Spring in the Fields

It’s that time of year when farmers are more than ready to get out in the fields, and we’re no exception! With yesterday’s clear skies after a needed rain and a gentle breeze floating across the farm, Jeff and I laid mulch in the tree patch.

The Christmas trees are coming out of dormancy, feeling the sunshine on their needles and branches. The mulch provides multiple benefits for the trees. It insulates the soil, mitigating soil temperatures and retaining moisture, which is especially important in drought conditions like we had last summer. (It’s been a warm, dry winter for us, too—really, it didn’t feel much like winter happened at all).

Mulch suppresses weed growth, too. Weeds can overwhelm the trees as they develop, competing for nutrients and shading out the young trees. These Canaan fir needles also will benefit from fertilizer and lime that we laid down earlier, transforming them to a rich green.

As we worked, we listened to the men’s Final Four game between Purdue and North Carolina State. I set a Bluetooth speaker on the bed of the ATV and my phone on a ledge toward the top of the cab to catch a good signal and stream the radio broadcast.

We finished working by halftime, so I raced to check on the animals so we could listen to the second half as we drove home.

Flowers are growing across the pastures, as well, and I captured some daffodils as I put up netting for the sheep earlier in the day.

The skies were beautifully clear all day, and we’re hoping they will remain clear for Monday’s solar eclipse. (I was out of the country when the last one occurred here in North America, so this will be my first time to see a solar eclipse.)

Thanks for Reading!

And I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• What do you most look forward to doing when spring arrives?

Share your answer and this newsletter with a friend who likes spring!

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This Week on the Farm

There’s a lot to look forward to this week! Today, we’re preparing Shetland, Shropshire, and crossbred fleeces for Friday’s Greencastle Wool Show. Monday is the solar eclipse and the men’s college basketball national championship game, which features a very special team, my alma mater, the Purdue Boilermakers!

We finished lambing last week! Here’s one of the final three lambs, a sheep with some cow spots!

Farm Shop

If you’ll be at the Greencastle Wool Show this Friday and Saturday, look for the fleeces from the Indiana Sheep Association. Our Shetland, Shropshire, and cross fleeces will be there, entered in the show and sale.

After the Wool Show, we’ll also be offering this year’s fleeces on our Etsy shop!

Here’s a look back at the successes of last year’s Greencastle Wool Show.