Unity Farm Journal - Third Week of March 2016

Kathy has been running Unity Farm while I’ve been in Texas and China.  The weather in Sherborn has been mild with light rain.  The first round of newly germinated seeds is planted in the hoop house and enjoying the warmth of early Spring,  Kathy is watering everything at the end of the day to keep the seedlings moist.    The Rex Boston , Buttercrunch Bibb and Nancy Bibb lettuce is almost ready to harvest.

Carrots, beets, spinach, peas, and beans are growing fast.   The tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper seedlings are nearly ready to move from the germination trays to 4 inch jiffy pots.

All the creatures are doing well, although the dogs and pigs miss me.   I’m the one who meets them on their own terms - crawling through mud, rolling in hay, and petting bellies while rubbing noses.   Kathy is a good petting proxy, although she remains standing.

Kathy also tucks in the pigs every night.   Here are two pigs in their blanket

The geese continue to defend their territory chasing the ducks and chickens from their nests if they get too close.   Our geese are very kind in general, but we’ll have to watch their “spring fever”

The driveway project is beginning and the 25 year old asphalt is being scraped away today so that a new gravel bed can be installed and allowed to settle for a month.  It’s great that we left driveway rehab until the very last, since the truck traffic that accompanied the building of Unity Farm infrastructure over the past 4 years was rough on it.    At this point, we’re to the point we can just run the farm, reducing the cost and effort of creating new things.   For a summer that includes a wedding, a bountiful harvest, and adding a few hundred more Shiitake logs to the woodland crop area, fewer construction projects will be welcome.

I fly from Hong Kong today to Los Angeles to help my mother with home maintenance and keynote the American Dental Association conferencing where I’ll offer thoughts on the ideal shared dental/medical electronic record.   Then home on Monday morning.   No more travel until Friday in Canada and next week in London.  Logan airport is my second home this Spring.