Schoolhouse Farm friends we have germination

Things are beginning to bust loose all over. The plants in the greenhouse are being weened off the heat and safe haven and acclimating to the realities of the local weather Au natural. The little babies are going to have to grow up big and tough quickly if they are to be of any use to us at the Skaneateles Farmers market, in our CSA shares or at the Schoolhouse farms farm stand.

In the field the potatoes are beginning to send up leaves and the onions and leeks have been enjoying the recent dousing. The newly planted sweet potatoes seem to be adjusting to the cold harsh fact they are being raised in the colder northeast and not the steamy south. Peas on a trellis of red string and lettuces are popping up and with a bit more rain we may be harvesting some tender greens later this week.

Armed with a neat attachment for Scott's BCS two wheel tractor we have been laying black plastic mulch over recently tilled soil. The several thousand feet of mulched rows will be a great help as the thousands of beans, heirloom tomatoes, squash, egg plants, melons, sunflowers pole beans and more are planted. The entire process is exciting nerve racking and exhausting simultaneously.

Tomorrow we should resume seeding a crop of annual rye and clover between the rows to act as weed suppression and green manure. This is a bigger task then anticipated, but our "Big Farm" friend Tim has confidence we can do it walking a three foot drop spreader one acre at a time. (We are really glad somebody thinks we handle the task)