Tomato starts looking beautiful in the propagation house
Hello!
A warm breeze is pushing through the valley this morning and the sun is glistening off the fields, which are becoming greener by the day. Birds are singing outside. It's still a little cool at this hour, so the honeybees are not flying about just yet, but soon.
The calm and peacefulness during the early morning hours is my favorite time of the day. Watching the sky light up and the sun slowly rise, the light creeping across the fields in the distance until it reaches our place. It is SO beautiful. I feel the most present in the morning... before the list of tasks for the day consumes my thoughts.
Mike running the post pounder at sunset
This week was wonderful, and exhausting. The wooden fence posts for our game fence are all pounded. We rented the machine pictured above, which I find rather terrifying but it got the job done. A hydraulic line blew on day one but Mike was great, he made a few phone calls and after a quick trip to cortez for a new hose and fluids it was back up and running. Now it's time to build H-braces, followed by stretching and stapling fence. Luckily, our new (to us!) Ford 5900 arrived safe and sound last Monday. This tractor, which is a lovely blue and has custom shoulders/fenders that my Dad built years back, has a bucket and a new set of forks for moving heavy things around! Woohoo! We'll be using this girl to help stretch the fence tight. I'll report back with photos and hopefully success soon!
The crops we seeded last week have germinated and are ready for a weeding, the carrots are bit slower and just starting to pop through the soil surface. These crops (early greens, beets, carrots and herbs) are mostly still hiding under row cover, to help conserve moisture and to keep them warmer in the evenings. Saturday morning I think we were sitting around 24 degrees. Brr!
Today we're seeding radishes, turnips, and the next round of greens and carrots. Mmm hmmm. We excited and ready for our kitchen to be overflowing with fresh produce again... cabbage I love you and appreciate how well you store (we're still eating cabbages, carrots, beets, and potatoes from storage) but I'm ready for sweet lettuces, spicy mustards, tender arugula and fragrant herbs. It must be Spring, our bodies are craving greens, and so many calories! The first CSA Harvest is only 6 weeks away, which will be here before we know it.
We still have 2017 Telluride CSA Shares available! If you haven't signed up yet, do so today! You can ready all about our Summer CSA and Fall CSA programs and contact us if you have any questions. We're prepping, building, seeding and planning for a diverse and bountiful harvest and would love to have you join us!
A big THANK YOU to our many returning and new CSA Members who have already signed up this season! You're support and excitement helps us stay motivated during the busy Spring months. We're looking forward to the first CSA Harvest and seeing all of your sweet faces in June!
Cover crop mix growing in the high tunnel
The propagation house is bursting at the seams and our tomato starts are looking better than ever! I'm so excited, and ready to start transplanting these beauties in a week or so. We have reserved 4 of the 7 beds in the high tunnel for summer crops, and we seeded 3 beds with carrots, beets, peas and turnips for early CSA Harvests. So, two of the future tomato beds in the high tunnel are currently cover cropped (pictured above) and we will be mowing and incorporating the cover crop this week so we can plant tomatoes the first week of May! The other two beds are filled with our onion starts which need to be dug up and prepped for their move outside soon.
We have a second round of tomatoes that we're potting up now. These will find their way into one of the moveable tunnels before mid-May, fingers crossed! The moveable tunnels are coming together, we have one half way built as of yesterday! We still need to attach the u-channel, build the end walls, set up the anchors and attach the plastic. I wanted to complete one and figure out any hiccups before starting the second... but now I'm thinking we should just finish them both so we can ask our friends come over once and cover them with plastic at the same time. Hmm...
Moveable Tunnel #1 is halfway built!
It's time to head outside to open the propagation house and high tunnel and water starts. Then a walk in a few circles making a mental list of the many random things that need added to our to-do list. Followed by french toast and more coffee before we start seeding!
Have a beautiful day!
Mindy & Mike