Our first CSA pick-up is just about a month away!  Seems like we were just battling ice, snow and power outages.  I much prefer the weather, and wardrobe options, this time of year.

The Edible Classroom at Horsham is already boasting some beautiful new leaves on the grapes, blackberries, blueberries, apricot and Asian Pear trees.  The Sugar and Snap Peas are sporting tendrils while the kale, broccoli, cauliflower are settling their roots in our fertile soil.

In addition to our usual cast of annual veggies, I planted something new - sorghum.  Before reading on, here's a link so you can read a bit more about sorghum.  You may be wondering "why sorghum, we're an organic vegetable CSA?".  Well, here's my take on why - if you checked out the link, you may have noticed it can be used by people suffering from Celiac Disease.  I was diagnosed w/ CD several years ago and am always looking for gluten-free, grain alternatives.  In addition, sorghum provides great cover and dining opportunities for birds.  I was looking for a low maintenance, annual for few of the back beds in the Horsham EC and thought sorghum would be a good option.  We'll see how it goes and if all goes well, we will be able to harvest some seeds in the fall and give them a grind!

Establishing the farm and Edible Classroom at The Highlands has allowed the farming staff to develop a new skill set involving the ins and outs of working on a site with a State owned historical site. All of our plans to alter the property must be submitted to the Pennsylvania Historic and Museum Commission and some of them are then turned over to the Bureau of Historic Preservation for approval. This means the installation of deer fence had to be reviewed and approved, and we are very happy to say we got a "thumbs up" and the fencing should be installed within the week.  The Edible Classroom as well as other infrastructure plans are waiting for a Phase One Archeological Study. This should be an interesting process and we will keep you all informed as the study progresses.

So what will the EC at The Highlands look like?  Well, we'll have a shade structure (like the one at Horsham) up in few weeks and instead of planting our herbs and veggies directly into the soil, we are going to set up a few straw bale garden beds!  This should be pretty cool - here's a link to read more about the concept.  I set up 3 beds last week and I'm conditioning the bales by watering them and applying fish emulsion.  The conditioning process promotes composting in the bales.  After about 2 weeks of conditioning, the bales will be ready for planting either using transplants and/or direct seeding.  We'll use both methods, leading to the development of yet another skill set!  Stop by and check out the bales!

Have a good week and I hope all is well in your garden!

Diane