Zach and I started out the week by releasing lady bugs into all three of the greenhouses. The lady bugs will help lower the aphid populations that have begun to grow slightly with the nicer weather and longer sunlight. We will do this every two weeks so that there is always a steady number of lady bugs. They came in a large box in the mail and will be staying in the walk-in cooler where they can live in for up to 6 months.

We also continued with our weekly seedings and, along with some other crops, seeded artichokes and kohlrabi! Although artichokes are perennials, Prema grows them as annuals (they start a new crop of artichokes every year and do not save the plants from the previous year). This is possible because, unlike many perennial crops, artichokes produce a crop in their first year.

On Friday, there was a new employee orientation on the farm for two people that will be starting work at Prema soon for the season. It was so different having four people on the farm to help get things done as opposed to just having Zach and I. One of the new employees will be starting next week, so we’ll have three pairs of hands to help get work done. As the season has begun to pick up, it has become harder and harder for Zach and I to get everything done that needs to happen each week, so this will definitely be a nice change.