(CSA Newsletter: Week Eight)
Meet this week’s vegetables:
After a beautiful relatively warm and dry winter, spring has arrived with some predictably unpredictable weather. This last week we enjoyed a few gorgeous days that allowed us to continue planting and doing field prep — we’re now further ahead on planting and field work than we’ve ever been this time of year!
But spring has also brought some stormy weather too — typical spring storms that vacillate between intense dark, windy and wet blasts and mild sun breaks. One minute, we head out to walk or run in the calm weather, and in the next minute we’re racing back to cover as clouds roll in and unload torrents of rain. It’s familiar and not unwelcome (although the wet blasts are unpleasant at times).
After a week of pushing hard to make the most use of the dry weather, we did enjoy the temporary reprieve of the off-and-on wet weather. Unlike the weekend before (when Casey worked every day from dawn to dusk), we were able to relax a bit more and enjoy a visit from some old friends. Since spring and early summer are the busiest times of year on the farm, these little forced breaks can be lovely (as long as we’re caught up on work when they arrive — which we were!).
The weather is always the final dictator of our work in any season, but often the weather dictates what we cannot do. For example, if the ground is frozen then we can’t dig carrots; if the temperature reaches 106° in the afternoon then we can’t hoe without hurting plants; if it’s raining hard then we can’t mow.
But spring weather can dictate us in the opposite direction — the dry spells force us to act. We have to get busy and work the soil, plant and sow.
Another such period will arrive again soon I’m sure. But the recent one was productive and spring crops are in the field and growing! Hoorah! Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
