Wow! Things are progressing well out here, and with this recent rain,the plants are happy too. Deliveries will begin in about four weeks,but it may be sooner if the weather cooperates. This week, I just thought I would update you on the status of your food:

Lettuce,Spinach, and Misc. Greens: These are planted weekly. Some of the varieties in the greenhouses are almost ready and mature. We have these planted in succession plantings to ensure a supply for many weeks.

Carrots and Beets: These are growing well in the greenhouse, and you will probably be eating these in late June/Early July. Succession plantings beginning next week will provide more of these throughout the summer,especially in August.

Potatoes: 1300 lbs of seed potatoes are already in the ground. They have not sprouted above the ground yet, but we hope to see them growing in about two weeks. We begin sending these around the first week of July and continue through the season.

Peas: Planted last week, and they usually mature around the end of June

Beans: Not planted yet

Kohlrabi,Broccoli, Cabbage, and Brussel Sprouts: About half of these are already transplanted in the ground, and the other half, about 4000 plants, is in the greenhouse maturing. Many of these will mature in late June and Early July. Some will mature later in the summer.

Onions and Garlic: Some in and succession plantings will continue for a few more weeks. Green onions will be ready the first week through the first three or four weeks. Storage onions will be ready in late August. The garlic will be mature in late July.

Sweet Corn: Not in. We start succession plantings next week.

Wheat and Oats: These are in and growing well. They will mature in early August, and we will mill and ship the flour as soon as we can in August. The oats will be rolled and sent about the same time.

Asparagus and Strawberries: As perennials, they are thriving and doing well.Asparagus will be certainly be in your early deliveries and strawberries show up in late June.

Tomatoes, Peppers, Misc.Herbs, and Eggplant: These are up in the greenhouse right now. We will transplant these plants after the threat of frost is gone

Melons,Squash, Pumpkins, Cucumbers: Not planted. They will be planted in successions beginning next weekend in the greenhouse. They will mature from July - October, depending on the variety.

There are others,but this should give you a summary idea of what is going on with your food.

These past few weeks have been a blur. This weekend, we have taken a small breather for a few hours, but the recent rain, which is greatly needed, will ensure that we will be very busy over the next week.  In the past couple of weeks we have planted potatoes, kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts, onions, greens, and broccoli.  We have assembled a walk-in cooler, and planted thousands of plants in pots for transplanting at a later date.

While there is much to do, this is also my favorite time of year. I love the intensity of work. Spring is when we have the most energy. I also enjoy the community that we have out here. Many people come to our farm and assist in the planting, weeding, and harvesting of crops. Some are new to this, while others have been working with us for some time. Still, we laugh, talk, and work towards a common goal. It is the community that shares in the time-honored production of food. We work side-by-side like generations of people before us, and in this simple act of community, we revive something lost in our modern world of instant communication and consumer gratification. We slow down and see each other.

Wow! Just a few weeks ago I was dreaming of spring, and now it's really here. I cannot imagine a better time of year. We are busy, to be sure, but it is organic to be involved in producing food for the next year. We are preparing fields and gardens daily, and we have already begun major plantings. Wheat,oats, garlic, onions, and some greens are already planted. Susan and Lora, a friend of ours, planted 3000 tomatoes, eggplants, and assorted herbs yesterday. We already have about 4000 kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, and broccoli started, which will be transplanted in a few weeks.

In two to three weeks, we will beplanting potatoes in the field and we plant greens, radishes,turnips, etc. almost weekly. Also, the spring chicks arrive in two weeks. Truly, spring has sprung, and we are connected to the rhythms of nature. The birds are already claiming territories for breeding and food supplies and they are building nests. I have spotted a fresh fox den near one of our fields, and I suspect that the kits will soon emerge into the world. Spring is a time for preparation and renewal. The entire natural world participates in this annual ritual, and now,so do we.

