CSA: Late Spring Session (Week 1); animal update; tomatoes

Kohlrabi starts

Our Late Spring Session began on Wednesday, May 1st.  If you're interested in joining for the remainder of the season, you can receive a prorated share cost!  Also, if you'd like to come out to visit the farm, our May Day celebration on Saturday, May 4th would be a great opportunity.

Dandelion greens are nutritious and super yummy, though they tend to be rather bitter, especially for kiddos.  I've found that putting the greens in mashed potatoes or even scrambled eggs helps Micah to eat them, since their bitter flavor is balanced out a bit.

Late Spring Session, Week 1: Box Contents

Eggs
Beets
Garlic
Apples
Chard
Braising Mix
Spinach
Asparagus and Dandelion greens for Regular shares only
Bok choi for Three Quarter shares only 

Turkey chicks!

We brought home five peeping turkey chicks today!  They're currently staying warm under a heat lamp in the duck shed but will be out and about in no time.

The ducklings have continued to grow like crazy and are already outside...

Ducklings in their movable pen

They weren't huddling together for warmth in this picture - they're still awfully shy whenever someone steps into their pen, so they all cluster together in a corner.  All of the ducklings are doing well, and they have a small pool to practice swimming in.

Tomatoes in a greenhouse

 Several of our greenhouses are full of growing tomato plants.  I'm particularly excited about Green Zebras - these are my absolute favorite tomatoes, and I found myself eating them like apples last summer.

Planting tomatoes, pruning apple trees, and visiting ducklings

Apple blossoms

We were thankful to have a lovely spring morning here today, especially after the crazy weather we had this weekend!  The crew is nearly finished pruning the apple trees, and the orchard looks so beautiful and vibrant.

Farmers David & Matt readying the greenhouse for planting tomatoes

I'm super excited to say that we'll be planting tomatoes this afternoon!  In the morning, Farmers David and Matt worked on preparing the first greenhouse for planting.  As the tomato plants grow, they'll be pruned to encourage vertical growth; the orange twine hanging from the ceiling of the greenhouse will be let down for support of the plants as they get taller.

Farmer Micah practices petting ducklings with one finger (with help from Farmer Wendy!)

The ducklings are still doing well and are so cute...  When kiddos visit with the small, fragile animals, we always teach them to pet with only their pointer fingers.

Lambs & plants

The newest addition to the flock (5 days old in this photo)

On April 4th, an adorable white-fleeced ram was born to Raindrop!  He's really frisky and has been having so much fun scampering through the tall grass and the dandelions.  Since he arrived, we've really been able to see how much the other, older lambs have grown - they look huge in comparison!

Enjoying some fresh grass

We use rotational grazing with our sheep, so their pen moves every so often to cover new ground.  They're currently enjoying the lush grass in our plum orchard, and they seem to particularly enjoy the dandelions.

Although the animals have been keeping us busy, we've also been getting a lot of work done with our veggies...

Farmer Micah inspects the tomato plants. 

We plant our tomato seeds in flat trays and then transplant the seedlings into 4-inch pots.  After they've had some time to sprout in the warm room in the white barn, they're moved over to the propagation house, where they'll grow a bit more before being planted in our greenhouses.

Sprouted peas ready for planting 

Before planting peas, we sprout them - the peas are placed in trays and then covered with damp burlap overnight.  They went into the ground several days ago - so much progress is being made for the Summer Session!