We're looking for a few good barn owls to take residence in our new owl hostels.

Thank you to Bob M for designing and constructing the boxes.

The snow peas are just starting to latch onto their twine and will soon be climbing to new heights.

The spring garlic is one of our first crops to emerge. We are pleased to see it doing so well and went through the beds today with a flame weeder to keep annual weeds at bay.

Flowering Acabia! This ornamental vine has the potential to produce an unusual purple-sausage looking fruit. We have yet to see any fruits here, most likely due to a lack of pollination.

April is bringing an explosion of blossoms, including these peach trees in bloom.

Mornings find us in the greenhouse planting seeds and admiring the seedlings that are coming up, like this baby Swiss Chard. We have planted 3,840 seeds in one day this spring, thanks to a new vacuum wand seeder that helps us plant small seed a whole row at a time.

Spring Farm Update

Hello from the farm!

Life is very full and rich here as planting is underway and the greenhouse is almost full of the harvest in miniature. On a day like today the greenhouse is like a tropical retreat from the cold dreary outdoors.

A couple of infrastructure items that we are happy about for this season:
--the online sign up for shares has been working out well
--we piped the wash water from the sinks under the driveway so that the parking area will not be muddied from our vegetable rinsing, although rain will probably still fall.

The crops:

The Pick Your Own field will again have flowers and herbs, and also act as a Demonstration Garden for a few novel crops--this year we will have small plots of flax, quinoa, amaranth and teff. Some great new hot pepper varieties for the Chile heads are started in the greenhouse, and we'll also have a Black Cherry tomato, and a grape tomato in addition to the Gold Standard--Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. In the flower department--look for celosia, cosmos, salvia, snapdragons and zinnias as the favorites, as well as some pedigreed sunflowers that promise to be beautiful.

The main crops which are the heart of what we do will not change that much this year--we'll rely on what has done well and been appreciated by you in the past. Look for yellow and green beans, strawberries, blueberries, white, yellow, red, and blue potatoes, beautiful lettuce heads, tender lettuce mixes, great slicing, paste and a heritage tomato, flavorful Diva cucumbers, the return of Orangeglo orange watermelons, and Desert King yellow watermelons in addition to the lovely Sangria and Crimson Sweet reds. Also great summer squash and a beautiful lineup of fall squash and pumpkins, including jack o' lantern pumpkins and excellent squash for baking--acorns, butternuts, Long Island cheese, and a naked-seed squash called Kakai, whose seeds have no hull to remove when eating. And that's only some of it…

We look forward to the first harvest the first full week of June. If you know of a friend that might be interested the harvest this year, please spread the word Thanks! If you are ready to sign up, it's at: http://goodwillathomefieldsfarm.csasignup.com/members

Looking forward to a bountiful and fun season,

Scott