It was with some trepidation that I got myself ready to volunteer at Oakley Laurel Farm (the small CSA farm which I joined) this morning. Farming on the one day I have off this week?Though I have only been back in Wilmington since the beginning of the month, it feels like forever since I had my hands in the dirt. I wondered if I would still enjoy it. Would it feel more like work and less like play? Luckily, I liked it just as much as I remembered. I love the feeling of the sun shining down on my back as I hand weed the garden, separating baby carrots from weeds. I love looking up across the way the bok choi and the broccoli plants that I know are not so long away from my dinner table. It was great to talk to Robb, the farmer, about blossom end rot and what kind of mulching strategies work best.
Cool season farming is something new to me. I have not yet had to confront freezing temperatures. After hand weeding two of the eighteen 50ft beds, Robb and I put a thin layer of hay over the carrots, radishes and turnips. The hay insulates the root systems. We are supposed to drop into the 40s over night tonight. Hopefully this small layer of insulation will help the babies along.
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