Farm Happenings

Weather: Kind of wet. And still cold. Here it is the middle of May and the ground still feels like August. The rain seems to be coming frequently enough to make getting into the field a challenge, but not impossible. And, nicely, it isn’t coming in deluges, but these nice showers that wet everything down and just soak in.

What We Did: Well, we did a lot of stuff that was big and cool, but we kept things moving along, as well. The greenhouse got watered every day. We harvested 1.5 miles of asparagus on Friday, Monday, and again on Wednesday. Harvest buckets got washed. Tractors got fuel. Bills got paid. I keep having to remember to pat our collective backs over getting the fundamental maintenance tasks done in addition to the big pushes.

Natural Notes: The wild plums are in full bloom, so walking the kids to the top of the driveway to catch the bus results in perfume-y olfactory overload. The rabbits are getting braver, waiting longer as we walk up the drive. Bluebirds were cavorting in the dead elms along the creek before Tuesday night’s rain, and I saw two goldfinches and a rose-breasted grosbeak flitting around on Friday. A heron has returned to the valley, standing in the creek every morning. And today, two Canadian geese kept flying around, honking at each other. I think they were lost.

Little Victory: Somebody tried to destroy our mailbox in a drive-by on Monday night. We’ve had two mailboxes – both hand painted by my mom with our logo and farm name – destroyed by vandals in the last three years, so I finally invested this winter in a heavy-gauge steel box. The vandals knocked it over (I found bits of wood stuck to the hinges), but the box is fine and I set it upright on Tuesday morning. When they hit it with their 2 x 4, I hope it hurt.