Greenhouse Magic 🌱

The past several weeks have been filled with many trips out to the greenhouse. Primarily for planting, some for watering, others just to soak in the warmth and the serene atmosphere, the smell of rich potting soil, and many tender green shoots emerging from the soil, catching their first glimpses of sunlight. There is something deeply satiating about cultivating and tending a seed; the potential for life, and giving it the perfect conditions for that life to flourish: soil, temperature, sunlight, moisture, etc. and watching those seedlings race to capture light (energy) as quickly as possible. Some seeds (plants) are a bit more shy and need some proper coercion before revealing themselves, others pop within a few days and require little to no attention. Right now we have close to 30 different types of plants started in the greenhouse. Some of which are flowers but the majority will be planted out in our no-till market style garden. This year I have tried watering my seeds and seedlings with warm water and I believe it has helped with the speed of germination. Almost all of the seeds I watered like this germinated days quicker than expected. Now that my seeds are sprouted and developing larger root systems I will be trying a watering method consisting of placing plant trays in water to encourage the plants' roots to grow down instead of sprinkling water on top. This will also help eliminate some fungal issues down the road that top watered plants often develop!

This week, our rhubarb (a perennial) started pushing through the ground out in the garden. Last fall I divided and moved all the rhubarb we had so this spring I am holding my breath and hoping for a good result in growth! The strawberries which we planted in the fall were covered with straw and frost cloth to shelter them from the harsh winter conditions. As temperature rise steadily throughout the early spring, it is safe to strip back the straw and pull back the frost cloth for more direct sunlight to the plants. We want to coax the plants out of dormancy and stimulate new spring growth. It can however be difficult to remember to cover your plants back up at night when there is still a threat of frost (ask me how I know...). Aside from the rhubarb and strawberries, we have some garlic, another cool weather crop, jamming out in the garden. We will soon be looking for the first asparagus shoots to emerge through their mulch winter bedding as April approaches.

In other news, we recently butchered our first pig on the farm. It was a simultaneously completely fulfilling, energizing experience and also exhausting! It was one of many full circle moments which has grown a fuller appreciation for the food that nourishes our family. We have done broiler chickens for our family the past few years, a similar experience of raising an animal with the intention of eating it; a bit of a foreign concept to most of us, Noah and myself included... at least when we were getting started. Harvesting and processing animals on farm rather than going through the additional (and stressful) steps of loading, transporting, and unloading is most certainly the optimal method of doing so. Not only does this seem to make most logistical and philosophical sense, it just feels right! For Noah and myself, especially as we are starting farm life, we wanted to harvest and process the first of each animal raised on our farm. Thus far, we have stayed true with chickens, turkeys, and most recently our Berkshire hog affectionately named 'Big Boy'. The true test will be when it comes time to process our steer.

SHOP PORK