Saturday, May 12, 2012

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.