February News and Buying Club Open

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

The buying club is now open for orders.   Deliveries and pick-ups will be Friday and Saturday, depending on location.  Ordering ends Thursday at 5 am.  We continue to have eggs, apple orchard pork and storage vegetables available.  New this week; we have a limited supply of Dancing Hen Farm sauerkraut.

I have deemed this winter the season of the rubber boot.  Slick slimy mud is the new norm on farm and I wear my boots daily!  Generally mud season doesn't set in until closer to spring, but this year, we have had very few days of solidly frozen ground.  It does look like we may get some snow this week, but temperatures are to be back close to 50 by the beginning of next week.  That will bring more mud!  And yep, more days spent with my boots as my favorite fashion accessory! 

The mud and warmer temperatures have Farmer Don eager to get planting.  In the next week or so, he will fire up the new nursery greenhouse and begin planting early spring greens.  Once seeds are planted and starting to sprout, we will need to pay close attention to temperatures, as one low night time temperature can freeze out all of these new transplants.  Hopefully the woodstove will keep our greenhouse full of transplants warm and toasty!  The first transplants will be ready to be planted out towards the end of March, depending on the weather.  And we are hoping for the first harvest sometime in April or May. 

This past week was conference week for Dancing Hen Farm.  Farmer Don spent last Monday and Tuesday in Hershey at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference.  Then on Wednesday we all headed to State College for 3 days at the Pennsylvania Sustainable Agriculture Conference.  These conferences are a bit like working vacations for us.  We attend many useful workshops, but we also get to network with fellow farmers and visit with friends, some of who we only see once a year at the conference.  We always arrive home on Saturday night feeling energized and excited to start growing and putting some of our newly gained knowledge to work.

 

With being gone most of the week learning and socializing, there isn't much farm news to report.  But, soon, very soon, I will be reporting on filled seed trays and temperatures in our seed house!  Right now, I have a dog giving me puppy eyes, as she tries desperately to convince me to get up and take her for her pre-bed walk!

Have a great week!  Thanks again for your support!