Rehoboth Homestead

I am greatly appreciating a rainy day inside. The ducklings enjoyed it outside.  They are incredible bug eaters. I did a quick video of them. With two hoophouses, I could stay busy in them for several rainy days, but in addition to piles of papers around the computer, I had a very long inside To [..

Spring fever has a different connotation on the farm. It relates to a feverish pace, not to taking it easy. I planned to move the newsletter to Sunday or Monday but am now getting to it Tuesday evening only because of the drizzle. Mostly things are moving along wonderfully.  We do have a couple hick

Lots of good news, at least from our end.  First, we are at the same level of membership as we had last year, and are continuing to get interest.  We are within a couple hundred dollars of having the CSA contribute $30,000 to our sales this year (which is why we have to sell at [...]

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing that it doesn’t belong in a fruit salad.” I don’t know the origin of this statement.  I got it off another farmer’s email. It’s been a busy week, though it doesn’t sound like much.  I have about half the potatoes planted.  My goal, [.

can understand why cultures have worshiped the sun. As long as the sun was out today it was very comfortable washing greens and totes outside.  Have a cloud cover the sun and the cold wet hands chilled the whole body.  Sun come back out and comfy again. The onions I seeded last fall for early [...]

Sunshine is nice. Growing plants is a solar activity.  The hoophouses really are incredible solar collectors.  Even on overcast days the hoophouse will get 10 to 20 degrees warmer than outside. (In the summer we roll the sides up and with a nice breeze it is cooler inside than outside.) It has been

First Mussie is setting. Our first mussie is firmly setting. Another is keeping eggs warm at night and getting ready to set firm.  How can I tell?  For one thing, she stays in the nest.  They do need to get out once or twice a day, but anytime I look, she’s on the nest.  I [...]

Premier Fencing – electric poultry netting to keep 4-legged predators out, waterers, etc American Pastured Poultry Producers Association – for free-range chicken raising The Small Scale Poultry Flock - new book for “natural” or “organic” chicken raising. Also a lot of info at his site. Storey’s Guid

The row cover worked well I laid a 30 x 100 foot sheet of heavy duty row cover over the strawberries last fall as a protective mulch.  Using straw provides actual insulation while row cover provides wind protection and keeps a little soil heat in and can trap a little heat in sunny weather – [...]

March 14, 2012 New Truck!! Tuesdays should be calmer. Last week I listed major investments we still have to make this spring. First on the list was a market vehicle. Bruce Kennedy had a nice looking AWD regular van on his lot last fall we would probably have bought but it was for one of [...]