Editor’s Note: Aly Martelle opened the heated greenhouse on March 8 and seeding has begun. But with the warmer weather and sun, the winter greens will be exploding soon. Aly describes early spring work at the farm.

I always consider the beginning of our season when we open up the propagation house for seeding. We are committing to another season; to field prep, fertility, planting, cultivating, irrigating, harvest, wash/pack, CSA distribution and clean-up when we seed these first onion trays.  So we have begun!  We have seeded our first two varieties of onions, parsley, a few flowers, some things for the plant sale, and some for donation. And there is nothing like the sound of birds chirping in the morning, and longer sunny days to get us excited about starting this work!  I am looking forward to welcoming back our crew, the heart and muscle of this operation, and spending more time outside of our winter buildings and tunnels. 

We are looking forward to increased spring harvest as the days lengthen and warm and we are able to water.  After watching the plants slowly poke along all winter they really explode this time of year!  If everything goes well we will harvest arugula, baby kale, and parsley in the upcoming months.   Each week the number of plants in the propagation house increases as we add things to the list, and hopefully soon we will have a sea of green to gaze upon. 

Tractors are being serviced and maintained for upcoming field work. We are working hard to lay out plans for a successful season.  Building projects are underway, to improve workspace and repair tunnels and growing spaces. We are maintaining our Covid protocols, but we have been so happy to hear some updates from members who have gotten their vaccines, which makes me hopeful for the day when we all get to see each other's faces! We are so happy for all of your support and can’t wait to see people walking around the Intervale this spring as things warm up, or skiing if we get another snow!