This week, Jeremy and Andromeda started over a thousand seeds by hand. By the end of the day, trays were filled with 100 lemon cucumbers, 100 pickling cucumbers, 144 Thanos eggplant, 144 Juliette paste tomatoes, 300 pepper starts (frying peppers, bell peppers, and habaneros), 72 German Johnson tomatoes, 144 cherry tomatoes, and 144 hybrid slicing tomatoes. It’s a lot of starts, and it’s early, but this is how we stay ahead—by stacking small, repetitive tasks before they pile up.
The starts we put in the ground in the last couple of weeks are coming in strong. In the next week, we’ll also start using fish fertilizer to help replace micronutrients in the soil. Winter production pulls hard on the ground, and this is part of keeping things balanced as we head toward spring.
The weather has been strangely lovely. While we were in Denver visiting family, daytime highs hovered in the mid-40s, and the kids had snowball fights. Back here on the farm, temperatures climbed into the upper 70s and even the mid-80s. It’s tempting to move fast when it feels like summer, and Jeremy feels the pull to put summer squash in the ground for an earlier and longer summer season.
We also welcomed a new WWOOFer this week. Caitlin drove down from British Columbia and will be with us for the next month. She’s 23, used to hard outdoor work, and comes with a background in environmental science. She spends her summers planting trees, her winters traveling, and she’s here to learn more about sustainable farming and homesteading. We’re glad to have another capable set of hands and a good attitude in the mix.
That’s the shape of the week. Seeds started, soil being fed, weather keeping us on our toes, and new people joining the work.
This Week’s Farm Box
Storage Tips
Roots: red carrots, red beets → fridge crisper, bagged; remove greens.
Greens: collards, lettuce, pac choi → wrap in a towel and bag, keep cold in the fridge.
Herbs: parsley → trim stems and store in a jar with a little water in the fridge.
Fruit/Citrus: mandarin oranges → counter for a few days or fridge for longer storage.
Squash: spaghetti squash → store whole at room temperature; refrigerate once cut.
Alliums: red onion, shallots → cool, dark, dry place; no fridge.
Other: fennel → fridge crisper in a loose bag; use within 5–7 days.
Sweet Potatoes: store at room temperature in a cool, dark place; do not refrigerate.
