Spring is just a few weeks away. As the ice mounds in New York City thaw slowly, enabling cars to properly perform parallel parking, our thoughts turn to the upcoming planting season at the farm. I have 4 seed catalogues and am learning a whole new vocabulary!

The catalogues are beautiful and every vegetable is tempting. There is no way to plant everything I want, but I would like to have a squash patch, a corn maze, and an herb garden. I have thoughts on a strawberry and raspberry patch, but it might be too ambitious this year. Oh yes, definitely want snap peas and string beans.  Come to think of it, the only thing I don’t want to grow is lettuce!  They need to be harvested often and it is just not feasible.

I have also been thinking a lot about physical layouts, crop rotations, beneficial insects, green manures and cover crops – foundational concepts for an organic farm.