Farmers are eternal optimists. Somehow we look at a job that has long hours, low pay, and high risk and feel lucky to live the life that we do. That makes us “glass half full” types operating in perpetual denial of reality. Last season was a horrible season by any standards. Many old-timers said it was the worst year in their memory. Considering the number of times that I heard that last season, I have to believe that it is not hyperbole. Yet, I find myself looking to 2010 with renewed optimism. In fact, I am downright excited about this year.

I have never been so mentally challenged in my life by an undertaking. There are more things that can go wrong than right on a farm. This year has already dealt us our first minor setback. Due to the unseasonable warmth that we had last week, the maple trees did not produce enough sap. We were only able to produce a small amount of maple syrup this year, the worst since we started sugaring. Yet, I find myself thinking that this will be the last setback of 2010. A small batch (about 500) cabbage seeds germinated poorly under the grow lights. Only about 10% germinated. We can, of course, mitigate this by replanting since it is so early; so I do not consider this a true setback.

A semi came tonight to pick up our blue corn from last year. It was about two months late, partially due to other farmers having trouble getting last year's crop off of their fields until a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, due to the high moisture content from the wet fall, and the unseasonably warm weather of last week, the corn went sour. We could not deliver it. It is now compost in one of our fields that will be fallow this year. I don't count that as a setback for this year. Sure, last week's warm weather was a contributor, but I consider this to be last year's problem. That means that I remain optimistic about this year.

The front wheels almost fell off one ofthe tractors this weekend. I can fix it; therefore, it is not aproblem. Besides, spring is about finding surprise mechanical failures. It's like the anticipation of Christmas without the stress.This is certainly not a setback. That means that I am completely expecting 2010 to be a stellar year, and while I take reasonable precautions, I do not expect anything to go wrong this year. I think that there is rain expected later this week . Of course our fields won't flood.

Today was a typical late February day.The morning was cool, but by mid-day the sun, with its increasingly higher angle, warmed the air. The birds were singing, the snow was melting, and something else very relevant started happening. Like lumbering giants awakening from their winter slumber, the maple trees are stretching and in doing so, their blood is beginning to flow.

To be sure, it is a trickle now, but as the days grow longer in the next two weeks, their veins will be coursing with the life-giving sap, required by the buds in desperate need to open up and to begin collecting sunlight. Like every spring,they offer excess to those industrious enough and timely enough to be prepared. No one has accused us of not being industrious, and I believe that we are on time this year. Our taps are in for our small operation, and within a week, we expect to be boiling down the sap 24hours/day for about two weeks.

During this time, we will make ourentire year's supply of maple syrup. For all of this work, we canexpect between seven and twelve gallons of finished syrup. This willbe the direct result of collecting and boiling down between 280 andabout 500 gallons on raw sap. The process is time consuming andgrueling at times, and yet, when we pour the golden brown nectar on astack of pancakes or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, all of this isforgotten.

Growing food can be a dirty business.With March quickly approaching, there is no end to the list that seems to be growing daily of the things that need to be accomplished.We moved over 2000 onions outside today to the high tunnels to make room under the grow lights for the 2100 new plants that we started today. We need to start at least that many from now until the middle of June. Throughout the house, the floor is littered with dirt, both from the newly planted crops and from being tracked in from outside. To be sure, it will be cleaned up in a day or so, but next weekend will bring its own new dirt that will find a home on our floors.

I still cannot imagine a better way to live. It is timed to the rhythms of the seasons. Just when there is more work to be done, there is enough daylight to get the work done.We are not the only creatures getting out and about this time of year. While outside today, it seemed that the chorus of birds has picked up some new singers lately. While the cardinals spend the winter, the males were staking out new territories. Soon they will be making their spring nests. Also, the blue jays were making a ruckus and the geese were congregating, probably holding some town hall meeting to discuss universal goose health care.

Anyway, it was far from quiet outdoorstoday, and with each new week, new travelers will be arriving. Somewill be disappointed with the snow that is coming tonight, but allwill be engaged in survival. We are part of that rhythm, and nothingcould be more natural.

