A Note from Layton at Quail Hill Farm | Spring at the Farm
May 12, 2022
By Layton Guenther
Beltane, which fell on May 1, is a Gaelic holiday marking the midpoint between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice. In our corner of the East End, Beltane usually brings about the first major growth spurt in our winter cover crops, as well as the “leafing out” of our beloved deciduous trees around the farm: pignut hickory, silver beech, scrub oak and birch trees all unfurl their annual canopies to the chagrin of our seasonal allergies, but delight of the local ecosystem.
On the farm, we’ve begun our cultivation season with a first pass over our earliest spring crops: Sugar Ann sweet peas, French Breakfast radishes, Bloomsdale spinach, Little Gem lettuces, Astro arugula and more are being tended by our stellar 2022 crew. Now roughly 9 weeks into their season with us, our apprentices assisted Madison in planting out 2,300 pounds of seed potatoes, tucking in more than 20 varieties of spuds into the silt loam.
This Spring, I’m reflecting on two full years of farming during the global pandemic, and the ways in which this community coalesced around our community farm. Truly, everything old is new again: for our 33rd year of Community Supported Agriculture, we continue to grow a grand variety of vegetables, cut flowers and herbs, while investing in our relationships with our farm members, to highlight the core of what makes this farm tick.
Layton Guenther
Director, Quail Hill Farm
LGuenther@PeconicLandTrust.org