The growing season is upon us! We have begun sowing seeds in trays in the greenhouses, planting young plants in the ground, and preparing more fields for the abundant growing season to come!
This summer we received abundant rain – a welcome change from the past many summers stricken by drought. With ample moisture, our cover crops grew very well, providing a lush start to soil preparation, and plenty of fresh green organic matter to work into the soil.
Some summers, we make progress on a great deal of projects. In the past months, we wrapped up a new gutter runoff system for our barn. Rainwater is collected and diverted 300 ft away to our pond, to prevent erosion and flooding of our driveway and fields, and conserving the water as surface water for the pond (detailed in part and photos here).Good news – it’s working great! We also built a new 3,000 square ft greenhouse (high tunnel), which will enable us to grow more of everyones favorite crops during the winter.
With every strong stride forward, we expect setbacks along the way, as that is the nature of farming. With the heavy rains and winds brought our way by tropical storm Debby, we lost a live oak tree, which landed partially on our newly constructed tunnel. We made quick work of taking out the tree, and luckily the only damage to the new building was the roof plastic. The structure itself was spared and remains sound.
So now, onward to planting!
Soon, the farm will be bustling and vibrating with green as the young plants of diverse vegetables and flowering plants of all kinds begin to stretch upward toward the sun.
Next, come October, we will be ready to gather the first harvest, and drive it down to downtown St. Pete. We look forward to seeing you then!
There are two weeks left to join us as a Farm Member for the coming season (final day to join is Sept 1). So if you haven’t joined yet, you can do so here. If you have already joined us – we welcome you! If you’re still considering it – read more here. Each new enrollment fills us with joy and excitement to dedicate a growing season to many new and returning families. Thank you!
More from us soon,
Ellen and Cole