I am always excited, and a little nervous to start a new growing season. I love seeing the new seedlings pop out of the growing mix in the germination greenhouse. We keep this area at 80-90 degrees to speed up germination. It still amazes me to watch new life spring from the seed trays.
The little nervous part comes from feeling overwhelmed at times thinking about all that needs to be done before the markets begin. Besides the nearly 1 million seeds that need to be seeded, then the tiny plants need transplanted into flats and moved to cooler growing greenhouses. The fruit trees need to be pruned and prepared for another crop. There are many new fruit trees being shipped here in less than 2 weeks, the new tree block needs laid out, marked and holes dug in preparation for planting the incoming trees. These new trees are the start of the 2017 growing season and beyond. Our oldest trees where planted in 1973, I wonder if they where thinking about the 2014 growing season when digging those holes. There is equipment that needs some maintenance, and 3 greenhouses that need new plastic put on. Then I think of all the field work that will need done this spring and all the planting that goes along with that.
And then I realize I love doing all this and I try to keep my mind on one day at a time. It is nice to have different jobs as the season progresses, and watch the crops go from seed, to seedling, to transplant, to harvest and to you when you pick it up at the market.
I'm fired up, lets get started.
Brian