Ram Spring Ranch

It's going to be a beautiful day tomorrow to come out and see us on the South Green! Some of you have reached out asking why we have been absent. We appreciate your support so much! We were helping some family members who were in need and are back in the full swing of things. We hope to see you all tomorrow!

Life has been so crazy lately! For those who have stuck around, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We are trying very hard to make some small changes here and there so that we can offer so much more to our loyal customers. I promise, your patience (and loyalty) will be rewarded in the end! In the meantime... here are some fun facts about cows. 😁🐄😍

Fun Facts

🤣accurate 🤷‍♀️

🤣🙃

Flowers, farm animals, farmers' markets, and farm wineries—these are some of our favorite things, and yours too! However, we also want to acknowledge that May is Mental Health Month—a time to pause and assess the wellbeing of our farming community during this physically and mentally demanding time of year as they work to prepare fields for planting, move products to market, anticipate harvests, and more. 🧠

Over the past few years, we have compiled resources and information to help support our farmers, including an Agri-Stress Hotline, videos, trainings for stakeholders, and much more. We are sharing this with you because we know you are vested in our farms and have often shared in their disappointment when faced with challenges—from failed crops to barn fires.

Together, we can break the stigmas associated with wellbeing and mental health while encouraging self-care. Here are a few ways you can do that:

⏱️ Respect farm hours. They need downtime too!
💻 Understand that they may not respond to a social media post, text message, or phone call immediately. Often, they are wearing all the hats of their operation, and being in the field or barn takes priority to bring you the fresh products you enjoy.
😊 Be kind when visiting farms. From pick-your-own to farmers' markets, be ready to roll with changes and understand that weather may dictate what's available and when.
❓ Ask the tough questions and listen.
🍓 Continue buying CT Grown farm products. Shop at farmers' markets, farm stands, and greenhouses. Go for a wine tasting or farm tour. Seek out dining venues and retail establishments that source locally.

Let's keep Connecticut's farmers safe, healthy, and strong this season! 💪 www.ctfarmstressrelief.org

This cold needs to end! My propane heaters are struggling to keep up with the cold and the fear of loosing the seasons plants in the greenhouse is stressing me out to the max! You've had your temper tantrum, now bring back the NORMAL weather! 😭😭😭

Learning more and more about growing rhubarb in the dark 🤔

Ever listen to the sick beats of rhubarb growing in the dark? Forced rhubarb, which is made to mature in near total darkness, grows at such an alarming rate—as much as an inch a day—that it actually makes squeaks, creaks, and pops as it gets bigger. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/forced-rhubarb-makes-sound
⁠
The technique makes for sweeter rhubarb, growers say, as well as a percussive, chaotic rhythm.⁠
⁠
Please enjoy this kaleidoscopic tart to the smooth sounds of rhubarb snapping & crackling on SoundCloud: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/forced-rhubarb-makes-sound
⁠
📸

Aside from the plants, we have been very busy preparing all kinds of fun things for our upcoming event in Vernon! Hope to see you there!

Crayon Day - 2024

Less work, less water,
more pollinators and birds 🐝🦋🐦

Mama #2 had her baby this morning in the rain! Daddy was even there to provide emotional support, lol! Everyone is doing very well. Welcome to the world little boy!

The asparagus plant is made up of top (ferns), crown (buds) and roots. All three are vital to a productive plant. The ferns are the “factory,” which produces food stored in the crown and roots below ground. The number of spears in the spring depends on the amount of food produced by the ferns and stored in the crown during the preceding summer and fall. Producing a good crop of ferns is necessary to ensure a good crop of spears the next spring.

Do not cut back the old ferns at the end of the season until they are completely dead. In the fall, nutrients move from the dying ferns to the crown. Removing the ferns too early weakens the crown and may reduce the size and number of spears the following spring. Asparagus needs a LOT of NITROGEN to get all that ferny growth, so fertilize them with a nitrogen only fertilizer such as Calcium Nitrate or if you don’t have a lot of wildlife pests, blood meal. Do not use a generic triple 10-10-10 as this is a very poor source of Nitrogen for the plant.

Photo by aspara buddies

Please resist the urge to clean up your until after day-time temperatures are constantly above 50 degrees. Many , and other are currently over-wintering in the dead leaves and hollowed out stems of last year's plants. If you clean out your garden now, you will literally be throwing away this year's butterflies, bees and other beneficial pollinators.

Some great tips to get your ready for your garden journey this year! Happy gardening everyone!

