Snow...

After getting our peas direct-seeded outside 2 weeks ago and getting them covered with remay, mother nature decided to hit us with a blast of snow at the farm. And some considerable cold. Hopefully the peas will make it, but only time will tell. That's farming for you!

The start-greenhouse is almost filled up now, having planted another succession of broccoli and cauliflower, and more salad in boxes. And lots of onions--one variety that I am super excited about is the Gunnison Onions, as Gunnison is a town from Colorado where I spent a lot of time fishing as a kid. We also have started 3 varieties of brussels sprouts, sheba sweet corn, cucumbers, more tomatoes and tons of egg-plant. And some Rocky Ford cantaloupe, which is the best tasting melon in the world!

Hopefully the snow is done for the season and we can get to work planting in the fields. The first set of broccoli is ready to go out, and there is some cauliflower not too far behind. We also have carrots, radishes, turnips, fava beans, peas, spinach and salad mix coming along in two of the green houses. Won't be long and we'll start harvesting again!

On the chicken front, Brad built a door for the chicken coop to keep out predators. It has been working well, be if any of the chickens don't make it in for the night they may not make it through the night. I'm thinking of getting a rooster to run herd on the ladies. We currently have one chicken in the infirmary who I believe must be on some sort of psychedelic drug, as it's head won't stop moving and she can almost spin it around. It's like the Exorcist, but really funny. I'll try to get some video of it and post it online.

The Season Has Officially Begun!

Although there really is no beginning or end to the farming season, there is, undoubtedbly, a sense of rebirth as winter fades into spring. This year our goal was to plant peas on Presidents' Day, and we officially missed our target at both Alm Hill and 21 Acres by one day. So, I guess that we planted peas the day after President's Day--February 17th. We are lucky in that we've had two weeks of decent temperatures and no rain. It is tempting to get out there and plant some salad and radishes and turnips and spinach and other early season varieties.

All of the greenhouses at all of the farms are active, with peas, fava beans, radishes, turnips, salad, spinach, carrots, and beets in the ground and thousand and thousands of transplants from a huge variety of crops growing in trays on tables.

The raspberries are pruned and tied up. Next on the list is the blueberries and blackberries. We'll start putting tunnels up over the berries this week to encourage early growth, and will interplant quick crops between the berry rows.