this week 4/14

This week, the weather has been perfect for working outside!  I however caught a cold (I blame my nephew who was a bit sick on Easter).  But don't worry, I didn't let that hold me back and I got a ton of work done.

You might have seen the seasonal artwork I finished as I posted it to Facebook, but I thought I'd share a bit more information about it here.  First off, it is about 11x17 inches on hot-press watercolor paper using ink and watercolors and titled "March to May" hope you like it!  Thomm has also started his writing contribution, but I haven't read any of it yet so I can't comment - although I'm sure it will be great.

Back on the farm, I've started the process of hardening off some of the seedlings by taking them out of the greenhouse for increasingly longer amounts of time to get them ready to start transplanting once I get their beds ready. It's still a bit early to be putting them out but there aren't any frosts coming up yet so, as long as I keep an eye on the weather, everyone should be happy.

In the field I prepared last year, I planted some peas that will grow up one side of the fence, and I noticed our first flower blossoming!  Still no sign of the daffodils and tulips putting out bulbs, but I think they will before the pickup.

I've also started clearing the second field I'm using and have about 25x13 feet ready for planting soon.  It was a bit of an ordeal as I'm trying to fight back brambles and small trees on one side, but so far I'm winning - although I did come out of it with a sunburn and some poison sumac so they are putting up a good fight too.  This field was used for medicinal herbs before, and either because of that or just it's what happens when you leave a tilled field alone long enough, there were a ton of dandelions with some really large roots.  Just from that one patch I cleared, I filled up my bucket so there will be plenty of dry roots for you all, and some for me too. I can't wait to try some tea/coffee made from them.  I dug up some echinacea  roots as well so, between those and the dandelions, I have an awful lot of chopping and drying to do, but at least that will give my sunburn some time to heal.

Enjoy!
Amber Haqu