It's April now and unseasonably warm. About 20 degrees higher than this time of year usually is.We're planting potatoes if you'd like to come out to the workshop here and help Wed, April 7th at 6pm. It's $10 if you'd like to take a bag of potatoes home. Email me so I can get a rough count.
I dormant oiled the fruit trees last week and am staring at their swelling buds, hoping that they don't burst into bloom when a frost is approaching. I hate it - it's like sliding on black ice, where you have no control over the situation, but you're still in it and trying to do all that you can. The plums are two days away from blooming. I'm not going to fight it. If it happens, it happens. I won't try to cover them with blankets or frantically turn on the sprinklers when the next wave of snow inevitably comes our way. I need to prepare myself for it so I don't freak out when the cold snap hits. Each year is different.
I'm just hoping that the apple trees and grapevines hold off.
I think our last set of lambs were born last week and I'm looking at the three yearling sheep that didn't lamb this year as pretty doubtful that they will lamb this year. Although, I'm new at this so anything can happen. I'm happy to have 5 healthy fainting goat kids and 5 healthy crossbred lambs, all growing like little weeds and playing happily in the greening fields.
We're starting to put seeds in the ground - peas are in along with beets, turnips, and some cabbage. The kale came back from last year and is looking delicious as always. With the mild nights ahead, we're looking forward to not having to heat the greenhouse, which is now filled and double stacked with seedling tomatoes, peppers, marigolds, different types of basil, broccoli, onions, kale, raddicio, artichokes, and cauliflower. I'm staring at the dang ground cherries and they just won't grow! I might order another set of seeds from somewhere else because I can't imagine not having ground cherries this year. So delicious!
Our CSA is FULL - if you've contacted me before today, you're fine. Returning members please email me as I need a final count of members as potatoes are going in this week and I need to know how many I'm planting for.
Rhubarb is up, farmer's fields are getting tilled, the killdeer are searching for nesting sites in the vineyard, and spring s certainly here.
