Japanese paper pot planters
And other simple ingenuities from Kingfisher Farm
A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to get a peek behind the scenes of a small farm in Surrey, BC—Kingfisher Farm. I was part of a small group tour organized through Chew on This Tasty Tours. (Highly recommended, by the way; I’ve taken three of the company’s food tours and they were all a great way to spend an afternoon.) I wrote about the sprawl of Surrey, Langley, and area—Slangley, as a friend calls it—a few posts ago, lamenting the loss of farmland, greenspace, and such when I was staying in an AirBnB that was part of the sprawl. (Pot, meet kettle.) On this tour, I was on the other side, visiting an operating farm that still exists amidst the ever-expanding suburbia.
Paul and Angela of Kingfisher were wonderful hosts, and it was inspiring to see how much produce can be grown in a relatively small plot of land. As a gardener, all I could see was the intensive amount of work it all involved. (Insert rant here about how the pursuit of cheap everything has skewed our understanding of how much things really cost. Growing food, so fundamental to our well-being, is so undervalued. It is such bloody hard work.) We toured the fields and high tunnels, visited the goats (no one else seemed to be watching Severance so didn’t get my goat references), and were fed along the way: rhubarb and elderflower cordials (I’m definitely a rhubarb girl; elderflower was too, well, flowery), fresh salad with dill dressing, and Paul’s hot sauces and ferments (sauerkraut and such).
I loved it all, but my absolute favourite thing was learning about the Japanese paper pot planter.
I had noticed that the seedlings in the field were all snugged in little pockets in a paper ribbon.
When Paul had first mentioned that his favourite tool was a “paper pot planter” my mind immediately went to this …
… which did not seem at all practical for a busy farmer.
The actual machine—and it is truly a simple machine with no motor—was a sort of wheelbarrow, sort of plough, made of metal the cheery red of a child’s wagon. Here is the beauty and the tray full of spinach seedlings being demoed by Paul:
Fabulous, right? And here is the beauty in action:
Before this, Paul would have been planting all those seedlings on his hands and knees. You can imagine how such an elegant, yet simple, machine made all the difference. I just love knowing about. (Simple machines, simple pleasures.)
Thank you Paul, Angela, and Lise for putting the event together. It was a one-off, but you can support Kingfisher Farm in several ways: visit their roadside stand or online store, sign up to receive weekly Farmer’s Box deliveries, or visit the farm in person at the weekly market, Tuesdays from 11 to 6.
Overheard at Café Botanica:
“Living in rural upstate New York, Andrea McGinty is a mother, a gardener, and a conceptual artist who works between sculpture, photography, and collage.” - Two of my favourite things in one place—gardening and collage. (Being a mom is fab, too!). From Collé
“To protect themselves, [long-billed] curlews eavesdrop on the alarms coming from prairie dog colonies. …” From the Associated Press
“ … ammonia wafting off the droppings of 60,000 [penguins] contributed to the formation of clouds that might be insulating Antarctica, helping cool down an otherwise rapidly warming continent.” Yeah, penguin poop might be cooling Antarctica. From Grist
Pollen grains are nature’s time capsules, and they’re beautiful too. From The Conversation
Ingenious contraption indeed.
I am sending this essay off to several gardeners asap just so they can consider signing up for your wonderful botanical tours. And for one market gardener here, to access the YouTube of that amazing transplanting invention! Also to admire your photograph of ferns against the silvered wood wall!