18 Feb Tue 2014
Getting Some Seeds Ready!
The season is finally upon us! Over the weekend we planted three types of spinach, red leaf lettuce, and green leaf lettuce. The plan is to transplant these into the hoophouse in about 3 to 4 weeks.
Right now we are waiting for some of the extreme cold to leave our area, we should be seeing temps in the upper 30's for most of the week even though we continue to accumulate lots of snow. Several hours were spent this past weekend clearing the snow away from the sides of the hoop so more could continue to slide off the top! Sounds like progress, right:)
We plan to be getting beds ready in the hoophouse by the end of the month so we can plant cool season crops in early March. Even though the ground is frozen right now, many of the plants currently growing in the hoophouse will rebound nicely for some delicious fresh greens in the next week or so.
There are still openings for our CSA - 10 to be exact, so if you live in the Big Rapids area let me know if you are interested.
Until the next update, here's to looking forward to fresh, local, and organically grown veggies!
Farmer John
25 Jan Sat 2014
Winter Winter
Welcome to my first attempt at writing a blog, I am hoping to tell and share stories and information about a small farm and the successes and failures we will experience.
You can always tell when it is truly winter - stuck in the house, stuck in the car, or maybe fortunate enough to be attending a farming conference. It is very muchy winter here in Michigan, very cold temps and lots of snow.
Last weekend we attended the Family Farming Conference in Battle Creek, lots of good sessions on new technology, hoophouses, and marketing. All interesting information but I am wanting a little warmth so that beds can start being prepared in our hoophouse.
Right know we are growing carrots, radish, red and green leaf lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, and a few other cool weather crops. It is very interesting to see the dynamics of plants in this type of weather.
My goal is to keep you updated on our farm activities each week, to share our successes and failures in running a small vegetable farm, and to hopefully share some insights on growing healthy food.
Thanks for reading and looking forward to Spring!
Farmer John