Early start
Like in past years, the onions and leeks were started in February. This year I had the great privilege of starting my seedlings on racks in the science building at Brooks.
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| The building is an incredible germination chamber, so to speak. |
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| Peas, kale and chard in the high tunnel. |
Except for my first year of farming, when I did not know any better, I have not tilled the soil this early. Back to those early days when my late-husband figured out how to use the BCS and we tilled the heavy clay soils that we had in Dracut to plant carrots. It was a mistake then. Whilst today, it is not, the soil is different here - lighter and sandier. Moreover, the weather has been favorable for awhile and the cover crop did its good job in protecting and enriching the soil. I have one more pass here and then hope to lay the "plastic mulch" to plant onions, leeks and shallots out. Later maybe even carrots!
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Re-seeded clover aisles and a newly tilled quadrant with other blocks waiting to be mowed.
Bees
Alas, I have become a reluctant beekeeper. Last year one of the hives did not make it, so this year I bought another three-pound package of bees. Because I am not the calmest person (like Kamal was - the bees were his idea) I dreaded my tasks at the hives. When installing the package into the newly situated hive, I did everything wrong! The gel feeder fell apart amongst the bees; I dropped the queen and had to fish her out. In the end, I got the hive set-up and the bees are using entrance. Most importantly, they have a pollen patty and some sugar water to get them going before the nectar from the flowers are out.
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Left-sided newly installed bees with leftover package near the entrance to encourage those bees in the container to join the hive.
The photo above shows the work 1/2 done. This mild winter has meant the bees have been out and I have been feeding them. Hence, now is the time to check out how the hive has been doing over the winter. It's supposed to be in the 70's on Monday so time to take off the winter wrapping.
Thank God for protective clothing as I really stirred up the bees. Moved one story from the top to the bottom, tried to separate the supers and picked up some frames from a lower super that were "glued" then unceremoniously dropped the frames to the ground. Ah well, all of us were happy when I left the premises.
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