2nd week of March 2009
The days are noticeably longer and the grass has a faint hint of new green color. Crocuses are a helpful reminder that spring is truly on the way. Several warm but rainy days also helped officially usher in "mud season." It seems everywhere we try to walk the ground is saturated and there is abundant brown ooze on everyone's boots and pant legs. The new Hereford calf that was born in the corner of the pasture was initiated with mud as we herded/carried "Chuck" along with his mother, Bluebell, into the barn. Needless to say, Olin was also saturated in mud after that trek. The cows are certainly looking forward to days out in grassy pastures again and the children will be thankful not to have to keep the cattle pens bedded in the barn. The "self spread" method that lets the cows fertilize the pastures directly with their manure is a beautiful system for everyone.
The garden soil will be too wet to work up for some time yet. To prepare for that time I am planting more things indoors and in the coldframes. This week I started a flat of pepper seeds (Yankee Bell, Red Ace, Cubanelle, Tom Thumbs and Laotian Chilis) along with some basil. In the greenhouse I planted a flat with lettuce seed and transplanted baby lettuces into flats of 6 packs. My plan is for them to be well rooted in time to be put out in low tunnels. I'll be using some barrel halves in addition to some low tunnels Olin is working on creating from an old trampoline frame, a bit of lumber and some salvaged plastic sheets.
A pussy willow tree we planted several years ago from a rooted cutting is now producing lovely reminders of spring that we are enjoying sharing with many folks. Today we took a bouquet to the nursing home to share. Our daughter has several jars of pussy willow stems to root so she can plant more trees. It's amazing how fast the sticks will produce roots in just plain water. They secrete a hormone called auxin that stimulates rooting and I've often used the vase water from the pussy willows to water my cuttings of rosemary and other herbs. This year I'm planning to try a more potent method that involves filling a small jar with one inch willow branch cuttings and soaking it overnight in water. Once strained, this mixture can be used to soak cuttings overnight before they go into the planting medium.
A bit on what's happening on the local foods frontier. As the interest in eating local grows, it's encouraging to see more farmers get involved to meet demand. This past week I met with two aspiring market gardeners to share advice and encourage them in their endeavors. I also received some disappointing news. The publisher that we've been working with to publish our local foods book just sent a rejection notice. They liked our recent revisions but the marketing group decided it would reach "too narrow of an audience." So we need to decide how to proceed and I'm hopeful that there is a large audience lurking somewhere out there that truly need a book like this to influence their food choices.
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