01 — WHERE OUR TIME WENT
The last stretch didn’t feel fragmented—it felt continuous. We moved from system to system
without much separation. Time went into conversations, into explaining what we’re seeing to
others, and into trying to understand it better ourselves at the same time.
We found ourselves in teaching environments more than usual. Working with high school
students on air layering. Preparing to speak with Master Gardeners. Translating what we’re doing
into something others can follow without turning it into instruction.
At the same time, we were deep in client work. The high tunnel project required both execution
and verification. Brewing, applying, returning, sampling. Watching how quickly biology
responds when it’s given the right conditions.
There was also a steady pull toward getting ready for market. Labels, packaging, decisions about
what to bottle, what to hold, how much to produce. Not as a business push, but as a
constraint—what can we realistically carry forward without overextending.
And underneath all of it, a steady amount of time went into looking—under the microscope, at
compost reports, at plant signals. Trying to keep interpretation close to observation, even as
things sped up.
02 — WHAT THE LAND SHOWED US
Across the farm, growth is ahead of where we expected.
Strawberries are producing daily. Garlic and onions are steady and healthy. Fruit set is strong
across multiple systems—apples, peaches, blueberries. The peaches in particular are setting
heavily, enough that thinning is already necessary.
The grapes took a hard hit from a cold snap. New growth was burned back, but not killed. The
pattern looks familiar from last year.
Water is becoming a signal. We are significantly below normal rainfall, and irrigation has already
been necessary earlier than expected.
In the orchard systems, soil structure continues to improve. Each time we open the soil, it is more
biologically active, more aggregated, more responsive.
At the Environmental Resource Center, the apple trees are showing strong above-ground
response—leaf health, flowering, and now unexpected fruit set.
At the same site, the blackberry system presented a different signal. Cane discoloration, spore
presence under the microscope, and significant gall formation at the crown and root interface.
Enough to warrant full removal and lab submission.
In the high tunnel, the soil is resting after intervention. Moisture is stabilizing. Biology appears
to be establishing. A nematode was observed post-application that was not present in the initial
assessment.
In the ferments, divergence is clear. Soil Surge is stable, active, and responsive. The developing
consortia is slower, yeast-dominant, and still transitioning.
03 — WHAT WE THINK IT MIGHT MEAN
We think the systems are responding, but not uniformly—and that may be the point.
In the orchard, one possibility is that improved soil conditions are already influencing plant
expression above ground faster than expected. The fruit set may be an early signal of that shift,
even if the biological system below ground is still developing.
With the blackberries, there are competing explanations. It may be a fungal rust complex. It may
involve crown gall bacteria. It may be both interacting. We don’t know yet. The level of
structural disruption suggests the plant was already compromised before the visible symptoms
appeared.
In the high tunnel, the appearance of nematodes post-application suggests that biology is not
only surviving but beginning to organize. Whether that persists or stabilizes is still unknown.
In the ferments, the difference between reactivating an established biology versus building one
from scratch is becoming clearer. One stabilizes quickly. The other has to move through stages.
More broadly, we think we’re entering a phase where systems are no longer waiting for us. They
are moving, and we are trying to keep up with interpretation.
04 — THE TENSION WE SAT WITH
The tension wasn’t about what to do. It was about how quickly to respond.
As systems accelerate, there’s pressure to act alongside them—thin the fruit, adjust inputs,
intervene early. At the same time, there’s a pull to wait and let the biology express itself fully
before layering more decisions on top.
We also felt the tension between building something properly and preparing to present it. Market
readiness, product decisions, communication—all of it happening while the systems themselves
are still unfolding.
And underneath that, a quieter tension:
Are we still observing first, or are we starting to react to momentum?
05 — WHAT WE’RE MOVING TOWARD
We’re moving toward tighter observation inside faster-moving systems.
In the orchard, that means monitoring fruit development alongside continued soil improvement.
Watching how far the current system can carry the trees before adding anything else.
In the high tunnel, it means tracking biological establishment before the plants go in. Letting the
soil complete its transition if possible.
With the blackberries, it means waiting for confirmed diagnostics before making broader
assumptions about site-level risk.
In the ferments, it means allowing time to complete the biological succession instead of forcing
outcomes.
And operationally, we’re moving toward a simpler starting point for market—only bottling what
is ready, only carrying what we can stand behind.
06 — SIGNAL SNAPSHOT
- Rainfall: ~12–13 inches below normal year-to-date
- Strawberries: daily harvest underway
- Peaches: heavy fruit set (marble-sized)
- Grapes: new growth damaged by late cold event
- Apples: unexpected fruit set with active flowering
- Orchard soil: improved aggregation and biological activity
- High tunnel: nematode observed post-compost extract application
- Ferments: Soil Surge stable; consortia yeast-dominant (~pH 4)
- Blackberry site: gall formation at crown; pathogen presence suspected
- Irrigation: initiated earlier than typical season
