We are growing again.

For the past few weeks I have been trying to update this page with the latest news about growing food for our community. My computer did not cooperate with that intention, so I shipped it off to the local computer repair shop, and now we are rolling again! I am excited to finally be able to share this with you.

Over the winter we had 10 tons of high calcium lime spread on our fields. That was tough to work in between the freezing rains and the mucky thaws,but we did it. We will need to do it again this fall to get our soils as loose as we would like them. (We concern ourselves with the stickyness of our soil instead of the pH that many live and die by.) To get through this growing season with our soil's current levels of calcium, we intend to apply calcium through our irrigation system and apply foliar sprays. Other folks have had good results with both of these products, and I am eager to try them.

We plowed almost all four acres that we will be using this season with the 3-bottom trip plow that Andy bought a couple falls ago. He spent many nights over the winter fabricating the very heavy metal piece that allows us to hook the plow up to our Case 630 tractor. That tractor has a special hitch system that allows us to use almost no implements without altering them first. Andy loves that tractor though. Each time we get a new implement he buys bolts and metal stock, and cuts and welds it into his perfect creation. The plowing looks beautiful.

We used the dry spell that we had to get our peas planted. The rains came just in time to water them in, and we expect to see sprouts popping up any moment. The rabbit population is small and now that the grass is greening up, we don't expect too many of those tender, sweet shoots to be eaten by them. We shall see. We planted 800 feet of peas, so there should be enough to go around.

Our spring broccoli and cabbage seeds were planted almost a month ago, and now are nearly ready to be transplanted. They are living in the greenhouse, and seem to enjoy the environment there. The daytime temps are higher than I would like already, and the night time temps are a bit lower than I would like. It makes me think of global warming on a very small scale. I can't imagine what the Earth will be like once the greenhouse gasses really build up.

We have only 11 varieties of tomatoes this year, and fewer varieties of peppers. Those plants are living in the germination room we made in our basement. As soon as we are sure the nighttime temperatures will not dip into the dangerously cold range we will move them and the eggplants to the greenhouse so they can get sunlight. Florescent lights are no replacement for good ole Sol. Not to mention we need the space in our germinating room for more baby plants.

Mom planted our first round of lettuce seeds today. Green Ice and Buttercrunch. They are both rather mundane lettuces but a nice way to start our CSA season, I think. Right now they are in the basement getting up the gumption to send out that first sprout and those two beautifully thick leaves. Mom has a cold, and so she went home early. Tomorrow she or I will plant some more thing, and I will update you after dark.