What’s Going On?

We’ve been busy lately. Big and small projects alike. And the list just keeps going.

This weekend we’ll be planting out seedlings, specifically peas, turnips, rutabagas, kale, spinach and lettuce.

Last weekend our first intern, Brandy, came and helped us finish lining one of the big beds with rock. It looks fantastic. Just four more to go. We also went and got ourselves a beehive and spent 3 hours with a reporter and photographer. Tuesday we were surprised to find that we made the front page of the Fairfield Daily Republic. You can read the entire article here. I’m also talking to a woman at Whole Foods about possibly being in a docu-series on urban farming.

Thanks to the article in the paper we’ve been getting a lot more interest in tours. I think we’re going to have to come up with a specific date to give a tour or we will be too busy giving tours to get anything done.

Also last year we finally got to breed Kumquat. She just turned 6 months old, which makes her old enough to breed. We’re not entirely sure she was actually bred though because we couldn’t wait around to make sure Lou connected. He was having some issues with her. On the bright side though, Esperanza from Pluck and Feather brought her doe over to breed to Lou and he was successful at least 4 times that we saw.

The order is in and next Friday I’m going to be picking up 15 chicks. Actually, I’m debating on getting more. We’ll be getting 5 White Rocks, 5 Buckeyes and 5 Dark Cornish from the feed store we shop at. So far I’m considering keeping 3 White Rocks and 3 Buckeyes for egg production. The Dark Cornish will be for meat only. So that’s only 9 meat birds. I’m thinking we’ll need more than that so I’ll probably up the quantity. I’ll also be picking up some Black Australorps and Dark Cornish for my friend Sara from the Kitchen Sink Collective.

Scion bud breaking through parafilm

I got to do my first grafting of scions and it looks as though they’ve taken!  Well, at least the nectarine scions have so far.The buds on the scions are breaking through the parafilm. I’m pretty sure the persimmon scion has taken. I just grafted the cherries last weekend so it will be a bit before I can tell. I still have the apples to graft, but the buds haven’t started to swell, so I still have a bit more time.

Spring seems to be steamrolling in. We’ve added quite a few plants to the front yard. I have some more on order that I’m waiting for. In the winter the front yard will be a bit sad because almost everything is deciduous. But buds are breaking. The raspberries and roses have itty bitty leaves showing their faces. The artichokes and rhubarb are popping up. The blueberries – well all but one – have flowers already. And our almond tree has it’s first flowers! I’m really looking forward to our trees getting big. The trees will be spectacular!