Going Out Like a Lion

Considering we're under a tornado watch until 11 PM tonight as a band of thunderstorms moves through the area, I guess it's safe to say March has lived up to that old adage. But as blustery as it is today, yesterday was a great day for working the garden and the greenhouse. The garden chores are starting to pile up and it's sometimes overwhelming considering all of us work off-farm jobs, but we just keep chipping away at the to-do list as we can.

The garlic is loving the recent warm weather, and so are the weeds (mostly henbit, which is pretty but annoying). I've managed to weed a row each weekend for the past three weeks; I figure by the time I finish the last row, the weeds will have moved back into the first row and I'll begin the cycle again. The Kettle River Giant is really living up to its name by throwing up enormous stalks - I only wish it were a hardneck variety because I bet it would produce some truly epic garlic scapes! Speaking of garlic scapes, I checked last year's records and they were ready for market in mid-May, so we only have five or six more weeks until garlic scape pesto! Since the soil's been relatively dry this past week, we finally laid out new and improved drip tape. I'm digging the red valves - they're much easier to see than the black ones from last year!

(The black and white blob in the photo below is Squiggles, one of our barn cats.)

While the garlic grows outside, the greenhouse is starting to fill up. We've got cabbage,

onions,

Italian flat-leaf parsley (my personal favorite),

and the first of the tomatoes.

The parsley and tomatoes will be available as transplants at the market come May; the cabbage and onions we'll be growing ourselves. I have three more tomato varieties (Black Krim, Juliet, and Mortgage Lifter; the ones I managed yesterday were the San Marzanos and Costoluto Genovese), and three basil varieties (Genovese, Summerlong, and Greco, same as last year) to pot up next Saturday. My goal is to have plenty of tomato and basil transplants when the market starts, which seems to be easier said than done. We've had some trouble with the tomato seeds this year; germination rates have been poor. It's hard to pinpoint the culprit since there are so many variables - light, heat, and moisture in the seed starter, the seed starting mix, the seed stock, or maybe something else I'm missing. Heirlooms can sometimes be tricky to begin with, and we've purchased organic seeds where possible, so that's yet another possible issue. Regardless, we're going to continue to start as many tomatoes as it takes to have a good supply come May.

Not pictured, but coming along nicely are the sugar snap peas, which we planted in the plot behind the barn again this year. We're hoping to have more for the market this year than last year when we cobbled together maybe five 1/2 lb. bags a week and always sold out in the first 45 minutes.

In the week ahead we'll be starting more tomatoes and the first of the Swiss chard (we're kind of behind on that this year) and cilantro (way ahead on that!).

Lambing season continues out in the pasture. Last night we all sat down to a dinner of our own Red Fern Farm braised lamb shanks, cabbage, and homemade foccacia bread. The lamb shanks were amazingly tender, and Mom and I can't wait to try the recipe again this summer using our own San Marzano paste tomatoes!

And one last bit of news: this week we got our confirmation email for the downtown market, so all we're waiting on now is confirmation for our inclusion in this year's CFSA farm tour!