Down on the farm

I'm back in the swing of things now. It's been just over a week since i arrived and tried to blog and my mind has had chance to catch up with me now.

As back home, spring is an amazingly busy time in the garden, it just starts a bit earlier here in California. Seeds are being sown by the thousand for the summer garden and more urgently, the tomato seedling sale. The sale starts this coming weekend and runs for ten weeks, it is an important source of revenue for the farm. 126 different varieties of tomato will be available, batches of 50 or so, all sown and potted on by hand. I am so glad that there is a good team of volunteers here to help. It is great fun and interesting hearing everyones stories and reasons that they come to help out at Love Apple Farm.

Around the farm, overwintering green manure crops are being dug into the beds. Compost heaps turned and the oldest heaps incorporated into the beds in preparation for spring planting. Direct sown areas of numerous crops are flushed with young colour. Flats (seed trays) of seedlings are being hardened off and will be planted out as soon as the weather is warm enough and the ground is ready.

The lettuce, chard and pak choi that i planted in November are being harvested weekly and have grown steadily throughout the winter. Most of the winter crops, cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts have gone, their time over for another year.

I have been busy with my own project too. A very informative meeting with an Immigration Attorney, last week, has confirmed that my venture should be accepted by the powers that be and sees no reason why my visa application would be turned down. I am now knee deep in the paperwork and the unfamiliar jargon of US business regulations, visa applications and learning how things work in this new land....so many little things are different and have to be checked out. It is all quite amazing. When it all gets a bit overwhelming i check outside just to see that the Magnolia tree is still looking beautiful, listen to the rain on the roof and hope that tomorrow will be a sunny day.