Brrrr. By the time I had collected eggs, opened packages of out-of-date frozen (thawed) food a friend brought by the for chickens, and taken jugs of water out to the birds, my hands said they wanted the winter gloves before I fed everyone. It was sunny so the hoophouse was very cozy this afternoon. I planted lots of seeds for transplanting – basil, salad mix, spinach – and direct seeded salad mix in the hoophouse. They are stacked in the dining room to germinate. The lettuces need light to germinate so are on top of stacks of flats of spinach and greens which don’t require light. The tomatoes and basil need heat so get put on top of the lights. I transplanted tomato plants up into bigger pots the other day, so they are taking much more room under the lights. Running out of space. Will have to make my little heated mini-greenhouse inside the hoophouse soon. Once we get past tonight, it looks like it won’t require much supplemental heat.
And the best part of the day, I interviewed a SUNY student who wants to work for us this summer. She has done some gardening and likes cooking, has an art background that should make her good at attention to detail in sorting/cleaning/bunching veggies, she has held a job that required her to get to work early early in the morning, so she is OK getting here early to harvest veggies while they are cool. She wants to increase her food production skills, specifically organic production. And she seems really nice. I am very encouraged.
