Olimpia Bernard
There’s a particular kind of energy that arrives on Cultivating Dreams Farm in May. It isn’t the tentative stirring of early spring, but a full‑bodied, sun‑warmed hum. Everything feels awake now. The soil has loosened, the beds are filling, and everywhere you look something is stretching, sprouting, or settling into its next stage of becoming.
And this year, that includes our chickens.
We have a brand‑new clutch of chicks in the barn and watching them grow has been its own kind of joy. In just two short weeks, their soft fluff has already given way to real feathers, and they strut around with the confidence of creatures who have no idea how small they are. We’ve been handling them often, with gentleness and patience, so they learn early that human hands are safe ones. Our participants have taken this job to heart, and the chicks respond in kind, leaning into palms, peeping curiously, trusting.
Soon, we’ll draw names from a hat to officially christen each one. Once they’re big enough, their named portraits will hang proudly on the outside of the henhouse like a tiny feathered gallery.
We’ve made big improvements to the coop this year. The henhouse has doubled in size, the roost bars have been moved to keep things cleaner and more sanitary, and we’ve added rolling nest boxes so eggs stay clean and out of sight (and out of reach of any curious beaks). With any luck — and the extra fee we paid for sexed chicks — we’ll end up with seventeen hens and no surprise roosters. The new girls won’t lay for about six months, but they’ll be worth the wait.
For now, they’ll stay in the barn until they can regulate their own temperature. After that, they’ll slowly meet the older hens. And then one night, when they’re ready, we’ll place them on the roost bars beside the established flock and let them sort out the pecking order. It’s a delicate dance, but one the hens understand better than we ever could.
Out in the garden, our participants have been just as busy. They’ve been transplanting into the raised beds and garden plot, clearing weeds, and preparing to lay mulch on the freshly cleaned rows. Heads of buttercrunch lettuce are already being harvested. Crisp, tender, and tucked into brown paper bags so they stay cool and dry on the trip home. A quick soak in ice water brings the leaves back to life, and if eaten within a couple of days, they’re as fresh as anything you’d find at a market.
We’re also trying something new with our Integrated Pest Management this season. Floating row covers will stay on consistently to protect our crops from chewing insects, and we’re interplanting marigolds, fennel, and nasturtiums to confuse the pests that like to nibble where they shouldn’t. It’s a gentler approach with less pesticide and more partnership with the plants themselves.
The tomatoes are growing fast, as they always do. We pruned the lower leaves today and pinched the suckers to keep the plants manageable and disease‑free. Soon they’ll need trellising; they’ll shoot past six feet before we know it. This year we’re growing a whole rainbow of varieties: Lava Flow, San Marzano, Tigerella, Sashi, Chocolate Cherry, Yellow Blush Pear, Oxheart, Green Zebra, and more. Our participants proudly started all the plants from seed, including some generously donated by TomatoFest in California.
Not every experiment works out. We tried overwintering eggplants and peppers in Greenhouse #2, insulating them carefully and hoping they’d wake early and strong this spring. The cold still won. But that’s farming. You try, you learn, you try again. One year, we’ll get it right.
Our asparagus bed, planted last year, is settling in beautifully. We won’t harvest any spears this season, but next year — when the plants turn three — they’ll begin producing for the next two decades. Farming is long‑term faith made visible.
And speaking of faith: this year, Cultivating Dreams Farm was awarded the Urban Farms & Community Garden grant from New York State. With it comes a new responsibility — and a new joy. A portion of our harvest will go to local food banks, and our participants will help harvest and distribute the produce. It’s a chance to give back, to learn the power of community, to understand that what we grow here can nourish far beyond our fences.
It also means our farmers in training will take home a little less this year. But they understand and they’re proud. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, beans, cucumbers, beets, corn… these will all find their way to neighbors who need them most.
May is a month of momentum. Of growth you can see and growth you can feel. Of chicks finding their wings, tomatoes reaching for the sky, and people discovering what they’re capable of when they work with their hands and their hearts.
I can’t wait to show you what comes next.
Olimpia Bernard
Olimpia brings a bright spark of energy to Cultivating Dreams Farm as the agency’s Agricultural Coordinator and our monthly guest blogger. She has a gift for helping people connect with the earth, the seasons, and one another—whether she’s tending crops, teaching hands‑on skills, or sharing stories from the fields. With a talent for making things grow and a passion for building community, Olimpia keeps us rooted, inspired, and always looking forward to what’s sprouting next.
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