On our farm some things happen year round and some things just happen seasonally. On the meat side, we raise beef, pork, and goat, and collect eggs year round. On the veggie side we have our perennials that come up on their own each year – rhubarb, horseradish, asparagus, scallions, mint, oregano, chives. Then in the spring and summer of each year we raise meat chickens and plant annual veggies.
These spring and summer doings have started!
Our first batch of meat birds, 50 of them, arrived last week in the cold. They have done well in the brooder and will move to the pasture in another couple of weeks. They will be large enough to process and eat in mid-June.
On the veggie side, peas, spinach, carrots, and Swiss chard are out of the ground. We have planted red and yellow onions, tatsoi, beets, bull’s blood beet greens, carrots, and lettuce. Potatoes should go in the ground in the next week or two. By mid-May to late May we will plant the warm weather, frost-intolerant crops – beans, corn, squash, basil.
A lot can happen between now and the veggie harvest (and between now and when we process chickens, too) – too much rain or sun, not enough weeding or mulching, predators, like rabbits, woodchucks, or deer. But we have started and gotten things in the ground. Now to work and watch…We will keep you posted!