Babies and Biodiversity

Our new rodent control officers, Nebo and Wilmington, in the shed

Bird eggs are to be found everywhere these days

Daisies, our 'cover crop'

Chad, the macho man, spreading some straw around the new veggies

Bok choi and flowers, part of our CSA from last week

mulching the new veggies on Poplar Tent Rd

Liuba taking pride in her work

The garden and vineyard have really come alive these past few weeks with all sorts of new life. We have baby kittens in the shed, baby rabbits in the old collard patch, baby birds in the trellis posts of the vineyard, and lots of baby plants in the ground. I wish I could take pictures of all the wonders of nature, but every time I try, the photos just don't sufficiently express the beauty of the creation. One of my favourite creatures to watch is the lady bug. I brag that every one of our vines has at least one ladybug. As you can see in the photo above, we have a multitude of flowers between our rows- daisies, bachelor buttons, and bolted mustard. I am convinced that because of this, we have such a great ladybug population. We have larva, pupa, eggs, and adults. These bugs aren't only for the vineyard, but they are doing their jobs in the garden as well. The aphids are taking their toll on bok choi, but the ladybugs are starting to fight back and protect other crops as well.

This past week, we went out to the field on Poplar Tent Rd to put out the squash, zucchini, and some more eggplant. We also mulched a large portion of the garden with some old straw we got from a farm down the road. Sure, it wasn't pretty, and it had started to decompose in parts, but putting the straw down will sure make our weeding a little less this summer, along with a host of other benefits. And the best part was, it was free!!

The vines are doing ok- we are almost done with our second pass through the vineyard removing little unwanted shoots from inconvenient places. Next up will be to lay down the last shoot on the trellis wire so we establish our cordon for next year. Even after all the Lime Sulfur, Neem Oil, and Copper we've put on the vines, we still have some black rot and anthracnose. Mike and Chad went through the other day to remove some of the worst leaves on the Chambourcin (they are flowering right now!!). We sprayed the Vidal (still waiting on these to flower) on Friday, and finished just minutes before a surprise thunder shower. I hope the spray took, but nothing is certain.

I expect we'll start having our farm store open in about two weeks. The only sort of surplus we have right now is Swiss Chard, and I'm fixing to load some of that up and take it to a restaurant in Salisbury to barter for Sunday Brunch.

I still haven't figured out how to turn the photos right-side up. Please forgive me! Until. next time...