Seeds and Planning before Planting

The quality of the light is changing and the cover crops are greening--spring is on its way. Meanwhile the farmer has his hands in the soil in the lush greenhouse environment...right?
Well, not exactly, who knew that farming entailed many many hours with a Microsoft spreadsheet? Let's see...if we have 150 families coming for vegetables, and we want four pounds of tomatoes for each full share and two pounds for each half share in late July, then we need to start how many flats of 72 cell in the greenhouse on what date and how many 100 foot beds do we dedicate to tomatoes.? So as the sun rises earlier and sets later we find our farmer surrounded by seed catalogs, notes, spreadsheets and coffee :-)

Getting Ready for the Season

February: anticipation builds for the start of the growing season. Winter, when it arrives is a welcome change of gears--time for repairs, maintenance, and planning for next. However, it doesn't take long for long until the farmer is chomping at the bit, eager to work the soil.

Scott