Greenhouse Harmonics & the Spring Greening

The farm is waking up and starting to buzz with fields filling up and goats moving across the landscape! The greening happened pretty much overnight at the beginning of April with a couple of days of warm spring weather before turning into something that felt more like March with just so much rain. The good news is that we are officially out of the drought, but the not so great news for us is that all the rain has made for delays in field prep and plantings. We are still a little behind because the rain hasn't really let up for long enough to let certain parts of our fields dry enough to get the baby plants into them. We are moving some plantings around to different drier fields-- so much for all the planning over the winter--at the same time we are trying to stay on top of weeds and insects. The insects are particularly bad so far this spring- I think the relatively mild winter is making for a buggy spring and we are having to carefully monitor our greens for damage.

Under the tractor

We are welcoming back Cole Trager and Kirsten Kampmeier to the farm team this season! YAY! It is great to have seasoned hands that know the farm as well as I do on the ground. We also are welcoming back volunteers- CSA coordinator Kim Galbraith and Farm Pantry liaison, Kathleen Delgado. We are also being joined this week by our second apprentice, Michaela Caplan, who is just coming on board! We are happy to have her here with us and are excited about her addition to the team. Our harvest crew volunteer slots will be up and available soon, so you can sign up to help us with harvest mornings because WE NEED YOU!
Tractor safety and equip maintenance all get done in the spring. Rainy days have found us getting/keeping our tractors in good working order. Another John Deere HC900 arrived at the farm from Moraine Farm and was in need of a little extra love and some finagling to make it work with our equipment- so it got an overhaul from us and went to hang out at 146 Supply in Millbury for a couple of days while they replaced the radiator, the old rusty exhaust pipe and made me some new sway chains for the 3 point hitch. They did a great job! I spent some time teaching Cole and Kirsten how to change filters and fluids and all the other basic maintenance that our tractors need every year in order to maintain good working efficiency. Having a tractor break down in mid-season brings us to a grinding halt so we do everything we can to prevent it. It is also super fun. I can't help it, I love working on these big machines. Our brand new orange Kubota tractor finally had its first 50 hours of work completed and needed its first ever oil change. I've never had such a new shiny beast, so new that I needed to do the first one, but I let Cole do it on his own.

Kirsten's greenhouse glory

Kirsten has been busy all spring filling our greenhouse with gorgeous transplants. It is super lush in there and filled with the humming and whirring of fans, the intermittent pitch of the sides opening up when the thermostat goes up, the light boom and fan of the heater turning on when the thermostat goes down. But really the Greenhouse is just filled with lots of Kirsten's love of seeds and baby plants and you can really see it in how healthy they all are. Having her here and in charge of the plants is really making a big difference in the quality of plants going into the fields.

Kid goat cuddle party with Fay School

Goats- Our final tally on baby goats born this season were 25 kid goats to our 12 mommas! They are quite a handful and have quickly figured out when the electric fencing is turned off that it means that it is time to play with some humans. They are typically bouncy and cute and there are a whole lot more long ears than there has been in the past. Most of our momma goats were bred to a long eared buck and so there are a lot of floppy ears out in the pasture. It's pretty cute, we can't deny it. They are currently all the way down in the southern corner of the farm and it is a little tricky to navigate through the various kinds of electric fencing we have. If you see us in the field, we are happy to direct you to the best viewing.

Bird-nesting Season Has Begun!
So, in case you didn't know, we maintain large areas of the farm as bird reserve nesting grounds for ground nesting birds. Turkeys, meadowlark, woodcock and most especially, the savannah sparrow and bobolink, are most threatened by the loss of farmland and open fields in our suburban and urban communities, so we ask that you please stay out of the hayfields until after July 15th. And also, this is why dogs are NOT allowed on the farm. We can't do a whole lot about fox, weasel, hawks, owls, coyotes and other predators to these birds, but we can ask that you please leave your dogs at home when you come to the farm. You may see our ecologists or researchers from neighboring colleges wandering around in the fields, do not be alarmed, they are professionals and know what to look for to avoid nests. Please keep your picnics to the orchard until late July!!! thanks!!!

