An 1841 copper penny was unearthed at the site of the archaeological dig to locate the original John Phillips farmhouse and blacksmith shop. The penny was much larger than a modern penny: about the size of a half dollar.

Even better than the cold, hard cash, the archaeologists believe they've located the foundation of the farmhouse.

Farmer Rob and Intern Virginia attacked the weedy fence line today with scythes. It was Virginia's first time using a scythe, and the learning curve can be steep. When swinging a scythe, you need the right amount of slice and the correct amount of chop, all delivered with smooth circular swings. It can take days, months or years to master the use of this ancient tool, and a fence line is not a simple place to start training.

A modern weedwacker gets the job done much faster, but with a lot more noise, not to mention fuel.

Down near the old school house, an archaeological dig is underway. A team of archaeologists, aided by Howell Farm historian Larry Kidder, are trying to pinpoint the location of the original John Phillips farmhouse and blacksmith shop. So far, a single pottery shard has been unearthed, but it's early in the game.

The spring of 2013 in New Jersey has been a little dry. Not exceptionally dry – but dry enough that spring plowing in a Howell Farm sod field has been put off until there’s a little more moisture.

Nonetheless, Howell Farm’s wheat and spelt fields look great – green and lush. The 10-day forecast calls for a few days with showers, but no major rain events.

The hay is drying in windrows in Stony Field. If the sun shines enough today, our farmers will bale the first hay of the season.

An old saying goes, "A swarm in May is worth a load of hay."

On Saturday, a swarm of honeybees left one of Howell Farm's hives and settled on a nearby tree branch overhanging the creek. (Bees swarm when their colonies are doing well and they've run out of room for honey and new workers.) Fortunately, swarms are very docile, as the bees gorge themselves on honey before leaving home. Farmer Gary placed an empty hive beneath the swarm -- halfway in the creek -- climbed a ladder, and sawed off the tree branch until the swarm settled into the new hive. After giving the swarm some time to settle, he moved the hive a few miles down the road to the location of Howell Farm's workshop. The idea behind moving the swarm away from the old hive is that the bees will get used to their new home--they can become confused if their new hive is too close to their old hive. After a few days, once the swarm is acclimated, the hive will be moved back to Howell Farm.

This Saturday is Howell Farm's corn planting program. It is said that you can plant corn when the oak leaves are the size of squirrel's ears.  This photo by Intern Virginia is of the small tree by the picnic area.

As discussed a few weeks ago on this blog, Farmer Rob planted both sprouted and green sprouted potatoes this year. The photo on the right shows a green sprouted potato, which we hope will be ready for harvest a little sooner this year.

The weeder works the top inch of soil removing superficial weeds, while sparing oats planted 2 inches deep. (photo by Virginia Perry Unger)