Sunday, April 15, 2012

April showers: It's time, please! At least an inch?

Things are happening. The dark rich chocolate-colored soil of Mud Creek Farm is being turned over. Soon the fields will all be in green crops, or combed meticulously with tractors to reduce the weed pressure until later summer plantings, or a fall cover crop.
The onions have gone in! Boy, did we plant a lot of onions this year!Thanks to the AWESOME crew of volunteers who came out to lend a hand!
Even small hands were appreciated.We worked for almost two whole days on it. About 1/3 of an acre, the most you'd EVER want to plant by hand on ANY farm.
But we made conversation in the fields, stretched a lot, drank water, and of course, the interns and I treated ourselves to ice cream afterwards! From the left to the right: Jon, Deanna, Mike -- a great crew this year.
This was the Mud Creek Farm interns' fourth day of work, looks like they're still smiling, so that's a good sign. The first whole day of their employment was an orientation and safety training workshop. I created this chart, below, to remind us of the basic six rules that many farmers forget while they're running around tending the crops!
I've sown the first seeds in the ground: peas, carrots, beets, and spinach. Found this cool bottle in the field, "Hind's Honey & Almond Cream", made in nearby Bloomfield.
The greenhouse is full to the brim with germinating seeds, and some of the plants will be ready to go in the field next week!
And Bob Bowman came out to help us install our electric deer fence across the street, where we don't have access to electricity. This solar panel should do the trick.
Alright, that's it for now. I am taking a day off! Everyone pray for rain, or else I'll be out there irrigating for the next 3 days.

-Farmer Erin

2 comments:

Jay @ LocalFood.me said...

Congrats! Looks amazing.

Anonymous Rex said...

Wish granted.