Winter Transition

Farm News

This is the month when winter transitions to spring, but I certainly cannot feel it. Skies are clear. Grass is green, and the fruit trees are thinking about breaking their buds into flowers but it is too cold. The early morning ice on my windshield and the sheets of ice on the puddles are holding onto winter.

By midday, I am reminded that spring really could be just around the corner, and I am not the only one on the farm who feels this way. The field of cover crop by the creek that was just mowed down is at the stage for some serious courting. A group of hens scratch and peck at the vegetation paying little attention to the boys who are doing everything they can to steal the show. With their chests puffed out, their heads pulled back and their tail feathers on display, they strut slowly around, dragging their wings while trying to decide if they are there to impress the hens or scare the competition. It is really fun to watch, and they really don’t seem to care about me or the team working in the field next to them.

Behind the green John Deere tractor, three spools of black drip tape unroll as three beds each receive one line of drip tape injected four inches down and six inches offset from the middle of the row. This job takes one tractor driver at the end of each row. He raises the implement up, cuts the drip tape off, turns the tractor around and heads down the next set of three rows. The work is going quickly and without issue. Tomorrow, we will lay out the submain and begin coupling the drip tape to the submain, which is connected to the pumping and filtering station by the canal. By the end of this week, weather permitting, we will have the system installed and will be ready for the tomato plants that are scheduled to arrive from the greenhouse at the end of the month.

On my way back to the shop, I pass the harvest crew. With my window open, I hear them whistling and chatting as they work. The smell of fresh garlic invades my pickup.

Stopping to get a closer look, I can see that the garlic might still be a little on the small size for ideal but getting started a little bit too early is better than getting started too late. Never in all my years of farming have I ever felt on time for anything.

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