A strong March wind continues to blow on this first day of April, sending branches into the driveway and making the daffodils dance. Spring marks a time of renewal, of new life, and you may notice some new changes on this website too. Feel free to take a look around!

While many of the changes are cosmetic, a few important details have been updated as well. First, I am tentatively planning to set up at the Broadway Community Market this year. This farmers market on Main Street in Broadway is open every Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon, starting May 21. Given the current scale of Fairydiddle Farm, this means I will not, unfortunately, be selling at New Market Farmer’s Market as in the past.

Also, in the coming months I will be launching an online store, so you can order seasonal vegetables, herbs, and other products from Fairydiddle Farm to pick up at a designated location in Broadway midweek. Rain or shine, you can place your order from home and pick up your veggies in town!

To make sure you receive updates about the community market and online ordering, subscribe to Fairydiddle Farm updates in the sidebar to the right (you may have to scroll up – or down, if you’re on a phone).

In other news, the sugar snap peas sprouted this week, and I have lots of happy little seedlings under grow lights indoors. Next week I’ll begin planting green onions, lettuce, and carrots in the garden to join the peas!

Gardening season has officially begun here at Fairydiddle Farm! Technically, it started with the planning and seed ordering of last month, but putting the first seeds in soil and spending the first hours back in the garden solidify this new beginning, this new revolution of the cycle.

Last week, I began preparing beds for spring planting, using a simple no-till method called occultation. The process involves using sheets of black plastic to encourage the germination of weed seeds and then smother and decompose them. If you would like to learn more, I recently wrote a step-by-step post about occultation for locally-owned garden website Backyard Garden Lover, which you can read here.

The first seeds to hit soil this year were Ishikura onions, a traditional Japanese heirloom variety of bunching onions, or green onions. Germination takes up to two weeks, so I’m still waiting for the exciting event of those first tender sprouts appearing. In the meantime, they’ll continue to sit on my dining room table until all have sprouted and are ready for the grow lights.

While out shopping last week, I spotted my crocheted scrubbies and Swiffer covers on the shelves at Great.Full Goods in downtown Harrisonburg. It’s both strange and exciting to see something you made at one of your favorite stores! If you haven’t been to Great.Full Goods yet, I highly recommend visiting. As for the Fairydiddle Farm products, the scrubbies make excellent reusable alternatives for kitchen sponges, and the Swiffer covers are great at picking up pet hair. Both are hand-crocheted with 100% cotton and are machine washable.

We have plenty more frosty nights (and days!) ahead of us yet, but I’ll be starting more and more seeds in the weeks to come and eagerly anticipating the time when I can dig my hands into crumbly garden dirt again and put some plants in the ground.

Snow has blanketed the ground for weeks – sometimes in patches, sometimes completely – which doesn’t often happen in our little corner of the world. In the past few years, we’ve only received one or two decent snowfalls each winter, and I’m grateful for the change. This dormant season feels cozier, more magical, with snow on the ground and a steaming mug in hand.

But spring is coming.

About two weeks ago, my husband and bunnies looked on curiously while I spread seed catalogs, notebooks, calendars, seed packets, and charts all over the living room floor. I spent the better part of a Saturday happily piecing together a garden plan in the midst of this cheerful mess. And that week I ordered seeds. The first order arrived yesterday, thankfully containing the green onion seeds I need to start next week already. I have a new grow light setup complete with proper shelving and adjustable lights that I’m eager to try out.

I’m experimenting with quite a few new crops this year in addition to the reliable standbys, including Chinese pink celery, red currant tomatoes, lima beans, sweetcorn, okra, and cucamelons. Although new to me, all of these are heirloom varieties that have been around for decades, if not centuries. It’s hard to believe they will all fit in my little garden without displacing anyone else, but I’ve mapped it out, and everyone should fit just fine! Working with beds rather than rows allows a gardener to fit more into a smaller amount of space, as does intercropping. For example, while I’m not practicing the Three Sisters method this year (corn, squash, and beans together), I am planting corn and winter squash together in the same bed.

I’ve also been knitting and crocheting almost every evening during these colder months, and I’m pleased to announce that you can now purchase Fairydiddle Farm crocheted items at Great.Full Goods in downtown Harrisonburg! This wonderful little shop in Agora Market sells natural, zero-waste items sourced from small businesses. I like to buy my laundry detergent, dish soap, and even toothpaste tabs in bulk there. And now you can find hand-crocheted scrubbies and Swiffer covers there, lovingly made by yours truly.

I like to use the scrubbies as a sponge alternative when washing dishes. Instead of tossing it in the trash when it gets gross, you toss it in the wash! Similarly, the Swiffer covers replace the disposable cloths for your dry mop, and they pick up pet hair beautifully. Both items are made with 100% cotton, which can be machine washed and dried. I recommend forgoing the dryer, though, and hanging items to dry to reduce electricity use. Fun fact: I’ve started buying recycled cotton yarn from Rocktown Yarn, located two shops down from Great.Full Goods in Agora Market, making these items super local.

Next time you’re in town, take the time to wander through Agora Market. It’s a fun place.

Stay cozy!