Sweet Local Farm

True signs of spring just around the corner.

Snowdrops in bloom on the south side of my house:

The fish pond has thawed and the fish have grown, multiplied, and are very active:

Forced Daffodil bulbs in bloom:

Pretty spring branches that I forced:

Tofu loves the flowers:

A Cold House is a greenhouse that relies only on solar energy to create heat. We built our Cold House last summer with four season gardening in mind. In the fall we planted arugula and spinach. We ate that through December and then it stopped growing for the bitter cold months of January and February. Today, we noticed it has begun to grow again and is doing quite well.

Luke and I weeded out the spinach and arugula:

We decided to experiment with early plantings of more spinach, arugula, and radish. So we went to work and prepped the bed:

We saved the seeds from our summer arugula last year. Here is Luke planting those seeds:

I am “tucking in the seeds” or pressing the soil around them:

Watering in our new seeds:

The temperature in the Cold House on this early March day is approximately 53 F. It was about 20 degrees cooler outside, and much more windy.

We had fun getting our hands dirty!

About a week ago I started my kale and eggplant seeds. It was important to get them in before the full moon as it seems to help with germination of upward growing crops, as in not root crops like carrots or onions. The kale sprouted quickly on my seedling heat mats. Within a couple days I moved them under the lights.

I had to build a second light rig to accommodate all the seedlings. I got this utility cart from Home Depot:

I set it up next to our old one:

This is one of the three heating mats I am using. They help maintain a warm environment near the seedlings which is important for good germination and root growth. It is chilly in the basement so these are necessary.

Some seeds and labels:

A spray bottle works well to mist the thirsty seedlings:

A loosely wrapped layer of plastic wrap works well to keep in heat and moisture. After germination I removed the wrap for proper air circulation:

The seedlings today, 6 days after planting:

The snow was exceptionally stunning this morning. Each branch, blade of grass, and surface was covered in snow.

The sky was a dreamy grey.

The pine’s always look their best covered in snow:

Weepy ornamental cherry tree:

Hydrangea covered in snow:

More snow photos.

Many families don’t have access to healthy food. They may live in urban neighborhoods infested with McDonald’s and corner stores with processed snack foods, or they may live in poor rural areas. They can’t get to the supermarkets that carry fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains. They can’t access the kind of food their “grandmother’s would recognize as food” as Michael Pollan would say. Michelle Obama is raising awareness of Food Deserts in America.

I hope she encourages urban and community gardens in the cities and the Victory Garden for those who have space to grow some of their own food!

These dormant Winter months provide a great time to regroup, make repairs, plan out garden plots, and if you’ve got some invasive species, clear out sleeping plants.

Ever since the vegetation subsided for the season, I began noticing a thorny red vine that was taking over certain areas. It appears on the ground level as a raspberry-like vine, but when you turn your head to the tree-tops, you’ll see how it has the ability to take over the entire canvas.

I desired to remove this vine because of the way it was literally strangling trees and any other growth around it. Before doing so, I did a little research to learn more about this invader and found a number of articles on it such as this one in the Eagle Tribune: Is that an exotic invasive species in your holiday decoration?
(by Don Lyman)

“As you drive along New England roadways this time of year you can frequently spot tangles of long vines adorned with bright yellowish-red berries. Many people don’t realize these plants, which are commonly used in Thanksgiving wreaths and decorations, are actually an exotic invasive species known as oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus).”

There was the culprit…Oriental Bittersweet. To Karen’s credit, she knew this already.

This past weekend, Michael and I began the arduous task of removing a sizable area of the Bittersweet. Since there are many different facets of this plant: thick trunks at the root, long vines, etc; we armed ourselves with hatchets, saws, titanium tree branch clippers, a machete and garden shears.

Michael with hatchet

Where is he in this photo?

Some of the longer vines stretched up so high that they reached 30 ft up into the tree-tops. When pulling out these stranglers, they seemed to be aware of what we were doing because both Michael and I swear they were fighting back. I managed to get multiple thorn wounds to the face…good thing I had safety goggles on.

A pile of Bittersweet

We’ll be burning this brush in the next month to avoid it’s attempts to re-root. This batch had been growing uninhibited for the past 5 or so years. Hopefully we’ll be able to combat it much easier in the future through regular removal. Although, I have read that it can grow up to 12 feet in one year!

Contemplating the future of Bittersweet removal

This past weekend was the first annual Snow Moon Blogger’s Retreat hosted by Sweetlocal Farm! Tiffany from Heist Jewelry, Sarah from Mystic Valley Musings and I took a break from bloggin and enjoyed life on the farm. We made homemade pizza, gluten free to boot, sampled home brewed beer, got cozy in front of the fire and hit up the Tractor Supply Store for some new country duds.

Sarah, Tiffany, and Karen

Feeding the animals:

Chillin in the barn:

Tiffany having a moment:

We bought rubber boots, gardening gloves, and cowgirl shirts here:

We had a very peaceful weekend!

We got quite a bit of snow yesterday. Much more than the “epic blizzard that wasn’t” from last week. We got home late last night, around 8pm. It was still snowing at the time and as I walked into the house what struck me was how completely quiet the world was. The snow dampens all the everyday noises like traffic and people. We live on a long stretch of country road. There are a handful of small farms, some newer developments, but overall even the suburban style homes have at least an acre of land. Our street is very pretty in every season and all of the houses are unique and well kept. I’m grateful for my little slice of heaven.

The sun shone this morning and temperatures rose above freezing. We took the opportunity to get out doors and play with our animals. Here is Luke holding our rooster, Mr. Matt Damon

He pecked me good the other morning when I made the mistake of trying to bring him water before I brought the food.

Here is Rosie, or Rosemary, eating last year’s kale from the garden:

Birch always like to eat, especially if he sees his sister eating.

Luke always handles Birch because he is much bigger and stronger than Rosemary. I handle her on walks. Luke and Birch off in the distance:

Every day is Valentine’s Day when you have a pink front door!

I found this wreath in the barn when we moved in.

My dear husband gave me a box of chocolates from Rose City Chocolates. They specialize in gourmet vegan chocolates. They are so tasty!