A friend from warmer climes recently described New England weather as "temperamental," which is a very apt description of the past month in particular. We had some gorgeous 60 and 70 degree days in March that promoted some early green growth in the garlic and strawberries. It also gave us some beautiful days to work on constructing the frame of our new greenhouse, as well as allowed us to begin some plowing and field prep earlier than usual. But we've also had some snow days and some extremely cold temps interspersed with the warmth (including 14 degree temps this morning!). It remains to be seen whether the drastically colder temperatures from early April will do damage to plants that had been tricked into thinking it was actually early May, but we did our best to protect the crops that were already coming up with row covers. The late snow and cold snaps have prevented us from truly getting an early jump on the season, but we are really happy with the progress we've been able to make on the nicer days!
Installing the ridge purlin on the top of the greenhouse frame
Our biggest project this spring (other than the regular business of growing vegetables!) has been beginning construction of our new greenhouse. We received a matching grant from the the MA Department of Agricultural Resources, as well as a very generous contribution from a CSA member to build this essential structure. Last week Lise's dad and father-in-law, as well as our friends Gretta and Paul helped us line up and pound in ground posts, as well as assemble the hoop structure. We are so grateful for all the help and support we've received so far in this project that is so essential to the running of this farm. We're waiting for another warm and dry day to tackle the next steps in the framing process. Hopefully the structure will be finished within the next month, as our original greenhouse is just about full!