Spring Planning

Mittens on the right are new! They are made from old sweaters by a local woman :)
Now I can go for more walks in the cold weather!

So, spring is in our hearts despite the 6 or so inches of snow on the ground out here. Last week, I finally got motivated and looked through the seed catalogs for this year's order. We then went online to our favorite seed company, Sand Hill Preservation, and came up with our order. We were under budget this year for our seed order... woot woot! Our hope is to give the extra seeds to the Milwaukee Catholic Worker houses if anyone their wants to put them in their own little garden beds. Then, what is still extra will be sold at a discounted rate to some of our friends in the Victory Garden Initiative. 

Seed packet from last year

My mom got us a sweet farming calender for Christmas. Most dates have little reminders for things we should be working on at the farm. Some of this month's reminders include:

-Brush away snow from beehive entrances

-Prune raspberry canes on any day that is over 45 degrees

-Use up last year's preserves and canned vegetables

-Set up heat tape for starting seeds in their germination trays in the greenhouse

This is made by farmers in Central Illinois

Love this calendar!

We've been fortunate enough to try out a winter CSA with Catherine this year. Through it we've tried tons out tons of greens that we'd never heard of. We also ate a larger variety of local veggies than we would have picked out at the farmer's market. This last week we received baby spinach, cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes, and honey. We hope we can make better use of our cold frame this year or possibly set up a hoop house to extend our season. Now we're hooked on those greens and other fresh veggies.

Community members chose which beds they will tend

Casa Beds to be tended by community members

Our planning with Adrian continues. We're currently discussing the slope of the land and how that will impact our endeavors. We're also talking about creating some sort of sound and visual barrier along the road... possibly black locust and mulberries (chickens loooove mulberries and so do we... double bonus).