Hello, June! The Latest News from Farm & Larder and Bella Luna Farms

Despite the wet and cool spring weather over the past couple of months, it seems as if the signs are finally beginning to point towards the start of summer, from the baby birds leaving their nests to the abundance of beautiful blooms now seen around the farm.

During rain breaks, we have spent lots of hours in the garden and now the arrival of June means the summer crops are just about planted and the first of their shoots should soon start popping up out of the soil. The lettuces and other greens are all thriving, in addition to the Romano beans inching their way up the trellises (tempting the pesky rabbits!) and the fragrant herbs growing in the Walled Garden. Preparations for planting summer cutting flowers are finally underway now that the weather is more favorable and we can get out in the field to till and plant.

Warm weather plants such as tomatoes and peppers are ready to go in the hoop house, with the eggplant and summer squash starts to follow. We’ve begun checking the strawberries to see if any buds are turning into green berries, but we will have to be patient as ripe, juicy fruit looks to still be at least a couple of weeks out. In the meantime, we will enjoy the peonies and sweet peas as they start their vibrant season as well as the first flush of English roses are almost in bloom.

Around the rest of Bella Luna, the animals are enjoying a ‘spa day’ to brush out the last of their thick winter undercoats, and the donkey (aka Stinky) will get a much needed bath! Dave and Beth Richards of JohnnyAppleBeez will soon come to retrieve their orchard mason bee houses from the garden, which will be filled with the cocoons of baby bees; the Richards will help these bees become next year’s crop pollinators.

Enjoy these first few days of June and we hope you and yours continue to be well as summer approaches!