The shifts in weather in the last 2 weeks have been pretty baffling. We are struggling to line it up with “normal” vs. “abnormal…” maybe it’s just the new normal? 2 weeks ago during 60/70-degree days I was on the phone with a farmer friend asking, “Should we be getting in the ground??!” I remembered one early Spring a few years ago when farmers I knew were suddenly planting carrots in March, prepping beds, getting a jump on spring work. It’s a weird time of year where we want to be enjoying the last sips of slow living, but especially as farmers with a young business, we also feel a bit like we’re at a starting line, crouched to sprint – looking right and left to see when others start running. Luckily, a good dump of 15” of snow will curb all that anticipation and sit you right down.

I’m looking at the dogwood buds in our backyard and thinking of the peeper frogs that were starting to sing on those warm February nights: it’s easy for us to change plans due to a re-freezing of the Northeast landscape but probably less easy for them?

At the farm we are dearly missing our great winter worker and friend Sunny, who brought so much bright energy (yes, that’s his name) and support to our winter. We’re all hands on deck as only 3 owners for the month of March, finalizing plans for the year before crew shows up and work really kicks off in April. We are looking forward to the delicious future flavors of baby salads, radishes, beets, cilantro, dill and chard growing in the fieldhouses, but we're also appreciating the abundance and nourishment of peashoots proliferating right now in our greenhouse.

This year we are are improving our greenhouse with circulation fans (what an idea!), building a new processing site for the summer and buying a giant white board that will be our “mainframe” for decision-making, co-management and accountability. We’re focusing on developing soil health this season with improvements in cover-crops, a 2-year crop rotation plan and reduced tillage in our fieldhouses. We are also honing in on what we can learn from the challenges and lessons of collaboration and teamwork. It’s not easy to run a business between 3 strong, independently-minded women, but we know if we have made it this far there is a lot we can learn from each other. These are very basic things, but for us they are helping to keep us focused this year as we walk the path of keeping our business viable and growing good, delicious and clean food for the people we serve.

We’re currently opening up memberships to our CSA’s at the farm, in Hudson, and in Westchester (Irvington and Sleepy Hollow). We hope you will join us! Sign up is now available on our website: www.ironwood.farm

Until April!

Lauren and the Ironwood Team