Greetings from a soggy Dancing Hen Farm!
Spring is in full swing and summer is just around the
corner. This spring has been wet and cool.
Last week we were scrambling to cover plants and get fires going in our
greenhouses, as the night time temperatures dropped into the 30's. Our low was 33 for two nights and I can
happily report, although I saw frost on our back roof, our plants suffered no
damage. Watching this morning's weather
report, it seems summer will be making an appearance this week, with dry
weather and temperatures in the 70's and 80's.
I guess we can put away the wool hats (at least for this week!) and get
out the sunscreen and straw hats!
Spring is always a busy time on farm, as we are seeding and
planting and getting ready for animals.
The seed house and plant nursery are filling up with flats of germinating
seeds and our fields are slowly getting planted. We have cooking and salad greens planted and
a several nice beds of spring broccoli.
Farmer Don is experimenting with some broccoli varieties this year
developed specifically for East Coast growers.
Broccoli is often a challenging crop for us. If our resident ground hogs don't devour our
plants, our weather causes the broccoli to not form heads and bolt, or flower,
too quickly. The varieties he is growing
this year have been developed to grow well in our varying weather
conditions. Stayed tuned for how our
spring broccoli harvest goes!
As a diverse farm, we are also preparing our fields for
animals. The area for our pastured
chickens has been mowed and our first batch of pastured broilers will be moved
from the barn to the pasture next week.
The pig area is almost ready for this year's pigs, which will arrive on
farm next month. Farmer Don continues to
work on our fences, with the ultimate goal of adding sheep to our farm's production
plan. And of course, the longer days
have our laying hens doing what they do best, laying eggs!
It is hard to believe this will be our tenth year of
production on this farm. One of our goals
since our first growing season has been to take care of our soil. Soil is an important and sometimes overlooked
vital resource for sustaining life. In
the micro environment of our farm, the healthier our soil, the healthier our
plants and animals are and therefore the more nutrient dense the foods we
produce are. As many of you probably
already know, Farmer Don is passionate about soil! When I asked him if he had anything he wanted
included in the newsletter, he told me to talk about yellow clover. Yes, yellow clover! Yellow clover is a cover crop and as much as
respect and love Farmer Don's new affection for yellow clover, I think a very general
discussion of cover crops might be an easier read. (and easier for me to write!) To build and preserve our soil, Farmer Don plants
a variety of cover crops. We try to
rotate between cover and cash crops and sometimes managing the cover crops
becomes more of a challenge than managing cash crop! Cover crops are diverse and each has separate
(and sometimes combined) effects on the
soil and unique management requirements.
Each cover crop has unique planting requirements. Some are combined with other cover (or cash)
crops. Some get planted in the fall, others in the spring or summer. Most either need to be mowed at a specific
life stage or incorporated into the soil when green. The benefits of these cover crops can be
great. Some make nutrients more available
in our soil, some inhibit plant (think weeds) growth, others out compete weeds
and most add vital organic matter and increase the tilth and water holding
capacity of our soil. There is a quite a
bit of information available about cover crops and if you see Farmer Don out
and about he would be more than willing to share his knowledge. Or, stop by the farm for a tour and cover
crop demonstration!
As is usual for this time of year, we are getting lots of
interest in our CSA. We do still have
memberships available for 2017. We are a
full choice CSA. Members log into our
website each week and choose the exact items they would like to receive. We then custom harvest and hand pack each of
our customer's weekly boxes. Boxes can
be picked up on farm or for an extra fee delivered to a central pick up site or
your home or work. We have pick up sites
in Bloomsburg, Danville and throughout Luzerne County. If you need information as to where a
specific site is, please contact us at the farm. All deliveries and pick ups are on
Tuesdays. New this year, we are offering
separate summer season and a fall season shares. Summer season deliveries will begin in
June. We do need memberships paid prior
to the start of deliveries. As always,
please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions.
I am starting to wrap up this newsletter, but how can I do
that without talking about food and cooking!
We have been doing a happy dance in the kitchen. Why? Because
Dancing Hen Farm's field to table dining is returning! We are starting to harvest greens, so salads
and stir frys are becoming frequent kitchen creations. It is so nice to be eating off our land again
and soon we will be sharing this harvest with all of you!! Stay tuned for a possible buying club
delivery and of course, the start of CSA deliveries.
One more announcement!
On Thursday (5/18) at 7 pm we will be at St Therese's in Shavertown talking
about our farm as part of their "Healthy Eating: Loving ourselves and our
World II" series. This event is
free and open to the public.
Ok, time to rest my fingers and your eyes! Thanks again for reading and for your support
of our farm and local agriculture.
