After a winter buried in spreadsheets and infrastructure projects, I'm pleased to say we have things growing on the farm! Garlic planted last fall is peeking through the mulch and the greenhouse is filling up with flats.
The earliest things we seed - or, I should say, Karin seeds - are the native plants: milkweed, blazing star, and 70+ other species of pollinator-friendly plants bound for sale to nurseries, landscapers, home gardeners, and plantings adjacent to our own vegetable production fields. We also plan to have an on-farm plant sale in May...keep an eye out for an update on that soon!
Because most native plant seeds need stratification (a particular duration of storage under certain conditions, usually cool and moist), the seeds are mixed in with a stratification medium, such as sand or vermiculite. This makes them quite labor intensive to seed compared to vegetable seeds, which come clean, dry, and uniform in packets ready to germinate. Karin has been working day and night to get everything seeded outside of her day job work hours. Kudos to her! Here she is seeding a few nights ago:
As I write this, it's sunny and 35 degrees outside (85 in the greenhouse!), and spring is in the air. Though I have a few more pre-season projects to complete before I'm ready to dive into field production, I sure am excited for spring!
-Dana