Late Afternoon, Early Spring

Spring has sprung, and things are waking up. It is amazing to watch the emergence of last year's plants. It never ceases to amaze me when a plant goes dormant in the soil and sits all winter, only to grow tender green shoots again in the spring.

In the picture above, we have black currants, comfrey, strawberries, and valerian (freshly divided into 8 plants, and very wilty).

Things inside the hoophouse are holding up well. This is Melissa, watering some little seedlings with a misting wand. We made a shelf out of bamboo, and have flats of leeks, greens, wildflowers and medicinal herbs.

Here, we planted leeks directly in the ground. So we have leeks in the ground, and leeks in flats. We're trying a few different things as we develop a little production system for leeks. I envision a couple truck loads of leeks in the future!

Above is a work party in April of 2008. We laid out pathways on contour of a gentle slope, dug paths along the contour, and built garden beds right on top of grass.

By the end of the work day, in April '08, we had pathways mulched with wood chips and garden beds made of cardboard and manure. This whole area was grass just a few hours earlier!

The same area, in March '09. The small retaining walls be built at the work party are holding up wonderfully. After a year of adding grass clippings and cover cropping with cowpeas, sunflowers, and a crop of cabbage, we are ready for another summer.
Right now, we have some happy garlic, comfrey, black currants, paw paws, mustard greens, radishes, and peas...and this is only the beginning!

Closeup of the peas, with a trellis ready to support their climb. On the left, we have comfrey planted as a border between the garden area and the grassy hill. Comfrey is one of our most useful plants. We use it with oils and beeswax to make salves for sunburns, wounds, and dry skin. The leaves are dried and used for teas that we drink as well as teas that we spray on gardens. It grows so well, we scythe it 3-4 times in the summer, and use the leaves to mulch the garden below. We try to allow some plants to always be flowering, though, because bees love the purple/blue blossoms.