Good Morning Vegetable fans, today is looking to be a high of 60 degrees and sunny. Wow we are way ahead of last year. Hoping it stays that way too! So what's up on the farm? Well finally connected my underground water pipe to the greenhouse and starting to get the eletrical hooked up as well. No more extension cords and garden hoses running everywhere.  The chickens are into everything and hiding eggs all over the place. Who needs the Easter bunny. Seriously; it reminds me why I keep them free range in a fenced area with thier coops. The amount of damage they can do is amazing.  Soil samples finally were sent for the greenhouses. Getting ready to plant tomatoes. Need to get out there and sell some salad mix. The claytonia is starting to flower and looks great but need to harvest it. New plug trays are taking some getting used to. I have lost quite a bit of seed to them. I have another type that seems to be doing better so far but I am still apprehensive about how they are going to work when I need to pull the plugs from them.  The "big dig" on the farm starts next week. Alot of drainage trenching going in during the month of April. Drier greenhouses results in a better growing environment and hopefully alot less fungus etc. Just think digging ditches at my age........take care Joe

50 and sunny forecast for today. Going to try and get some stuff planted and weeds pulled. Beds prepped for tomatoes, all the trellis strings are hung. Need a few more.

Just in case.......my twitter account is under Vermontfarmerjoe

Well it was bound to happen, it's only March and it is snowing. Supposed to rain this afternoon. Makes me feel better about being in a dark basement seeding flats next to the furnace.  One of the last fires in the fireplace today.  I just posted a bunch of NY Times articles on my twitter acount. They are all about the state of nutrition, politicol nutrtition, organics etc. I thought they were pretty interesting. Here are some of the links.  

The 3rd article does an excellant job of articulating my thoughts and beliefs about why I am not certified organic.  It is a question that I have been struggling to form an answer to for this last week.  I had a customer who really needed 3rd party certification and I could not offer it to him. Instead I offered an open tour of the farm and honestly answered questions.  While I understand and see the need for 3rd party certification. I also see it becoming a crutch and an easy way out of the responsibility individuals need to take for the source and condition of thier food.   Convenience has priority, slow down, stop and participate in your lives. I really think we need to be looking at microcommunities. Let's pick a number and say that 75% of food should be sourced within 5 miles of your home. Imagine the economics of this as well as the benefits to the community, environment, and the quality of what you eat. Prices would/should come down.  I am going to think about this idea some more. Enough for today. Thanks Joe

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/dining/21sugar.html?scp=1&sq=sugar&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/business/22food.html?hp

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/weekinreview/22bittman.html?ref=business

Wonderful day at market. Girls are in training to learn how to run the farm. Well going to go relax, lot's of bed prep tomorrow, planting tomatoes in about 2 weeks. Very exciting. Joe