Spring has come

Hello from the farm, Spring has come and with it a cold snap in the midwest. The trees were budding and we were getting ready to start planting some greens for an early crop. The cold came with temps as low as 25* F which has stunted the growth of most of the trees and shrubs for another few weeks not to mention I have had to start a fire back up. I think that the fire was my biggest concern as due to an injury I didn’t have as much wood set aside as I would have liked. This has caused somewhat of a scramble around here for wood.

Inflation has finally hit home and we are finding it hard to make ends meet with this Bidenomics stuff. Feed prices are up as is people food prices as well. So I have been looking for ways to diversify the farm and make a few extra dollars to help out around here. I suppose that is the oldest story in the book, A Country boy can survive, and we country boys have been for many years.

If you aren’t producing any of your own food you need to start. Anything will help out and it will give you a little bit of food security. Start with a small garden, you may have a black thumb but with a little practice and persistence you will get better and it is better to learn as soon as possible.

It’s chick season and I have noticed that the local farm supply store is still requiring your name and address to buy chicks. I’ve been told that this is a dept of AG requirement to help keep track of bird flu. You can make that out to be as sinister as you like let your imagination roam and see what you can come up with. Even if that is true it is also true that chickens are one of the best ways to start feeding your family if you can have them. Just a few hens can give a family all the eggs they can eat and with no roosters there’s no noise to bother the neighbors. Depending on the size of your yard they can be fed very little and still produce well and even if you have to feed them mash from the store a few hens don’t eat much after all. That’s just a thought though maybe chickens are to expensive to start with so start small with a few tomatoe plants or a small salad garden, now is the time to be planning them out.

Start planning your spring chores as well like pruning the blackberrys and cleaning the grape arbour up weeds will soon be trying to take over everything so get a head start if you can. Also onions will need to be planted in the next week or two depending on where you live, remember that they need anywhere from 90 to 120 days to mature so they will need to be out as soon as the weather will allow the soil to be worked. Assuming there is no freak cold snaps onions can take a light frost and still thrive so keep that in mind when planting.

Potatoes will also need to be out soon. Here in southwestern Indiana the old timers used to say get them in the ground on good friday and I have had the best crops when doing so but I have also put them out later and done OK as well. Potatoes are also a crop that has to be in the ground a long time from 60 to 130 days as well so the earlier the better after your sure of the last frost.

In conclusion have a wonderful spring, grow some of your own food it’s good for you, and good luck with Bidenomics.