May-When I Say Jump

Now's the time of the year when Mother Nature says "jump" and we ask "how high?". Our growing hardiness zone has climbed in recent years to where late April presents like Mid-May used to. Though still on the lookout for sneaky late frosts as we have been conditioned to do in the Miami Valley before Mother's Day, the soil is warm, the dandelions have gone to seed and if you turn your back, the vegetation has sprung forward half a foot. She's fully awake now, all systems go, and we are at the point in spring when we live on our toes.

On any given day, the sun rises and after breakfast hour with the kids, Rich and I are poised to react according to what that Mother is dishing out. Other than our hard set plans to make weekly wholesale and retail deliveries, our days are dictated by the conditions. We tuck plants into the ground when the night time temperatures are high enough to give them an easy entry into life in the field. On a rainy day, we take an extra coffee break and then get more work done in the high tunnels, seeding trays in the barn, or get to accounting and administrating at our kitchen table in the farmhouse, where great minds tackle many a project :) (May and Jack's creative enterprises come to mind). Any time we can get back out there, there's tending to be done: every day this time of the year we water countless trays of seedlings, harvest produce that has come to fruition in the greening of spring, and inevitably fix something that has broken. Spring is for setting so much in motion and then maintaining it as it grows. And stepping out of the door in the morning to assess our standings on the farm can redirect our preconceived plan for the day.

Sometimes we can't jump as high as we're told to. A rather warm and dry spell came on the tail end of last month's historic flooding. The beating that the cultivated spaces took was evident in the cracks riddling the soil between plantings. Seven inches of rain over four days pounded the space which was then baked in the sun. Planted spaces provide coverage to cushion these blows and protect the soil. This is the reason why the majority of our farm is covered in perennial growth. This is also one of the prime reasons why we are purchasing the equipment necessary to install and maintain grass and clover pathways in between individual beds of vegetables. Once the saturated soil drained, we got to transplanting and more direct seeding. The newly transplanted seedlings were just embarking on their journey to set roots when every potential for rain was unfulfilled. Rich moved irrigation like it was his full time job and our little barefoot boy would come into the house with dusty feet from exploring the field, no earthworms to be found for they had retreated deeper in search of moisture. Seedlings are like fish out of water for their first week to two weeks in the ground, as they are installed after being coddled in the propagation house. Once they have set their "feet" they can handle dry spells rather well. If the customary spring showers fall, the whole plan comes to fruition. When the rains are withheld, and we get unseasonably warm and sunny weather, those transplants are exposed for what they really are: weaklings. But just as we do in challenging conditions, most plants muddle through (with a little more coddling), to see another rainy day which breathes new life into them.

Those times of "famine" are followed by times of "feast"ing, when the rain inevitably pours again and there is overly generous growth in the field. It's always at some point amidst these viccisitudes when I am comforted by how small we are. Flooding and drought, tempests and blissfully clement weather are not to be taken personally; they are not punishments or gifts directed at Foxhole. There are conditions out of our control that govern our existence and our autonomy lies in our reaction to them. We are not playing a game we can win; in fact we are orchestrating our production in spite of Mother Nature's greater scheme. Life is what we carve out by reacting to what's given us. Deciding to capitalize on a mild day by leaving the farm to hunt fossils at Caesar's Creek Spillway rather than by being productive on the farm; and on the next, cultivating the veggies which grew leaps and bounds while we were away. Taking the combustible upset energy that builds after reading about the world's latest twists and turns and channeling it into fieldwork to burn off the negativity, and to restore my intention of focusing on our little reality here and my role as an individual. I remember that just as Mother Nature's whims are out of our control so too are the goings-on of the world. It's our reaction to them that gives us our freedom and our power.

We are here, engaged and ready to act...on the farm and beyond too. Just say "jump".

Updates from the farm:

-MAY MARKET SATURDAYS 9:00-11:00 am AT MARALUNA: On Saturdays in May we will be setting up our booth in the courtyard inside Maraluna Shop located at 2316 Far Hills Avenue in Oakwood (just in between Blue Turtle Toys and Goodwill). We will have our spring plants, vegetables, bakes, granola and t-shirts available for sale! Per usual, you can preorder your goods ahead of time and pick up from our booth on Saturday. That's right...online order pick ups in May will be from our booth inside Maraluna, not the Oakwood Market Lot.

-Plant Sale Begins: We will be selling flowers, herbs, and veggies for our Dayton locals. Starting this week you'll find plants listed on our website as well as on our table at Maraluna. By mid-May we will have the warm weather plants ready for you too: tomatoes, peppers, etc.

-Spring Field and Hoops: We are harvesting salad, spinach, radishes, turnips, microgreens and shoots and anticipating spring peas, napa cabbage, carrots and asian greens this month! Kohlrabi, collard greens, kale and broccoli are just a matter of time. Phew!

-Attack on the Hen House: We sadly lost some hens to nighttime predation and will have less eggs available until we regrow our flock. If I find a good source for mature layers (not the easiest to come by), or layers that need a home, we will be back sooner than later. If not, I will be welcoming layer chicks this winter and more eggs will come later than sooner. In the meantime, we will just be bringing extra to market... no more preordering. Our pals From Minnick Family Farm and Shire Farm will be bringing eggs to market in Oakwood Farmers Market and Shire Farm offers egg and meat pick ups in Oakwood every other week until market begins.

-Find Our Produce on the Menu at: Grist, Mulberry and Main (Brookville), Salt Block Biscuit Company, Jollity, Little Fish-Dayton Station, Rays Grill (Englewood), and Pretty Picnic for now. Get out to eat at these local spots. Tony and Pete's carries our granola...not to mention their awesome sandwiches.

Thank you for reading.

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