We can work outside until 6:00 and still see. “That is something to write home about,” I told Susan when we came in this evening. We spent the day planting, preparing one of the high tunnels for planting next weekend, and fixing one of the tractor's tires. The sun encouraged us as we worked, and it felt nice to be outside. The temperatures in the high tunnels were approaching the mid 70's today, treating us to an early glimpse of spring. As the days grow longer, so does the requirement to use the day blight. In fact, we just noted yesterday that summer share deliveries begin in about eleven weeks. With the increasing daylight hours, it is clear that the lazy days of winter are quickly drawing to an end.

As expected, the cold weather returned.I could have gotten accustomed to the warmer weather. I think that the dogs felt the same way. Still, I have a perfect excuse to not get any work done outside; so, I guess that I won't complain too much.

When I got home from work today, I put the finishing touches on the maintenance for the grow light rack. We have several thousand onion plants started right now. We can start about 2100 individual plants at a time under grow lights, which we then transfer to the high tunnels once the weather warms a bit more.Soon all of our grow lights will be lit up, and plants will be growing. Throughout the late winter and spring we will start about12,000 plants in pots.

You can't miss our house on our roadthis time of year. It is the one that glows all day long. I suspectthat the DEA has our site on some kind of map of potentiallysuspicious tomato-growing sites. “Honest Mr. Officer, these areoregano plants. Here, try one.” Hey, I have to amuse myself somehowin the long nights of winter!

It's spring time, at least in our high tunnels. This morning we shoveled out the last high tunnel so that we could place the plastic over the frame. By the end of the week, most of the snow on the inside will melt, and soon after, so will the frost in the ground inside of it. Within a couple of weeks, probably the first week of February, we will begin planting in there. So, when I say that it is spring in there, I am being literal.

        

      

 

A chicken run that is demolished from the big snowstorm in December, a thermostat on the combine that has failed, a broken field disc, flat tire on one of the tractors, and a couple of small repairs on two rototillers are just some of the repairs that have accumulated at the end of the season for us. To be sure, we have some time to do this; it's just that it's clear that growing food is as hard on the equipment as it is on our backs sometimes.

Still, I cannot imagine a better life. Susan is cooking a stew right now made from fresh and stored ingredients and I can hardly wait to start eating. There is always something to be done, but most of the time, it is fulfilling. I would rather fall asleep at the end of the day from exhaustion after working all day with Susan than fall asleep from boredom watching the television. Also, the ebbs and flows of the season allow us some time for introspection.

To be certain, there are always things to do out here, but winter also affords us time to read and think. We get to spend some time with our family friends, and we get to spend some time together. Sure our life is busy, and some days seem to last forever, but being connected to our food, we get a chance to slow down enough to appreciate the true experience of living. It is a lifestyle as old as humanity, and I am thankful to have the opportunity to live this way.

We just finished eating dinner, and now we are going to work some more on our seed order. It will take another week or so to complete the order. We buy our seeds and soil media from several vendors, and preparing the seed order is one of the jobs that must be done in winter. The hardest part is trying to estimate how much seed is needed. Since we grow 10's of different crops in varying quantities, calculating seed planting or transplanting densities can be a chore. Winter is the best time to create our seed order because we can usually get the best prices on seeds and we can find alternate sources if one vendor is out of some critical seed variety.

For home gardeners, winter garden preparation is also a good idea. Planning the spring garden can lift one's spirits in the relatively non-eventful month of January. My favorite part is drawing out the gardens and deciding where I will plant everything. Stephen Covey says that all things are created twice—the first is always the design or plan. When I draw out the gardens and fields, I can begin to visualize the location of each crop, and I am free to move crops around at will in ways that I won't be able to do once we start planting. Most importantly, by seeing the fields in my mind's eye in January, I am able to hurry spring along,if only in my heart.