March- With What You've Been Given

Did you locals enjoy thawing out at the end of February? That first course of spring was served up during the time of winter when we are becoming desperate for short-sleeved days and colorful surroundings. Of course here on the farm, we hopped to it and out of the farmhouse in our wellies to get after some spring prep and to lavish in any sunlight that penetrated the clouds. Boy, did we avail ourselves of the comfortable weather: afixing siding to the propagation house that we built last winter, deconstructing the microgreens chamber retired at the end of last season, pulling up landscape fabric that was covering barren soil, which will be planted to salad mix in a month, and mending the high tunnels which suffered a bit in the harsh winter weather. We made time too for recreational projects: collecting and boiling maple sap into syrup for buckwheat pancakes and bug scouting the earthworms and woolly bears which emerged to get a taste of fresh air. May and Jack lost themselves in the woods on the property and I mingled with my first honeybee of the new year after a coffee date in town with a fellow grower and friend...we mutually lit up to see her out and about, no doubt on a cleansing flight. We all made the most of it.

It is rhetorical that winter wears on a person. Though stillness of the season is rejuvenating, winter is not a time of vitality. Distance from the sun inherently makes a person dig deep for energy and the motivation to be up and at 'em. Rich and I seem to go through a cycle each year which is characteristic of farmers. Having not grown up in the agricultural flow, we are still adjusting. The first month of winter refills our energy reserves as we allow our bodies a period of rather restful recuperation time. We restore balance in our psyche and nurture our social lives too. At some point the heaviness of the deep, dark, cold weather reaches us and we rouse our endorphins via our stationary bike, a yoga flow, wrestling with Jack, chopping wood, winter walks, and work in the high tunnels. We count on those physical bursts to encourage our bodies through the day. Since acquainting myself with Hashimoto's, I find myself fighting against psoriasis, fatigue and other symptoms of hypothyroidism during this time of the year. The more sun I soak up and the more physical life is, the more energy I sustain and the more able my mind and body feel. Thus, a cold winter with less physical work feels extra long, more uncomfortable and oddly exhausting.

We chose to inhabit a four-season climate for the balance that it offers. The restful slumbering winters, the reawakening of springs, the exhileration of summers, and the respite of splendiferous falls. True winters also offer much to the land: a freeze-thaw that allows aeration and improves water flow, snow coverage and melt which recharge the ground water and deliver nitrogen to the soil (snow is called "the poor man's fertilizer for this reason), prolonged freezing temperatures which balance insect populations, and enough desperation to make us true believers in the hope that spring brings. Winter is a part of life on earth, unless you live smack on the equator. And even the equatorials experience a wet season which teaches a similar lesson as winter teaches us. Whether looking at a forecast of torrential rains or a deep freeze as far as the eye can see, it is what we have been given. What choice do we have but to accept and play with this deck of cards. I, myself, was dealt a fortunate hand, and I've bemoaned the limitations of my body and of science to correct the discomforts that I live with. I have spent enough time mourning the loss of homeostasis which I enjoyed before autoimmunity reared its head during childbearing times. The fact of the matter is that I've been dealt a damn good hand. I have cards in my hand which I've played in such a way to make a life such as this for myself.

We're all plunked down on earth in a particular body, with a certain mind, hearts with such capacity, and with an agency to take our circumstances and run with them. The farm, ever our teacher, confirms each season that we most definitely work within limitations. Nevertheless, each year we are able to make something of our circumstances and effort. Some seasons we get an early start. Other seasons the deception of a late frost crushes what we've started and instead we are late. And that's just the beginning of the season. But opportunity awaits in the field, and no matter which way spring takes off, we have succeeded each year in living off the farm, and learning more about how to work with it so that we can rest easier and better enjoy our off-season.

