This is the last week of our Winter CSA, and Winter, it would seem, was saving up plenty of drama for the season finale. Wasn’t Friday something? Kelly and Maple closed out their work week by seeding this year’s Sugar Snap Peas and Tomatoes in the propagation house, and before those seeds even had a chance to think about germinating, Mark was out clearing snowloads from the greenhouses in the dark. Never are we more acutely aware of how important our greenhouse structures are as we are when wind and snow events converge on our farm. Being able to harvest fresh greens only a few days after more than seven inches of snow and slush covered our farm really drives the point home. It may seem a little unusual, but Mark and I will gladly mash some of our delicious Mustard Greens into our St. Patrick’s Day Colcannon this week.

If you’ve ever wondered what it is like to spend your entire Monday harvesting Purple Sprouting Broccoli, you can ask Kelly and Maple. They’re going to have visions of little florets dancing behind their eyelids when they tuck themselves into bed for the night. This year we’ve planted two blocks of PSB with the intention of staggering the harvest. We enjoyed the first round at the outset of Winter, and our second block is starting to pop just before the end. Good stuff!

A farm is a multifarious and everchanging thing, but the growing year has its touchstones. Though it isn’t as sensuous as sneaking the first ripe cherry tomato or as dramatic as the first hard frost, the first day that Mark warms up the tractor and breaks ground out in the field is a big deal. Some years this moment is fraught or critical, as we wait impatiently for the soil to be warm and dry enough to work with. But this year, we may as well have smashed a bottle of bubbly on the front forks of the John Deere to commemorate our voyage into the next phase of 2026. On a bright Sunday afternoon (on the first of March, no less), Mark got his first few passes in. It was just a little patch, but the aroma of the freshly turned soil hit like a whiff of coffee, and it made me want to throw open every door and window in the house, forthwith. Sure, we woke up to frost crystals in the field again this morning, but being able to get things rolling ahead of Spring is such a gift! Just a little more Winter to go. Another round of fresh greens, heavy on the Bok Choy this week, makes it a little easier.

Best,

Katie