News from the Farm | January 31, 2022

Each week has a rhythm to it, with a fair amount of repetition, but there are new and different things happening each day. Last week was no exception. Here’re a few of the highlights:

1) Baby animals: Meet Frangipane, born on Thursday morning, with her mother, Eclair. This lineage of cows all have French pastry themed names; last year’s calf was Brioche. And lambing season has also begun. The 2022 lamb count is currently at 19 (from 11 ewes) with many more to come over the next month.

2) Netting the flowers: We net several of our spring flower varieties (snapdragons, godetia, and delphinium, also known as larkspur) to help them grow straight, something that’s important for making bouquets and for selling flowers to florists, not something you’re likely to do in a home garden. It’s a lot of work to pound in the stakes and set up and take down the netting but with several hands, the work hopefully goes fast. As these flowers grow taller, we’ll pull the netting up the stakes with them.

3) Transplanting: In the second half of the week, a hardworking transplant team got several beds of new plants in the ground, including chard, dino kale, and lettuce. Then all of the plants needed water, keeping our irrigation team busy throughout the weekend.

4) Seeding and watering in the greenhouse: The greenhouses are filling up with trays full of future transplants, both flowers and vegetables. More about the greenhouses in a future week, but it’s a big effort, requiring diligence in seeding the trays and in making sure the trays are kept watered and warm.

What new things will come our way this week?

– Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager