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Finessing New Potato Equipment On Wood Prairie Family Farm.

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 With every new piece of equipment – and that applies fully for the used equipment we normally buy – there is a learning curve to that must be traveled before you can achieve best performance.

     Here, Justin (left) and Caleb brainstorm about further adjustments to our new-to-us ‘Better Built’ Potato Seed Cutter, made in Utah.  Watch the adventures of Caleb and brother-in-law Travis hauling this machine home last month.

     We finished up our Potato planting Thursday evening, just before before that inch of rain fell overnight. By the tail end of planting we’d figured out many of the idiosyncrasies of the Better Built and got it to do the job we wanted it to.

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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How We Add A New Seed Lot to Our Potato Planter Mid-Row.

Last month Caleb & Justin welded this U-shaped lip-extension to our new skidsteer-quick-mount hopper.  We’ve been using this tilt-hopper this Spring to ferry cut Seed Potatoes mid-field to our ‘new’ 40-year-old Kverneland 4-row Potato planter. 

       Because we grow a lot of different varieties of Organic Seed Potatoes, handling around seventy seed lots annually, it’s impossible to avoid sometimes needing to re-fill the planter mid-field.   As specialty Organic seed farmers, our Potato varieties tend to be unique.  For several of our varieties – like Prairie Blush, Sarpo Mira, Sarpo Shona, Sarpo Una and Butte Russet – we are likely the only farmers in the USA growing that variety as Certified Seed. 

        Here, just last Thursday, Caleb was driving the New Holland skidsteer.  Hunter (standing), and our neighbor Dave, were helping slide a new seed lot into the most distant seed hopper compartment.  After growing Organic Maine Certified Seed Potatoes for 40 years, we have developed a pretty good handle on what the demand will be from our retail customers.  So, we plant accordingly to meet their needs.

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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The Dandelions Are Out & That Means It’s Time to Plant Potatoes

The dust is flying and Maine farmers are busy planting their 2026 crops of Potatoes.  We’ll be joining the crowd as soon as we finish making the tweaks involved in our major conversion over to a 4-Row planting system.

      In this photo, Caleb is starting up a White 2-105 Diesel hitched to our ‘new’ 4-row Norwegian Kverneland Underhaug 3200 Potato Planter.  After making repair shop calibration adjustments to the four independent dry fertilizer box feed belts, it’s time to take the planter out to the field and verify the accuracy of the adjustments under field conditions.

       As you might imagine, Kvernelands have been popular among the bachelor Norwegian Potato farmers in the Lake Wobegon region of Minnesota & also Wisconsin.  Our Knerveland planter has its roots here in Maine and left the factory about 40 years ago.  So, this Kverneland is a spring chicken compared to our fleet of Oliver and White tractors that are 50-60 years young.

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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It Takes 35 Years To Turn The Boat Around

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For over thirty-five years we’ve been growing our crops of Organic Seed Potatoes with the “2-Row” system. Now, in order to build capacity and generate greater field efficiency we’re crossing the river and in the process of switching over to the “4-Row” system.

That switchover means planting, cultivating and digging our crop four-rows-at-a-time. That also means locating and hauling home new (to us!) equipment which will help us succeed in making that transition.

This newest Video has already garnered 10K views and covers the exploits of Caleb and his brother-in-law Travis (Sarah’s husband), who found themselves heading north to Fort Kent to haul home some Potato equipment treasure.

Have a look!

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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Introducing ‘No Fuss No Muss’ Wood Prairie Potted Organic Strawberry Plants

Introducing ‘No Fuss No Muss’ Wood Prairie Potted Organic Strawberry Plants

        As an alternative to shipping dormant, bareroot Organic Strawberry Plants, we are now offering SUPER easy-to-plant, Potted Organic Strawberry Plants .  These beauties are off to a great start and growing vigorously in one-gallon pots filled with Fort Vee Compost-Based Organic Potting Mix.  These Potted Strawberries may be planted immediately into your garden or a container Grow Bag.  Or, let them grow in their gallon pots and plant out in the Fall, a couple of weeks before Fall frost.

        In this photo, Peter is tending to some of his newly planted Potted Organic Strawberries.  These are going fast, so please order today before we sell out.  Thanks!

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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Grazin’ In The Grass

       The best day of the year for a cow must be the first day of grazing season.  With the Spring sun and recent rains recently working together to push along grass growth, yesterday was that day for our small herd of Organic Low Line Angus cattle.  These cows have a good life and live on Organic pasture in the Summer and Organic hay in the Winter.  They relish cull (‘pick outs’) Organic Potatoes as dessert most every day of the year. 

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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Timing Spring’s Arrival.

The last of the ice on our ‘Small Pond’ went out yesterday. In this picture – taken a few mornings ago – we received a dusting of snow overnight so the ice was easy-to-see. Our ‘Big Pond ‘ had lost its ice five days earlier.

Ice has gone out from the ponds in late April for each of the last five years. In the eight years prior to that span, the ice would not go out until May. 2019 was the latest year with ice-out from the Small Pond on May 11.

Less mercurial is the appearance of the first Poplar leaves. Last year it was 5/8. 2024 was 5/4; 2023 was 5/5. 2020 holds the late record for first Poplar leaves at 5/13. The lateness of that Covid-year-2020 might be explained away by the spat of late season snowfalls we had in Northern Maine: 14″ of snow on April 10, 8″ on April 22 and 10″ on May 9. That kinda snow would cool anyone’s jets.

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim

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An Onion A Day…

   Meals would be a pretty bland affair were it not for Onions.  However, getting a start on growing Onions doesn’t come easy for gardeners.  Even here in late-Spring-Northern Maine you have to start seeding Onions in the middle of Winter.  Alliums are day-length-sensitive and so by the first day of Summer you must have developed sufficient top growth for a typical Onion to nicely size up bulbs.  Thankfully, our farmer friend Jason is Maine’s Organic Onion expert and he likes nothing better than cranking up the heat mid-Winter in his snow-covered greenhouse and growing Organic Onion Plants for us and our customers.

    In this photo, Megan (Soccer Mom #7 sweatshirt) is working with our crew, shipping out a new batch of Onions delivered that same morning by the Maine Onionman. 

Caleb, Peter, Megan & Jim