What a weather, roller coaster of a week!  Shorts and a tee shirt at the beginning of the week, a day-long rain and by Friday my fleece was back in play. Then there was the wind - Saturday morning I met some folks at The Highlands to talk about installing bluebird boxes around the farm.  As I rounded the arborvitae hedge I saw the shade canopy outside the deer fence and upside down - a casualty of the relentless, overnight winds. Katie disassembled most of the frame and we all helped carry the aluminum skeleton back inside the fence. As for the bluebird boxes, we sited 6 locations (look for the pink surveyor tape) for our first set of boxes.  If you have access to bluebird boxes (these were donated by a local watershed group), please let me know, I'd like to have at least 6 more installed around the perimeter of the farm.

The high winds also wreaked havoc on a few rows of tomatoes and cabbages planted on plastic. In several cases, the plastic was pulled off the beds, leaving the beds unprotected.  I helped Katie and Lauren gently guide the young plants through the openings in the plastic and secure the plastic by mounding soil alongside the edges of the plastic mulch.

As I was helping the farmers with this unplanned task, I felt the difference between using black and white plastic mulch.  Tomatoes are planted on black plastic because they love warm weather.  As I reached under the plastic to release the trapped plants (some fruiting, by the way!), the air was warm and moist.  The warmth felt great on a cold, windy morning.  Cabbage prefers cooler growing conditions and is therefore placed on white plastic to help lower the soil temperature during the hot, summer months.  As I guided the cabbages back through the holes in the white plastic, the soil felt cool and the air, dry. I wish I'd had a group of kids helping in the field, it was a perfect teachable moment.

If you garden with kids or friends, be on the lookout for those teachable moments; they often occur when you're least expecting them!  

Have a good week.