🚨 February is here! Is it just us, or does January always feel especially long? Maybe you’ve been busy sifting through seed catalogs in between sips of tea after frolicking in the snow. (We wish 😜 it’s been especially rainy here in Western NC). Or maybe you haven’t really started to plan this year’s upcoming garden season. January is a time of rest, for many of us and for the natural world around us. Nothing blooms all year, and we hope y’all have been enjoying this slow-down season. 😴

Nevertheless, the time for garden planning, scheming, and dreaming is coming right up before we know it. 💭

And we want to make it easy for you!

Here are some quick tips and trips for this month, and as always please visit our garden blog for more info and for zone-specific garden to-do lists.

XOXO Sow True Seed 🌱💚

This was a big debate in a group I'm in recently. This is exactly why these veggies cannot be regrown from scraps like many other plants can. Think of it like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates... you never know what you're going to get. 🤷‍♀️🤣🥦🥬🍫

Some great tips here for organic pesticides! 🥰

My farming teacher who happens to be right here on this platform The Strawberry Farm once taught me about organic pesticides.

Today, I want to pass down the information to you our dear farmer and friend. Hope you pick a lesson or two.

HERBS TO USE AS ORGANIC PESTICIDES ON YOUR CROPS

Home-made organic pesticides should always be sprayed on crops during the cool part of the day (mornings or late afternoons) to avoid burning of your crops.

🟫 Garlic - Crush and mix with hot water- cool for 2hrs, then spray to control aphids.

🟫Tithonia (Mexican sunflower) - Crush 2kg of leaves, soak in 4 litres of warm water for 2-3hours or in cold water for 2 days. Spray to control caterpillars.

🟫 Thorn apple (Datura stramonium) - Take 1kg of leaves, fruits and branch stems, - Crush and boil in 4 litres of water for 20 minutes and let it cool. Spray to control scale insects, aphids and leaf miner (Tuta absoluta).

🟫Pawpaw leaves - Take 1 kg of green and fresh leaves, - crush and boil in 4litres of water for 20 minutes. Spray to control scale insects, aphids.

🟫Wood ash - Get maize combs, burn them and dry the ash. This should be applied around the plants especially the transplanted vegetable seedlings, to control cut worms in fields where cut worms are a problem.

🟫Hot pepper - Crush 500 grams of riped hot pepper fruits, mix with 5 litres of water, boil for 20 minutes. Sieve and add another 5 litres of water mixed with 50ml of any mild dish wash (non-detergent) soap - Spray to control ants (termites), aphids, flies, caterpillars.

🟫Lantana camara - Get branches and leaves, burn to get the ash- broadcast in the field or affected area to control ants and worms.

We continue to sell quality organic strawberry runners. San Andreas Variety. At Ksh. 60each. Reach out to us via 0701200722.

We have been busy playing around with some new products to offer... some propagation stations! And we will be showcasing them at our first event of the year, a plant swap! Details below. It is sounding like it is going to be an amazing event with some great local artisans and vendors. Come think spring with us! Check out The Plant Lounge for even more updates on this event. We hope to see you there!
https://facebook.com/events/s/plant-swap-shop/177492965438775/

In honor of this, we will be offering an assortment of African violets this spring! Keep an eye on the page for updates.

Also, don't forget to come see us at the Suffield VFW on January 20th for a great plant swap event with a variety of vendors offering all things "planty"!

YEAR OF THE AFRICAN VIOLET
Each year the National Garden Bureau selects one annual, one perennial, one bulb crop, one edible, and one shrub as our “Year of the” crops. Plants are chosen because they are popular, easy-to-grow, widely adaptable, genetically diverse, and versatile.

The first commercial African violet hybrids were introduced in 1927, all of which had blue flowers. It was from the vintage variety “Blue Boy” that the first double was developed in 1939. In 1942 the American company Brockner developed the first pink violet on the market, that same year the first girl-leaf (having lobes) variety was derived from “Blue Boy” at Ulery Greenhouses in Springfield OH. The first white violet was bred soon after by Peter Ruggeri, named simply “White Lady”. Hermann Holtkamp, Sr. in Germany introduced the “Biedermeier” style: a single crown, clustered bouquet plant rather than multiples that were common up until that point.

-African Violets thrive in filtered sunlight.
-Keep soil moist but not soggy.
-African Violets grow best at room temperature. 75° to 85°F (23°-30°C) but can tolerate short periods of lows of 55° (13°C) without damage.
-African violets bloom best when they are rootbound.

https://ngb.org/year-of-the-african-violet/

The more you know!

Get it while you can! Fresh cut, 100% naturally grown sage! At the stand, north end of rt 75 in Suffield. Look for the "mum sale" sign at the road.