Starting Our Nightshades, and Our Farm.

There have been many different aspects of starting this project. Acquiring land, designing a logo, making our website, building & testing raised beds, getting to know each other as we all work collaboratively to build something new. All of these parts, along with many more, are essential to the creation of a successful season, however they are flexible (mostly). Do we need a logo in order to grow vegetables? What about a state of the art planter design? Will things still run if we wait 1 more week to get together and talk about marketing?

There is, however, one thing that won't wait-- or in our case 1,500-- and those are our solanaceae seeds-- commonly known as nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants) need time to grow flower and fruit. Seeds (along with worms) are some of the most amazing things to me! They come in so many different shapes and sizes, all storing, inside of them, the nutrients needed to grow and survive. Our pepper and tomato seeds are bred to be coddled, but left up their own devices, plants want to grow, seeds want to sprout. That is what they are designed to do.

My mom composts by digging holes in her backyard, filling them with her food scraps and covering them over again leaving patches of fertile soil throughout her gardens. Every year in at least one of these soil oasis we attempt to identify, from seedling state, which seed it was that is now sprouting from the soil. Cucumber, acorn squash, pumpkin, tomato?

I could go on about seeds for much longer, but I will leave that for another post. For now I will close with reflection upon the stresses, excitements, surprises and disappointments the upcoming season, our seeds, and our ( no longer flexible) schedules are sure to bring us. Whether we are aware or not, our lives and success as human beings are tied inextricably to the schedule of mother nature and every year I feel humbled by how much power these little seeds have over the pattern of my existence from March through the fall.