The 3rd Seed Starting – March 31, 2025 @goldenoakfarm

South – just too gloomy to finish opening…

On Monday morning I was up at 5:30AM and got a load of dishes in the dishwasher, got my post up, and got a shower. Then I cleaned up the kitchen as best I could as I waited on the dishwasher and started setting up.

My #1 intern arrived at 9AM and she brought up soil and pots from the cellar. I got the notes out, the seeds out, and then got everything ready for planting. She was filling pots and watering them.

Once I finished all the notes and sorting out the locations mess I’d made, I started watering and planting too. We finished the planting just before 12:30PM. I got changed to go to the Maple sugaring event and started cleaning up the mess. The van arrived about 12:45PM and I left the remainder of the mess for my #1 intern to finish.

This is what we started for the 3rd seed starting:

Vegetables:

Artichokes 12
Beets 36
Broccoli 24
Mesclun 20
Swiss Chard 21

Herbs:

Ashwagandha 9
Astragalus 3
Bible plant 9
Foxgloves 6
Lavender 3
Parsley 27
Wild Lettuce 6

Flowers:

Canterbury Bells 6
Dianthus 9
Stocks 12
Sweet William 6

To vernalize:

Santolina 9

Totals:

Seedlings: 209
Number of varieties: 18

I have 2 spots left in the dining room, none on the porch, 4 in the roundtop, and 6 in the office. That makes 12 and on April 15th, the 4th seed starting, I have a minimum of 17 trays. So I have to get the covers on the cold frame so it can warm up, as some are going to have to move out there before the 15th.

The Senior Center had this event in the afternoon.

He spoke of how and why sugar bushes for sugaring were created. It had, oddly enough, to do with tariffs back in the 1800’s and cane sugar.

These are some of the old spiles, drills, and sugar molds used back then.

He had a wooden sap bucket and explained the white inside was whitewash and because it changed the pH of the sap, it helped keep it from spoiling without changing the flavor. Inside are wooden spiles made from sumac branches.

He also said they made maple sugar exclusively because it would not mold like maple syrup would. The sugar was packed in wooden buckets called firkins and that was the only use for these wooden buckets. I have several of these old firkins and had no idea what they had once contained.

But the coolest thing I learned was a way to test the doneness of syrup. You can pour it onto snow and if it turns to soft candy, it’s done. But if you have no snow, you can use this birch hoop.

You dip it in the hot syrup and blow on it like you would to blow soap bubbles. If it makes a sugar bubble, the syrup is done.

So it was a cool event to go to. When I got home, I was too tired to do anything else besides make supper. So I lay on the couch and watched M.A.S.H. It was very warm, and due to get warmer this week.

I didn’t pull the shades nor start the masonry heater. I asked my son to do it about 11PM and then let it go out. That should take the chill off during the night. We’d also have the wood stove going a bit as it was to be in the 40’s.

On Tuesday, I have the remains of the kitchen disaster to deal with, and my helper friend arrives at 9:30AM. He will have errands, feeding houseplants and seedlings, and I hope to prune the plum trees. We also need to try to get to the cold frame covers.

I also hope to get started raking the back yard as the grass is growing fast with all this rain. My #2 intern is coming after noontime to help. It’s to be a beautiful day.