A Welcome Sight





Hutchins Farm just gave us the best neighborhood welcome gift we could ask for, a plowed field! I’m not sure we can convey just how wide our smiles were when we saw the first furrow on the McGrath farmland Wednesday. It feels exciting and new, and at the same time connected to the past, a point in the season we and other farmers have experienced many times before. The excitement for us this year comes not only from the mark of the beginning of another farm season (always something to celebrate) but from the many people who have pulled together to help us get a quick start including the Hutchins farmers prepping our first field while we finish up our tractor search, neighbors who have offered their welcome and support, and others who have brought by tools, signed up for our CSA, and dropped by to lend a hand. How could we follow all of this? By seeding peas, carrots and beets of course!!

Our second week on the farm!

Lettuce seedlings
Though at first glance the fields still appear to be in winter mode, we are in full springtime mode here at the farm. We were greeted Monday morning by the first lettuce, onion and leek seedlings emerging in the greenhouse. Wednesday we headed out to the fields with our broadcast seeder to cover our first 4 acres in cover crop. We planted organic red clover in our western-most field to suppress weeds, fix nitrogen, and prevent erosion while we plant vegetables in other areas this year. Wednesday night we left the greenhouse watering in Lise’s mom's capable hands and set out for central Pennsylvania to look at used tractors and equipment. We drove many tractors from the late 70’s and early 80’s, and examined used implements we had scouted online before arriving. We found two older implements that were exactly what we were looking for and a few promising leads on tractors. At the end of the day we got back in the car, put our dance mix on the radio, and mulled over the many important equipment decisions before us. We were happy to be back on the farm Friday morning seeding fennel and flowers in the greenhouse surrounded by many more trays of sprouting plants!

Lise seeds medium red clover in the fields

Settling in at the farm

Melissa seeds onions in the greenhouse
We moved onto the McGrath Farmstead on Saturday! After months of planning, we were eager to literally get our hands dirty, so on Monday we jumped right into seeding our first transplants in the greenhouse. Thanks to our friends Noah and Sophie at Alprilla Farm we had some potting soil to get us started, and thanks to Lise's dad David, brother Jon and father-in-law Jack, we had some brand new racks ready to hold our seedlings. We now have about 50 trays seeded with leeks, onions, scallions, parsley, lettuce and fennel. For now, we are bringing 5 gallon buckets from the house to water our seedling trays, but as soon as things warm up a little we'll be able to turn on the outdoor spigot and hook up a hose and watering wand. Hopefully by next Monday we'll see some shoots popping up adding a little greenery to the scenery!

Thanks to the neighbors who have stopped by or emailed us in the past week. We're really excited to be a part of the community and to get this beautiful land back into vegetable production.