By the time this blog is posted, it will almost be March, which means it will almost be spring, which is a slightly terrifying but mostly exciting!!…In the last post I mentioned how so far we have had a head start on the growing season. Since then  things have continued to move along despite another cold and snowy day today (perfect time to write a blog!).

We started getting early purchases out of the way with our Grow Appalachia funding, including the rest of our seeds (Baker Creek Heirloom seeds does us right every time), a tiller (finally!!!), soil amendments and more. Last year we waited a bit too long to order our seeds, so I am very antsy to get our shipment and to start getting things in our high tunnel. Right now we have a bunch of greens that have sprouted, including kale, mustard and chard.

We also had a small seed swap last week with all of our farmers, and others in the community that were interested in learning more about heirloom seeds and how to build a mini greenhouse.  We had over 20 people show up that shared seeds, stories and ideas for our 2014 growing season. I have never seen our growers more excited up and ready for warm weather!!  After master gardener Ingrid Curry showed everyone how to make a grow light mini-greenhouse (for $30), we set one up in the windowsill of our office, and started seeds that have finally pushed through the soil.  Most of the seeds we started here are herbs and tomatoes.

Finally, last week, while the sun was still shining and it was 70 degrees, we made several manure runs, and put on another layer of manure on at the gardens to help improve our soil. Very excited to be getting so much accomplished while its still February!