Farm Update

Spring 2024

Happy spring to you! Here in Floyd our spring came about three weeks early compared to 2023. I saw lots of green growth and flowers emerging at a time I thought was too early for them to continue to show their beauty before another frost hit, but a hard frost did not come back. We have been very grateful for the rain we have had this spring, which is allowing the grass to be abundant for the cows and the flowers to bloom for our eyes. I have been really enjoying coming into closer relationships with three plants that have so many benefits for human health and soil health: dandelions, valerian, and chamomile.

The dandelions, feeling the early warmth of the spring, snuck up on me this year. I saw the first bloom on March 8, whereas, in 2023, the first flower opened on March 28. We had quite a warm sunny April, which allowed the dandelions to come and go quickly, but not before I could harvest what we needed to make the dandelion preparation.

On Mother’s day, as the moon was in Gemini, I made the first of our valerian preparations for this year. Back in February, I moved our valerian patch to a new garden that has all of the different plants we use to make the preparations. I was not sure how the bloom would be this year after transplanting them, but it has been magnificent in spite of a few plants that got their buds eaten by a deer who apparently needed some help sleeping.

Growing up on a corn and soybean farm and working on a production vegetable farm, means that it is sometimes hard to welcome interplanting or to not plant in straight rows. I have been interplanting a lot this spring in the gardens. I also have been having a blast planting all sorts of veggies in two tunnels that our neighbor Spikenard has. Here is a photo of a bed that had calendula, spinach, kale, and carrots, which I planted tomatoes into. The bed on the left has chamomile, radishes, and mustards, which will be harvested to make space for more tomatoes and parsley to be planted. 

Due to the staffing change at Spikenard one of the tunnels was left shut for a few months, any of you who have worked with covered spaces know how detrimental that can be to the soil health. In attempts to work with the soil to help it rejuvenate, I have been boardforking and applying liberally Pfeiffer Field and Garden Spray. Quite satisfied, I am happy to say after two months of working with it, I can feel the life coming back into the soil.

I want to extend a HUGE thank you to Frances Keefer, Suzy O’Rourke, Georgie Donovan, Amie Slate, Tom Broody, and Eileen Hogan for donating plants to JPI. They collectively have gifted trees, flower bulbs, raspberries canes, medicinal plant starts, and flower seeds to help me develop some of the garden spaces I started last year. 

Still waiting on the highland cows to calf, but maybe my prediction from this winter that it will happen during our Spring Workshop is still on track. If you are able to join us for our Spring Workshop, June 14-16, we will be also celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Agriculture course where Rudolf Steiner gave the initial indications for biodynamics. We will be reading the lectures that were spoken exactly 100 years ago on those days in Koberwitz around our fire in the evening. 

Blessings to you, and remember we are here to help in any way we can.