FUTURE FARMERS

there is a lot i could write about this time of year. here is a short list of our most recent activities: planting over 75 lbs of potatoes with angus, a wretched onion root maggot discovery, a successful first middlebury farmers market, seeding our first ever seed oil crop of sunflowers, a site visit with the organic farm inspector, setting up the drip irrigation for the greenhouse in addition to our usual chores... seeding in the greenhouse, weeding and watering.

today all i really want to write about is how much fun it was to watch these boys together on the farm. our son, angus, is the toddler with blonde hair in the photo. he will be a year and a half in july. the other boy is our friend william's son, liam. he is almost 11 months older than angus to the day. now that angus is older, they are much more compatible playmates. we had a great visit with them on saturday. aside from the obvious mudfest, the boys also sat on the tractors, chased the cats and climbed on the wood pile.

we have been working hard with the crops and we are trying to finish building our house so we can move in june 1st. spencer hasn't taken a day off in a long, long time. so, a spontaneous visit with william and liam was just what we needed. even though this is the beginning of our busiest time of year, it is so important to make time and recharge by going for a walk, visiting with a friend or making pies. we hope that our friends and family will always feel welcome at the elmer farm. we feel so fortunate to live on, work with and restore this land. we want to share all that our farming lifestyle has to offer. so, come visit!!! and as i told william... be sure to pack a change of clothes.

LILY OF THE VALLEY

these flowers are so fragrant. we have a brilliant bed of them. another gem.

the farm.... wow, we are so busy. we have many crops in the ground now: peas, turnips, carrots, beets, broccoli raab, arugula, lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, chard, kale, scallions, parsley, cilantro, dill and calendula. the greenhouse is bursting with seedlings... tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, winter squash, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, basil, lettuce, endive, celeriac, more broccoli, more cabbage, lots of perennial herbs and more! today is a big transplanting day. the weather is cool and the rain is light. this is the first rainy day we have had for awhile so we are very appreciative.

one of our biggest tasks this week is to plant our potatoes. we'll have a 400' bed of potatoes this year. the varieties we are planting are green mountain (an heirloom), dark red norland, banana fingerling, canela russet and all blue. this seed came from the maine potato lady. i was very pleased that it arrived in great condition. in the past, i have received some nearly rotten potatoes. i got an itch to order a little more seed from wood prairie farm also located in maine. i ordered more of the banana fingerlings. in addition, elba, onaway and rose finn apple.

another big project is planting the first succession of greenhouse tomatoes. they look fabulous in their 4" pots but will outgrow them soon. spencer already set up the drip irrigation. we plant to mulch them with straw instead of using a greenhouse fabric this year. we will be growing them in our heaviest clay soil on the farm. this soil type is completely new to me. i have a lot to learn about its exception mineral values and sensitive structure.

this saturday was supposed to be our first market of the season but we will have to postpone another week. we don't have any crops that are ready for market. next year, we'll be able to get started much earlier since our greenhouse is now finished. what a relief that will be.

MORE FLOWERS

i am in love with spring this year. maybe it is because it is our first spring on the farm. whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. everything is blooming... apple trees, lilacs, wild strawberries and who says dandelions aren't beautiful. after all, the bees love them.

the propagation area we set up inside the greenhouse is at maximum capacity now. actually, over maximum capacity. this is the crunch that happens when i get carried away sowing seed for all those varieties of tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. i start them in trays with 288 cells just for germinating. then i pot up each plant into larger pots. the tomatoes and eggplant go into 4" pots while the peppers get potted up into trays with 50 cells. next thing i know, i have 400 pepper plants, 80 eggplants and nearly 200 tomatoes starts. gathering this information to determine how much space we need will help us to plan better for next year. we are contemplating building a small propagation house closer to the farm house for easier access in late winter/early spring. it would be also more efficient to heat a much smaller space.

i am really excited about growing sunflowers this year both for seed oil and as cut flowers. spencer purchased a corn planter for $100 the other day which will be perfect for planting sunflower seed as well as black beans, popcorn and sweet corn. our farmer friend, ken, has worked with a few others on a grant to purchase an oil press. it is set up and ken has been pressing soybeans to see how it works. we hope to use this press to make food grade sunflower oil. wouldn't that be awesome! i am also growing an exciting flower garden that will include over 12 different varieties of sunflowers. i just started all 610 sunflower seeds in the greenhouse and will transplant them next month. this will give them a jump on our short growing season.

tomorrow is another big day of farm work.

MORE DAFFODILS

i have never really been all that crazy about daffodils until this year. we have more daffodils coming up than i could have ever imagined. not only do we have a standard dark yellow variety, we also have white daffodils and two toned yellow daffodils. and look at this photo with the slight red ring around the center. beautiful!

now tulips are opening up and i see that there will be poppies soon. i know we have many lilies too. today, i finally picked up some flagging markers that i can stick in the ground where the various bulbs are located so i don't forget in the fall when i want to transplant. this was danielle's idea and i think it was a good one.

all of our crops did just fine with the hard frost last night. the greenhouse stayed a warm 50 degrees inside the propagation tent where all of the seedlings are kept. spencer is doing another late night fire tonight just to be on the safe side. we are expecting a warmer 34 degrees overnight.

only 16 more days until our first farmers market!