With this 5 day intensive, we'll garden every day and you'll get the hands-on experience you need an gain the confidence to get started on your own.

Every afternoon we'll visit other gardens and gardeners, including the local Amish community.

This is when I harvest and extract honey. I have extra bee suits for anyone who wants to go into the hives for the up-close experience!

Only $400 for all 5 days including all meals.

Don't have a week to give?
Come for just the weekend at my standard weekend rate, just $250 including camping and meals!

Please contact me to plan our week together!

Safe Sunscreen

It's the time of year when we all need to think about applying sunscreen, but I am often reluctant to use commercial products full of who knows what chemicals. At the Mother Earth News Fair, I came across what I believe to be a healthier alternative. Here is a list of the ingredients:

Subscribers of my newsletter are eligible for a 25% discount when purchased at www.PureSunscreen.com. Simply go to the website, sign up as a member, then use the following code when purchasing any of their products. There is no time limit and the discount will be given as long as the website is active. Please be assured that I am not making anything on this. I simply am passing on my discovery. Shopping cart discount code: farm14

Garden Update - Tomatoes in May

We purchased two tomato plants about a foot tall from a local greenhouse in mid-March, immediately transferred them to larger containers and placed them under fluorescent grow lights.

As the plants grew taller, we would raise the grow lights as high as necessary, always keeping the lights 2-3 inches above the plants.

We transplanted two more times as the tomato plants grew, moving them to larger and larger pots. The final pot was about 10 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep. Eventually the plants got so tall they need staking and extra support!

By early April, when the days had warmed up, we set the plants outdoors in the sun during the day, bringing them in the house at night. This helps "harden off" the plants, making them more used to an outdoor environment so they don't go into shock or grow tall and spindly.

In the beginning, we'll set them outdoors for just an hour or two, eventually increasing to full days. If outdoor temperatures do not go below freezing at night, we will place the plants in our greenhouse and let them stay out there both day and night.

This year our area had a relatively late frost (April 20).  Fortunately we still had not set the plants in the ground and were able to bring them indoors. We did not actually plant them in the ground until around May 1. There were many flowers and a number of green tomatoes already on the vine!

Ideally you want to have two people on hand when it is time to place them in the ground. You need one person to support the plant so that none of the branches break, while the other guides the root ball into your hole.

The goal: Fresh tomatoes and lettuce from the garden coming in at the same time! Now that's a salad!

Can you believe it? Red tomatoes in Mid-May!

Special introductory offer: $35 for both books

September 12-14, Seven Springs, PA

Thanks as always for your time and attention!

Douglas@thefarmcommunity.com\