Monday, May 21, 2012

Spring Harvests and Eggs for Sale.

Gardening season is in full swing here. i'm still a bit behind in planting my main garden, but the other beds are about 95% planted and doing pretty well. My main garden is a summer garden, so the plants do not have to be in as early as the spring crops.

My front garden, which is the 'purple garden' and salad bed combined, is the farthest along. It was planted the earliest with cold crops and a couple rows of purple beans. My biggest issue with this garden has been flea beetles, which pretty much destroyed the Redbor kale i planted. i have a couple plants still hanging in there, but the majority of the kale in this bed really didn't do well at all. i just recently pulled out the Diatomaceous Earth, so i'm hoping that will help. i have more kale in a different garden that is doing fantastic...so i'm not that worried about it.



My buttercrunch is doing great. i haven't had any pest problems with any of my lettuces so far.


My spinach, despite the warmer temps, is still doing fantastic. It hasn't started to bolt at all, and i have a ton of new seeding coming up in a shaded bed that are thriving. We've been enjoying it in salads, and hoping to freeze quite a bit of it for later use.


Lots of baby greens coming up. These spring mix salads are always my favorites. i love the tender leaves and the subtle flavors of the different greens.



We are eating lots of salads!! This was our first salad of the year! It is a combination of buttercrunch, spinach, baby greens and red Majesty lettuce.

We are also harvesting Egyptian onions, pea shoots, garlic scapes and asparagus. The asparagus has been so good this year. We are harvesting 4-5 shoots per day, so we are getting enough for a meal about twice a week. Each spring we plant a few new crowns, hoping to eventually increase our yield, but it never seems like enough.


We are just starting to get a few strawberries. Our strawberries have never done very well, the chickens have always torn them up...and the wild birds would eat the few berries we would get. i planted several new plants earlier this spring, and moved the beds into an area that is now completely fenced. i'm really hoping that this will help, as strawberries are one of my favorites.




Our hens have been busy laying this spring! We are getting over a dozen a day, way more than we can possibly eat. We have been sharing them with our neighbors, but are still finding ourselves with lots of excess. So we decided to put some for sale for local folks passing by. Our road gets no traffic at all, but Kenan's shop is on 221, a main road.

Kenan has a fridge at his shop in Willis and will be keeping a few dozen for sale there for local folks who are interested. He doesn't have a sign up yet, but will eventually. They are $2 per dozen. They are not certified organic, but they are farm fresh and free range. Our yard and gardens are organic (completely chemical free). They get corn scratch which is milled at Vaughn's Mill, a local mill right down the road from us. i can even give you the names of the chicken that laid each egg. :) His workshop is located almost across the street from the Willis Village mart. If you are interest in eggs, just let me know how many you need and i can make sure and send some along with him.
Later this summer, i'm hoping to set up a little plant stand in front of his shop and offer a few perennials for sale. Eventually, we'll be opening a retail shop in the space as well.


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