Do you remember in the old cartoons when a character would get set to dash somewhere and his legs would rotate in mid air, but it took a minute before he actually zipped off? Well that's kind of where we are at the farm right now. There's plenty happening behind the scenes, but you wouldn't necessarily see a lot of motion just yet. With spring only a month away, we're revving the "farm engines" to get ready. This translates to planning and implementing the new year's crop rotations and plantings. Over the winter when we have fewer crops in ground, we plant several fields with a cover crop which helps return nutrients to the soil. Soon we'll be plowing this under and readying the beds for planting (or some may lay fallow for a time). Farmer Ariela also has to consider where the big potato crop should go this year, what bed is best for the next planting of carrots, and so on.

Plenty of prep work is underway as well. After the recent heavy rains, the field crew took advantage of the soft soil to pound in all the support poles for the blackberry plants. I've seen the guys do this, and it's a big job! Seeds for spring veggies have been purchased and sent to our nursery where the vegetable start trays get scheduled for all the plantings. You should see that spreadsheet! For a sneak peek of the vegetable starts, head over toward the chickens and look left. You'll see big tables with lots of little plants spread out in trays. Every single plant in those trays is perfectly placed into the soil by hand! To be precise the guys usually use their thumb and one or two fingers to hold the bottom of the start and forcefully push it into the soil. It's pretty amazing how quickly they complete each planting. So what might you see soon at the stand? Well, I've spied some asparagus spears poking up out of the soil, so those should be coming along in a few weeks, and the fava beans shouldn't be far behind. I'm also told ranunculus flower bunches are only a couple of weeks away. After that you can count on plenty more forward motion! Yippee!

Broccoli is taking a break, but we have some great-looking cauliflower. Brussels sprouts are still here for you, and we'll have sugar snap peas. Artichokes are plentiful. Fennel is gorgeous right now and really sweet when roasted - such exquisite flavor! Lettuce heads are good-sized, and we have plenty of them. Spicy mix is back in the mix. Arugula is getting bigger - same wonderful zip! If you haven't tried the green garlic yet, I urge you to take advantage before it fully bulbs up, and we stop harvesting. Mild garlic taste without any bite. Use it raw or cooked; it's very versatile. Blueberries and strawberries will again be on the berry table. We should have more chanterelle mushrooms this weekend, but these are winding down. We have a new delivery of passion fruit, and Encino Grande is bringing more organic satsuma mandarins and Meyer lemons on Friday. Smith Groves brought us some great Gold Nugget mandarins. These are more on the sweet side of things. Speaking of sweet. We're sweet on you, so stop by when you can! Enjoy the glorious weather.

- Eileen