iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Did we play the same map? 😂 I sadly guessed the opposite side of the pacific for the Solomon Islands October 11 94🏅 81🌟 80✨ 7👻 85😁 Final score: 611

maptap.gg

🎯MapTap Daily Geography Game

Play MapTap - the daily geography game! Find 5 world locations on a 3D globe with historical stories. Free browser-based daily game for geography lovers.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

I used to think dining rooms were an unnecessary seldom-used formal room that created too much separation. But now we prepare three meals per day, for four people, mostly from scratch, seven days per week. I love that, but I’d also like to eat a meal without a stack of dirty pans in the background

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Unusual here too, but it seems typical of the southeast Asian squash and pumpkins. The patterns should fade into tan, but I think the cool temps are slowing that process and they’ll keep some of that green color at maturity.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Yes, this is my preferred squash for pies! The extra sweetness means I can reduce added sugar.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

I used up all my F1 seed, but I have OP F2 seed. This one isn’t as productive as Honey Badger, but it’s still productive and a better size at ~2.2 lbs (1 kg). Long vines are somewhat indeterminate.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

🌱 This is Sweet Velvet F1, one of the hybrids I made last year. While most of my hybrids and taste preferences lean toward the more nutty and savory squash, this one is extra-sweet and has more fruity and floral tasting notes that are better aligned with typical American tastes.

A butternut squash sliced in half, showing the bright orange flesh and the deep tan skin.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Onion seedlings are looking good, I’ve managed to keep most alive. I’ll dig these up and transplant between mid-December and Christmas. I should have enough for 3-6 beds at 800 onions/bed, it all just depends on how tired I get of the transplanting.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I calculated that I’d harvest pumpkins on 10/14, but it looks like they’re slowing down with the cool nights and lower daylight. I’ll be pushing them until right before first frost at this rate.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Taking a weekly bike trip with my daughter these days. 10 miles at a nice relaxed pace. We’re fortunate to live across the road from the Swamp Rabbit trail, so we can ride into town quite easily.

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Reposted by Josh Mayfield

Andrew McGuire @agronomistag.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Soil tests to measure it. Cover crop mixtures to enhance it. Products to spray it on. Chasing soil microbial diversity rests on an assumption that turns out to be wrong: cropland soil isn't diversity-depleted. My latest Perspectives piece: csanr.wsu.edu/microbial-di...

csanr.wsu.edu

The Case Against Chasing Soil Microbial Diversity

Research challenges the idea that higher soil microbial diversity improves crop production, pointing instead to microbial composition.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Pain de Mie is my go-to sandwich loaf when I have time to bake bread. Absolute favorite.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Never did like cauliflower very much, but this green stem Asian cauli has really converted me, much like sprouting broccoli converted me.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Got to see the sunrise this morning and a full moon moonrise this evening at the beach. Our first vacation in two years has been quite refreshing!

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I think it’s the end of the season when I steam the milk for my morning coffee for the first time since spring. Some cool, slow days ahead as we head to the beach.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Working at dusk because we had another scorcher today. Onions have been sown and will be dug up and transplanted in December. Lots of Vidalia-type sweet onions, but trying a few storage onions too. Love a variety trial 😎

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Reposted by Josh Mayfield

Karre @carrykarre.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Cute little anole hugging a pepper. 🌱🌴🌿🦎

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Sweet potatoes are giving me fits because I’ve been digging up a plant each week in September and didn’t see a single tuber. And now I dig up a couple and see each plant has one or two jumbo tubers 😂 Gonna be hard to sell these! The big one weighs 3.5 lbs. Full harvest next week!

