Visiting parents, new animal friends … plus mushrooms and eggs!

May started with a sweet visit from Rob’s parents—our first time together after all being fully vaccinated! It was lovely to be able to share a meal together, and then take a walk at GilChrist to visit the goats. Little Bert is new to GilChrist, but he’s a sweetheart who loves attention and fits right in. Puck’s only a little jealous of the new guy.

In a bittersweet milestone, we enjoyed our first fully vaccinated, post-pandemic meal in person with our friends and co-workers from the Huss Project, but it was a goodbye dinner as some of our folks finished up their year-long term and made plans to move on to other work. We’ve SO missed sharing meals around a big table!

At the farm as the weather warmed up, we worked on a number of projects in addition to starting seeds and transplanting. Thanks to our friend Jonathon who harvested some oak logs and ordered mushroom spawn, we were able to start a variety of edible shiitake and wine cap mushrooms. It will be a couple of years before they’re ready to harvest, so it’s an investment in future deliciousness.

We weren’t the only ones excited about the warmer temps. The chickens are glad to be out of their winter home roaming the greener pastures of the farm, eating insects and fertilizing the beds. We’re really thankful to have so many animals in our lives, especially these ladies who kindly give us so many eggs!