Today on the Farm

Seeded 6 varieties of squash in flats. Seeded green clover as a cover crop in the rows of the onions to keep the weeds down. Planted 4 varieties of broccoli (including Blue Wind, Romanesco, and Calabrese). Transplanted tomatoes from an open flat to a flat with individual cells, which will heretofore be referred to as spotting. And then started enjoying the rain - which is still falling on grateful plants and farmers alike.

Happy Almost Birthday Tommy J

Thomas Jefferson's birthday is coming up April 13th...



...and so maybe I'll have to drive by Monticello and plant a few seeds along Route 53 in his honor.

Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds.
-Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1785

And Monticello is having a b-day party. Fife and drum corps included.

Welcome to the World, Asparagus! (...asparagus beetles feel free to leave at any time.)

The Asparagus has started shooting up, and is looking pretty delicious:




Above: Kathryn with this morning's asparagus yield.

The asparagus should be good for the eating for about the next 10 weeks.

Also springing out of winter hibernation, the asparagus beetle:



Not nearly as yummy steamed as the stalks they feed on. If you see one near you, go ahead and squish it.

The flowers on the Red Buds (Circis Canadensis) are also blooming, and it's such a great contrast to see the smattering of purple against the lime green that's crawling up the mountains:



Other happenings the past couple of days: planting a few rows of kale and a row of salad greens, weeding the spinach and radishes.

Happy Wednesday!

A Partial History of My Stupidity

by Edward Hirsch



More from Poetry Everywhere.

Bluenose II Rebuild

Word on the wooden boat circuit is that Bluenose II is being rebuilt this winter, and, well - it's true.

You can watch the rebuild from webcams that have three different angles on the project here, here, and here.

The province of Nova Scotia is funding a 14.4 million (Canadian?) dollar construction project with 3 shipyards collaborating to get the job done.



I know that 14.4 million dollars is a lot of dollars. And there are a lot of ways to spend that money, but I'm proud of Nova Scotia for providing the funding and jobs and keeping the boat alive.





Bluenose II's homeport is Lunenberg, and she is a replica of the original Bluenose which was built in 1921 as a fishing and racing vessel. Bluenose was built after Esperanto out of Gloucester defeated the Nova Scotian schooner Delawana for the International Fisherman's Trophy. Bluenose held the trophy for the next 17 years.

Way to spend some cash money, Nova Scotia.

Farm to School

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution has been really great the past few weeks:



-- and I love that he started in schools with school lunches. If you're interested in seeing what is happening in your state to get local produce into your kids' (or your neighbor's kids) lunches check out the map here from the National Food to School Network.

Today on the Farm

Well, first I guess a mini farm-in-review:

Friday-
Harvested spinach, kale and sorrel for the Rockfish Valley & Charlottesville Farmer's Markets. Seeded radishes, tatsoi, mizuna, mustard greens, and spinach.

Saturday-
Went to the Rockfish Valley Farmer's Market and sold what had been harvested Friday as well as some seedlings for mizuna, broccoli, and kale.

And on to TODAY! For starters, I now have my camera back:::



This is up the road from the farm. Not bad, Blue Ridge Mountains. Not bad at all.

Todays doings included planting the last of the onions, and weeding the strawberries --



-- which are starting to flower, and so I started to wonder about how strawberries get pollinated, and found a helpful post here and here. Short answer? They're hermaphrodites, but require some sort of assistance - bee or some other insect or the wind. Bumble bees are reported to be better pollinators than honey bees or hand pollinating if you're trying to grow them inside, according to this study from Cornell.

If the flowers don't get pollinated they will produce irregular fruit or no fruit, and I was actually a little surprised that even irregular fruit would still be created. Sorry for using the passive tense, Mom.

We also transplanted some tomato seedlings from an open tray where they were all in a row sharing soil to trays where they each have their own little soil-cell.

And here is where they'll be growing up strong and green (next door to these guys - their lettuce neighbors):



And in other news: I am absolutely loving working at Appalachia Star. A friend pointed out to me that last week I was only writing about what I did, and not how I was liking it, and so I'll add that I'm feeling really good about being here and really happy to be working outside and helping some wonderful folks grow food.