Preparing and Planning

The past couple of days, we had some above freezing temperatures that got be pining for digging and planting in the garden. Winter has returned, though, but there is much to do to prepare for Spring.

I took advantage of the nice day yesterday and cleaned our wood stove and chimney. We burn a lot of wood in our stove and I have to sweep it 4 or 5 times throughout the season. We use the stove to heat our dining room and kitchen as well as keeping the dogs warm.

I also will begin inspecting and disinfection my maple sap collection equipment. I wash the buckets, spiles, lids, and milk jugs in a solution of 1 part unscented bleach to 20 parts water. We have over a dozen sugar maple trees on our farm that I tap each season. I hope to start tapping trees in another week or two.


I also clean my seed starting pots in a solution of the same mixture. In the next couple of days I will begin starting seeds indoors, with the first ones being onions, asparagus, rhubarb, lettuce, and spinach. Once these plants germinate they will be moved outdoors to the cold frames. I also will draw plans for my gardens this year and decide what varieties to grow.


Last, I need to clean a room and prepare for our first intern of the 2011 season! Erich will be joining us next week. He is one of many interns who will be joining us this season and we are exciting to be working with everyone of them.

With Erich, we plan to make some repairs and do some painting indoors until the weather breaks. Then we have a lot of work to do outside. Some of the projects we have planned are building more raised beds, preparing the gardens, building new rabbit pens, converting the chicken coop into a garden shed for Jorene, and trimming apple trees. Look for more posts on our progress throughout the season.