(pic: dark green spinach in January) Look forward to arugula, kale, carrots, butternut, parsley, cilantro, ginger this week......Coaxing life giving food from the earth in an semi-orderly fashion is a wild ride. Meaningful, but wild despite our constant planning and straight rows. You must appreciate the delicate balance between chaos, death, and growth. You must remember and learn from your mistakes (and others' mistakes too), consider the ever shifting variables and challenges, and always move forward. This morning I was in tears at work after realizing that 3,700 tiny, baby spinach plants were not going to survive (they were extremely healthy 7 days ago before the deluge of 5" of rain and clouds) and we'd be missing 1/2 of our winter spinach crop that is the foundation of our winter harvest. The plants had been stressed by several unfortunate weather and water factors and were starting to bolt (flower and die.) So, William and I improvised and remade a plan, and luckily were were able to start planting a younger group of spinach immediately AND the weather looks good enough to plant spinach seeds in the other beds to make sure we have enough spinach this January. Planting the surviving younger baby spinach plants and holding a heavy paper sack of thousands of spinach seeds was a balm for the morning's troubles. -Marie
Tears and Winter Spinach
About the farm
We love sharing our passion for good farm food! Eating fresh, vibrant veggies and delicious, flavorful farm meats is an easy choice with Bluebird Farm’s customizable veggie, beef, and pork boxes. Taste the difference with local farm food. We believe that food should be grown with biological methods that improve the health of the land, plants, and animals while sustaining the farmers that grow your food. Our greatest passion is to grow delicious food for you and your family while caring for the land.
We’re growing for you!
Farmers Marie Williamson and William Lyons started Bluebird Farm in 2009 on the land that Marie grew up on in Morganton, North Carolina. They earn their livelihood growing food on the farm, and love the beauty of food and land. They are passionate about the art of grazing livestock, and they feed their meat hogs certified organic grains. They work hard to raise healthy, flavorful vegetables, pastured meats, and eggs using biological techniques that improve the health of their land and contribute to a diverse farm ecosystem.