Potatoes and Wasmund's Single Malt Handcrafted Whiskey

Yesterday we planted onions. It was the first time that we planted something into the ground! Eric said they looked a little more roughed up than normal. They did look about half dead to me. Eric assured us that they would shape up (he hoped) once they got into the soil and came in contact with the moisture. They were dormant when they came via UPS to us. And wouldn't you know, it rained lightly yesterday afternoon to help them settle into their new homes.

We also planted potatoes. Though short-lived, we all had a lot of fun doing that! I need to get a picture up here about it, but planting potatoes involved sitting on planter seats at the back of a tractor and throwing potatoes in every other hole in the ground. Rachel and I were partners and did pretty well until we got the giggles. We had to holler up to Eric to STOP! while we rectified our increasingly misplaced potatoes. Eric said that potatoes weren't their specialty so they didn't give them too much attention. Last year they got about 10 times the amount of pounds of potatoes that they planted and we are hoping for a similar year this year.

We then seeded some herbs as well as did some spotting of tomatoes.































Over our lunch break I gathered everyone up and to go on the CopperFox/Wasmund Whiskey Distillery tour. They are basically located right across highway 211 from us. These guys do their whole operation by hand. One thing that I thought was interesting was that they sprout their barley right there on the floor of the warehouse. They just produced their 38th batch since opening in 2005. Their operation is in the same building where Skyline Apple Juice production used to happen. There are a few remaining apple orchards in the area, but many of them have gone under and have been torn down. I'm sure the apple juice company went under around the same time.

We spent the afternoon spotting tomatoes. I spent most of it with the Pink Girls. We'll see how those girls turn out!

And this morning we looked at the germination rooms in Eric's basement. When there are seeds in there, Eric checks the room 3-4 times a day, just like the weather! Once those seeds kick into gear, they really grow fast. For instance, we checked them first thing this morning and there was NOTHING visible in one of the flats. At lunch we checked it again and there were over a dozen sprouts knuckling up above the surface of the soil!

We also learned the tricks and hazards of watering the greenhouse and hoop house. Not too wet, not too dry is the summary.

This afternoon I spotted a few different kinds of chard and then plugged some rosemary into some sales flats. And there you have it, folks!