We enjoyed our winter "break," though with markets until Christmas, seed orders in January, and planting by Valentine's day, it went by fast! But we still had a great time visiting family out in Massachusetts and planning for the upcoming season. Now we have been planting both inside and out for a good six weeks and both the greenhouse and the fields are full of spinach, pak choi, salad mix, onions radishes, beets, carrots, collards, cauliflower, peas, and more! Our goal is to double production from last year and so far we are on track. Since our beds are already built and full of healthy compost from last season, we are well ahead of where we were this time last year.
The big news of winter is that we are expecting another baby! Holly is due in late July, so we will just see how that affects everything. She still has no trouble tackling farm work, although bending over too much is starting to get uncomfortable, and there is a lot of bending over in small-scale no-till farming! But, we have plenty of support and can't wait to meet the new little one! We keep thinking back to when Holly was pregnant with Mira, and we were hitchhiking in France and having to haul heavy backpacks around, thank goodness that isn't the case this time!
Even with the cold snaps, fertility is everywhere; one of our hens went broody and successfully hatched an even dozen chicks who are all healthy and active! So far they have been in their own cozy, protected room in the barn but soon we will start letting them outside. We have two other broody chickens who are also sitting on large clutches so we might not have to buy in any new chicks this year!
Farmers' markets are fast approaching, and we are excited for our second year here in Missouri! We can't wait to get back to Schlafly and Wildwood. We still have some spaces left in our Rosy Buck Farm share, check out our Build Your Basket page to see all of our options! Until next time!