How Two Disasters Turned Out Okay

That's what Eric said as we were in the midst of re-planting the pepper field this morning. "See? Now you have witnessed how two disasters can sometimes turn out okay." He was referring to the same situation that we had in the tomato field last week. On Sunday, the weather got down below freezing again. 29 degrees, in fact. So we lost a lot of peppers, squash, and yes, the tomatoes we REplanted last week. Sigh. However, Eric had us replant with the greenhouse peppers that we likely won't be able to sell at market because of how the wintered soil turned them yellow. The yellowing of these plants was one disaster that is providing our fix for the frosty second disaster. And again, we are hoping for the best- that once these yellowed pepper plants get into the ground's good soil they will perk up and start thriving.

I also saw the effects of row cover! There were some plants that were (magically!) fine through the frost, but ONLY because they were covered with row cover. It kept them just warm and protected enough to survive the chilly, wet air. I guess that should make us grumble a little less when Eric asks us to go out and fix the row cover one more time before nightfall (because the wind blew it off the plants!

And have I mentioned that the first night of the chickens was also the night I spotted the first lightning bug of the year? And last night there were even more! I'm excited at the thought that the whole farm may be lit up by these beautiful things once they are in full force.

Come time for the lightning bugs to come out, I always tell my east coast friends that I didn't know that fireflies were real until I was in high school. Really! I just thought they were as real as a unicorn. I took a class trip to Philadelphia, though, in high school. No WAIT! That was in college?! Anyway, we were walking around in the summer time when I saw them. I stopped in my tracks in the middle of the sidewalk and just stared. They're real! I am still amazed by them, every time I see them. Just beautiful!

And what were we doing this morning before replanting the peppers? Weeding blueberries! As each crop comes in, each of us interns start to drool at the thought of it ripening. The berries are large on the bushes and just starting to turn from green to blue. Just barely. This is a picture of the blueberry plants when I first arrived on the farm. They are much more green and full (and weedy!) now.
Remember how excited I was by the asparagus? Well I keep trying to remind myself how special it is (and how much my parents love it!) so that I don't take it for granted. It's only supposed to last a couple more weeks, but we feel like we've had asparagus coming out our ears! Do you have to blanch it before you freeze it?

This afternoon we had some folks from Radical Roots and Appalachian Star farms come for a tour on our farm. We just finished our potluck together. I have to figure out how to taste everything at these potlucks with people who love to grow, cook and eat food...without getting a stomach ache from eating too much!

Oh, and last night I joined Sunnyside Farm interns for drinks and a light dinner at the Blue Rock Inn just up the road. The Inn has been closed for a year or two and just opened up a couple weeks ago under new management. We had to check it out. Here is a picture of us. Stacy, in the front on the left, worked here at Waterpenny for two seasons before heading over to Sunnyside Farm.It's been rainy and/or cold since Tuesday, so we've been weeding and working in the greenhouse a lot. Here is a foggy picture of my shed. Remember there's a mountain behind there?!Oh, and I don't know if I should say this too loudly, or too soon for that matter, but I think I kinda like weeding.

Heading out now to put the, ahem, slower chickens in the coop to roost. The majority of them were in the coop when we got there last night, so maybe even more have caught on by tonight. We shall see.