Breaking Ground at Leafy Greens Farm! 2015 CSA Program here we come!

It is tricky to find the right times to plant in the Spring. Sometimes, it is too wet to plant. We want to be able to till the soil into a fluffy bed for the plants, but cannot do this when everything is gooey mud. Sometimes, it is too cold to plant and the ground can still be frozen. We have to recognize what plants can survive the low nightly temperatures and which ones cannot. Peas, carrots, beets, turnips, and a few more plants are able to be sown into the ground in February and March. You can also plant potatoes anytime after St. Patrick’s Day. Our cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower plants are also very hardy and will be planted outdoors in a few weeks after the last frost date in April.

We were able to find the perfect day to go till up a few rows on our plot, not too wet and not too cold.

It felt so good to till up the earth and put our hands in it. We created a couple of fluffy beds for carrots and beets. Then, we planted two rows of peas- sugar snap and snow peas. We planted until the sun went down.A day after we planted, it rained! Yay! Hopefully those seeds are germinating and getting ready to push through the soil in the next weeks. I can’t wait to see the green leaves start growing outdoors on our farm. Stay tuned for more updates.

Our Basement Nursery... And the Process of Getting Ready

We started planting seeds in January and now we have some beautiful plants growing. We do not own a greenhouse yet, but we do not let this stop us. We have a basement, some shelving units, and shop lights. With a little creativity, we make it work!

While it is cold and uninhabitable for most plants outdoors, we are in our basement planting seeds. 

 

We start the plants on heat mats to help seed germination speed up. Once the seeds are germinated, we move them under the shop lights and let them soak in the light. 

Eventually, we start taking our plants outdoors for short periods of times to help them acclimate to the outdoor temperatures and light. This process is called “hardening.” We bring them in each evening and set them on our dining room table to help them avoid the cold evening temperatures.

Baby basil plants

Our cabbage plants outdoors at sunset

Bringing plants into our dining room in the evening

 Eventually, the plants will be strong enough to stay out all day and night. This process takes a few weeks. We can’t wait to start planting them outdoors in April.  2015 CSA season here we come!

Mushroom Experiments

We are blessed to know farmers and gardeners who make things happen. Our friends at Gateway Garlic Urban Farm hosted a Seed Swap and Mushroom Bucket workshop in January. It was a beautiful day & a great turn out!  We were able to share seeds and find new seeds to grow this year.

One of the most fascinating things was the mushroom bucket workshop. They had us bring our own buckets, drill holes in the bucket, & filled them with straw dipped in boiling water. As the straw was being placed into the bucket, they had us shake "mushroom spawn" or the seeds in the bucket. Then, we took them home and water them. In a month, I was harvesting these beauties. They are Dove Oyster mushrooms.

This is what they look like when experts grow them

What mine started like before they got big!

After cutting them, I made a fabulous mushroom, onion, spinach, and tofu dish seen here. I can't wait until more grow!