In the swing of things
- springtideorganics
- Jun 9
- 3 min read
Hi folks, Jessie here. My farming season is looking a lot different this year with baby Georgina in the mix. I'm very lucky - my mom has been coming out to the farm a few days a week to hang out with Georgie so I can work on the farm part-time. It's been an excellent way to ease back into finding some kind of work/life balance with a baby before I go back to school full-time in the Fall (when I'm not farming I'm a PhD student). After spending the winter (happily) cooped up with a newborn, farm work is a welcome change of pace.

Speaking of a change of pace, what a difference it makes to have four people working on the farm! This year we have 3 full-time and 1 part-time (me) workers and it really shows - the farm is in great shape and the weeds don't stand a chance. We move through tasks so efficiently we are almost running out of things to do. This means we have some time to tackle projects that always end up at the end of the to-do list, like putting gutters on our packing shed, adding roll-up sides to our seedling greenhouse (for better airflow), and doing a better job of keeping the pathways mowed. It is hard to believe that 3 years ago Rebecca and I were slogging through the farming season on our own, it makes such a tremendous difference to have a bigger team with which to share the load.

We are really in the swing of things now with most of our summer planting finished and we are looking towards planting crops for the fall already. With most of the planting out of the way our daily tasks turn more towards harvesting and weeding. It is shaping up to be a very productive season, especially now that the cold spell is behind us and we are getting a good amount of weekly rain. Despite some small setbacks - carrots not germinating, many of the melon plants being eaten by slugs, that sort of thing - we are optimistic that we'll have a good variety of crops this season. The peas are flowering, the onions are sizing up nicely, and the peppers and tomatoes are tucked into their summer homes in the high tunnels. This season I am most looking forward to trying out some new tomato varieties, picking the first carrots (it won't be long now!), and taking care of the bees.

The herbs are abundant on the farm right now, so I'd like to share a few recipes. The first is a soup I recently had at a potluck that blew me away. It calls for tons of cilantro, parsley, and mint (unfortunately you'll have to find the mint elsewhere, our patch is still pretty small). Check out this Persian split pea and rice soup with lamb meatballs , I promise you won't be disappointed! Another way to use up your herbs is to make a herby frittata, this one is also inspired by Persian flavours. Finally, don't discount the power of a pile of herbs in a good salad, they will really bring it up a notch.
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