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.
Onions were popping up in 3 days, eggplant in 5 and, amazingly, some of the peppers by 6 days.
Friday was a nice sunny day. The greenhouse was close 100 degrees! Since I had the day off, I spent some time reading in the warmth--with the door open to cool it down a little.
One evening as he brought in the mail, Phil was singing. A box of seeds had arrived! Except for a few back-orders, we have most of the seeds we need.
The luffas harvested last fall were immature. They rotted rather than drying. These were found in the field recently, looking like the upper one; the thin shell was peeled off to reveal the useful interior fibers.
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.-15+008.jpg)
This picture is not from this holiday, because we're on behind with decorations and don't have such a pretty snow right now, but it does illustrate that delaying taking down Christmas decorations until February can result in a pretty picture for next year's Christmas card.-15+010.jpg)
You can see the lights on the star through the trees at spots when driving up the road. Some neighbors refer to it as the "star barn."
And to all a good night!
It has a few spots, but hasn't rotted yet. I'm just thrilled that there's room to park in the garage since the squash and sorting tables have been put away.
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