Winter stayed on a long time, and it seems to have returned today and yesterday, but once the snow finally melted, field work has begun. I got these broccoli (left and right) and lettuce (center) plants in the field Saturday and Sunday afternoon, before the rains. The little vertical “sticks” at the top are onion plants. I also got some seeds planted – chard, carrots, beets, peas, etc. When we have the opportunity to get field work done, and especially when a stop to field work looms, we have to get it done. I missed the Champlain Valley Beekeepers Association meeting Saturday and the North Country Co-op Annual Meeting Sunday to get these planted before the rains. I ran out of Vermont Compost that I use for potting mix so had to stop potting tomato plants into larger pots, and couldn’t plant more seeds, until I got more potting mix. Mark Kimball (Essex Farms) had some he could spare so I spent this morning picking and rinsing two big 30-gallon bags of spinach from the hoophouse to take down for their CSA distribution, and spent a couple hours shoveling compost into feed bags in the back of my car. The stuff is heavy, I could back right up to it, and I decided it was easier to put the empty bag in the car and fill it there than to fill it on the ground and heft it in. It is really helpful to have friendly farmers around (they are 24 miles away though) to share, advise, commiserate, etc.
