Beginnings

Clare Schaecher

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 10:00 PM

It’s March and everything is changing. We’ve left the house and farm we were renting in Woodstock and temporarily installed ourselves in Gurnee where we’re renting a house a mile away from the acre we’ll be growing on this season. This is the third piece of land that we’ve been on in four years. I think you can safely call us itinerate farmers. And we have one more move in our future: Mike and I are looking for a 10 acre farm to buy. We hope to buy sometime this summer and get it ready to grow on for the 2012 season.

But for now, our focus is on getting ready for the new season. With our greenhouse in storage, we’re using grow lights to get our seedlings started. Even under less-than ideal conditions, it’s still a small miracle to watch tiny shoots push out of their little blocks. I really love this time of year – there’s something so hopeful about the brilliant green of new life after the darkness of winter. And it has been dark – continuing on to a rainy, cold March. We’re still waiting to get into the ground. But we did our initial field work in the fall – we tilled to kill the grass and spread 40 tons of composted horse manure – so when the ground finally dries out, we’ll be ready to plant.

While we’re making fresh starts, I’ll be posting farm updates a little more frequently so you can follow us as we start our little farm from scratch. Change is afoot at Mike & Clare’s Farm – we’re happy to have you along for the journey!