Snow?

Wordless Wednesdays...


Wordless Wednesdays...

Weather...

Days like this make me nervous, it is hard to remember we are not behind, just because it is beautiful outside.

Our starting schedule has dozens of more items being started in the next couple weeks, and our heated hoophouse has lettuce, turnips, onions, kale, and lots more either already in or just ready to go into the ground. Our unheated hoophouse should be fully planted within the next couple weeks and producing fully by May.

If the rains are reasonable we will be plowing and then tilling for our potatoes and onions the very end of March or beginning of April.

Our first week of our CSA is not until June. We still have more than 12 weeks. Our spring share starts in a little more then a month, but we do not have that many members for that season, and their first couple weeks will be heavy in the greens department and suplemented with some other local products.

Really, our frost free day is still months out, so DO NOT fall to the temptation to put your tomatoes out! A couple years ago I sat at Jacob's Field in the snow in late April, and a couple years before that I saw a farmer loose hundreds of may planted tomatoes when the low hoops they had over them collapsed under a May snow fall.

So enjoy the weather, but remember, it is Ohio, we are NOT out of the woods quite yet...

"The calender doesn't lie,"

Yesterday when Farmer Hubby took advantage of the rain to run to Yoder's Produce Supply and pick up some rolls of plastic mulch, fertilizer (organic), and the last 250 pounds of our potatoes he happened to overhear a conversation.

From what he could gather the customer was a pretty new produce grower and seemed eager to plant everything NOW! Raymond Yoder (the owner of the business) looked at him and said, with great wisdom "The calender doesn't lie, it will be cold again."

Now I am looking out the window of my office at sleet pounding down. Exceptional warm year or not, it will be cold again when it is the first week of April and you live in Northern Ohio!

Snow again...

See, I told you spring was not here yet! Not quite!

We do live in Ohio and although we have had an amazing mid March we do normally average (in Akron 8.9 inches of snow in March AND 2.5 inches in April.

We AVERAGE 0.1 inches in May and a trace in June!

Remember our last average frost day is still 7 weeks away! We still have plenty of time for ugly weather.

That being said, if you are feeling the gardening urge, maybe signing up for our Seed starting class April 10th would satisfy that urge!

Starting your own Seeds
April 10th 2:00 – 4:00

In this two hour class you will start your own seeds.
We will learn the basics of starting your own seeds, growing your own transplants, caring for the seedlings, and giving them a good start in the garden.
You will leave the class with a flat of 72 tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, lettuce, cabbage, and more... The class includes all materials including tray, seeds, and humidity dome. A wide variety of seed, many heirloom, will be available for you to choose from. You are free to mix and match in any combination you desire. So if you do not like eggplants or hot peppers you will be free to make other choices.
$60 ($20.00 class & $40.00 Material fee)
$10 for second person when registering together and sharing all materials (including tray).

Snow and Coming Out

My old car recently died. Well, not recently, at the beginning of the summer, but we spent most of the summer carpooling as we tried to decide what to get... Smart Car, Prious, Yaris

The Smart Car had a 12 month plus waiting list!

The Prius is more then I wanted to spend.

The Yaris is a nice car but as with all of them, do I want a payment? And will having a car payment effect farm decisions later?

Eventually I decided that what I wanted was a small diesel which are not available yet, maybe in 2010... So I needed a "till then car." Eventually we found a Saturn Vue which I really liked, a 2005 manual transmission. The car gets between 26 & 29 mpg and is still big enough to haul bags of feed. I am very happy with this car, and it's performance is not that bad...

Today I found the first thing I don't like with the car. (OK, SUV)

The antenna gets in the way of scraping the windshield, this has not been a problem with frosts so far, but today I had to scrape ice, LOTS of ice. The windshield is high and the antenna gets in the way!

I know, I know! That is what I get for buying an SUV! But I don't feel THAT bad, the mileage is good for a bigger vehicle, and we really do have the need for it. We will be getting a second vehicle which is a lot more efficient at some point, but for now, I love my car, except for the windshield thing!

(Now I've come out as a SUV owner, I feel better not being in the closet any longer!)

Indians Game...

Yesterday at the Indians game was supposed to be an promo for Earth Day at the Kid's Fun Day activities. The Earth Day Coalition was going to have activities for kids to do like powering a TV with a bicycle and stuff like that... But it was to cold, so they will reschedule that. (Remember Earth Fest is next weekend at the Cleveland Zoo!)

But the reason I went is that my boss (former president of EarthDay Coalition and designer of the solar panels at the Jake) was throwing out the first pitch! I was slightly disappointed, because he did not get to go the mound to pitch. For some strange reason, I don't understand, they pulled the tarp out halfway and were in a weather delay for 45 minutes, and when the tarp is out no one is allowed to go to the field... But it did not start snowing and freezing rain until AFTER they started the game... Go figure...

In any case sitting there for 2 hours (we only stayed for 4 innings, then our toes started to go numb and we left) made me remember that it is only mid April, and in Ohio, mid April is still pretty early, we could still have a real snow fall, and frost is likely for another month...

Winter again...

It is winter again and I can breath!

I don't feel like I am so far behind on the season, already! Probably because it now seems like January again and not like mid-April! Which it did last week with the temperatures in the 60s. But now snow has returned to North-east Ohio and the world has returned to normal.

Thank goodness!

My big resolution this year is to keep up on my farming schedule!