First and foremost: Huge thanks to the Kenwood PTA for all hands on deck on short notice! So far, 2023 on the farm has been . . . interesting.

We started with fire

In order to control invasive species in our largest fields, in April we had a controlled burn. It’s amazing to watch experts work with fire and the crew from Zumbro Valley Forestry are experts. Check out these photos:

Planting

Our first succession of corn went in on schedule and things were looking good but in mid-June I learned that our cooperating farmer hadn’t started the rest of the corn or the squash and was too booked up to help us. Uh-oh! I learned this on a Wednesday night and reached out to the crew from Kenwood School who jumped into the breach and came that very weekend to get the crops in the ground. Hooray! You should have seen the crew: I marked the rows with our little tractor then a parent came along and marked each hole followed by a student who placed two pumpkin seeds in each hole and who in turn was followed by a bucket brigade of students carefully putting a cup or two of water in each hole. Meanwhile, another crew got the remaining corn seeded and set up drip lines to jumpstart germination in hopes of getting ahead of the seed corn maggot (which considers corn seed a delicacy). As you can see in the photos below, the corn germinated well and we’re off and running. Thank you Kenwood!!