A Day on the Farm

On a recent, beautiful Spring day, there was a lot of activity on the farm. . .

In pasture one, Charlie was removing "deer guards" from young fruit trees and
Jason was spreading lime on a newly plowed field.

Lloyd Lee was assisting Mike with the renovation of an old metal wagon into the produce wagon for the farm store.

Susan was at work in the greenhouse planting seeds in flats.

The garlic was growing.

And the peach trees were peacefully blooming.

Meanwhile, Jan was simply walking around taking pictures and listening to the hens celebrate the many eggs they were laying.

Opening Day of Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market

Today was the "season opener" for Burlington Downtown Farmers' Market.  Wings of Dawn Farm was in the starting line-up and the team of vendors pulled out a winner thanks to the support of lots of fans who came to see, to learn, to shop and to eat.  Thank you!

After these photos were taken some real excitement began--the first "Food Truck Rodeo" held in Burlington, hosted by the market, was held in the parking lot behind our tables.  Here are some of the trucks arriving:

Six different food trucks, members of the Central Carolina Food Truck Alliance, came and the lines of customers were long!  The atmosphere was very festive.  The sense of community was obvious as children licked ice cream cones and adults chowed down on foods such as tacos, jambalaya and BBQ.  Cooperative weather added the finishing touch to a great day!

Signs of Spring

Despite the cool, windy weather of March-as-lion, we can see glimmers of life as we wander the farm.  ("Wander" sounds so much more relaxing than "trudge" or "work" about the farm, but don't let that fool you.)  Here are a few of the ways in which we know it's the season known as Spring.

     Two tractors in the field.

 Jason planting onion sets in the rows he's just hilled.

Peas are planted and just peeking out of the soil although you can't really see them in the picture.

 Layers are laying eggs galore.

 The incubator is FULL of eggs!  Stay tuned--in a few weeks we'll have pictures of really cute chicks.

Raised Beds

Raised beds

Last year, we built three raised beds in the early spring beside one of our garden plots. They are constructed with large timbers, originally milled locally to become a floor, a very sturdy floor.

Edge of a raised bed

We transplanted some of our perennial herbs into one of the beds and added the seeds of an old-fashioned vining petunia.

Herbs in one of the raised beds

And then we direct seeded sunflowers, cosmos, lettuce and zinnias into another bed.  We enjoyed everything that grew!  This year, we have perennial onions in the middle of the three beds.  The two outer beds await whatever is to be planted this year and will soon be looking like the picture below.

Seeds starting to come up 

Sofie and the Snapper

It is soon becoming the time when snapping turtles lumber out of their hibernation in our bottom land and meander across the lower pasture to the large pond.  A year ago this time, Sofie met her first snapper, up a bit too close and personal.  The "snap" of the turtle left a scratch on her nose but she was otherwise unscathed and we moved her to another area while the turtle continued her walk to the pond.  

This is not the snapper that got Sofie; it is a photo from a few days afterward showing how curious she still is about these large creatures appearing in what she considers her territory.

As we continue to have freezing nights, the turtles may not be up and about for a while but when they appear, Sofie will probably bark again at these large creatures in the space she is assigned to protect.  

Sophie resting after meeting the snapping turtle.

Love one another. . .

. . . and keep them warm, too.

This year we have a lot more cut and split firewood than we expect to need to heat the house through the winter.  Fortunately, our farmhand Jason was aware of a local church that collects firewood and distributes it to those in need.

One recent Saturday morning a caravan of trucks, some pulling trailers, arrived at the farm as men from Integrity Church in Burlington came to collect our excess wood.  As the temperature dropped into the twenties last night, we were grateful to know that Wings of Dawn Farm wood was keeping warm folks who might otherwise have been very cold.  Thanks to Integrity Church for this community effort.  Great teamwork!

The first load, soon to be on its way.

Volunteers formed a line and passed the wood along, filling each trailer and truck.

Backing up one more trailer to fill it with firewood.

Goodbye Barn!

Our remaining barn pieces

Several years ago we pulled down a dilapidated barn on our property, fearing that it might fall down. (As difficult as it was to take down we doubt it would have ever fallen over.) It sat in a pile until recently when we had the remaining materials taken away.

Pushing and hauling away the barn

And now there is not a pile of old barn pieces blocking our view of the pond! The soil where the barn was is also very rich from all of the hay and likely manure that was stored in the barn. We are planning to expand our asparagus bed into the former barn's location.  We've removed a lot of rocks from the soil and planted cover crops in preparation for planting asparagus.

No more barn!