There’s just so much planting happening. Planting, planting, planting! And thanks to the return of our resident crow, who can yank up an entire bed of Kale or Broccoli in under thirty minutes, we’re doing quite a bit of re-planting. (I’ve named him Russell, and I am NOT entertained!) It has become a perennial problem—the crows aren’t going for the greens themselves. They’re searching for tiny little wireworms that are problems in and of themselves. It is a real Catch-22! Mark is attempting to pace his frustrations out seeding Parsnips tonight ahead of a potentially rainy Tuesday, stomping his way down the rows with a walk-behind seeder, hoping his presence deters the birds and that he feels better afterward. It is like the farmer’s equivalent of “rage cleaning.”

Over a thousand tomato plants are now in the ground, putting out serious roots at Wild Hare, along with Zucchini, Summer Squash and more rotations of leafy greens. Peppers and Cucumbers are going in this week too, which means that this week’s harvest, like last week, is greatly determined by our need to make space in the greenhouses. Little lettuce heads, Spinach and Red Russian Kale are on this week’s docket, along with Organic Asparagus from Eastern Washington. Also, I hope you’re ready to geek out on Onions with me for a paragraph or two, because after years of light spousal bickering and serious strategizing, we’ve got a glorious stand of Red Spring Onions to show for it…and they’re GOOD.

Here’s to some of our most demanding days of the year and the simple but delicious dinners that Spring vegetables make possible at the end of them. To quote Zack, who is pictured above harvesting Baby Bok Choy for Stir Fry Mix, between the Green Garlic and the fresh assortment of leafy greens and little roots, “the walk-in cooler smells amazing” heading into the week. I love it when that happens—when you can tell that a day’s harvest just sort of goes together—when we can tell how good a meal is going to taste when it comes out of the field. In between squalls of rain, the crew harvested their first batch of field-grown greens for the year and cleared one of our greenhouses of bunched Turnip Greens (with itty bitty turnips attached) and gorgeous Red Radishes. Farmers can flip houses faster than HGTV, and this week’s harvest is brought to you by our need to make way for tomatoes! By this time tomorrow, that same greenhouse could very well be mulched, irrigated and planted with Heirlooms before heading out into the field to plant all of the Cherries, Romas and a few Saladettes mid-week. And you can plant some too!