March Newsletter

March 2019

 Despite the biting winds and still sub-zero nights, the sun sits higher and for longer in the sky now.  Spring is creeping closer.  We enjoy winter on the farm, although daily animal chores and snow removal are ever-present, the number of things requiring our regular attention drops to a more relaxing level, affording time for outdoor adventure and relaxing.  This year we were treated with multiple stretches of the most beautiful ice for skating on our pond.  Although it makes for a good skiing surface when covered with snow, there was something gleeful about traveling back and forth so quickly across its length on skates.

People often ask what we do to keep busy all winter, but really our break is relatively short.  The winter C.S.A. keeps us occupied with vegetable washing packing and sorting for the bi weekly distributions from November until the end of January.  This year we grew spinach and lettuce in our greenhouse for the share.  The greens really put on all or most of their growth by mid-November, and then went under multiple layers of soft fabric to keep them slightly more insulated from the cold, and to keep the frost from settling on them.  The fabric layers get pulled off daily when the sun is out even on the coldest of days to allow the greens to vent and to prevent condensation from building up on their fragile leafy surfaces. 

Now that we’ve had a break from tending to winter greens, we are cleaning out our seed starting house in preparation for onion and leek planting starting next week.  

Check out our Winter 2018-’19 farm video on our website’s blog page or the Earle Family Farm facebook page.  Stay posted for more to come…

 

~Hosac Farm Cornish, ME