Fresh from the Farm

What wonderful weather we had yesterday! The anticipation of spring could be felt and seen all weekend. Folks were headed to the Farm Show to look at spring chicks, farmers on facebook are posting prolificly about their joy of being back in their greenhouses, and the yard melted down to a patch of grass!

ARF goods at the market.

We had a table at the indoor market on Saturday, at the new Co-op building, with CSA and Farm Shares, red onions, shallots and flint corn. It was great to be out of the house connecting with people about food. We really love that about market--chatting with our community members. It seems people are really thinking more about spring, as we welcomed a handful of new members over the weekend.

Welcome Linda & Patrick, Susannah/Cassandra, Anita & family, Donna & Dan, Alica & Daryl & kids as CSA Members! Welcome Joe & Elizabeth as Farm Share Members! We are so looking forward to sharing this season with you :)

It was so nice out the chickens were roaming all day. Well mostly one brave chicken, but the fresh air is good for all!

John was out at the orchard for a good part of the day Sunday doing this season's pruning. This year marks the last year of more heavy, restorative pruning (the third year). Even at this time of year John can get a decent idea of what trees may produce like this season. This year's growth and apple production actually starts in the fall, before going dormant for the winter.

Orchard with pruning piles

Seed starting begins this week! Celery is the first item and several more veggies and fruits will be started before the end of the month.

If you check out the latest issue of the River Valley Woman you'll find my first article for the mag in the Good Taste section. Let me know what you think, or what else you would like to read about local foods in the river valley area.

That's about it for now! I tend to do a lot more posts on our facebook page, but I don't want to forget about you non-facebookers, so I'll keep the blog more up-to-date. As spring ticks forward there are many more exciting things to report about!

Vera and Lilly. The snow's so deep we are looking down into the pen!

Always end with a cute pig picture :)