Sunday, January 15, 2012

Upcoming Event

I will be organizing a raised-bed gardening workshop sometime in March.  The workshop will be followed by a Q&A session on gardening.  Most likely the event will take place on a Sunday afternoon and will be free.  More information will be posted here on the blog and on the farm website http://www.solitudespringsfarm.com soon.

The sun is coming back!

After what seems like an eternity of darkness, those of us living on the 65th parallel look forward to the longer days of spring.  We're up to 5 hours of daylight and gaining almost 6 minutes each day.  Soon, my PV array will provide all the electricity I need and I will put the generator to bed until mid November.

Winter has been the typical roller coaster ride for Fairbanks.  November ended cold (mostly -20s on the farm).  Then came the freezing rain on Dec 5th.  December remained warm until the last week when the mercury dropped below zero and stayed there. The first half of January has left us with an average temperature of -16F here at the farm. January 14th saw the lowest temperature so far this year, with -32F at the farm and -47F in town.  Gotta love that inversion!

The first seed displays are now up in stores around town, reminding me that I have one month until it is time to start planting seeds for my 4th annual plant sale in May and June.  I'm looking at adding a few new varieties of seedlings - both vegetables and flowers.  It should be an exciting spring!