Happiness is…a big tall patch of cover crop to play with! Lupa had her turn today, losing herself, finding herself, sprinting in and out of a bed of Rye and Vetch that is over 4’ tall in most places. But by the end of the week, Mark should have a chance to give this patch a proper mow before incorporating all of that lovely organic matter into the soil.
There are certain crops that we only get one shot at getting right each year, and after several years of failed attempts, tweaks, taking notes, trying different seeds, adjusting our timing, and dialing things in on the equipment front, we had a decent overwintered Leek year—crows, be damned. You know that feeling when you walk into a kitchen where someone has been sautéing an onion and you’re immediately hungry? We harvested the last of these Leeks this morning, and you could catch their savory aroma in the air from about 30’ away outside. Absolutely delightful. I hope you enjoy them as much as I’m going to.
It is April 1st, and this day has been no joke—sunny and stunning! We have a few crew members joining us this week, and they’ve had a very full day of harvesting flowering overwintered greens, shuffling trays of seedlings in the greenhouses and starting to get their bearings. Mark is gearing up for some serious tractor time tonight. Every Spring, our work grows in complexity, seemingly overnight. Though we’re still working with plenty of overwintered crops, it sure feels nice to have some greens to work with in our kitchens again. And from the looks of things in the propagation house, there’s a whole lot more where that came from. So, with that in mind, I figured I’d reprise and revise some of my most helpful unsolicited advice on the topic of leafy greens.