We have two Farm Notes online for you! The first is celebrating Pride Month! And the second waxes poetic about berry season, with memories, stories, and a recipe! We sure hope you will read them!
Every time we finish something really big--like harvesting the garlic or planting all the sweet potatoes--I feel such a big sense of relief. But there is always another giant project coming up on the calendar. Looming on the near horizon now is pulling all the onions and finding a place to store them while they dry (but so they won't cook). Right behind that is planting all the kale and broccoli and cauliflower for the fall. Right now Carrie seeds about 4000 plants a week in the greenhouse, aiming for about 16,000 plants started by the end of July. Then we have to get all those in the ground and keep them alive during the hottest part of the summer.
These whopping big jobs used to fill me with dread. There are so many variables to manage--the weather, other priorities, getting the ground ready, pouncing at the right moment so we give the plants or the onions or whatever the best possible conditions for success. But now we sort of know how to do this, even with all the uncertainty. It doesn't always go perfectly, but usually we avoid calamity. And there are more of us on the farm now who have seen it all happen before and can help to get it done expeditiously.
In fact, that is one of our greatest assets as we tackle one monumental project after the next--the team of veterans who have seen it before and know how to pull garlic fast, using their bodies hard and well. The people who can get on the transplanter with almost no warning, and plant 5000 sweet potatoes on a Saturday morning when everyone else is at market. The future of this farm is more secure now than it has ever been, with so many who can jump in and help the younger, newer folks. I rarely feel dread anymore, and I never feel panicky. Roll on, work list. We are ready.
Questions about your vegetables? Take a look at ID That Veggie! For more recipe ideas you can find us on Pinterest!
