Welcome To Pie Friday!

This year we invite you to participate in the 2012 season by following our new blog! We will keep you posted on what's going on around the farm, featuring stories, pictures, and more brought to you by the Horton crew.

The blog's title,'Pie Friday', is in reference to our Friday tradition of sharing something sweet while we review and reflect on the week's work. Each crew member has the space to 'check-in' about their experience, pose an idea or question, or simply listen and eat pie. As tradition goes, the person speaking finishes their check-in by saying 'check'. It is in this spirit of sharing that we hope you join us this season, over a slice of virtual pie, to be a part of the Horton Road crew.

Check.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Gettin' our 'Greenhouse Workout' on!

Last week whizzed by!  We had some sunny afternoons that allowed Bill to get out on his tractor and direct sow (planting the seed directly into the soil as opposed to starting a seed in a flat and transplanting the start – the method we use for most crops) cilantro, spinach, radishes, and carrots!  Plus, the crew did two big plantouts of lettuce, baby lettuce, broccoli, green onions, chard, and kale. There’s also a bed of salad greens on the way and today Ashley and I put up the pea trellis.  I am super excited to start popping those sweet little guys.  Now it’s only a matter weeks before we all get to enjoy the fresh, delicious, nutritionally diverse tastes and flavors of Horton Road! 
Showin off our muscles!

During the rainy periods of the day we’ve been working on digging out our greenhouses.  It’s an extremely physical task that is sure to bulk up your biceps, abs, and back muscles in under a week.  Seriously.  Someone could market a workout video based on it, kind of like “8 Minute Abs” or “Beach Body Breakdance” but instead of lunges and squats, you’d be in a bent position, turning over heavy soil with a digging fork.  J  The purpose of digging beds is similar to why you would use a rototiller.  It is a way to prepare the soil for planting – loosening it and turning the organic matter and chicken manure back into the bed, in a way, that unlike rototilling, produces a less-compacted sub-soil. Bill tills most of the beds on the farm with his tractor, but he can’t get to some of the beds in the greenhouses, so that is where our bulging biceps come in!  It is also good practice in learning how to do this work by hand - as first-time farmers rarely have the financial means to acquire all of the available modern, technological tools/machines right off the bat. 


In other exciting news, my mom came to visit this weekend! I'm so proud of her for braving a night in the barn :) We had a great time, and she even got to attend Pie Friday!
That’s all for now – Dawn is about done baking some chocolate chip cookies, and I can’t focus on anything else but that right now.
Check.
-Rachael

Hallie, giving a reference point for the giant slug we happened to notice on the window the other night!

Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. NancyMay 1, 2012 at 6:39 PM

    OK, so there I was on Monday noon, shivering and wimpering in my warm, dry shawl and in trample the six farmers, covered in mud (head to toe), soaking, sopping wet, and excited about having spent the last 3 hours in the pouring rain planting organic lettuce for us all to eat! Wow, do I greatly admire and respect you all, for who you are, what you believe in, and what you do for us all! Thank you all for such a warm welcome and great stories. I had so many laughs with you all and I really love Rachael's new (updated) farm family!!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)