Growing A Farmer: EatWell Natural Farm Week 3

Well, it's week three and for the first time since I arrived here there was a whole week with no snow! Spring has sprung in Southern Maryland. Even the little peach tree that we inherited thinks so.

Peach Blossoms

Orchard In!

Big doings in the orchard this week. Monday and Tuesday I marked out where the trees were to go using garden stakes and string.

On Wednesday all the trees, grapes and berries we ordered last week were delivered.

I set them out where they would be planted...

...and started digging. By Sunday all the trees, grapes and berries were happily nestled into their new homes.

We planted a Brown Turkey Fig, a Gala and a Fuji Apple, a Bartlett and an Orient Pear, 2 Montmorency Cherries, a Bruce and a Hanska Plum, a Common Persimmon, a Cape Fear Pecan, and a native Chestnut.

The grapes were Niagara (white), Caco (redish) and some Muscadines. I was only introduced to muscadines last year in Georgia and became a big fan so I'm really excited about these.

I get to draw pictures, color and play outside. I have a great job.

Delicate berries

The blackberries and raspberries were grown by the wholesaler in a greenhouse and needed to be hardened off. They had never been exposed to temperatures below 50 degrees so they spent their first few nights here in the tool shed. I would wheel them out during the day to get some sunshine and experience the wind and weather. Then at night I wheeled them back in. We had night time lows in the 30s until Saturday night so they did not get planted until Sunday morning.

Once they get used to being outside these plants will live through harsh winters by going dormant. We should have berries for years to come.

Hard to see but you're looking at 10 blueberry bushes

Also in the delivery were 7 Blueberry bushes. They had been living outside in their pots at the nursery so they were no strangers to the chilly nights. They got planted first thing when they arrived. We got several different varieties that will produce at different times. This should keep us in a steady flow of blueberries once they are established.

Remember the rhubarb from last week? Well, we got 12 new crowns this week. Funny looking, aren't they? Rhubarb is most often propagated by dividing the crown of a plant at least 4-5 years old. Did you know there is a Rhubarb Compendium online? Well there is and it has lots of useful information for growing the stuff. http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/

Rhubarb Crown

Standing up- The pink tip is the new growth

In other news, the EatWell Farm House went Solar this week. We switched over to our new solar panels and this display tells us how much Carbon we save...

Sunny Boy says we saved 50.6lbs CO2!

Eating Well

Still nothing much to harvest quite yet but here's how I staved off a cold last week. Ginger, Honey, and Lemon Tea. I just chopped up some ginger root and put it in a cup of hot water with honey and few lemon slices. Not only is it so so good for you, it is delicious and the perfect thing to warm you up after working out in the cold.

There is one veggie growing in abundance right now and that is our wild onions. Really, they are just growing wild all over the farm. They are small but delicious and taste great with eggs. I'm also enjoying last year's blackberry jam while I wait for the blackberries I just planted to grow up and start bearing fruit.