By Michelle Soto
This past week my family came into town ready to work on the farm! Many of my memories of childhood involve helping my dad in the yard and in the garden. Every spring we’d get a load of wood mulch delivered to the house and I would use my child sized shovel and wheelbarrow to mulch the rose bushes and the edges of garden beds. I loved the smell of the mulch. It smelled woody and alive and signaled that spring was here. My dad’s biggest hobby was working in the yard, he’d come home every day after work, take a power nap, change into work clothes and spend the rest of the afternoon outside. He’s the type of guy who only has ONE kind of grass in his yard, and absolutely no weeds. Anywhere.
It was reminiscent of these afternoons to spend some days with him at Healcrest. His assignment: tree stump removal. And not just any tree stump. A 50 year old black locust (he counted those rings during a break one day) which was in the middle of our newest garden. While my dad worked on the stump, my mom and aunt weeded our garlic patch, which had mulched itself with garlic mustard plants. They caught them all before they went to flower, and the garlic patch is vibrant and sending up what soon will be delicious garlic scapes.
Other areas of the garden are quickly growing as the days and nights are warming up. The mints: lemon balm, peppermint, horehound, catnip, catmint, and chocolate mint are providing us with new herbs to harvest every week. About half of our seedlings are moved into the greenhouse and awaiting transplant. And of course, the lovely wild cherry trees are going to burst into bloom any day this week.
Till next time,
Michelle and the Farm Team
Healcrest Urban Farm 