Happy Beltane! Happy May Day!

The weather was perfect for Beltane (May Day) here on the farm. We couldn't have asked for better, especially since we were hosting the annual plant sale. It was sunny and hot, so we had quite a crowd come through. For years, Rachel has organized this plant sale and invited several area vendors including farms, school programs, landscapers, handmade wood furniture carpenters, and more. What fun to see so many people excited about starting their gardens! Person after person came through the booth to greet Rachel (Eric was at the Farmer's Market), which was evidence of the community that Rachel and Eric have built over the 11 years of farming at Waterpenny. The sale seemed like it went really well overall, although we haven't heard the official word from Rachel or Eric to confirm it. If it works, the video below is a panorama of all the booths that were there for the sale, starting with our booth. The picture above is me on my lunch break looking down at all the carloads of people stopping by an otherwise pretty quiet farm.

Intern Rachel organized a Kentucky Derby party for us after the plant sale! She and I got into our dresses and big hats, and then, of course, we all drank Mint Juleps. This is at the picnic table right outside of the intern house. I was grateful for Rachel's organization and hospitality because my good friend, Caroline (in black shirt), came to visit me this weekend, so we all had a grand time together!

This past week we went to visit an alpaca farm! Here are a few pictures and a few things that I learned while I was there:

• alpacas weigh an average 150 pounds, whereas llamas average about 300 pounds
• alpacas are herd animals like sheep
• there are about 21 official colors of wool
• white is the dominant coat color gene, so these breeders get excited when babies are born with a brown or gray or black
• the most wool comes from the body of the alpaca and is called the blanket
• alpacas are pretty gentle animals
• although the wool can be dyed, the breeders hope to breed their animals so that they come out with a true or natural color that can be sold without being dyed
• Llacey (I added the extra "L!") the llama is the alpaca guard animal, playing the same role that Lleo the llama was playing for the sheep at Mt. Vernon Farm (mentioned in an earlier post)
• the thicker the coat, the better

Aren't they cute? Their eyes reminded me of deer eyes, big and round and soft and loving. Or maybe you can't quite see that as well in these pictures. I am posting their profile pictures because they are making me giggle! They all have such personality, don't they? Especially since most of them have recently been sheered.

I also mentioned in a previous post that there was some trouble in the greenhouse early on this spring. We were waiting to see whether or not the plants were going to bounce back from it. Some of them did...but some of them didn't. Anika and I spent one morning last week composting several flats of plants. It was hard for us to "throw away" the plants, but I'm sure it was even harder for Eric and Rachel. The pictures are of us washing out the flats and pots after throwing the plants into the compost. As a team we are re-seeding lots of things and still ended up with several plants to sell at the plant sale, so I think it's going to be ok.

Another challenging thing that happened one night last week was a frost. The morning after the frost Eric started our meeting by saying, "Well, you know all those tomatoes and squash that we just planted into the ground? There's a real good chance that we lost them last night." He said that they have been doing this planting at this time of year for the past 10 years and that if we did lose them, this will be the first year it has happened. When Eric went out to check the tomatoes and squash after our meeting, he said, "They aren't happy and loving life, but they aren't dead yet either." That's the last I've heard, and again, time will tell.