Events- the summer season is filled with fun events! We've already had a super successful 2nd annual Running of the Goats with more than 200 atttendees! Whoot! We hope you had the opportunity to join us and if not, you will have to come next year because I don't think there is a whole lot more cuteness that can happen all at once than a whole bunch of baby goats and little children running down the hill together.

Our next big event coming up is our 2nd  Father's Day Bluegrass & BBQ on June 18th from 1-4pm. So bring all the dads and come on over to the farm for some BBQ provided by Firefly's BBQ in Marlborough and glorious foot stompin bluegrass from Sparrow Blue!!! There will be a cash bar available. Members: $36/adult, $12/kids; Nonmembers: $45/adult, $15/kids Registration is required so we know how much food to order and beer/wine to have on hand, how many tours schedule and so on. Kids price is for anyone 8 and under. You can register here. Come enjoy this special day rain or shine (we have a BIG tent going up very soon).

Other June events include our Early Bird Bird Walks with Ranger Kirsten- she's a 'twitcher' which means she travels the world to see birds and she has already cataloged 52 species on the farm alone since she got back in March from her winter trips to Australia and New Zealand. These gentle morning walks are gloriously early when the birdsong is still in full riot and she knows just where to go to find melodic warblers, shy grosbeaks, the graceful Cooper's hawk and the trebling liquid song of the orioles that make the farm their home. Join her on Monday June 5th and Monday June 19th at the trailhead parking area at 630am to 730am. Please register online here. 

The best photo ever of Blossom & Kira

June Prek Farm Explorers program series is a great mini version of our Farmer for a Day vacation week programming. Farmer Ranger Kirsten will guide you and your preschooler through some farm chores, livestock interactions and a fun crafts.A healthy snack is provided as well. The program is a 4 weeks series, so your child really gets to know the farm, the critters and have a whole lot of fun. Sign up ASAP (we can only have a certain number of kids!) Wednesdays in June from 930a-1030a.

June Meet the Farmer- we had to cancel last month's May Meet the Farmer on pollinators because it was horrid out. Hopefully we will have a more lovely day on June 3rd from 10a-12p for our MtF that's all things goats. It's basically a kids and kids cuddle party, but adults are welcome to cuddle kids too. Be sure to bring your cameras for goat selfies. We will have a simple craft available as well. This event is free for members: $5/nonmembers.

For a full list, more information, or to register for a paid event, please check our website under Things-to-do or contact or Engagement Manager Kira LaFosse-Baker.

Farmstand Open on Saturdays!! More Plants for Sale and early Arugula is ready for your spring bitter greens cravings. Come by and see us between 9a-2p this Saturday.

So this is my absolute favorite way to eat arugula besides as a pesto. It's amazing, it's simple and I made two big salad bowls of this for Easter lunch and they were GONE.

Arugula Salad with Shaved Parmesan, Lemon & Olive Oil

By Jennifer Segal

Servings: 4 as a starter

Ingredients

• 5 ounces (or 4 generous handfuls) arugula
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, from one lemon
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, best quality such as Lucini
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Big hunk Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Instructions

1. In a large salad bowl, combine the lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Place the arugula in the bowl and toss with the dressing.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, shave sheets of Parmesan cheese onto salad (to taste). Serve immediately.

We still have veggie CSA shares available!!! Seriously folks, take some flyers into the office, to the gym or

Early season Farm Crew

yoga. I need a little more help than I thought selling these extra shares (last year they went down to Weir River Farm, but I need them to sell here now). Work in Boston and worried you can't get here on time, we are opening up CSA pick-ups to Saturday mornings from 9am-12pm. And we deliver to Boston (near the Aquarium) so let us know if a delivered share works better for you because the sign up isn't available on line yet. We are also adding some tasty add-ons to CSA. Look for more information soon on fruit shares coming from sister farms in Eastern MA and maybe even a cheese/milk share from Appleton Farms in Ipswich (if not, then we will certainly have Appleton Farm cheese and milk available in our farmstand this season).

We are starting our first Summer Meat CSA offering following on the success of our Winter Meat CSA. Because we are still growing our herds, we can only offer beef this summer, but look for expansions as the year goes along. The summer beef share is 2lbs every week and will be packed for you to pick up along with your veggie share. Extra cuts will be available for sale. Details about the Meat CSA and to sign up can be found here.

Michaela and Kirsten planting the flowers in the rain