The greenhouses have  consumed vast amounts of time  over the last 4 weeks. As we open the greenhouses for trade this coming Thursday,we have additionally had to straighten up the pottery barn and organize the driveway and parking  areas in preparation  for  opening. A few folks  have  alreadyt meandered through, picking up some lettuce and  onions  and pansies, but by next weekend we will be  retailing in earnest. The temperate and sunny spring  thusfar  has dried things  up in the fields  so that we are actually  hoping to pick an inch or so out of the next forecasted rain event in a couple of days. We got underway with field work  about 10 days ago with our tractor guy, George Cilley,  getting  much of the winter stockpile of dairy manure spread and  incorporated. Some  chisel plowing,fertilizing and harrowing has  been started and  by tomorow we should get a spring cover crop of  field peas and  oats planted on a field that will ultimately be planted to late fall sweet corn in July when we incorporate those  peas and oats. Although we don’t have any peas,greens,onions or potatoes planted, we should have some small veggies in the ground by mid to late week. Blueberry pruning is finished, the strawberries are demulched and Ray, Mike  and Jenny have been laying out irrigation  pumps and pipe in the strawberries, just in case we dont pick up any moisture this week. People are working longer hours and the heat is on….

Well, here we go again.  Yesterday it was 60 degrees for the first time since November. It felt great. A little too good, in fact,as the freshly transplanted  tomatoes in the greenhouses wilted a bit, because of the intense light and heat inside the  greenhouses. No complaints, it sure beats the ice and cold  of the winter and the  rumble of greenhouses furnaces burning propane. We had 9  unannounced people drive by looking for  jobs yesterday, indicated they were stirred both by the springlike conditions and a need  to get some employment. What  most folks dont understand about farming is that  farmers who do this for a living just dont come out of dormancy  like bears the first warm day in April, stretch their arms , yawn and say   ” I guess, its time to start growing something for this year..”  We are in full swing this time of year, and do most of our hiring in February.  It is truly a year round activity for the 5 core family members  here. In between dealing with snow around the greenhouses, there are furnaces to clean, thermostats to fix, greenhouses to maintain, hardgoods and seeds to inventory,  stock plants to maintain, field machinery to service and a mountain of  paperwork that has to be dealt  with  that seems to get larger every year. The 2009  greenhouse season actually started in December 2008  when I took my first begonia leaf cuttings and geranium slips.

So now we are in the thick of planting season in the greenhouses. Perennials potted up, annual seedlings being transplanted, moving about flats of leeks and onions for the field and the  first of the grafted greenhouse  tomatoes planted. Mike,Ray and Jenny have pruned the finicky  peaches and we have been pecking away at pruing the blueberries when we can sneak away from the greenhouse responsibilities. Saturday is supposed to be nice, so I am in hopes of sneaking off with the little tractor to beginning removing straw from the  strawberries and rhubarb. Sarah,Donald, Anne and the rest of the crew continue to plug away at the mountains of  trays of  rooted cuttings and seed flats  that  keep appearing at the doors of the greenhouses. The welcome hum of activity is back after a the dark winter.

Flavors of the Valley will be held this year on April 21st from 2-7  pm at the Hartford High School Gymnasium.  For those of you that don’t know about this event it is an opportunity to meet farmers, producers and folks  related to the local food scene here in the Upper Valley.  We will have a booth there do discuss with anyone interested what it is that we do down here and the products we offer. Drop by and say hi.