Saturday March 16 was a banner day at Full Belly Farm: one of the earliest days in recent years that we were able to plant our first tomatoes. A crew of 8 carefully transplanted the tomatoes from their warm safe spot in the greenhouse out into open fields. ‘Open fields’ except for the fact that the beds that the tomatoes went into were carefully covered with black plastic to warm up the soil, and also, were covered with a special cloth to protect them from cold night temperatures.
The wonderful warm, dry weather that we have been enjoying is a mixed blessing when it comes this early in the spring. The dry spell started back in the winter when it should have been raining and because it hasn’t rained in so long, we have been able to get a lot of work done very efficiently – planting, weeding, and mowing the orchards! But we’ve also got the irrigation going already, trying to get water out to all the thirsty greens and cool-weather crops.
The seeds of summer squash and sunflowers have germinated in the warm earth and are bursting out of the ground. The petals are falling off of the fruit trees and the fruit has set. We even planted corn and beans a month ahead of schedule – time will tell if we aren’t just getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. Andrew believes that the latest frost possibilities around here come in April with the full moon – and the full moon isn’t until the end of April this year, meaning that there are going to be some vulnerabilities until then.
With all the work done early this spring, the farm is an optimistic place. We hope that you are all enjoying the spring, may it bring many blessings to your meals.
Eddie and Jonas transplanted tomatoes on Saturday. The transplanting will continue today with Marvel Stripe, Brandywine, and Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes.
