This week has been a true introduction to Spring: the days are a bit longer, the light a bit brighter, and the rain a bit lighter than winter.
We have been planting, gradually, since February. But already the prop house (short for propagation greenhouse, where the baby transplants are started) is filling up, and we are moving plants through all the little microclimates inside. One greenhouse is full of 1′ tall Sugarsnap Pea plants that we should be starting to harvest in late May. Another is planted with Spinach. And yet another with purple Radishes and Salad Turnips. And one is boasting luscious overwintered Swiss Chard. Outside, the overwintered Cabbage and Turnips are doing their sprouting magic, becoming Rapini. Mint, Sorrel, and Chives are bursting with vitality, and Leeks and Miners Lettuce will round-out those first few weeks of the Spring CSA.
I am headed south for a much-anticipated 10-day road trip to explore the Mojave Desert. I’ve been in school full-time all winter, and I desperately need an adventure before farm season lands on us. But I am confidently leaving everything in Emily’s capable hands. She’ll be preparing the u-pick Cutflower Garden and seeding flats in the prop house until I get back, and tending all of those early greenhouse crops.
The Spring CSA will start when I get back, the first harvest/pickup day will be Saturday April 9, with Seattle deliveries and Tuesday on-farm pickup on April 12. This makes us perfectly timed to finish up with Spring mid-June, and start the Main Season CSA the week of June 18! Flowers will be blooming by then too, and all CSA members are welcome to come and pick bouquets again! Stay tuned for those updates! And if you haven’t yet reserved your Main Season CSA share or Mystery Box Subscription, there’s still room for you! Visit our Online Shop to enroll by clicking here.
Please be patient, and thank you so much for your ceaseless support of our farm and our local food system! We wouldn’t be here without you!
Shelley
Whistling Train Farm 