Spring is Long

I’ve been long away from this site, fighting my local government, but things are somewhat calmer now and the farm is hopping.

One of the hardest concepts for consumers is the idea of patience. We have now been trained that our every whim can be satisfied within seconds (just ask wikipedia the definition…) or with in minutes (just drive to the store and get it) or within hours (order on-line, get it next day). But in farming you just have to wait. Seeds take as long as they please to germinate, plants take weeks to become mature enough to eat or at least to become grown-up enough to start mating (making flowers and then fruits!).

Let’s just track the lettuce that will be your dinner this week. The seeds were started in the greenhouse in early March. They become cute little plants in the greenhouse. They sat outside for a week, got ready for the “real” world of full sun, heat and cold. We transplanted them into the field on April 27.

Today, 5 weeks later they are big enough to become dinner. Lettuce is pretty much one of the fastest crops: only 8 weeks from start to finish. Other crops like tomatoes and eggplant are at least 4-5 MONTHS from seed to first fruit. And then our fall favorite, celeriac, is the grand champ of patience, 6+ months of growing time.

So, please understand, it takes time to grow food!  We do employ a few tricks of the trade, but they can only buy you days, not weeks or months.

Now, try to imagine planting fruit trees:  3+ years from planting to the very first harvest! Now, that’s a whole other take on patience. Thanks for your anxious questions about when something is ready. We’re having a nice long spring trying to make your wait as short as possible.