From the Farmers,
Rain. Finally the rain we needed so much came over the weekend and on Monday. And it was a good, long, soaking rain. All the tiny seedlings seem to have doubled in size – and so too the weeds. We’ve been mulching as fast as we can – just finished putting old hay mulch on the green and yellow beans. The black/white plastic laid between the early spring crops like lettuce, greens, carrots and beets seems to be doing a fine job of weed suppression. We’ve begun the picky, slow task of hand weeding the dozen rows of these early salad crops. I remind the interns that it is best not to look down the 250 foot row too often – it’s best to look behind you at the part that is already weeded.
We finished adjusting the new plastic mulch layer just this morning – it took a lot of trial and error adjusting, and since none of us here is a pro at this kind of thing, we are feeling pretty good about finally getting all the disk coulters, set wheels, and so on to all work together to dig the trench, lay the plastic, place the drip irrigation line underneath, and cover the edges of the plastic. Tomorrow, we will begin to lay the nearly two acres of fields with this mulch to get all the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and all the vine crops planted. So far, it has been just too cold here to put these tender crops out – we’ve already had some frosting of tips of potatoes and beans. But with the rain and some warm weather, we hope to get most of these transplants in by the end of the week.
We did a big poultry move on Tuesday. We moved the broilers to a much bigger pen, the turkeys to a portable hoop house and the Black Star pullets to their bigger home. All the other livestock is doing well and getting bigger and eating more and more. We’ve just weaned the goat kids and will begin a lot more experimenting with a variety of goat cheeses with the abundance of milk from our three does.
THERE WILL BE A SHARE NEXT WEEK. YEAH! Though everything has been on holding pattern for so long with the cold and dry weather – we WILL have some spring salad veggies for you next week. Watch our blog for information about how and when to pick up your share. Our early shares, because they are smaller and lighter will not be packed in individual boxes but will be bunches and bags. We encourage you to bring your own bag to take your salad stuff home. Please do not call the farm for the drop information – it is really hard to respond to your calls AND get all the farm work accomplished. Wait for our blog. We will have a special edition on SUNDAY with all the information you will need to get started. Then watch for our regular Blog update on Wednesday with what is in your share.
Until next week...
Rain. Finally the rain we needed so much came over the weekend and on Monday. And it was a good, long, soaking rain. All the tiny seedlings seem to have doubled in size – and so too the weeds. We’ve been mulching as fast as we can – just finished putting old hay mulch on the green and yellow beans. The black/white plastic laid between the early spring crops like lettuce, greens, carrots and beets seems to be doing a fine job of weed suppression. We’ve begun the picky, slow task of hand weeding the dozen rows of these early salad crops. I remind the interns that it is best not to look down the 250 foot row too often – it’s best to look behind you at the part that is already weeded.
We finished adjusting the new plastic mulch layer just this morning – it took a lot of trial and error adjusting, and since none of us here is a pro at this kind of thing, we are feeling pretty good about finally getting all the disk coulters, set wheels, and so on to all work together to dig the trench, lay the plastic, place the drip irrigation line underneath, and cover the edges of the plastic. Tomorrow, we will begin to lay the nearly two acres of fields with this mulch to get all the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and all the vine crops planted. So far, it has been just too cold here to put these tender crops out – we’ve already had some frosting of tips of potatoes and beans. But with the rain and some warm weather, we hope to get most of these transplants in by the end of the week.
We did a big poultry move on Tuesday. We moved the broilers to a much bigger pen, the turkeys to a portable hoop house and the Black Star pullets to their bigger home. All the other livestock is doing well and getting bigger and eating more and more. We’ve just weaned the goat kids and will begin a lot more experimenting with a variety of goat cheeses with the abundance of milk from our three does.
THERE WILL BE A SHARE NEXT WEEK. YEAH! Though everything has been on holding pattern for so long with the cold and dry weather – we WILL have some spring salad veggies for you next week. Watch our blog for information about how and when to pick up your share. Our early shares, because they are smaller and lighter will not be packed in individual boxes but will be bunches and bags. We encourage you to bring your own bag to take your salad stuff home. Please do not call the farm for the drop information – it is really hard to respond to your calls AND get all the farm work accomplished. Wait for our blog. We will have a special edition on SUNDAY with all the information you will need to get started. Then watch for our regular Blog update on Wednesday with what is in your share.
Until next week...
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