The Pressure of Spring

    Last evening at sunset, I saw Matt in the beautiful new greenhouse he and the men built, watching over the little seedlings that he started from seed a month ago like a mother hen. We talked about what we’d have and when it would be ready. Will the Early Girls be ready by late June or mid July? Is there still time to start Fresno chilies from seed? I left there feeling the anticipation of many good things to come although with butterflies in my stomach. I know exactly what Roger’s and Hammerstein meant in the song, “It Might as Well be Spring”; “…I feel so gay, in a meloncholy way…”  It’s springtime. It’s beautiful and exciting, a time of renewal and new life. But it’s also a time of increasing pressure for all of us on the farm and probably you too.

    It’s a law of physics that a coil spring needs pressure in order to push up, and it is a law of nature that we all need pressure as well to propel ourselves into the next phase. The blossoms “push” open, as the high pressure systems of spring begin to sink down from above and warm the air around us. Sometimes, I imagine it actually pushing down on me. Suddenly it’s too late to get all the things done that I wanted to do in the winter months. A month ago, I felt as if I had all the time in the world and now I feel like it’s slipping through my fingers. That slow time, when everything and everyone moved as if in slow motion is gone and now time is accelerated. Summer is just around the corner, when it seemed so far away just a few weeks ago. The kids will be out of school soon, (what do I do with them?!) and the fruit will be here. There will be more people everywhere; at markets, at my house and on the farm. I was calling the shots there for a little while, but not for long. Now, my days will be about trying to keep up, stay ahead of the juggernaut of summer fruit that will be coming our way. It’s time to get out; out of the sleepy, dreamy days of winter and into the bright, light days of spring. I am excited by all that coming, the long, warm days and the deliciousness of summertime. We have a lot to look forward to.

-Chef Becky