Compostable Toys and Farm Photos

Again, I am guilty of not keeping up with the farm blog now that the farm is kicking into the real season.  We are so busy with the CSA, selling flowers to a wholesaler and trying to connect with more chefs that writing has been falling by the wayside, and so many writing ideas are slipping away! That’s OK, I will keep trying.

I have to share this photo I took of a project my two year old did with the newly harvested baby squash.  She spent a long time moving them around and arranging them until she was happy with the organization. I think she tried to get the most of the smallest ones together and she was also talking about some different family combinations as she worked (daddy squash, sister squash).  I was happy to see her enjoying the novelty of something new in the house and it made me wish more of our toys were this ephemeral and compostable because just like a new toy, they will not hold interest for very long. But with squash, that’s perfect because we can just eat them or compost them.

 

I want to share a few more images of where we are in the season right now.  I was happy to get to sample the first of our potatoes.  These were just dug as samples, they are really not ready yet and will hopefully produce lots more before we dig them for real.  They were such a treat!

first potatoes – purple, pink, yellow

Here are the last of our summer crops hardening off outside the hoophouse. Last night, I moved all these trays inside in advance of a major thunderstorm and today they are back outside.

 

Our main seedling house (below) is now half overtaken by peppermint.  This perennial did what I always dream a perennial will do when I buy a  new one — established itself and became a big part of our life.  I use this peppermint all the time and I even want to start calling this hoophouse “peppermint house” since  we are always asking each other “which hoophouse” and they really need names.

Tomatoes in another hoophouse that are still green but look so promising.

And finally, my Nikko Blue Hydrangea, a plant that I love so much, even though they are everywhere.  I hope to propagate this plant and get a commercial sized planting in, right now there are just two plants.

And on the farm, we have had a nice long spring season.  We are still harvesting lettuce, spring onions and radishes and we are sliding towards our summer crops.  I can’t wait for those tomatoes to ripen!

 

Happy Birthday to my Blog – A Self-Referential Post

A year ago this week I launched this blog with this nervous sounding post.   I offer my apologies to anyone who has waited for the promised sewing posts, they were few and far between.  And also I apologize to the many who arrived at this site searching for instructions for sewing a lettuce edge, my stats say there were lots of you.  I have sewn some lettuce edging, but my method seems to break machine needles and I am sure you will have better luck looking elsewhere like here!

I had been thinking about starting this blog for a while but I had a whole list of concerns. Do I have time for it? Would it detract from other writing projects? Would it be annoying and naval gazing? Would I find myself in a silly endless self referential loop blogging about my blog (like right now)? Do I really have to choose one topic when there are  so many things to write about? People are so busy, why would anyone ever read it?

I finally decided to give it a try and so far blogging has exceeded all my expectations.  While I don’t have a huge number of readers, those of you who do read this blog have been so supportive, and I will take quality over quantity any day.  It has helped me think through some of my decisions and feel less isolated as a stay at home mom.

I was happy to host a couple of guest writers,landscape designer Cheryl Corson and a jewelry maker Emily Rosenfeld. And I have been posting sort of regularly at a Jewish Parenting blog Kveller.com. I would love to collaborate more with other bloggers, and welcome ideas and guest writers.

Blogging here has helped me write more often, which in turn seems to spur more writing ideas.  I have somehow found time for the blog, during naps or while children dug around in the sandbox.  I have published a few articles here and there and I am gearing up for more magazine type writing and other creative writing.  Rather than distracting from other writing, it seems writing begets writing, so it is win-win on that front.

I am sincerely looking forward to year 2.  I am truly grateful to each of you who read this blog, I wish I could hand you each a cupcake, or a lettuce salad, depending on your preference!  I hope you stick around to see what happens here next!

And thanks to WordPress, for making it all so easy.