We are right on the cusp of the most beautiful time of year on the farm. Buds are starting to swell, the grass is starting to green up and we’ve had the first days of warm sunshine! I’ve begun my daily rounds around the farm to see what is changing and growing and as such the itch to get to work has begun in earnest. This week, we had the pleasure of welcoming Bryce’s brother, Ben, for a visit. Bryce took a couple days off to spend time with him at the shore and in the city! While I know this sounds trivial, we also had our windows cleaned and the difference is amazing! All of a sudden, things seem clearer and brighter out of our windows! I highly recommend it!
In Bloom
As the snowdrops fade, other stars are starting to show up. I brought forsythia inside (pic above) to force and it’s been a real bright spot in our mudroom. Also, the hellebores are just getting started! These jewel tone flowers are much anticipated this time of year and I’m delighted to see them!
Growing
In the garden, the garlic has had tremendous growth this week and it does my heart good to see such green in the garden. Also, the first early peonies in the field came up! As each peony comes up, I start my weeding program for each row. I wait until the first shoots are up to do this because I don’t want to accidentally slice off a bud (I know this from experience). The tool I love to use is a stirrup hoe and a dandelion digger. I know that it’s a current school of thought to leave the dandelions (for pollinators) but we have hundreds (thousands) in the orchard and I just don’t want them in my rows. Honestly, I like really clean and tidy rows.
In the greenhouse, the seeds are coming along. The lettuces were super quick to sprout as were the cabbage. I had two new sweet peas sprout this week- I seeded them in late January and assumed they were just dud seeds!
In the Kitchen
To celebrate the first day of spring, I made Rose Petal Granola. The basic recipe I used for this is from Erin French’s cookbook, “Big Heart Little Stove.” I swap out the brown sugar for our own maple syrup and put the almonds right in with the oats in the beginning instead of toasting them separately- I’m all about saving time! Bryce makes yogurt about once a week (this started in response to his annoyance at all the plastic containers we were going through) and I’m completely addicted to it in the morning with granola!
In the Woodland
I’ve spoken before about how our woods are greatly suffering from invasives and dead ash. Thus, we are slowly clearing and replanting areas and this week we planted 20 more trees in the woods, 10 redbuds and 10 river birch. The river birch we potted up to grow for the season before planting in the fall (and to give us time to clear the area they are going) and the redbuds we scattered throughout the hardwoods we’ve already planted. I know a lot of landscapers call redbuds “dead buds” but we’ve had really good luck with them (and they are native!). Since we are replanting the woods we always order saplings because bigger trees would be prohibitively expensive. I have found ordering through Arbor Day Foundation to be hit or miss but the redbuds I’ve ordered have all been successful and you can’t beat the price!
Lastly, we are considering getting more guinea hens as the ticks have once again made their appearance and, unfortunately, our guinea population has dwindled. I love having these fun characters on the farm!
