May 4-9 (Day to Day)

Monday:  Today we started out harvesting asparagus at Stella Gardens and the North Farm, which is available for sale out of the walk-in cooler here at MFAI. We then continued work on the hoop house. In the afternoon I started out driving the Allis Chalmers G ( a small tractor used exclusively for cultivation or weeding ca. 1940) down to the North Farm. Next I hooked up the water wheel transplanter to the JD 5320 and drove it back to Stella. I then drove it in Field Block A while Katie, Kirsten and Mara rode behind and transplanted lettuce. I finished up the day by washing off the transplanter, driving the tractor back to the North Farm, and hooking up the potato planter for tomorrow morning.

Tuesday: As I mentioned earlier, today we planted potatoes, more than 4,000 row feet of them to be exact. The potatoes went in the Creek Field and took all of the morning and most of the afternoon as well. However, Mara and I continued our Tuesday routine and went to Ela's Orchard with Bob, our cooperative instructor. At Bob's, we set up a fence in order to move the sheep out to pasture, mulched the honey crisp trees that were planted last year, and began walking around the orchard, setting up insect monitoring traps and looked for signs of black scab fungus. 

Wednesday: This morning started out with harvesting asparagus at Stella Gardens and the North Farm(this is starting to become a great morning ritual). The rest of the morning we worked on preparing and shaping beds for the weeks to come, including roto-tilling the area under the soon to be completed hoop house. The afternoon was split, some students worked on individual projects and the rest of use worked in the gardens. I worked on scuffle hoeing(probably my new favorite hand tool that is used for weeding) the beds of chard and spinach. 

Thursday: Today things slowed down a little due to the rain, and Shawn, Katie and I went to the greenhouse and worked on planting rutabagas, tomatillos  and starting peas shoots for our CSA members. In the afternoon Mara and I went to work with Dan, our cooperative beekeeping instructor, and continued our weekly recording and observation process.  And as a special treat I found my first Morel mushrooms today, only 7 but hopefully more will come!!

Friday: Again asparagus harvesting started out first thing in the morning. After harvesting for a little while I drove the G down to Stella and cultivated my first two beds of lettuce. The afternoon consisted of a lecture on biodynamic preparations, and then more garden work. I worked on shaping beds for spinach and arugula, which will hopefully get planted tomorrow.

Saturday: It rained again last night, but we stayed busy harvesting and processing asparagus. After that we went out to Earth Care Suri Alpaca Farm and helped shear their alpacas, which was a very interesting and extremely informative morning (picture to come soon).