The seeds are here!

A sure sign that Spring is not far off arrived in the mail this week: the seed order is here! Hooray 🙂

Looking through the amazing seed catalog, it sure is hard to rein ourselves in and limit our order to what we can actually plant. Exercising as much restraint as we could, we still ordered 50 different seed packets. We ordered plenty of the traditional favorites:  peas, beets, carrots, summer squash, green and wax beans, radishes, and purple-top turnip. We had such good luck with tomatoes last year that we ordered four different kinds. We expanded the varieties of pumpkins and winter squash we’ll plant. And, we added more gourds and ornamental corn, all of which helps decorate for Fall Farm Fun Day.  Because everyone loves the sunflowers, we’re adding more varieties — you may be surprised by some of the colors and sizes you see. And, in addition to the Maine heirloom varieties that have been growing like gang-busters the past couple of years, we’ll be trying out a few new kinds of dry and shell beans: Kenearly, Hutterite, King of the Early, Silver Cloud Cannellini, and some lovely  limas.

We’ll be starting some of the seeds in February, which is practically minutes away. Very exciting!

Spring work in the garden

Between raindrops, tiny starts of plants are slowly making their way into the garden.  I have vowed to mulch mulch mulch this year, to help keep out the weeds, so any chance I get, tiny plants are surrounded by a layering of newspaper and grass clippings.  Old coffee sacks are also being used over newspaper as an alternative mulch to grass clippings. Berwick Academy and Boys Scouts from South Attleboro both spent a day making raised beds for the garden. The beds look great, and with added compost  really add ease and beauty to the garden!! I feel so grateful for all their long hard work!  I could not have accomplished a fraction of what they accomplished in just a day each.

Every spring I marvel at the  act of planting a small seed in a big garden full of dirt, bugs, grass and weeds. How will a tiny plant ever survive? Well, not all seeds do survive, but enough of the seeds send up the tiny shoots out of the dirt.   Not all of those shoots survive, but many live and grow into bigger, productive plants.

Spring is the busiest time in the garden; trying to plant, keep the weeds at bay while the tender vegetables are sprouting, and getting all the particular garden plants in as early as possible. The days pass quickly regardless if one has planted the corn or squash on time. Unfortunately, this year our pumpkin plants are behind schedule…as the seeds have not yet been planted…soon though, very soon!!

The great news: while I’m still busy planting seeds and starts, the radishes are already ready to pick! Their multi-colored reds and whites are a delight to see and taste! Fresh vegetables are tender and very flavorful, unsurpassed by store-bought vegetables. These wonders are garden highlights we like to share with all who visit the garden.      

 

by Tracy

Welcome to our new website

We are very excited to roll out our new website! This site has been months in the making. As you’ll see, we’ve kept the best of our old site, but expanded the content and added a lot more pictures. When you look through the pages of the site, the pictures make it clear how engaged and excited children are when they are at the Farm. We have added new content that provides more information about our wonderful staff and board members, more complete descriptions of our programs, and more information on how you can get involved. We’ve also included information on how you might be able to have your events at the Farm.

Thanks to our amazing volunteers, Maggie Pucci Evans and Brenda Myers, for the great work on the site. Please let us know what you think of the new site.