Early April Is….

Grass growing enough to need cutting (which means, if you are keeping track, that you can stop feeding hay).

The dandelions blooming (which means food for bees, and a lot of work for you, if you are thinking of making dandelion wine or dandelion jelly – both of which I’ve done in the past).

The pear tree blooming.

The cherry tree blooming.

The apple trees blooming.

(In that order)

Baby turkeys being born in the incubator and under mamas (but not very many, because it turns out most of the eggs weren’t fertile)

Baby turkeys being ordered.

Some baby turkeys being slipped under mamas who were sitting on infertile eggs.

Baby turkeys dying – one a day like clock work for the first week. Mostly the ones in the brooder. Turkey mamas still have 6 babies. No dead birds in the last two days (lost a total of 9), so hopefully we’re out of the woods. A friend of mine says “if you have livestock, you’re gonna have deadstock”. But it still sucks.

Mama hen sitting on 4 eggs.

Egg production going way up.

Eggbound chickens hanging out in the kitchen sink in warm water in the hopes of getting things moving.

Mama duck sporadically sitting on about 13 eggs. She finally sat on them through the night yesterday, so maybe there is hope. We’ll know n a month or so.

Baby ducks (the eggs that were under a turkey mama) hatching. Two got squished by turkey mama, so the rest finished in the incubator, but 6 survived.

Baby ducks going for their first swim (to activate their oil glands).

Baby bunnies being born to Betty, but not Alice. Both were bred to the same male (Alice first) which probably means that Alice is too old or too fat to have any more babies. She’s a big mama.

New baby ram born to one of our lamb mamas. Only one left still pregnant, and we can’t believe that she’s still pregnant!

Asparagus ready for harvest. We’ve had pasta with asparagus, bacon, cherry tomatoes and cheese…twice. Takes about 20 minutes and SO danged good. Based on this recipe, but with bacon.

Garden getting tilled.

Seeds getting planted (radish and arugula in and up – spinach, carrots, chard and more to do tomorrow).

Plants getting transplanted to bigger pots (hello tomatoes and peppers).

A lot of my broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage dying off in the new greenhouse. Too hot during the day? Didn’t like the new compost purchased from the landfill? Transplanted too soon? Dang.

Blueberry plants leafing out. High hopes for them this year.

Raspberry plants getting flower buds!

Strawberry plants getting flower buds!

New currents and gooseberries mail ordered and in pots.

Cuttings of gooseberries and currents in rooting pots, fingers crossed.

Apple, persimmon, fig, quince, apricot and pecan trees arrive in the mail. Most are still in pots awaiting their new homes somewhere in the yard.

Slips from a sprouting sweet potato in the cupboard snapped off and put in potting soil. They are growing like crazy after a week! Going to try my hand at sweet potatoes this year. It should be hot enough for them down here.

Culinary mustard planted and up. Planted between my grape vines, just like in the Napa Valley, but on a lilliput scale, since I only have 6 grape vines. A blog post on making your own mustard coming soon.

Loaves of soap, pucks of shaving soap, a new foaming sugar scrub, a new hand cream, a new lotion bar, a bug spray (for personal use), a “little balls of perfume” bathroom spray and some other room sprays all made in anticipation of the opening day of farmers market on May 3rd.

Weeds, sprouting and growing faster than just about anything else.

Dogwoods and redbuds bursting out all over town.

Lovely Laura, my pseudo intern, coming to help me in on the farm every Tuesday!

In short, early April is BUSY!

Miles Away Farm Blog © 2014, where you know you’re a farmer when you start looking at weedy lots around town and thinking FORAGE!