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Next October is my guess, about a year from now. I imagine it will be on YouTube and Instagram, should be easy to watch! I do very much the same for our squash. Thankfully it’s selling pretty well, and a lot is going into cold storage (10C) for our winter CSA.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The fun news is that our farmers market is going to be filming a documentary about our farm over the next year. That means y’all will get to see this camera-shy dude rambling on about cover crops, soil health, and squash next October 😂

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A lot of 12 hr days this week while we renovate one of our overgrown lots at home, transplant hundreds of radicchio, lettuce, and cabbage, and try to figure out winter squash storage. My yields this year are more than double what they were last year, so it’s a bit of an issue!

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This guy was just hanging out on my butternuts in storage. Now moved to a nice overgrown area.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

If we get quick germination and don’t get an early frost it’ll have enough time. Pushing it for sure, but it can still serve as a nurse crop for the rye.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Buckwheat being broadcast today as a nurse crop for the winter rye, and as a late pollen source for a friend’s new honeybee hives they caught from August swarms. They apparently don’t have much chance of getting through the winter without abundant late-season food.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If I went back to my 2000 square-foot garden, I would be doing the hot composting again. I grew the best crops in my homemade compost.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

So after weighing everything up that’s 1,547 lbs (701kg) so far. Now I just need to find a place to keep it.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Squash yields are insane this year. This is another 900 lbs I picked this week. I’m facing a bit of a storage issue now, better move some wholesale fast!

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Today lady at market saw our shishito peppers and exclaimed “Oh look, they have Shi-toe-shees!” We do laugh at this after they leave.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

🌱I think I’m calling this butternut I’ve bred ‘Honey Badger’. It’s scrappy and delicious! Very high dry matter, so it should be an excellent keeper too.

A butternut sliced in half sitting upright on a table.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Hm says I can’t DM you, perhaps if you DM me first?

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Sounds interesting, should I DM you my info?

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I’ll know for sure on Sunday, but probably not. If I’d waited until they all had seed heads, probably. But there are a few weeds in there, so I’ll tarp anyhow.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Crimped sorghum-sudangrass, about 50 days after planting. Impressive biomass! Hopefully it won’t be too much trouble to plant my garlic and leeks into these beds.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

A conservative 550 lbs of butternuts harvested today. Highs around 96F (36C) today, so must cure under a double layer of shade cloth. It looks like I was about spot on with my yield estimates, we should be a little over 1000 lbs from this patch.

Butternuts lined up with a criss cross shadow pattern on them from the shade cloth.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

$5 says this storm evaporates before it reaches the Slater-Marietta farm but still knocks over all my peppers I should have trellised today.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

I got a 977, might be the first time I’ve had you beat! My geographic knowledge is pretty poor, but all the coastal cities saved me this time

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

From a single plant in my mini bell breeding mix, I love the peppers it’s making! The horizontal cracks just look so interesting. Flesh is a full centimeter thick and very sweet. I’m sure there’s zero commercial interest in a pepper like this, but I’m still quite tempted to save these seeds.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Haha, also called roly poly or wood lice. Our garden is crawling with them right now. In our area growers do spring leeks for summer/fall harvest, and our overwintered leeks are started in August. But given my luck, I might switch to just spring leeks and try to overwinter them too.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Sorghum-sudangrass is 6 ft tall now. Ready for crimping and tarping next week. The plan was to plant my August-sown leeks into these beds, but right now the pill bugs are devouring the 10k or so leek seeds I planted. So who knows what will go in here!

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

First pick complete! 250 lbs today, and probably double that next week.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Update: vines are going crazy right now. They went in the ground late enough that I could lose a fair bit of the crop to an early frost, so fingers are crossed for a warm October.

A sea of green pumpkin vines and leaves.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Now I need someone to give me $$$$$ to justify the labor of making selections and creating inbred lines for a good hybrid.

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Josh Mayfield @joshmayfield.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Some big harvests coming in soon, more than I originally estimated. Market-goers tend to want smaller butternuts, but my hybrid is otherwise about perfect. No losses to vine borer, holding up against the squash bugs, semi-compact growth habit, determinate, zero splitting, and a high yield

Holding a freshly picked butternut in the squash patch

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