Dealing with the crazy spring weather!

We know that April is a volatile weather month.  So unpredictable. Last week the family went to Easter breakfast wearing winter coats.  By the afternoon my 1 year old was outside going barefoot in the grass for the first time this season - sun was out and hot.  Now, exactly one week later there has been more freezing rain and snow covers the ground.  Temps hovering around -5 degrees C.  Oye.  But, we roll along here and just ignore it all!!
The cost of running the furnace is offset by the custom grow we do, so this is always a good feeling going to bed while the furnaces keep humming away. We use every square inch of greenhouse space to the max of either our own field crops or seedlings for buyers.
The heirloom tomatoes are awesome!  This example above will be hardened off and shortly planted directly into the soil in our 'covered fields' (aka greenhouse #1 and #2).  This allows us to offer the late June early July tomatoes we offer at market.
The kale, onions, cow pots with early greens (like chard, spinach etc), lettuces, early cabbages are all hanging out in the back part of the seedling greenhouse.  We don't heat this back half and this hardy spring stuff prefers the cooler temps.  IF it gets crazy cold, Ben will fire up a little propane space heater overnight to 'take the edge off'. These crops are for the field and will go under row covers and a whole table of seedlings are custom grow.
We still utilize 2 whole greenhouses as covered fields  and even with these cold night temps, the direct seeded stuff is holding it's own.  We will happily have a crazy awesome selection of salad greens, radish, beets, turnips and Asian greens by the end of April and first week in May this season! 
The above pic is Ben planting Bok Choy.  We took turns popping these little guys into the soil yesterday. It was snowing outside and it was so amazingly awesome to have my hands in the dirt planting something!  This rest of this house will be home to beets, turnips and a jungle of heirloom tomatoes.  The weeds are just beginning to show, so hoeing is a big job when we decide to cultivate the whole space.  Somehow, it all gets done! 
And recently Easter Sunday fell on my daugher's 3rd birthday!  She had a couple organic cheesecakes to enjoy at her great-grandma's house and more partying at home with more friends and relatives! We also had some mom and daughter time checking out the organic strawberry field.  I will be blogging a lot about this strawberry patch in the coming weeks. We spent A LOT of work on this crop.
And a nice family capture on a sunny day!  One of our buyers requested a family picture to use for window posters to advertise who the actual farmers are that grow the vegetables they sell. It's an honor to be involved.  It's more important than ever now to have a direct connection with your food, and knowing your farmer is the most direct of all, besides growing it yourself.  As I get bigger and bigger and ready to pop with baby no. 3, I find I am more passionate than ever about what we do and teaching all these little ones the benefits of farming this way.  And hoping to spark some inspiration inside them to want to continue this journey.  Stay tuned - it's going to be a crazy year at Sosnicki's!  

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