THE FURROW: The online newsletter of Howell Living History Farm

As of Sunday, the oats are up.

On Saturday, farmers and volunteers joined forces to plant more than 1,750 pounds of potatoes in the market garden.

Spring plowing continues. I caught up to Farmer Larry and his team just as they were headed in from a morning of hard work.

Don't worry -- all members of the wagon crew are safe and accounted for.

In the kitchen garden, the blueberries aren't blue yet, but they're starting to look a little more like berries.

Howell Farm's chicks are growing up fast. They're now foraging for bugs in the fenced-in-area outside the brooder.

When I arrived at Howell Farm this morning, one of the farm's volunteers was busy chipping away at a large log with colorful yellow innards. He was making fence rails.

His progress was slow -- he was attacking the mighty osage orange with hand tools.

Osage orange, also known as mock orange, is nearly rock hard. When used for firewood, it is reputed to offer more BTUs per chord than any other Eastern hardwood tree species. (In second place ranks the shagbark hickory.)

Look up your favorite firewood here:
http://firewoodresource.com/firewood-btu-ratings/

-A chord is defined as the the amount of tightly piled wood in a stack 4 feet wide and 4 feet high by 8 feet long.

-A BTU, or British Thermal Unit, is the amount of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit.

A group of hard-working volunteers from CA Technologies in Ewing visited Howell Farm today. They were put to work in the woodlot across the street from the farm, where they helped install deer guards around saplings, clear out weeds, apply mulch where needed, and other not-so-glamorous-but-essential tasks to the health of a young woodlot.

The volunteers also helped cut seed potatoes for this Saturday's big potato planting. (All are invited to come out from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help plant.)

Two of the volunteers made their first-ever rounds with a walking plow under the tutelage of Farmer Jeremy.

The first barn swallow of the year was spotted at Howell Farm on Monday, April 16.

According to farm records that go back two decades, the swallows return every year between April 9 and April 21. So this year's return date was very middle of the road.

The oats were planted today.

Farmer Jeremy finished his last round with the grain drill in the early afternoon amid a few sparse droplets of rain.

Then Farmer Ian finished going over the freshly seeded field with the cultipacker, the final step in the planting process.

Now that the planting is finished, we want it to rain. According to weather.com, there's a 45% chance of rain this afternoon. It's been an extremely dry spring so far.

One way or the other, it looks like relief is on the way. The forecast for Sunday and Monday calls for a heavy rainstorm.