Rebuilding Gus's Engine

This is another winter project that is nearing completion. We had a local machine shop bore out the cylinder head and turn the crankshaft on the engine from one of our Cub Cadet tractors. Now comes the job of replacing the seals and putting the whole thing back together. Hopefully, this will provide many more years of service out of this little work-beast! We will use this particular tractor for tilling, mowing, and a wide variety of tasks during the growing season.

Trays Of Onions Bursting With New Life!

The onions have begun sprouting in profusion! After seeding up a few thousand seeds in several trays filled with soiless mix, they're now growing under fluorescent lights in the house. It's still too cold at night to put them in the unheated greenhouse. As soon as the nighttime temperatures come up just a few degrees, they'll be shuttled out to continue growing until it's time to plant them in their permanent garden beds. We're growing four different varieties of onions this year - some mild white onions, a variety of long-storage red onions and two other varieties of yellow onions. Along with these, we have trays of leeks and scallions growing as well.

It's Getting Busy.....!

Days are now spent sterilizing trays and pots, filling them with soilless potting mix and then planting the seeds for the early spring crops. These trays contain onion seeds. The brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage) have already been planted, as well as a few very early tomato and pepper plants that will go into the greenhouse as soon as they're ready in an effort to have early tomatoes and peppers at the Farmer's Market. This is the beginning of the very busy time of year for us, but this year we're better prepared. We've spent several weeks planning every phase of the garden this year.....first, what varieties we will grow, inventorying the seeds we have from last year, where we will order the new seeds, when we will begin planting the seeds that will need to be transplanted later, and a succession planting calendar for this growing season. This detailed planning has helped us relax since we feel like we have a pretty good handle on the work to come. One quick look at the daily calendar and we know what needs to be completed each day.

Spring Is On Its Way!

The first daffodils are finally poking their noses out of the soil - a sure sign that spring is finally on its way! These bulbs were planted in pots and stored in an unheated shop. We will move them to the greenhouse very soon in order to have pots of beautiful blooming bulbs at the Farmer's Market in April. The iris reticulata haven't begun to emerge from the frozen soil yet. They're the earliest bulbs we have and are planted in a flower bed on the West side of the house. They usually begin to emerge in February, if given a few days of warm weather. This flowerbed is scheduled for a makeover this spring. We removed several of the plantings last fall to allow us to get an early start on the renovation this spring.