Spring Has Sprung!

Hundreds of seeds are popping out of the soil as I write this blog tonight. Flower and Herbs. Herbs and Flowers. Expanding the varieties in order to offer some outrageously fragrant and edible bouquets that will put Pungo on the map!

Over the next month thousands of seeds will be encouraged to germinate by the warmth of the heat mats below them. This spring I really went off the deep end with the soil blocking method. Last years experience taught me the hard way to never use plastic pots AGAIN! ...Using pots took me 5 times the effort, labor, and back pain at transplanting time. I had to carefully tip each upside down, squeeze the plant out oh-so-gently, then deal with the mess of storing all those flimsy plastic containers that love to get caught in the wind. Plus the tender babies roots suffered from my man-handling and had to deal with many more days of transplant shock.

This year will be the bomb with my little seed bombs! (err..actually they look more like brownies, lol)

There are so many benefits to the soil brownies - once you have the handy block makers just add a good soil recipe and water. there is no flimsy plastic junk to buy, store, wash, or to keep organized, the seedlings have no transplant shock because their roots are air pruned - they stop right at the edge of the block just waiting to hit new soil, and my favorite -they are so easy to plant... you just plop them in and they take off running! The only thing I had to do was commit to finding lunch trays, as opposed to the thin foil pans thrown away after 1 season.

I was able to find bulk lunch trays and also ran across huge restaurant display trays that hold a couple hundred blocks each. Then for easy labeling I browsed the mis-cut miniblinds bin at home depot. They are perfect to recycle into plant tags with the help of scissors and a sharpie. Worked like a charm. (Thanks for that idea Erin @ Gardenfirst-thinklater blog!)

The racks are filling up and each batch graduates into the greenhouse as the last frost date quickly approaches.

Besides seedlings - the farm has other things sprouting up this spring! Finally got the sign completed and it looks just perfect gracing the entrance.

Here is John putting on the vinyl lettering. This part made me so nervous for some reason! Been waiting forever for this sign to finally make it's big debut - so it had to be perfect. The vinyl lettering turned out great. It's the same material they use on boats and planes, so it supposed to last in the heat, sun and weather. After the install - finished up with painting, mulching and putting a few plants in. Had to go with a couple margarita sweet potato vines to add some punch of green color. They will be spilling over the sides in no time.

It was a proud moment to sit back and take in the new view!

The other big project that was happening - since the "Rent-A-Chick" program has been expanding... required getting some more carpentry talent in the mix. I was about fed up from loosing hens to hawks in the egg-mobile. Even tried the square floorless pens like the Joel Salatin ones. They were ok, but at a little over 2 ft high they were so low to the ground I just didn't enjoy them as much as I had hoped.

With an interactive farm it's nice to have a coop where visitors can go inside and hang with the peeps, so having standing height was key. Also it makes me happy when the ladies have enough height to fly around and a place to roost at night, so figured it was worth trying these A-frame style pens out for kicks.

Over 1 weekend, Chad and Cory practically created a new subdivision... Like I said...the rent-a-chick is expanding! lol . Once the covers were on for sun and rain protection they took off down the field to utilize the fresh grass. Mom looked out over the pens at sunset and observed "Hey it looks like they are camping out there!" yep - it kinda does...my chickens have their own tents. It is working out great so far - always amazes me how much grass they chow down on. The floor-less pens are moved daily and good thing since the patches of clover and grass are down to the stubs in a matter of 24 hours!

Another great thing about having these pens is it allows me to separate them out by breed and offer a fertile egg program.

I am starting to put a few of my top roosters to work so they can do what they do best. Seem to be very fertile as the incubator has been going non-stop since February - lookie!! It is such a trip to hatch out your first batch of fluffy babies.

Right now I have a New Hampshire Red pen - for my brown egg layers

And Easter Egger Pen - with the green egg layers.

On the lookout for a chocolate roo - to add the chocolate egg hen pen!

Chad even added in a smaller coop - to serve as a new daycare center. It is wrapped in plastic for warmth and draft protection. As the rent-a-chicks slowly trickled back to the farm they are greeted by their siblings and enjoy scratching the grass inside their new home. They are still too small to handle the chilly nights so it is close enough to the house to plug in a heat lamp once the sun goes down.

Well that is a little look into the farm over the last month. I have to say it has been a productive spring and gearing up for the best summer ever!