Spring Quartet

When the quartet of blueberries, tomatoes, basil and cucumbers ripen in their own tasty symphony, we know we are experiencing full-fledged spring! Ah, Mother Nature plays the very best tunes.  Indeed, spring is bursting forth in every direction!    And she is calling a bit earlier than last year.   Much to our delight and the surprise of our children, they picked the first berries on May 3, a full two weeks earlier than last year!  Our youngest begged for a blueberry pie, but unfortunately, we gobbled up that too-small pint before any could make it into a pie filling.  Beginning today, there will be enough to share at the Market and with our City Farm Members, but we are still waiting impatiently for the first pie of the season.

The rest of the quartet is thriving thanks to our farm system plan, which called for cover cropping plots B & C for the entire fall season. That nutrient-rich rest has paid off.  What was once lawn, begging to be mowed is now filled with various squashes, zucchini, cucumber, corn, beans, tomatoes and more.  We still have plenty of lawn here at the farm, and we look forward to the day when all will be converted to cultivated crops.

Little Green Promises

At our little farm, August started in July and ended in September.  Our lovely spring and summer garden came to a grinding halt, much to our dismay.  Since then, we’ve had too many false starts in our fall garden to count.  Fragile fall seedlings of broccoli, lettuce, and carrots singed, even in the shade. For a while, only the weeds thrived around here.   Farming friends share similar stories, but they really don’t make us feel any better. 

When we least expected it, Mark and I, and everyone in our hometown rejoiced with the cool reprieve that came in just after Labor Day.  The ever so mild temperatures reminded us that our labor was once again, a labor of love.  More importantly, those tiny seeds, laboring to burst forth with new life, have finally achieved it in our fields.  They are bursting forth exactly on Mother Nature’s schedule, if not our own.  God willing, those little green promises will deliver nourishment for our family, the members of City Farm, and the locals who frequent the market. 

At this rate, the fall harvest may not come until winter.  But we all know Lafayette is not a 4-season town anyway, so we will not fret over seasonal semantics.  We’ll spend our days tending the garden and giving thanks for the hope of a bountiful harvest, which we can’t wait to share. 

Mary

Last weekend, at twilight, my son and I went out to cut some wild flowers that found our way into our landscape.  He knows how much I love having fresh flowers in the house and he was happy to cut them with Papa's red pruners.  As we busied ourselves, rushing to finish before nightfall, my daughter appeared, weighted down with a watermelon quite too big for her to handle.  Somehow, she made it all the way from the watermelon patch to our front porch, having selected just the right the melon.  Her face was sheer pride. We all celebrated! The first watermelon of the season! City Farm brings us many little celebrations.  Many "first fruits. " We are blessed to share them with our City Farm Members and everyone who visits us each Saturday at the Hub City Farmer's Market. Now, time for a sweet watermelon treat!

~Mary

PHOTO BY JASON MEAUX - jasonmeaux.com