Spring has sprung! It has been a long cold winter, but the grass has finally begun to green and the spring crops are getting into the ground this week.  We have already planted peas, shelling and snow,

pea seeds going in April 4th

radishes, salad turnips, pac choi, and fava beans. Later this week we will put in spinach, mache, onions, shallots and beets. The greenhouse is full to the gills, bursting with peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, squash and cucumbers along with the regular spring crops.

We also sheared the sheep this past week and took care of their hooves for the season.  Their paddock is finally starting to green up and they and the llama have been happily munching away.  ^th and in the meantime we are getting the house ready for them. We have 50 baby barred rock bantam chicks (say that 5 times fast) coming that will produce tiny eggs to serve in the kitchen.

Jeremy and a just sheared lady

Our current flock of chickens are about to go into retirement.  They are now a little over three years old and their egg production has really started to decline. A few of the local ladies from town are taking them home to live out their retirement on some small backyard farms.  Our new baby chicks arrive April 29

This past week our new farmer started her new position. She came to us from Arizona, but is a native Virginian. Jenna Brownell is a 4^th generation farmer from Bluemont, Virginia.  She has a degree in Environmental Studies form Prescott College and has worked on farms all over the country as well as a few in Italy.  She has been eager to start her position with us and can’t wait for the summer to begin. Joneve is moving on to start a new adventure. She will be traveling for one year, volunteering on farms in Europe Asia and South America and plans to share her adventures on her new blog; Farmer Seeking Roots. For more information please visit www.farmerseekingroots.com

Shady, Jenna's dog and Blue faithfully guarding the greenhouse

Jenna will be taking over the blog from here and is eager to share the garden’s trials and triumphs with you all in the future. 

Red veined sorrel, a new microgreen for the kitchen

I am leaving The Inn to start a new adventure. I have loved every minute of my time here.  The Inn is a close family and I will be sad to go, our new farmer starts next week, and we will overlap for a month of training.  I’m launching a new project in June called Farmer Seeking Roots. I plan to travel through Europe, Asia and South America for one year volunteering on farms and following the food home with a consumer to cook, eat and share recipes. I will explore many avenues of sustainable agriculture; family farms, cooperatives, school gardens, community gardens, pastured animals, urban farms and many more. I want to labor alongside the multitude of ardent family farmers in both developed and developing nations. I hope to share growing techniques, new varieties, and recipes, but also I want to share their passion.  I want to highlight these farmers and consumers for the important decisions they make about food every day. I want to have a conversation with both farmers and consumers about their choices to support sustainable agriculture from either side of the plate.

I hope that through sharing these conversations I can inspire others to grow/ eat organically and sustainably. I hope to share techniques that I find with other farmers, in an effort to further their food enterprises. I want to encourage others to support their local farmers and food producers, to grow something towards their own nutrition and the nourishment of their community.   I want to highlight farmers that are growing food in such a way so as to rebuild their soils, improve the local environment and engage with their communities. I want to highlight farmers and consumers that are creating and contributing to a movement much larger than themselves. Organic, sustainable, family farming is what is going to feed our world. People that engage with their land, that work to see it and the land surrounding flourish.  Our personal health is dependent on the health of the soil, the forests, the oceans, the animals and people that surround us. We can no longer be insular in our decisions about food.  We vote with our dollars more often and more impact fully than any of our votes at the ballot box. We, as a global community must support enterprises and people that are furthering the sustainable food movement.

I will share this journey; the triumphs, struggles and the people that I find through a photo journal and blog on my website: http://www.farmerseekingroots.com . I invite you to follow me.

I am currently fundraising for this endeavor. You can find my campaign at  http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/farmer-seeking-roots/x/5676147

There are a lot of great perks on offer, including prints of my photographs, a gardening guide that I have written, online and in person garden consulting and of course a huge thank you from me.

Joneve Murphy

Hi Everyone.  Well I’m back from my winter break and back to greenhouse grind.  This year I didn’t go anywhere too exotic, I spent my time visiting family and friends in Maine, New York, Vermont and California.   The time flew by. I did some snowy hiking in Maine,

Trees in Maine after an ice storm

went sailing in the San Francisco Bay, hiking in Lake Tahoe, I went to the San Francisco

Alpenglow in Lake Tahoe

Botanical Gardens, had some beach time and of course ate some really great food. It was amazing to see all of my family this year, which I don’t always make a lot of time to do.  I have no time for visits during the summer,

Lichen and moss covered tree Lake Tahoe

and often when I leave in the winter to go to some far off land, I want as much time as possible to explore and have adventures.

beach in SF

I got back last month and most of my time has been split between the greenhouse and the office.  I put the seed order together for the season, and I’m in the process of writing the crop plan.  As dreary and cold as it is outside, this is one of my favorite times of year.  Shopping for seeds allows you to dream of what could be.  You can picture in your mind’s eye where the plants will go and how they will look in all their mid-summer glory.

In the greenhouse I have started all of the micro greens again, and we are already 3 plantings deep.  February 10th I started all of the onion, shallot and leek transplants.  I like to start all of mine from seed rather than sets.  It gives me more choices on varieties, but it does mean that greenhouse work starts much earlier than it would otherwise.  Most other vegetables don’t need to be seeded before March.  I don’t like to start my transplants too early, because I think it stresses them to sit in the greenhouse in pots that are too small for them.  They become root bound and the shock when you finally plant them is much worse.  So my advice for the day; be patient spring is coming.