Winter Update

​Mary’s Creek Farm (MCF) had a colder than normal winter.  Western Tennessee seldom sees single-digit temperature.  Our low was negative 3 degrees Fahrenheit.  We are now experiencing above average rainfalls.  

​Here we are at the end of February and have already received over 20 inches of rainfall.  MCF had plans to increase the size of our blueberry field by 160 bushes, but the wet weather has not allowed us to prepare the ground.  If the fields dry out before we get too far into spring, we may still be able to order our new blueberry bushes.

​MCF has a new family member, Cody, an American Paint Horse.  We spent the winter months preparing a new home for Cody.  He presently resides at a nearby boarding stable.  We fenced in a horse pasture and started renovating the interior the MCF Barn and Stables.  The horse stalls have new rubber mats, new wood wall finishes and door hardware.  We are presently building exterior turnouts off the back of each stall.  The interior and exterior lighting of the barn is being replaced with LED fixtures.  We are renovating the horse wash rack and plan to have wash rack plumbing soon.  The 6,000 square-foot indoor riding arena will receive some new LED lighting and a few other minor upgrades.  As soon as the barn renovations are completed, and we find a companion horse for Cody, he will move into his new home.

​This winter we installed an irrigation well on the farm.  A few weeks back, we ran water lines from the well to the garden, the blueberry fields and to the water troughs in the horse pasture.  We plan to use drip irrigation methods in the garden for water efficiency and conservation.

​This past weekend we started seed germination for our tomato and pepper transplants.  We constructed one more seed germination rack complete with grow lights for our seed propagation room.  A new batch of seed germination soil mix was made this weekend and includes equal parts of peat moss, vermiculite and perlite.  MCF ordered new seed germination trays for this year’s use.  We will be trying a 50-cell tray that provides more space for our newly germinated plants.  We are germinating some of the seeds from last year’s crop and introducing some exciting heirloom varieties we discovered this winter.  Since this past weekend, we have planted for germination a total of 35 tomato varieties, 25 sweet pepper varieties and 20 hot pepper varieties.  MCF plans to germinate more plants than we will need in our garden.  These surplus plants will be available for sell to our local customers.  In addition, we will have surplus seeds available for sale.

​Our chickens were happy this winter in their renovated house.  They had infrared heat and a long row of windows along one wall for natural light.  The MCF chickens provided our family, friends and customers with lots of fresh eggs.  Our birds have a huge fenced yard in which to play and the fencing has been successful at providing protection from predators.  We are now ready to increase our egg sales and this past weekend we converted one of the unused horse stalls to a baby chick rearing room.  Within the next two weeks we will be receiving new recruits for future egg production.  

We are excited about growth here on the farm and hope to do a better job this year at marketing our products.  We plan to continue selling directly from the farm and having pick-your-own days, but we would like to get out and market our goods at local farmers markets.  And, in the future, we plan to offer extra horse stalls for rent. 

Thank you for your support and we hope to see you this summer,
Jerry, Pat, Leslie and the dogs