Spring at The Farm

A cluster of raspberry buds. Oh they will be good.

A new greenhouse cucumber that matures at about 4-5 inches. 

Life long friend Ellen shows my great nephew how to unload
aged horse barn compost for the new raised beds. He is working the controls. 
Thanks Ellen!

My great niece is showing Grams what goes where while 
Ellen and the little girl's brother unload the trailer.

Ellen, Florencio, Angie and her son help unload the compost. 

Beets growing in the greenhouse.

The first tomatoes growing in the greenhouse.

My great nephew who is 6 wrote these tags for us!

The newly pruned orchard.

The bees are working hard.

Pear trees on the left, white barked fig trees on the right.

The new raised beds for perennials that aren't happy in the wet soil in the winter.

Beets have grown!

Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower starts from seed.

The first basil is up and smelling delicious.

Zucchini, yellow crookneck squash and patty pan squash to
grow very early in the greenhouse.

Indigo Rose tomatoes in the front, Swiss chard starts
to the right with colorful stems.

Bright lights Swiss Chard.

  6 different kinds of lettuce.

Tomatoes, sweet peas and onions.

Some seeds are tiny.

My friends Jane and Vickie came out and helped plant seeds.
Jane is planting nasturtiums.

Harvesting daffodils.

Tiny seeds grow tiny plants.
15-20 seeds in each cell are coming up. This is trailing Lobelia.

My great niece is checking out the greenhouse tomatoes.
They have grown. (So has she!)

Scott starts rototilling, then the poor tiller has a mechanical issue.
Another nephew, Andrew, ordered the parts and fixed it this last week.
Our family has skills.

My great nephew, the 6 year old, took this picture of the apple tree.
Also the one of Scott tilling. Nice work!

Some onion seeds are blue.

The little cherubs found worms in the compost
and then took a picture of it. Nice.

Old straw from the barn is lining the bottom of
the beds. The kiddos help Scott.

We have a new addition to the farm family!
She is soooo adorable!

Little fingers help plant, too. She is planting peas.
Some critter ate off the little plants that were growing in the garden. We thought if we planted bigger plants there the critters might leave them alone.

The new raised beds await the two trucks of
other compost that is on order.

Unloading the compost.

Compost has been dumped here and is still steaming, it is still breaking down.

Scott on the tractor moving large amounts, Florencio smoothing it out.

Kidlets put on the finishing touches.

Bugs are searched out and examined. :)

She shares with her brother.
They then look for more critters.

Compost has been spread out.
Many muscles are tired.

More helpers planting peas.

Eating peas are being planted here.
Brea helps out on Tuesdays after school. 

Greenhouse tomatoes have shot up. Florencio does a good job with them.
Mary is checking them out. She found some blooms. We are excited :)

The greenhouse is brimming, waiting for warmth outside.

Even little ones can plant seeds with mom's help.

She is almost two and can also harvest chives.

Artichokes are enjoying the nice day.

Lady bugs are good guys in the garden.
encourage them to stay around. Here she is on parsley.

The first greenhouse cucumber. 

Pepper plants are doing well.

Basil in the raised bed inside the greenhouse.
Boy does it smell nice.

The lettuce has grown enough to also be planted
in the greenhouse raised beds.

Four kinds of eating peas are coming up strong. 
No critters are eating them while they get a head start in the greenhouse.

Nasturtiums, which are edible, have come up well.
They will be planted out well after the last frost has passed.

New little things coming up. We are doing more succession planting. The idea is to plant some things early, what a while, plant some more then repeat. Then there will be things to harvest throughout the summer.

Onions in the foreground, 
staked up cucumbers to the side.

Yellow crookneck squash almost ready to eat.
We are trying to grow them in the greenhouse.

Another wave of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower.

More lettuce started on 4-2.

Patty pan squash in the greenhouse. 

Speckled leaves on a new kind of zucchini.
These are producing in the greenhouse, too.

Many cucumbers have set on this plant.
Each blossom will be another cuc.

We expanded the space for growing large potted veggies in the greenhouse.
The wire counters in the middle have cucumbers growing up between them. The vines will grow outward and probably try to hang down. Another experiment this year.

Blueberries are flowering like crazy.

Raspberries have many small buds.

Pears are forming. Flower petals have blown away.

Another apple blossom with the
bee protective roof showing in the background.

One of the hives is "humming" with activity.
The other 3 aren't quite so busy today.

Triple Crown blackberries in the front, then Marionberries,
then blueberries in the background.

The orchard is leafing out.
The early bloomers are indeed blooming.

The pink dogwoods Dad planted for Mom many
years ago are blooming like crazy. They both would have loved this image.

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