This week brought us some nice rain and decent temperatures for early February. We moved more compost and straw to get more rows laid down for our remodel of our production field. We have thirteen completed rows with newspaper, straw, compost, cover crop seed and feather meal fertilizer applied. There may be a need to order some more compost to cover the remaining new spots. I think we are going to reserve the completion of those for our volunteer days if life does not demand otherwise.

Hopefully this will be the last of ordering any compost or dirt more than once a year, but we will see how that goes. I say that because you can already see how the winter wheat cover crop is going to add much needed organic matter to the grow beds. It feels sort of nice and squishy where it is coming up and very inviting to plant into. I have heard that cover cropping is addictive and now I understand why.

We took a ride out to Grow Appalachia in Berea, Kentucky to pick up the feather meal we used to fertilize our rows with. Our compost that we purchase is high in phosphorous (composted manure) and the feather meal is made of only nitrogen which is known to help the compost break down further and balance everything out a bit. Something else about phosphorous we learned after doing a little interweb searching is that too much can stunt the development of plants. This has been a big issue for us the past couple of seasons, so Perriee and I are super excited to see how the addition of nitrogen through the feather meal helps. Get your soil tested! Grow Appalachia sells different kinds of naturally occurring fertilizer in addition to drip irrigation supplies. We will be going back soon to get what we need to try out some drip tape. After last summer’s heat and drought, it seems silly not to at least give it a shot. Our new layout should lend itself well to an easy-ish irrigation setup.

(In the picture here, with the hoops, you can see a lush, green strip bisecting our new rows. That is the winter wheat we planted in the fall. We are saving those spots to use for production this season since the new places might not be suitable this year (does not mean we won’t try something though).)

Another “first” for the farm this year is our addition of some low tunnels. We only purchased one low-cat kit from Neversink tools to get our bearings with it, but I suspect we are going to love it! The coolest thing is going to have a row or two rows worth of insect netting to cover some crops with for once. After the next weather event the plan is to get the frost cloth up on it to warm up some soil in advance of planting into it. Is THIS the year to grow some food along with our flowers?

Thanks to everyone we have been working with to help us get to this point. I know it has been cold and the days short but we feel we have really put on some good roots this winter to help with the upcoming season. We will need all the good grounding we can get to help us keep going, that’s for sure.

Seed starting of the week: statice, calendula, larkspur, greens to eat

Seedling watch of the week: statice, sweet pea flower and our little tray of aromatic basil that we hope to use as starts from their cuttings!

Important Upcoming Dates:

March 12: Volunteer day: move some compost, map out new garden beds, pollinator patch prep, cut honeysuckle, volleyball court prep?

March 15: Volunteer day: move some compost, map out new garden beds, pollinator patch prep, cut honeysuckle, volleyball court prep?

March 22: Find us at Blue Stallion Brewery 12-6 for Blue Stallion & Hollow Haven Bazaar Equinox & Ales!

April 19: 2^nd annual Earth Day at Loving Farm. We have a lineup of 3 bands: Violet and the Newsroom, Hogtown, and Highly Likely for a day of music, nature and friends. Save the date! We will add details as they come but think picnic, trails, music in the air, community.

PS None of our links are sponsored. We are just sharing what we learn.