Spring blossoms on the farm (credit: Heidi Stowell-Nichols)
The past week has been a blur here at Codman! After a long winter, projects, plants and animals are springing up left and right as the season gets into swing. Here are a few updates about what’s going on, and what you can expect to see the next time you stop by:
Our first chicken-catching crew of 2019
Volunteers Catch and Move Hens to Codman North Field
Last Wednesday night, an all-star crew of volunteer chicken catchers assembled to wrangle all of our laying hens into mobile coops and animal trailers, Under the light of the near-full moon, bolstered by the chilly and fresh spring air, our team scrambled, dove and laughed as we caught hens left and right. Pete then drove the birds down to the Codman North field, at the end of Codman Road, where they are now enjoying roaming on the fresh grass (under Andy’s watchful eye of course). We are grateful to everyone who came out and lent a hand and a sense of humor, and created such a warm, supportive group. The night captured the magic of shared work (and celebratory hot chocolate), and community spirit. Check out the hens on their new digs as you drive or walk by, and sign up for our mailing list or contact us if you’re interested in helping out with future chicken catching days!
Some of last year’s volunteers
Codman Spring Cleanup Volunteer Day - 4/28
There is still some cleanup left to do after the winter, and we’ll be having our volunteer Spring Cleanup day next Sunday, 4/28 from 1pm-5pm. We’ll be taking care of all manner of projects, like cleaning up the flower beds, scraping and repainting fences, and weeding around the farm. We’d love for you to join us - bring your work gloves and your sense of fun, and we’ll bring the snacks! Find more info at the link above, and RSVP here.
The first kale of the season goes into the ground!
Market Garden Fields Tilled, PYO Flowers Moved
With the ground thawed and ready for planting, we’ve tilled up the vegetable fields, and planted out the first kale starts of the season! We’re getting ready to plant our seed potatoes, which were prepared by students from the Waldorf School of Massachusetts Bay. They’ve been coming out to the farm for the past few weeks as a part of their farming elective class, so thanks to them for their help! This week, we’ll be cleaning out the greenhouse where the chickens lived over the winter, and begin using it for vegetable starts and transplanting tomatoes.
Additionally, the PYO Flower Garden has moved from the corner of Codman Road, by the Community Gardens, to its new home by our vegetable gardens and orchard on the far side of the greenhouse. We will still have fresh annual and perennial flowers available on a PYO basis, and the beds feel more at home nestled in the heart of our farm - just a short stroll from the CCF parking lot past our pastures and barns. New signs should be coming shortly.
Chicks and Geese (but no Ducks) Better Scurry
A new batch of chicks, as well as a few baby goslings arrived this week! We’ve never raised geese before, so we’re excited to give it a try. We’re looking forward to another 400 chicks showing up this week, so the brooder will be chock full with peeping fluff-balls. Our first round of chicks are almost ready to head out to pasture, and will probably move to the Mt. Misery field sometime this week. Come visit us and check them out! And if you want to know when we’ll have fresh chicken available on the farm, sign up for our mailing list or keep an eye on this blog.
Roofing Begins for Solar Project
The roofers arrived last Thursday and began re-shingling our main barn, getting it ready for the solar panels which will follow. There’s plenty more to be done, as we will eventually have solar panels on three faces of three of our barns. We are so excited to start running on clean, freely available sunlight and go net-zero starting sometime in June. Find more info about the solar project here, and watch the progress unfold over the next couple of months as you come by the farm and store.
Our Events page has info about upcoming events where you can connect with the farm, and we hope to add more for the summer - if you have any ideas or are interested in helping run an event or workshop, let us know. Things are just getting busier and busier as the season continues, so keep checking back for more updates, and stop by the farm to have a look around and see what’s going on!
Until Next Time,
~Jon