What�s up on the farm?

Spring is finally here in earnest. �The trees are all leafing out, the spring flowers and fruit trees are blooming and we are finding ramps and morel mushrooms in the timber. �And with the spring, the real work begins! �All of the transplants crops have now been sown, with the exception of the brussel sprouts, which will be seeded this week.� The majority of the earlier transplants have moved from the sunroom to the small high tunnel to start hardening off for their final move to the gardens. �The crops in the large high tunnel are growing like crazy and provided a great harvest for our opening farmers market this past weekend. �Before long those crops will be finished and both tunnels will be planted with summer crops like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cukes and basil.

The outdoor gardens are slowly starting to look like gardens again. �The peas are starting slowly due to the rain, but the green onions, radishes, carrots, mustard greens, spinach, kale, turnips, kohlrabi and broccoli raab are coming along nicely. �We didn�t get the potatoes sown on Good Friday, but the majority of them were in the ground the next day and today I saw the first of the potatoes sprouts breaking through the soil.� The onion transplanting has begun and we hope to get the broccoli and cabbage plants into the ground later this week.

In addition to the gardens, we have also been planting fruit trees to add to our collection. �This year we�ve added apples, peaches, cherries, plumcots, pears, plums, currents, and high bush cranberries. �We lost several fruit trees due to the excess of rain last year, so some of the new trees were replacements and the rest were expansions of our young orchards.

The chickens have been enjoying the new flush of green grass out in the pasture. �About two weeks ago we started getting our first pullet eggs from the ladies, and now we are getting at least three dozen a day, with increasing numbers expected. �We are now down to two roosters (which is really one more than we need) so things are a little more quiet out there, although someone finds it necessary to start crowing at 4:30 in the morning so we might have one less very soon.

Bee yard report: The majority of the new hives are coming along very well: lots of brood!� One of the new hives has lots of eggs and capped brood but it is all drones (male bees) which means the queen is infertile.� We�ll combine this small colony with another colony instead of raising or acquiring a new queen. �A couple of the old hives have tremendous populations and will get honey supers this week to begin filling!

We�ve gotten several questions from members about when the deliveries will begin. �We still plan on a start on either the last week of May or the first week of June. �We will keep you updated as that grows closer. �Also, we will be holding new member orientations at Ritual Caf� (DM pick-up location) and at the farm later this month. We will let you know in the next week or so when those dates are set.

That�s pretty much our month in review. �Remember if you want to read more information on the farm, you can check out the blog (updated at least once a week) at http://beyondthebluegate.blogspot.com and BGF now has its own FaceBook page, become a fan and share in the fun.� Our website has a new addition: In the News with links to articles, radio and TV coverage of BGF.

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean