Weeks like this are difficult to make heads or tails of when I sit down to write about the farm.  On one hand, we’re in hustle mode.  There’s a whole lot of seeding, planting, weeding, harvesting, gathering, washing, and skill building happening daily among members of our crew, and Mark opens and closes greenhouses seventeen thousand times a day as the weather changes.  So much incredible stuff is in motion, all in the name of something fresh and new…and here I am, trying to figure out how I’m going to get you excited for yet another week of making incredible soup.  Ha!  At least the weather is on point for soup.  Don’t get me wrong, these vegetables taste great and are totally seasonally appropriate; however, I know that you’ve been working with them for several weeks (and in some cases, months) already.  But as I have to remind myself every Spring—good things take time.  Even the Purple Sprouting Broccoli and these tender but slender overwintered Pencil Leeks took a looong time to get to this point, even though they didn’t thicken up like the others.  Their journeys started last Summer, and they too will fall out of season soon.   Next year’s Parsnip seeds will be going in within the next couple of weeks even though we won’t be ready to think about them until after the first frost in October. This what I try to keep in mind as I toss another sheet pan of Potatoes & Parsnips into the oven on a weeknight, melt a skillet of leeks for another omelet or make Parsnip Leek Pear Soup, again.   Mark is stoked for a side of Leeks Vinaigrette.

They say that when it rains, it pours.  And this April, our hens are showering us with more beautiful eggs than we could have ever asked for.  The girls have essentially tripled production over the course of just a few weeks leaving us with thousands of eggs to work with, so we’re doing what seems best—keeping things fresh by sharing the overabundance with the CSA and encouraging folks to stop by the farm to pick them up by the dozen.  And to help us all make the most of what would otherwise be too much of a good thing, I’m sharing recipes that allow for making ahead of time, would be great for holiday brunch, or seemed way too indulgent to even think about in Winter but are perfect now that Spring has arrived. 

Wild Hare Weekly, Spring #2/10
The brassicas are blooming, the supply of eggs from our hens is burgeoning and our to-do lists are getting longer no how many things we manage to cross off of them—the Springtime feeling is hitting hard.  Mark has begun his vigilant rituals of opening and closing greenhouse doors and walls, covering and uncovering trays of tiny transplants, trying to keep plants healthy and thriving through frosty daybreaks, glorious afternoon sun and whatever hot or cold front sweeps in from time to time.  And so far, it is working.  The first round of transplants looks solid, and we’ll have a whole lot of plants for our fields (and a variety for all of you home gardeners) in a few weeks, so stay tuned.