May Madness

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We haven’t posted in awhile. That’s because we are in the thick of our busy season where all aspects of the farm are up and running from planting, to weeding, to harvesting. Plus, I (Emily) was away from the farm for a few days at my high school alma mater. I was awarded Young Alumna of Distinction for starting up Mile Creek Farm and gave a speech to alumna and current students on pursuing our passions and the importance of being stewards to the land. The Distinguished Alumna was a long time executive director for Ohio Citizens Action, Ohio’s premiere watchdog for pollution. It was wonderful that my high school had an environmental theme to its’ honored alumnus.
Meanwhile, back at the farm, the to do list keeps growing!
We are busy cultivating things that have been in the ground since April. We tackled the broccoli last week IMG_0566 and weeded the onions today. We are so grateful for our help this summer, Jeff, who started 2 weeks ago and is pictured here wheel hoeing the onion beds.IMG_0556 Meanwhile these potatoes wait patiently for their turn–they are next on the list!

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Each week we have several trailer loads of seedlings ready to get planted. We hope this load of sunflowers gets in the ground this week. IMG_0568 Ben and Jeff spent the day on the tractors getting the fields ready to plant. First there is mowing the cover crop in, next comes disc hilling the beds and lastly we till the beds.IMG_0571

Things are looking terrific out in the fields. We have head lettuce ready for market this week and the sweet William is just starting to flower. This flower smells amazing!IMG_0562IMG_0564
Speaking of flowers, we are growing flowers in the hoop house for the first time this year and I am quite pleased so far. The stem lengths are so much taller then field grown flowers. Growing flowers in the hoop house will also allow us to take bouquets to market earlier in the season. Cutting in the hoop house looks like it is just around the corner!IMG_0558