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Posts Tagged ‘woods’

We’re now sold out of Stone’s Throw Farm half shares, but we do have 2 full CSA shares still available. To sign up, click here.

Little Virgin Tiger Moth

Little Virgin Tiger Moth

If you can’t handle a full share yourself, you might want to find someone to split it with. Many of our farm members do this, either alternating weeks (picking up the whole box every other week) or dividing the box between the 2 parties each week. Some “splitters” like to get together at the pick-up site or elsewhere to divide the contents of the box, but you don’t have to do that. Each box will have the name of the primary shareholder on it at the pick-up site each week, so we don’t mind if splitting shareholders take half of the produce out of their box and leave the other half for their co-shareholder to pick up later. It’s up to you how you split your share!

???????????????????????????????Spring has been kind to us so far . . . the fields are drying out at the farm and the forecast shows warm and sunny days ahead. You never know what will happen with the weather, of course, but right now I’m feeling optimistic. It’s a nice change after the last 2 years, when we had snow beyond this date.

???????????????????????????????It’s a good time to walk through the woods, because the trees and bushes haven’t leafed out and the ferns haven’t emerged. Once that happens, most of our woods is a dense tangle that is difficult to get through. And, treasures like this little skull are hidden from view.

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It’s been a busy few weeks at Stone’s Throw Farm, and we’ve even had a little company. One of our farm members, Guy, and his friend and mentor, Roy, set up two bee hives last weekend, which will be great for our pollinator-dependent crops and the general health of the farm. Guy and Roy checked on the bees this weekend and said they’re doing great; the queens are laying eggs and everything was as it should be. Then farm members Alisa and Don visited yesterday to see the piggies, which are now set up in a pen just north of the orchard. The pigs were happy on the trailer but seem very glad to be on the ground. This is the first they’ve encountered dirt, but they know what to do — dig! Alisa and Don also took a stroll with Elden and me on our little trail through the woods, where we currently have a carpet of what they helpfully identified as Spring Beauty wildflowers. They also pointed out a Jack-in-the-Pulpit growing right on the path.

My dad, Craig, has been taking care of the pigs and inhaling gas fumes non-stop while preparing the fields for planting with the tractor. He also seeded some oats and field peas that we hope the pigs can forage on later this season. My mom, Jean, has been faithfully watering our pots and trays in the hoophouses, pulling masses of chickweed and other enemies out of the field, and getting her perennial and flower beds in order. Elden has been out on the weekends getting his welder set up, improving the pig feeder roof, cutting firewood, and so forth. I transplanted the onions and then a ton of Brassicas — cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Napa cabbage, and Pac choi — as well as our first round of beets and lettuce. I finally was able to seed radishes and salad turnips, greens mix, lettuce mix, spinach, and snap peas, too. Most of these beds will be a weedy mess in short order since the soggy conditions didn’t give us a chance to kill the weeds before planting, but the weeding work will keep us out of trouble this summer.

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It did feel like fall for a bit, with cool nights and warm days, but then it warmed up and it hardly feels like fall. It’s at least starting to smell like fall, though — I walked the little trail my dad made in our woods on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed the aroma of decaying leaves. Despite a couple of frost warnings, the temp hasn’t dipped below 32 degrees, so I’m still picking cherry tomatoes and peppers, and I even picked eggplant out of the hoophouse yesterday. The onions and squash are curing and the cover crops are doing great. I’m running the air conditioner in the walk-in cooler and holding off on harvesting potatoes and root veggies. We’ll enjoy the warm weather while it lasts.

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Waiting Game

I used my new (old) Planet Jr. push seeder for the first time yesterday to seed some peas (Cascadia, which has been proven to do well here, and Sugar Sprint, which hasn’t — we’ll see). I haven’t used a Planet Jr. for two years, but it all came back to me, I’m thankful to report. The seeder was a gift from Elden (the guy knows what I like, what can I say) and it seems to be working well. I tried to make sure the peas were getting down to a depth where there’s still some moisture in the soil . . . but all I can do now is wait. Wait for rain, and wait to see if the peas sprout.

In the woods along the driveway, I noticed a flowering shrub (dogwood? anyone?) and some fuzzy fiddleheads. There’s new growth sprouting up everywhere you look.

Even though we don’t have our well drilled yet, I’m itching to bring the rest of the transplants out to the farm where they can get full sun all day.  It would be nice to have everything in one place. I really hope we’re done with cold nights — threatening-to-freeze nights, anyway.  I’d like to cross that worry off my list.

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Walk in the Woods

Yesterday was a beautiful day at Stone’s Throw Farm. I got some work done, but first I took a brief walk. Mostly I focus on the cleared areas at the farm, but we also have 30 acres of treed land. I’d love to get a path going through the woods someday, so people can go for a walk without worrying about getting lost in there like I did last fall. Yes, I admit it — I got lost on my own property.

This is a great time of year to be out in the woods, because you can really see what’s going on — the snow has melted but the trees and brush haven’t leafed out yet. There’s water flowing in the stream at the edge of the woods, too. Just be sure to tuck your pants into your socks and check for ticks when you get home!

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