Category: Living with the Seasons
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To-do List Season on the Farm
Unsurprisingly, our farm is extremely busy from around May through mid-October. Between planting, weeding, mowing, harvesting, packing, and selling, it’s full steam ahead for more than 5 months, and there really isn’t time for much of anything else. But winter is a different story. You’d think that once our harvests are out of the field…
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Our Introduction to Storage Crops
We started a farm for, among other things, fresh produce. A cherry tomato straight from the vine or baby greens harvested and cooled quickly are marvelous compared to what can be found at the grocery store, both for us and our customers. However, one of those other reasons to start a farm is to eat…
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4 Ways to Protect Your Garden Beds for Winter
Winter, as they say, is coming. One of the keys to creating the healthiest soil possible is protecting and enhancing it during the harsh winter months. As with most things in the garden, there are many ways to do this (and in our opinion, better and worse methods). Lets discuss the ways we protect our…
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The Wind, A Farmer’s Archnemesis
As we really begin to warm up into spring on the farm, I have a better phrase I use to describe this time of year: wind season. Like myself, many farmers find something as simple as wind to be the most frustrating and stressful aspect of Farming. In terms of weather, I’d prefer hail, sleet,…
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Here Comes The Sun: How Sunlight Affects Farmers
Ah, late February. Punxsutawney Phil (only a 45-minute drive away from the farm) predicted six more weeks of winter, and it sure seems like he was right. This month saw a brief respite from the deep freeze of January, but we’re right back in the middle of another very cold stretch, with lows in the…
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A Rare Long-Term Snowpack On The Farm
Here in southwestern PA, we are no strangers to snowfall and cold temperatures. From December to early March, snow and cold is a given. That being said, winters here aren’t quite like a scene from the movie Fargo. We tend to have periods of freeze and thaw, where a snowfall will melt in a few…
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Wheel of the Year: Beltane
Welcome back to the Wheel of the Year series, this time taking a look at the upcoming holiday of Beltane! A fun fact about the Good Dirt Farm fam – Andy and I were married on the eve of Beltane! We picked the date mostly by accident, but I like to think instinct led us…
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Wheel of the Year: Spring Equinox / Ostara
It’s time for another installment in our Wheel of the Year series. This time, we’re looking at the upcoming Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara. The Spring Equinox falls around March 21st here in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the official start of Spring, astrologically speaking. This year, Ostara is on March 19, so we’re…
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Wheel of the Year: Imbolc
Connect with nature by observing the seasonal changes marked in the Wheel of the Year, starting with Imbolc