Northland Alumni Site

Jeff’s post has inspired me to post also. Thanks Jeff.

Yesterday our part of the country got hit with quite a bit of snow. So, while watching it fall, I dove into the huge pile of seed catalogs we’ve gotten in the past couple of months. I love planning the garden, everything is so hopeful at this time of year. And the garden I picture has no weeds, powdery mildew or deer munching away at our plants. The hardest part is narrowing down all the choices….I really shouldn’t try to grow all 10 kinds of pumpkins that look so great in all the catalog pictures.

Most of our seed order is going to come from three companies: Harris Seeds, Johnny’s, and Pinetree. We’ve had a lot of success with thier seeds in the past, great customer service and a fair number of seeds for the price. I’m in charge of the greens, squashes and flowers. John will take care of tomatoes, beans and cucumbers. We usually buy seed potatoes, onion sets locally. Plus, we have some seeds saved from previous gardens.

At this point I’m really excited about some new lettuce mixes, kale and collards, and the pumpkins. We had awful luck with the pumpkins last year, but this year I’m determined to prevail!

For now, we’re trying to stay warm, and dreaming of the upcoming spring.

I’ve been reading a lot lately, pouring over seed catalogs and this past week I made my own self-watering-container (swc). I don’t have a ton to post right now. I want everyone to know that I’ve got things in the works and I hope you do too.

-Jeffrey

We recently acquired some bees for the farm. Another farmer is keeping them at our place, and he comes to check on them every couple of weeks. We have about 15 hives, and on warm, sunny days we can hear them buzzing from across the field.

There is also a logging company that will start timbering the farm soon.

When they started bringing thier equipment onto the farm, they noticed the bees, and started to complain. “The bees can’t be there” “You have to move the bees” etc. This went on for a week or so. Finally John and his dad had a meeting with the loggers to discuss the bees. It came down to the fact that a bunch of loggers, grown men, were scared to death of the bees. In the end, they decided to take the road away from the bees, so the hives do not have to move! The bees win, let there be honey for all!

Since this is my first post, I thought I’d try to keep things simple. It’s spring here in West Virginia- which means rain, mud, flowers, and lots of work to do. We have several big projects going at the farm, which I’ll share later. For now, here is a picture of a freshly plowed garden. This is the garden right next to the house.