Photo Update 4.13.14

The pictures just get more exciting as time goes on! Here's some pics from around the farm and one must-read article.

Article: Why You Should be Skeptical of Walmart's Cheap Organic Food

If you have a bee house make sure you clean it before setting it out for our friendly native pollinators. Want to build one of your own? Check out the Mason Bee House Project.

Mason bee house tucked in the lilac bush. We want
to promote these native pollinators as much as possible.

 This little house is in the kitchen garden, providing a cute backdrop to these lovely prairie onions. I hope to see more pop up this year and I sprinkled some of the seeds out in our native prairie buffer.

Prairie onions in the kitchen garden.

 The tree swallows are back nesting in the bird boxes on the property line and in the large silver maple we have seen the wood ducks two times now! Hopefully they will stay :)

Nesting boxes are part of our effort to provide wildlife habitat
and conservation practices.

 Also in the kitchen garden the chives are making a strong comeback. That's a nice little clump of Autumn Joy sedum coming up too.

Green in the kitchen garden.

 The pasture from last season was tilled and seeded over the weekend. We used a pasture mix, which we added a legume to. The pasture will be expanded beyond this and maintained as permanent pasture from here on out.

New pasture seeding.

John is finishing up work on the farrowing (birthing) hut for the pigs, which is made out of up-cycled lumber.

Farrowing hut.

The rhubarb is coming up! It is a welcome sight in the vegetable field. This will be the first year  of harvest for the rhubarb. These Glaskins Perpetual rhubarb plants were nurtured from seed, so we could have an heirloom variety of our choosing on the farm.

Rhubarb, a welcome sight in spring.

 Strawberries are another perennial we will be harvesting for the first time this year! There are many greening plants in the bed.

Sparkle heirloom strawberries.

 A third new perennial - bunching onions! These Evergreen Hardy bunching onions were a great addition and we have Ishikura variety in the kitchen garden looking equally as hardy. Sweet.

Perennial bunching onions.

A look at the vegetable field from up a tree! The soil is getting closer to ready every day. We can now walk in the field without sinking. Soon we'll be tilling and marking out the beds. I am ready any day!

Vegetable field April 11, 2014

The seed starting station is starting to fill up! We're looking to complete the green house when the transplants start overflowing the basement ;)

Tomato seedlings.