest 2013 - Friday

Friday..
It's pretty cool that this is the first Hempfest where cannabis is legal. For everyone. I had this guy stop me who was selling a cannabis spray. He sounded like a used car salesman. I smiled, and told him I make my own. Lots of cannabis fairies in attendance. Seriously, and they're not all women. It's hilarious. Everyone is having such a good time. And it seems like there's more food vendors this year and everything smells so great! We had dinner at Anthony's and had great garlic roasted prawns. My green beans from the bean platform were better, but Anthony's were good. I'm just partial to mine. Plus they're growing up on a platform up in a tree. So there's that. (see prior blog posts for the bean tree)

Jerry (middle) meeting SubCool
and MizJill

We bought member tickets this year so we don't have to stand in line. I hate standing in line. Especially when it's hot. But then there is the requisite Ben and Jerry's booth. And yes, we were there. Very yummy. We listened to several bands and every one of them was great! Lots of reggae (I LOVE reggae) and there was a techno deal down at the end of the park which was really infectious. Everyone was really enjoying the music. Tomorrow we'll hang out at the Hemposium and listen to speakers. Jorge Cervantes will be there to participate in a growing panel discussion. Jerry met SubCool and MizJill today..I stayed with the blanket and food, but managed to take pictures anyway. We grow TGA Genetics strains and Jerry wanted to let SubCool know how much we appreciate all the research and work TGA does to help patients, me in particular. So it was a real treat for Jerry to meet them. If he gets to meet Jorge, his visit will be complete. Jorge wrote the medical grower's bible we all use and I really hope we meet him. I'll just have to be assertive. That shouldn't be a problem ;-) 

I'll post more tomorrow.. but just know, I'm feeling a little disappointed at not getting ANY Doritos from the Seattle PD ;-) 

A Gardening Update

I flood irrigate 4.6 acres of pasture. I do it because I'm better at it than my husband. He put in several new headgates for me to use so that I don't have to use tarps. I hate tarps. I much prefer to open and close little gates. Easier on my nails. This year, since I haven't done the irrigation in thirteen years, I'm going to just grow it and not cut it for hay. I need to re-seed the pasture anyway, so next year burning will be a bitch, but whatever. It's looking pretty good, except for one dry spot. The main area is around 3 acres and is beyond the cross fence in the picture.

The greenhouse is doing well. We put in a drip system which the plants seem to like better than a "me" system. I'm not consistent enough apparently so drippers it is! On the right is a hot pepper plant with interesting peppers on it. They haven't turned red yet, but they still look cool. My new pink blueberry bush hasn't produced any fruit, so maybe next year it will. I'm looking forward to that!



This is the platform my husband created in a willow tree outside the greenhouse. He did this because of the deer who think they own our property and believe they are entitled to everything growing there. The picture to the right is a shot of the pond from atop the platform. I have pepper plants growing up there as well on the railing he put in to keep me from taking a header off the thing. And yes, I'm totally capable of doing something like that. There are times when I need a keeper, and this was one of those times. I'm growing the beans in two big pots and they've been very prolific this year.

Below is a hyrdroponic lettuce raft in which I'm growing romaine lettuce. I really like rafts for growing all kinds of things, but lettuce does extremely well. This is the first time using one outside though. 

I also have a hydroponic tub inside the house with bok choy growing. Bok choy is awesome to grow hydroponically and has a much higher water content than what we buy in the produce department. There's really nothing like it. The tub has little sprayers inside and come on every so many minutes and spray the roots with nutrient solution. It's awesome!




To the right and left are pictures of some super soil we made. We used the recipe from TGA Genetics and it works well for anything you want to grow. I bought a turnable compost bin to make it as well as compost for next year.

And speaking of next year, we have plans to build a bigger greenhouse and to do something interesting with floating docks out on the pond. All in a effort to circumvent these guys:

Happy gardening!