Planning....

Here it goes. My first official post! I have been up all night working on the garden layout for this year. I am running behind. I like to have this kind of work done before the end of February and here I am, almost a week into March and I am just starting out planning. My husband is trying to remind me that I still have time, but my internal clock (set for planting times, last frost and spring) has had the alarm going off for a while now and it seems I've slept in.
 I am also going to try this new farm tracking software by AgSquared. You can find it at www.agsquared.com. I talked with one of the reps at the Great Lakes Growers convention and liked what they said their program could do. They have teamed up with Jonny's and are offering the first 3 months free. So far its going okay. I was thinking that I would just have to pick the vegetables and herbs I was growing from one of their menus, but all they have is clipart pictures of the veggies and you have to type in all the information for them. I am gonna try and stick with it, but this late in the game, I can't help but feel I just added more work for myself. If all goes as planned their software should help me determine how much we planted and harvested by the end of the season and I can go from there in seeing if I made money at the farmers markets.
Aside from growing more veggies to take to market, I am also trying a few new varieties of veggies that store well. One of the goals for this year is to try some root cellaring. I am currently reading "Root Cellaring, Natural cold storage of fruits and vegetables" by Mike and Nancy Bubel. Their book has been very helpful in determining what varieties keep longer. It is a very interesting book with lots of helpful information.
It looks like I will be getting my seeds again this year mostly from Baker Creek and Johnny's Selected. A few will come from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Super Seeds, a new company for us.
I also have been talking to one of my friends who has a small farm about combining certain aspects for our farms to make them more sufficient. I have offered to let her post here and share her ideas on farming. Hopefully this will provide more information in one spot for everyone to learn and get ideas from so stay tuned, we have lots in the works for this year.