You always know when spring is near when all the seed packets start popping up at all the stores. And gardening is my hobby, so I get REALLY excited! I mean, come on, who doesn’t love to play in dirt; Especially knowing that soon you will have some homegrown goodness straight from your backyard in just a few months.
So, that is just what the kids & I have been up to lately — digging! Of course, we have also been digging our cleats in the ball field too, but on the days we are not there, we are digging our shovels, hands & feet into dirt. It’s a fun, messy, DIRTY job, but we gladly volunteer. And besides, that is what soap & water are for, right?
This year I am trying my hand (again) at broccoli and cauliflower. The last year I tried 
growing these vegetables, they were eaten up by insects. I mean, literally eaten up – nothing but their branches/stems were left. It was very sad. So, any tips or tricks are greatly appreciated. As you all know, on the farm, we like to go as organic and natural with everything, so no matter how crazy your tip/trick may sound, I will try anything. If it works, it works!
Now that we have a lot of little seedlings started, next we are working on building new raised garden beds. Ya’ll! I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about this! NEW garden beds! See, last year was my first year gardening in raised beds, so the beds were, well, pretty pitiful. Actually, really pitiful. They were literally put together in under minutes, fast & cheap and were falling apart at the end of the season, some even before I could harvest the produce. But, this year, we are a bit more ahead and I know 
more about what I prefer and want, so the raised bed assembly cannot begin soon enough!
On the farm, we LOVE dirt… and getting dirty is just a part of farm life. We cannot wait to get even dirtier these next few weeks as we plant even more seeds.
All my fellow gardeners raise your shovels…and get ready to GROW!
