The heat, the harvest, the pressure to keep up (or stay ahead, if you’re Mark). They’re hitting hard on this particular Monday as we are reacquainting ourselves with what feels like when are putting more into the field than we are taking out in a given week. Tis’ the season! Sudden sunshine brings out great vibes and lots of opportunities to get good work done, but it also brought on a mildly-successful trial bed of Spinach and armloads of Tokyo Turnips and in the greenhouse that couldn’t wait. Little white Tokyo Turnips, aka Hakurei, are one of the sweetest Springtime crops we grow. Just last week, one of our CSA members sent me this awesome video about Tokyo Turnips, featuring Japanese farmers and cooks discussing what makes this vegetable so great. (Thank you, Shoko!) Though recipes abound for cooking, stir frying, roasting and sautéing them, they're a real treat sliced up and eaten raw. Being greenhouse-grown, the leafy greens are extra tender. Easy, delicious Spring food.

Meanwhile, out in the field, we will be harvesting our hearts out in a sea of purple in a race against time for some of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli and other flowering brassicas in the field. In the background, you’ll spot Mark cycling through various implements on the tractor, making pass after pass to get things ready so we can plant, plant, plant. In all of his zipping around this weekend, we discovered a patch of little green garlic that managed to overwinter. It pales in comparison to the size of our main crop, but there were just enough to make a few little “taster” bundles for part of an either/or CSA option this week.

Mark worked in several fields of cover crop over the weekend, and this morning, you could see vapor rising and undulating over the soil as the sun was hitting the cold ground. It was stunning, to say the least. We’re crossing our fingers that the timing will work out and that a few beds will be dry enough for us to do a bit of outdoor planting ahead of April’s first showers.

We couldn’t be more thankful for a dry Monday—nor can I think of a tastier, more lovely way to start a new season than with flowering “Raab” Mix. Kelly, Maple & Claire harvested a big variety of overwintered greens (Collard, Kale, Cabbage & etc) that are beginning to sprout and form flowers. This is part of these plants’ natural lifecycle, and each Spring we get to enjoy a sweet and tender treat that can be eaten stem, leaf, floret and all.