planning to eat lots of leafy things

At this time of year, I always feel just a little bit impatient. I'm planting seeds and watching them sprout, but it just seems like it will be soooo long until we're finally eating lots of our own fresh greens again - I can't wait for giant green salads, and big piles of sauteed kale and chard - as much as we want, because the fridge will be packed with green leafy things, so we better eat up!

Lucky for us, we've been buying Garen's greens and Heron Pond Farm's spinach all winter long at the Winter Farmers' Markets -  we're actually really spoiled by all kinds of amazing local food that's available to us all year long.  This winter has been our best local-eating winter yet - between stocking the freezer and pantry, canning a few things, and buying roots, onions, cabbage, milk, eggs, and greens from our farmer friends throughout the winter, we've been eating very very well!  I guess I'm just looking forward to the season of abundance here on our farm, and the feeling that there is plenty.

voila! we have a cold frame

Get tough little onions!  You're staying outside from now on!  This cold frame was made just for you. The window frames came from an old nursery business (thanks to craigslist). The people I bought them from called them "hot bed" frames, as in "cold frames" heated with fresh manure. No added heat here - just a miniature greenhouse where the seedlings can hang out until we put up the hoophouse.  All the parts are here, see?

seedling shuffle

Onions have sprouted! The onion seed flats were lucky to spend a few warm-ish days outdoors in the sunshine, but right now they are back inside the house, waiting for this rain to go away.  Pretty soon the seedling bench in my office with the toasty-warm heating mat is going to be full of baby tomatoes and peppers, which means the onions will have to go elsewhere.  So, the construction project for the day is building a couple of cold frames so that the little onions and parsley seedlings have an outdoor sheltered place to be - until we put up the hoophouse, that is.  That's construction project #2.