Farm Tour Friday 2/4/2022
Yes it’s Friday and a NEW Month! We are happy that it is February, because this is our spring. Not on the calendar nor outside for at least 45 days, not that we are counting! We start our physical growing season in our greenhouse this month. In Western Pennsylvania we don’t receive much sunshine from Thanksgiving until now so there is not much point in starting seeds without the benefit of grow lights. Did you know we are one of the top three cloudiest areas of the country?
Plowing the road in between the high tunnels and the greenhouse.
Our back fields covered in a blanket of snow.
The week started with a great day of sunshine and my dad and I decided we better tackle all the snow piled up on the outside of our new high tunnel. We had thought we would only need to use our snow blower to remove the excess snow. We could not have been more wrong, it was tractor time! The snow drift was over 5’ at one end and came out at least 10’ from the base of the house. It was a bit touch and go a couple of times. The tractor would slide toward the house every now and then and we both held our breath. The reason we have to remove the snow on the sides of the houses is due to the amount of weight that can build up pressure and cause it to collapse from the bottom. You would think only the weight of the snow on top would cause a collapse. We’re thankful that job is done and we hope we don’t receive more than a few inches of snow at a time for the rest of the season.
Our 96ft long high tunnel before the snow on the side of it was removed.
Mark on the tractor removing the snow from the side of the high tunnel.
Finished! We removed as much snow as we could.
Mark and Kate the snow removal team.
Tuesday was another surprise sunny day. I have been itching to get my seeding started. Mom and I spent the morning going over our planting schedule and checking to see what we may be missing. Oops- we still need to order a few important types of seeds! I was determined to get started seeding and that afternoon it was 75 degrees F in the greenhouse. I was able to get several varieties sown (foxglove, yarrow, feverfew, cresses, orlaya, & bupleurum) and the sun made seeding so much easier to do.
Trying to organize and schedule our seeding for the year.
Ranunculus growing nicely in trays in the greenhouse.
Winter arrived again our area and brought a day of rain, freezing rain and more snow. We prepared for loss of power and were fortunate that it was not windy after we received the freezing rain. Bad weather always brings something with it - well ours was virtual school for two days. Three grade schools students all in class at one time, it’s kind of amusing hearing three different classrooms at one time. Keeping their schedules straight is a task in itself. Each teacher lets us know the schedule each day. I set quite a few alarms!
A lilac covered in a thick layer of ice from the freezing rain.
Our curly willow covered in a layer of ice.
Mom and I worked on dividing dahlias every chance we had this week. We now have 6 varieties divided and we plan to offer each of these during our dahlia tuber sale.
Wynn’s Mauve Mist
Sylvia
Ooh Lala
Wizard of Oz
I’m A Hottie
Ali Oop
We rounded out our week with off farm meetings and several evening classes. I sometimes believe keeping schedules in the winter can be more challenging than during the growing months.
Thanks for joining me for Farm Tour Friday. Have a great weekend!
