Grown with Love

I've cut my fingernails to the quick. There is no nail left. The tip of my finger sticks out past my nail and it's an odd sensation. It's sad. It's not feminine. I've never done this before, but it's the only way to keep from digging out mounds of dirt from underneath my nails each and every night.

I'm eating so much peanut butter, avocado and full fat yogurt. I need energy. I can not survive on wilted spinach and roasted bell peppers. I did make squash enchiladas for the first time this week though. Amazing. Just as good as my mama's.

I've cut 1,500 pounds of potatoes this week. We will harvest close to three tons by the end of the season. My wrist is killing me.

Today I found a skull while cleaning in the barn. I think it's a rat skull, but it could be a really massive snake.... I put it on our front door mat to startle Chris.

Monday the first veggies of the season went into the ground: Red Zepplin (red) onions, Candy (yellow) onions, and Sweet Ann peas. Garlic and Strawberries have been in the ground all winter, so this was our first planting. All other planting we have done has been in the seed house which is a highly regulated environment. Everything that lives in there lives happy and healthy. It's sheltered from the harsh, real word we'll subject it to soon enough.

Broccoli, cabbage, (more) leeks, and (more) bell peppers were all planted this week too. Additionally, I "potted on" a massive amount of celeriac, or celery root, or German celery. This simply means I took them from the tiny little cells they were in and put them in a more spacious cell. They are still in the greenhouse (after being planted on March 15th) and still are quite small, but now they have more room for their roots to grow and flourish. It took me from 9-12 to finish all six 122 count trays.

Twice this week I've been able to just wear a t-shirt sans fleece jacket or cap. Yeah, sunshine. But my right ear somehow got seriously burnt. Sunblock those ears people!

Chris would really like to catch the chickens when they get out of the hen house and put them back in. I find this highly entertaining to watch. Farmer Thomas makes it look so easy. Chris just looks, well, like a wild man flapping his own wings.

Farmer Thomas shared some of his special spicy pepper seasonings from last year. They're pretty dang hot. But smells oh, so heavenly: roasted peppers Yum!!

There will be another farm animal joining us in early May: a hog! I'm really excited about this, as is Chris. We have a few renovations to make to the pig pen, but I'm excited to see how this whole "hog" thing works. We were offered a share of a hog just last week. Three families were going in to split a hog and were looking for a fourth. They asked if we were interested, you know, in the fourth of a hog. No, not this year.

I'm currently enjoying a bottle of wine from a local winery. It's actually about five miles from our farm: Amici Vineyard. New York boasts over 1,500 wineries. There are local wines for sale all over the place. I've got my work cut out for me.

So, that's the latest. The "I'm only at the library for a limited amount of time" bulleted list.

Tomorrow's Friday. Then Saturday we hope to go into Troy, NY and go to the Farmer's Market cause I just can't get enough. And now we actually have some friends to say hello to. (Amy the beekeeper and Cody and Christine from Homestead Farms. The Denison's will not be there yet.) And we go to market in Glen Falls, not Troy. So, you know, it's different.

I also hope to make it to the co-op in Cambridge. As you know in addition to Farmer's Markets I love health food stores. I do. I guess there are worse things in life. We didn't make it to the co-op last weekend. The big cyclist race made it a disaster for drivers and people were out in droves. Also, after the drama that was my tetanus shot from the Health Care Clinic we were just simply ready to go home. (Dramatic only because I am so high drama.)

All is well. My tetanus shot is almost not sore anymore. Almost. We're learning so much every day. I am personally thinking about checking out a children's book from the library to help me learn all the farm equipment.