Harvest Day

Harvest Day
Winter crops

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Farm Work Day, February 2012












Yesterday we held our Farm Work Day for the upcoming Spring season.  Considering that our membership is mostly made up of working folks, I think we had a good turnout for a Saturday morning.  Several had been to prior workdays, a few were visiting the farm for the first time.






Our order of seedlings had arrived on Wednesday and were at a prime size for transplanting into the gardens.  Will and I worked pretty hard earlier in the week, preparing the garden beds with compost and fertilizer and laying the drip tapes.  When the members arrived, we were ready to go to work.




Several people went right at it, having done this before.  They set out brussels sprouts and cabbage plants in the North Garden while the children and their mothers planted potatoes in the Front Garden.  As soon as the spuds had all been set in place, the youngsters and some of the parents moved to the back garden and began putting in lettuce plants by the hundreds.



While all this was happening, Will and several of the other men moved our greenhouse.  We'd decided recently that it should be moved to a different location, both because the new spot would be more suitable for growing and also because we wanted to reclaim the old spot for another use.  Will worked for two days, between all his other chores, readying the house for its move.  Abandoned from use a couple of years ago, it had become overrun with weeds and had sort of become a catchall for empty planting flats and pots.  Also, the uprights were anchored in the ground and had to be cut loose.  Then, he strapped the whole business to our little tractor, put round fence posts under the house to use as rollers and it was ready to go.  We put weedblock fabric down where the house was going to be set and waited for helping hands!

Being the nervous nelly that I am, I couldn't watch the process and foolishly sacrificed the chance to get photos of the whole thing or even video!  I'm slapping myself for that!  Anyway, the move went very smoothly, no one got hurt and it went according to plan.  As the tractor pulled the structure along, the helpers moved the rollers from back to front and progressed across the yard and into place.  Now, we can re-cover the house, revamp the door, run power to it and I'm ready to grow our summer tomatoes, peppers and egglants!  So exciting!




Once the greenhouse project was complete, some of the guys began mulching in the Back Garden while the others helped Will erect a fence around the North Garden.  This is only it's second season of use, we grew the winter squash there last summer, and they did fine without a fence.  Now, with the tender cabbage and brussels sprouts tempting the neighborhood rabbits, we weren't willing to take further chances.





By the time all this was completed, we were all hungry so we put tables under the pecan trees and pulled out our lunches for a delightful bit of happy fellowship.  Everyone went home with eggs and vegetables shortly after. The children were tired and dirty, their sweet faces pink from the sun and the romping, proud of having helped so much (and they did!).  We kicked back to rest, pleased that everyone had fun and that so many wonderful tasks had been completed.  I think our spring season is off to a fine start!

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