Happy May Y’all! Lori here from Water World, I mean McDowell County in West Virginia. I don’t know about you all, but I am so sick of the rain. It has set our plowing schedule back which is not cool.

We have managed to get the biggest share of our seeds in and given to our participants. We have to get the tomato and pepper plants for folks as soon as they are ready for us.

We got our order of Hori-Horis in, and these ones are the Cadillac of their kind, they even come with a whet stone. If we would have thought about it we would have taken some pictures of them. Most of our scuffle hoes arrived, there are still some on back order but should be here soon.

Our participants have been planting their onions and potatoes in between downpours. We had wide spread flooding twice in the past month, we need a break. They are hoping they don’t rot before they have a chance to grow. I assured them that we have more if that should happen.

Our second Planning and Planting class for McDowell County was attended but the ones that didn’t make the first one. It was mostly new folks. They learned how to make the dreaded newspaper planters, and the self watering planters from water and soda bottles. They wanted to learn how to start some of their seeds in them. The Planning and Planting class for Mercer County was attended by all the participants that had signed up, so we didn’t have to schedule a second class. They all got their fertilizer, seed potatoes and other seeds, and have their plow dates set. They will be done this week as long as it doesn’t rain.

With the little grant we got from St. Paul’s in Pittsburgh, we got Southern Highlands started on their seed starting. They are going to try to sell half of what they grow so they can make a little money for when they go on field trips with their staff. They are pictured above. We will be getting the raised beds ready for them to plant their seed starts and other seeds in. They really enjoy doing it, and are so happy when their seeds sprout.

As we were looking at the raised beds a couple weeks ago, we noticed some cabbage plants growing from seeds we planted last year. We have some carrots growing as well. We hope the horses don’t eat them when they escape their designated area. Which they do…a lot!

Tomorrow starts another round of plowing and delivering tools and seeds. We will have some better pictures for next time.

Until next time, Stay dry my friends.