South Farm Seeded & the First Eggs Spotted

Village Farm Team,

After much preparation and hard work after Harvey, the South Farm was seeded this past week! The farm team direct-seeded carrots, turnips, beets, kale, leeks, and snap peas into the tilled and prepared beds. Drip tape was installed along the furrows to help with irrigation as moisture is a very important part of germination. Now our focus turns to making sure our seeds get plenty of water to ensure they grow properly and in time give us a bountiful winter harvest.

Egg Watch finally had its first eggs this week! So far there has only been a handful of eggs from a couple of our ladies but the hope is that the others will soon begin following suit. Did you know that un-washed eggs don’t have to be refrigerated? Once laid, the eggs have a protective coating on them that keeps them from being porous. This coating keeps water and oxygen in, while keeping bad bacteria out. It allows them to remain “shelf stable” without being refrigerated. Washing eggs causes this barrier to deteriorate so that the eggs must then be refrigerated to prevent the growth of bad bacteria. Once refrigerated, an egg must always remain refrigerated until used.

On the North Farm, things are beginning to take shape, both literally and figuratively. The beds for Farm Club are being meticulously shaped this week in preparation for the official launch this Saturday (October 21st). Once shaped, irrigation is set up in the beds in order to soak the soil and build up the moisture content before we plant any transplants or seeds. Our soils have a high clay content so once moisture is added, they typically hold on to water well as opposed to quicker draining sandy soils. Soaking the beds prior to seeding allows us to ensure better germination and growing conditions.