Seasoned farmers know how important it is to have routines and we also know that regardless of said routines, things don't always go routinely. With the renewal of our Oregon Food Bank grant, an expanded farm stand and a new wholesale account with Linn-Benton Food Share, we seeded thousands of plants in late winter. Here are many of them in their full glory! There's lettuce, celery, parsley, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages and collards to name a few.
We then waited a few weeks and seeded summer crops, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil and tomatillos, they're looking great too!
The heat mats and grow lights we acquired this winter are helping the plants get big and stay healthy. Happy plants bring on a sense of joy and calm but unfortunately, the opposite is true. When you see your big healthy plants start to cry for help, you can't help but feel a bit demoralized and panicked. The onions we seeded in January are beyond ready to go in the ground and we've planned to put them in several times only to be thwarted by soil conditions that haven't allowed that to happen.
We are doing what we can to keep our offerings going but without the right soil conditions, it's proving to be tricky. Hang in there with us, we're plugging in what we can when it's possible and this week looks promising to get so many more plants in the ground.
In the meantime, you might be ready to plug your own plants into your garden and we'll have plant starts at the farm stand this week to help with that! Plant starts will be under the carport and produce will be in the market room.
Last week we prepped fields for spading and with good luck, we'll have fresh beds at both of our locations ready in a week for transplanting and direct seeding! Direct seeding means carrots, beets, spinach, orach, baby pac choi, potatoes and so much more.
In the symphony of farming, nature is the conductor, not us...but we can be sure to be at the concert hall on time, dressed for the occasion, instruments tuned and well versed in the songs.