ready or not...

Lately, spring starts with a sneeze for me.  My first hint was the pollen sheen on the surface of the water in our dunk tank full of freshly harvested kale.  I saw that and knew that spring was fast approaching.

This year it comes the first week of February, following a week of polar vortex in the Midwest and our coldest temperatures thus far this winter. 
Yesterday felt much like a spring day, as I sat on the tractor looking at the electric green grass pulsing with life and the multitude of yellow flowers of over-wintered brassicas in the first stages of seed formation.  As is typical of an early spring day, we were trying to cram in as much soil work as possible before a predicted overnight rain.  David even direct seeded the first beds of 2019!
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I was able to stay later than usual, or allowed myself to, pushing the limits of preschool and extended day hours.  I couldn’t deny myself.  The best part of a day on the farm is when the sun begins to fall just a bit lower in the sky and you can already feel the pride of accomplishment but just want to feel it a little bit more.  Walking across the farm I see wildflowers (read ‘weeds’) beginning to bloom in purples, pinks, and whites mingled with the greenest of green grass that you only see in spring.  The ability to spend our days walking through that, as opposed to fluorescent lighted hallways, is one of a multitude of reasons we continue persisting through the evolving challenges we face each year as a small farm.