Home again!

Oh my, what a wacky past couple of weeks I have had. Immediately after my last posting my husband Paul and I decided to take a quick trip down to California to visit his family, specifically his father who is elderly and having heart problems. Our quick trip ended up lasting longer than anticipated because Paul ended up in emergency and having surgery, so we had to extend our trip until he was well enough to travel. He had two very large kidney stones that had to be blasted so that they would pass through. It was a horribly stressful time - it is never easy to watch somebody suffer - and it didn't help that I knew I should be home planting!

We finally made it home and I've since been planting like crazy. Luck would have it, I had a call from a friend of my daughter, Hannah, looking to do some volunteer work! She helped me plant out some tomatoes in the hoophouse and transplant the first veggies into the new field:

Also my employee, Grace had kept up with the weeding while I was away so the farm is actually looking quite good:

I have decided to delay my CSA program by two weeks. The combination of a cool Spring and my absence this month means that things are a little more behind than I like. The weather has been beautiful since I've been home so I'm sure things will really start to pick up now.

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May already!

I don't know about everybody else, but this year is flying by just a little too fast for me! Since my last posting life has been pretty hectic, but not! I had surgery, which meant I had to (and couldn't) do anything for 10 days. Any of you who know me knows this is VERY difficult, especially at this time of the year when there is so much to be done. Luckily, my husband really came through for me (and you!) and went out every day to plant or seed something - 3 cheers for Paul! :o) I also employed some part time help and that is working out really well too. As the business expands the employee will become increasingly necessary - there are only so many hours in a day!

In addition to everything else he has done the past two weeks, Paul built a walk in cooler! I'm very excited about this as last year it was a challenge to keep items cool after harvest. Last year I used an old fridge and our kitchen fridge, and it just wasn't enough room, but now I even have room to spare and it is easy access without having to juggle containers around to make room. To build it I purchased a device called a 'Coolbot' (you can google it for more info) that attaches to a regular air conditioner; it then very economically cools a well insulated area down to 3 degrees remarkably quickly. Improvements are also being made on my wash station to make things more efficient there.

My greenhouse at my home is overflowing with lush greenery. I LOVE my greenhouse: the look of it, the smell of it, the warmth of it. The plants outside are loving all this moisture and the warmer weather - so are the weeds!

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