Planting Season on Bluebird Farm

Wow, March just flew by. The arrival of spring brings a whole new level of activity to the farm: soil preparation, seeding in the greenhouse, animals out on pasture, and transplanting. Everyday as we work in the field we can practically watch the grass get greener and the blossoms on the trees open up. One morning I noticed that the flowers on our magnolia were looking full and ready to burst. By that afternoon the trees were practically in full bloom. It is amazing to see and smell the plants waking up.

Misty the horse, Sweet Pea the sheep and Clyde the (very fast growing) Sheep-Horse-Dog

Some of our early vegetable starts just a few weeks ago. Some of these are already in the ground!

Beautiful Crabapple blossoms on the way to our garden.

Happy meat chickens on grass!

Row cover protecting young lettuce transplants from the vagrancies of spring weather.

William and a volunteer-Jenny. She has been a great help getting plants in the ground on time! This was just last week in full coats and hats on a wet chilly day.

Farmer Fridays at the Brewery!

Come on by the Brewery (Catawba Valley Brewing Company) every Friday 5:00-6:30 pm from March 'til mid-May!

We have farm fresh eggs for you. The hens have told us that spring is here! They are really laying eggs again. (forget groundhogs, we have chickens)

We'll also have a limited selection of our pastured pork: mild Country sausage, hot Country sausage and sweet Italian sausage, pork chops, side meat.

Farmer Fridays dates...

• March 11
• March 18
• March 25 Full selection of pastured pork again- order a Family Pork Pack!
• April 1
• April 8
• April 15
• April 22
• April 29
• May 6
• May 13

See ya there!

Looking forward to Farmers' Markets? We are!

Here is Bluebird Farm's "When and Where" guide to Farmer's Markets.

Eat Fresh! Eat Local!

I took a trip south on beautiful Highway 64 to the RS Central High School Farm on Saturday morning to buy young pigs at the spring FFA auction.

RS Central High has a very active agriculture program with greenhouse production, goats, chickens, pigs and much more. The RS Central High Farm has over fenced 30 acres and is a hands on classroom and laboratory for the high school students. Sadly, many high school ag programs have ended over the years- including the ag program at my old high school, Freedom High. I am very encouraged that RS Central has enthusiastic, effective agriculture teachers, a supportive school administration, a functioning community network, and dedicated high school students who spend after school hours working on the high school farm. Read more about RS Central High's accomplishments>>>

The auction was held in the RS Central High School Farm's barn, and each pig got a chance to shine in the spotlight as it passed through a middle corral and the crowd placed bids on it. The RS Central High FFA members worked hard behind the scenes to organize the auction, keep the pigs passing through the corral, and load the vigorous, wiggly 35 lb pigs into buyer's trucks.

The proceeds of the sale of each of the 40+ pigs supports the FFA program and farm at RS Central High School. Several local businesses also sponsored pigs with donations of over $100 per pig.

Later that day at Bluebird Farm... William and my 16 year old sister, Vivian, capture an heavy little wiggly pig, while Petunia, the Great Pyrenees guard dog, worries about her new pigs.

I'm very impressed with the all the hard work of high school students at RS Central!

We're the proud new owners of 5 very healthy, vigorous Red Wattle/ Hampshire and Berkshire cross pigs!

Spring pork order

Has the warm weather got you thinking about pulling out the grill? Maybe you want to cook a nice roast before the warm weather sets in. Now you can do both!

Spring Family Pork Packs!

We still have two months before farmers markets, but you don't have to wait for Bluebird Farm pastured pork!

Get a full selection of our pork in stock for the end of winter by ordering a Family Pork Pack. We sell out of Family Pork Packs quickly so reserve your pork today!

Small Family Pack (20 lbs, $110) Ordering information

Large Family PacK (40 lbs, $210) Ordering information

Half Hog (about 90 lbs) Contact us for pricing and cutting information

Pick-up at Bluebird Farm on Friday, March 25th from 3:30-5:30 pm

Spring?

We all enjoyed a week of warm weather and spring like conditions (although we wouldn't mind a little rain with our sun). Everyday at Bluebird Farm we are doing spring activities from preparing for our first meat chicks of the season, to preparing soil for potatoes, to starting onion transplants in the greenhouse.

Seeds arrive!

Preparing for chicks.

They're here!

Preparing the potato beds.

The pigs would like to help drive.

Potato beds.

Spring means more eggs. And new eggs! The chicks we got in October laid their first egg today!

A watchful rooster.

We're looking forward to a great year with everyone. Check the blog and our website BluebirdFarmNC.com to stay up to date on farmers market openings and other spring happenings at Bluebird Farm.

Winters can be long and dark, but if we ever need entertainment there's always the animals-better than cable!

Curious hen

Watchful Rooster

Hungry Ewe

Clyde and his "Mama"

Winter farm dreams and plans

Well, I've been sitting around with the laptop, the "Brainstorm" notebook, and the seed catalogs, jotting down ideas and plans. We've been telling ourselves were almost ready to order our supply of seed for the year all week! And here it is Friday night and we're burning the midnight oil. It's all because brainstorming is just so much fun and we are adjusting little parts of the 2011 veggie plans for CSA and farmer's markets.

Here's a photo from Johnny's Seeds. http://www.johnnyseeds.com/ This is why we drool over "sexy veggie and flower pics in seed catalogs.

http://www.highmowingseeds.com/ High Mowing Seeds and Johnny's Seeds are two companies we get most of our seeds from. Here's a carrot variety from High Mowing

These are the most delicious carrots- Yaya is their name. Nothing beats a fresh carrot grown in sweet garden soil.