When starting any business, there are going to be a fair number of things to be done before you can open the doors to the public. For a farmer that can mean plowing a garden (or cardboarding one, respectfully), building fences, fixing buildings or all manner of digging, hauling, heaving and pulling. With the warm, Spring weather quickly approaching, and hopes to offer a CSA this year, Hannah and I have been in somewhat of a dash to get ready for the season.We have multiple projects in the works, but the most pressing as of late has been the greenhouse. A greenhouse is not a necessity, but it definitely helps to get your garden going sooner. You can start seeds in small blocks of soil and let them mature until they are ready to transplant into the garden. I know farmers who don't use greenhouses at all, preferring rather to place the seeds directly in the soil in lieu of the young starts. However, they have to wait until the soil is warm and dry enough to do so which in turn pushes their season back later. Or there are gardeners who buy young plants from markets and place them straight into the soil. For our farm,we're interested in enjoying early crops from the garden, and if we want to start eating fresh food in May, we need to have seeds in the greenhouse in March. But first...we need a greenhouse!This morning we dressed warmly (including our slick new coveralls), gathered our tools and headed out to the farm for a little lesson in carpentry. By the end of the day we'd finished most of the frame - not bad for a couple of beginners on a cold, Kentucky afternoon!- Hannah.
Got plans for tomorrow? Because we have 1,000 pounds of cardboard and twice as much manure! Sounds like fun, right? We sure think so.
That's a lot of cardboard, ya'll.
Thanks to our wonderful family's access to giant chunks of cardboard and massive heavy-duty trucks, we are headed back tomorrow for Round Two of ourno-till garden preparationon the farm. We aresoexcited to get back to working! But seriously, if you want to help...we literally have a half ton of cardboard. Seriously.- Hannah.
