Watching my nephew Jason one row over in the strawberry patch helping me weed at Earth Day on the Farm, was a nice avuncular moment. It was a mild and breezy Sunday afternoon, probably the nicest weather we’ve had this spring with the patchwork of the farm taking shape. Some plots plowed, others tilled, some planted. There is an endlessness to the rows that places you into a state of zen that you can get lost in. Afterwards Jason asked to play my guitar and I listened to him pick the notes to ‘Tequila’ which made me laugh reminding me of his father and myself when we were about his age playing the same tune.

Things are really kicking into gear for the season. This week at the farm we picked up our second round of cool weather veggies from the greenhouses and transplanted them into the ground. We staked out new plots for cultivation and plowed new beds for our tomatoes which will start getting planted next week. We need to hand weed strawberry and garlic beds this weekend while they are small and relatively easy to pull before the warm weather sends them shooting up and deeper into the ground.  

This week we also began our weekly runs for early season produce from neighboring farms in the northern neck of Virginia.  They are typically a couple weeks ahead of us from a growing standpoint, so visiting them is like travelling into the future. This spring has been so cool that it has put them behind by a couple weeks from where they were last year. We are hoping that next week’s warm weather will speed things up a bit and catch us up. I’ve got my fingers crossed for strawberries in time for our Strawberry JamFest on May 19. Have a great week everyone.