It’s that time of the year! We’ve packed away our favorite waffle knit long johns and opened the back doors to the sheep barn to let the new lambs out to bounce. We are in the last stage of lambing, which means we’ll soon be back to our normal biorhythms of a full nights sleep and a full night out to dinner without checking our lamb cameras on our cell phones at the table. Sorry, busser at the new La Colombe who was subject to a full explanation of our activities and many proud pictures and video of the springing woolies. I mean, can you blame us?
With such a change in tempo, activities inside of the greenhouse are ramping up (no pun intended – because as you know from our post last year, “ramps” are wild). We’ve been busy planning our new systems and seed selections and we can’t wait to hit the ground sowing!
This winter we made the decision to update our greenhouse systems and implement a new computer system that will allow us to better monitor our plants and allow for more organic methods of pest control. As people could find out more with our frequently asked questions, we made more solutions. Shade cloths, air circulators, and a new weather station.
This year we are exploring some new systems in the garden as well. Rob, our gardener, has found some interesting information about Hugelkultur raised beds that we are going to try this year. Our goal is to offer you the freshest, chemical free, heirloom variety fruits and vegetables and finding new ways, which are sometimes the “old ways” prove to be the best way!
Hugelkultur is a relatively simple system for us here on the farm, as it uses old twigs, fallen branches, and sticks to slowly fertilize the plants as they break down. The process nothing more than buried fallen wood and it mimics the environment that most plants thrive in in nature.
As we begin the planting of our new seedlings this season, we’ll be sure to keep you informed and excited about the new varieties and keep you up to date on the new systems as we go!