It's not just within our microcosm of an existence on the farm that life can feel limiting. Helplessness permeates the good life with May and Jack and Rich on our little farm in Brookville as we worry for the world and our place in it. The world, which is fraught with unrest as good battles evil. The cloudy days have the ability to remind you of your insignificance and your vulnerability as one little person. On the days when the sun sets out to restore our energy and we find ourselves outside amongst the increasingly alive world, I am able to see more clearly the impact we have when making the most of what we have been given. It's relative...but it's a part of something much bigger...a lot of "little" people burning with their conviction and offering up what they have to give: kindness being one of the more potent extensions of ourselve, tangible goods and services proffered to the world by their hands and intellect, patience and understanding and helping someone outside of themselves, a curiosity and desire to understand something foreign to them and to accept it even if it is not their way. These offerings are like building blocks for something better and stronger than the every-man-for-himself, insular design. And everyone has something to offer. Even two little farmers, specks from outerspace bounding around the land, plunking seeds in here and plucking roots and fruits out there and just managing to feed their family and some of Dayton, we are filling bellies and making something of this life that we can offer to others. While it's difficult to find a politician to get behind, I believe whole-heartedly in the power that comes from a lot of people supporting each other, working toward a better future, united and insisting on a world where we all have a chance to thrive and to make the most of what we've been given.

Last week we sat in for parent teacher conferences. And Jack, who has struggled to accept his fate of "6-hour school days!", during which he "already knows the math and how to trace letters" and "recess is only fifteen minutes long", got a rave review from his kindergarten teacher, impressed by his initiative and evolution. He is getting a grip on his station in life. Not settling, but working to make the most of it. Whether looking forward to gym class and reading, or escaping into his mind to conceive incredibly imaginative stories about all of his monsters and mythic creatures while the rest of the class is still working through counting to 100 in the background...stories which he will transform into elaborate games with his sister over the weekend and one day maybe even deliver to the masses as an epic novel or a great movie to awaken others' imaginations; he is finding his way and he is working within the limitations of his life. After congratulating him on his efforts and work, he said, "I'm ready to be the best form of myself at school." He's ready, he's trying his best, despite the fact that he still doesn't agree that public school is what he needs. He's found that even within a setting that may not offer him what he wants exactly, he's going to take it into his hands and run with it. Because, as I have said in my annoyingly motherly way (I suppose it's just a fact of life that you become annoying once you are a parent), it really is what you make it. You have the agency to think and feel and express and daydream and make of your life what you can with what you have. And as he said later on that night when he was revelling at his new grasp on life, "you won't always be perfect, but you'll always be good." You'll always be good. That goodness that is there is just waiting to be let out and watered and grown...the leafier and taller, the better, to shade out malevolance.

As the first crocuses have arrived to the spring party, in spite of the snow scheduled for tomorrow, it is time too for us to show up and make the most of this year of growing.

Updates from the farm:

-Seeding time: March is a huge seeding month for us. Already we have beautiful asian greens, broccoli, kale, lettuces and herbs growing in trays in our propagation house, alongside the microgreens and shoots. Onions, flowers, negi, and more will be started this coming week. Carrots, spinach, turnips and radishes have been seeded in the ground in our high tunnels! Ah, so much to look forward to. Our ginger seed shipment got delayed because of the poor weather across the country. But we will get that cut and sprouting within the next few weeks as well.

-Farm Maintenance: Rich puts in a lot of maintenance hours this time of the year. Between fixing the high tunnels (the new tunnels with automated roll-up sides have had more issues than our original high tunnel with roll-down sides), reconfiguring the drainage for the high tunnels which has been subpar, tractor and truck maintenance, and more, he has been kept very busy. I clean up the herb and flower gardens, take our annual soil and water samples, finish up our admin duties and take meetings with potential and current wholesale partners. Phew...we prefer to get these things done now, so that we can look forward to our favorite work of farming/cultivating/harvesting and marketing the rest of the season.

-Incoming Hens: We still haven't received our new group of laying hens as the farmer did not want them being moved around in the frigid weather. We get to welcome them in a week or two and can not wait to have their fresh faces out and about as the grass greens and insects emerge for them to forage. Eggs will be back on the menu likely by the end of March!

-How to Get our Goods this Month: We are going to continue offering online ordering with pick up in the Oakwood Lot every other week. We are looking at microgreens and shoots, beets, frozen ginger, watermelon radish, bread, granola, and baked goods this month...potentially eggs too. I also deliver microgreens and shoots to Dorothy Lane Market weekly. They are distributed to all three Dayton-area locations.

Thank you for reading :)

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