look at these little hearts- your CSA loves you. |
If you haven’t signed up for CSA, the time is now. We have limited space
this year and I wouldn’t want you to miss out. www.thetrustees.org/chestnut
We also have
boxed share pick up sites all over the place these days, so if you have friends
or family in Hingham, Leominster, Westborough, Hopkinton, Framingham or
Worcester- we are delivering our veggies to all those towns!!!!
It is still snowing. I really thought we were finally done with
all of this…after all, I pulled all the taps from the maples and put all the
buckets away so it MUST be spring, RIGHT???? The crocuses are BLOOMING, the
snowdrops are done and I’m watching snow fall on daffodils, tulips and hyacinth
and trying not to weep as I defiantly keep trekking outside without my coat (or
a hat or gloves).
So now it is just a waiting game to see when we can get into
the fields with tractors and start prepping soil beds for baby plants. The ideal
is to be ready to put the first plants and seeds in the ground by April 15th,
but it isn’t looking good for that today. Hopefully we will get a little drier
and a little warmer soon and our apprentice crew will arrive and we will be
able to take off! Bring on SPRING.
Our new apprentice crew arrived this week! We
have two apprentices in the house at #5 (where the new office is) and
we are so excited to have their help! They are getting started right away with
orientations of all kinds- from tractor & equipment safety and basic
mechanics to first aid/cpr trainings, lots of reading and learning our policies,
farm history and more. New this year for our crew is livestock chores and
animal husbandry! They will be helping us integrate our new sheep and goat
herds into the Chestnut Hill Farm landscape. Whoo hoo!
Farm News:
Chillaxin |
We have been on constant baby watch here at the farm- the goats were so big even I was worried they were just going to explode. We have a total of 15 babies out of 7 mommas. Twins were had by all and Nutty gave us a set of triplets for the third year in a row. The goats are ready for spring too- the few warm days we’ve
had made them so happy- soaking up the sun in delight as they itched away their
dandruff and cashmere undercoats. Their new barn is so very close to being
done, the plastic is finally on, but we need to hang gates and build some interior walls (and block a few holes). Then we can move the flock into their new lush
living space. We are all looking forward to having a beautiful new space filled
with light for our girls.
We have visited two awesome Trustees properties in the last couple of weeks. Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield and Halibut Point Reservation (and State Park) in Rockport. Both are incredible. If you love jumbles of rocky outcropping, winding trails and all the variability of serene water- you will find this in both places. Opt outside one of these weekends and explore some place beautiful.
Halibut Point in Rockport |
Upcoming
Events:
Meet the
FARMER: Greenhouse edition May 5th 10a-2p
For our
first MTF of 2018 we are opening up our greenhouse for a delightful morning of
plant sale, farm tours, tastings and more. Come and visit, say hello and get
some early season plants for your garden that will brave the chilly nights.
Look for kales, mini-cabbages, lettuces, broccoli, chard, beets, herbs, early
flowers and more. We will also have some container seedlings ready to get
started in your indoor containers (put them outside on warm days and bring them
inside while it is still chilly at night)- bush tomatoes, peppers, basil and
more. Seed potatoes will also be available for sale! 1lb bags in 6 six
varieties!
Farmstand:
We will
have our grand re-opening of the stand on May 5th as part of our
Meet the Farmer gathering and first plant sale of the season. We will then be
open every Saturday after that from 10am-2pm with more and more plants for
sale. Lists of available beauties for sale will be posted on our facebook page
on Fridays. Fill your gardens with our healthy transplants and get your season started
right.
First harrow of 2018! |
No comments:
Post a Comment