Today we saw our first robin. Geese honking overhead. And a mating pair nesting on the banks of farm pond. Green shoots are pushing up everywhere . All that plus the mud-puddles and the mushy ground underfoot mark the official start of new growing season.
Suddenly, sitting in front of the fireplace has lost its attraction and all attention is now to the outdoors, seed ordering, bee health, piglet and chick ordering, equipment shopping, interviewing interns, and getting tractors ready for the season.
The big news is that we have permits in hand to grow hemp and are aiming to plant two acres, which comes to about 5,000 plants. Finally, farmers like us have what looks like it could be a significant cash crop. Sure, like marijuana it’s a weed, but to grow well it requires careful tending. Male plants have to be pulled to keep their pollen from wrecking flower production and the highest quality CBD oil. And managing ten foot tall plants at maturity promises to be a challenge. Hemp hasn’t been grown in the US for eighty years so we and all others involved are lined up at the start of a new learning curve.
I’ll add a photo here as soon as we have seedlings to show. More to come about all this in future posts.
