Wait a minute, where did the sun go? I swear spring was here and we were ready to get planting. This morning after finishing the roof of the barn, completely drenched in a cold hard rain, with ten pounds of construction mud on each boot, I felt plunged back into winter. It seems March came in like a lion and went out like an eskimo. Despite this seeming seasonal backstep, we have made much progress at the farm. Here is an overview of where we are:

On March 31, we planted our first six rows of direct seeded crops. These included spinach, arugula, mizzuna, tatsoi, radishes, baby lettuce and kale. It has been too cold for any of these to germinate so we held off this week on planting any more. These were directly seeded into raised beds in 200’ rows. Next week is looking a bit warmer and we’re hoping for germination.

While my coworkers were discing the soil, mowing the grass, and building a barn this week and getting whipped around by a cold wind, I decided to exit stage left and peek in on the greenhouse operation. Things are super busy and the plants look gorgeous. It’s an eclectic bunch working there in the greenhouses and the conversations of winter travel, botanical knowledge, and daily thoughts accompany the rhythm of shifting flats, thinning cells, and planting seeds. It’s great to see all the baby pepper and tomato plants foreshadowing summer and a shag carpet of cool crops just about ready to get hardened off and planted in the ground. Next week we will pick up our first order which will include broccoli, kale (curly and tuscan), lettuce (green leaf, red leaf and romaine), swiss chard, scallions, kohlrabi, and cabbage. These transplants are about four to six weeks ahead of our direct seeded rows which gives us a bit of a head start.

Looking forward to next week, before we can plant the greenhouse order into the ground, we will finish our barn, layout our irrigation, and spread the plastic mulch. We will probably need generators to power our water supply since our electricity has not been activated yet, however everything on our end is complete. Frankly, I can’t wait to move forward from anticipation to perspiration as our season gets going full steam ahead. Also glad to bring everyone along with us for the ride through our newsletter updates.