April Work List

April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot said…and he may be right. One day, we’re basking in the sun and the

next, being pounded by hail. And all there is to eat are green leaves, eggs, and a few asparagus stalks. It’s a tough month.

April Work List:

• Raise two baby chicks, so that we always have eggs.
• Mow the grass. Trim the garden beds.
• Add a beehive or requeen the hive as needed.
• Finish the pruning as winter damage becomes more apparent.
• Raise summer seedlings: leafy greens and flowers are started early in the month, followed by all of the vines a few weeks later.
• Mow the grass. Trim the garden beds.
• Direct seed some root crops, like carrots and parsnips.
• Arrange the soaker hoses in the beds as soon as they have been planted.
• Check out the wildflowers blooming at Finley; there is an explosion of blooms in April.
• Mow the grass. Trim the garden beds.
• Fence the chickens out of the gardens.
• Consider where to plant new bulbs this fall.
• Late in the month, plant out the tomatoes. If it’s chilly, wrap the cages in plastic.
• Celebrate Spring! Eat dinner outside; hold egg-boxing competitions; watch the bees bring pollen into the hive.
• Give away tomato plants!
• Mow the grass.

Rhubarb Cake: from Moosewood Deserts

½ cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1.5 cups flour (half whole wheat)

1 T BP

¼ t salt

1 t vanilla

2.5 cups of chopped rhubarb

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk. Add dry ingredients, then the rhubarb. (you can add any fresh fruit, truly.)

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes.