Sunday, February 17, 2008

Snowy days

We're not doing much in the fields right now other than taking the dog for walks. For the past few weeks they have either been covered in snow and frozen, or very muddy. I hope the fickle weather is luring some bugs out just to be zapped in the next cold spell!
Last week mom and dad inventoried seeds and placed orders for what we need. In the winter it is easy to get carried away by the pictures in catalogs, and they discuss how many more or less tomatoes to grow and whether it will be worth trying a new variety of zucchini. (Mom says: "I've tried almost every kind of zucchini that there is, and Spineless Beauty is still the best.") A few packets of seeds were 4 or 5 years old, so they tested it to see if an acceptible percentage would still germinate. These radish seeds (which were donated from customers, but don't really have time for) are still viable, but the pumpkins and gourds haven't sprouted yet.

On January 26, we had the first annual farm dinner at Vesuvio's new restraunt for the people who contribute to the farm in the summer. These neighbors, family, and market friends make what we do in the summer possible, and it was nice to see them in the winter. Including spouses, twenty-three people attended. Vesuvio's has its own farm connection; in the summer they use lots of our "ripe and ready" tomatoes in salads and sauses.