and then i didn’t post anything for three months. oops. life has been a little full, here, and not entirely with farm-related matters. i will aim to get a new photo post up soon!
meanwhile the farm has had a quiet, productive winter. we’ve had one excellent intern all winter, and we’ve kept moving steadily on small and medium sized projects, saving the big things for warmer weather. winter was almost as wet as fall, with several snowstorms. only in the last few weeks has it really begun to dry out, and now we are all crackling with static electricity, and i keep hoping it will rain again. back to normal, in other words.
in this warm february thaw, we’re gearing up for spring planting. Sarah has tilled a good layer of finished poultry compost into the whole garden. Jenny and i are organizing lists of garden tasks, balancing the general needs of the natural cycles we engage with, plants and birds, against the needs of our social and spiritual cycles, the quickening from Imbolc to Ostara and our upcoming Ostara festival.
towards that end, we have a couple public work parties coming up, and we could very much use a hand! the first is February 27th, 10-5, and the second is March 18th, also probably 10-5. On February 27th, we’ll be clearing bunchgrass from the large ritual ground, which it has rather taken over, as well as tending to the basins of the orchard trees around the large ritual ground. We’ll also rake all the winter leaves out of the acequia, and move the leaves over to a compost pile. While this is going on, we’ll have a crew running a small chipper, chipping up sticks into mulch to mulch the large ritual ground. Any leftover mulch will go to mulch the fire circle out back, in preparation for our Summer Solstice event later this year.
On the 18th, we’ll finish up any ritual area prep that didn’t get done, as well as setting up the potluck area for the feast, and cleaning the entire property before the guests arrive. this tends to include a lot of raking leaves, picking up trash, cleaning up the trails, and things like that.
If you’re in the area, we’d love to see you there!