Let's turn this barn into a dance hall! Photo by Carrie Kenny

Man, I have Spring Fever!  Who could blame me, given the weather we’ve had?   I’ve been super motivated to get the farm into great shape for the Spring Hoedown on April 4th.  This week, I 've been working with Matt Leach to design a stage for the bands that will be playing (Out of the Blue, La Tampiquena (with a special appearance of Mr. Will), The Show and Tellers, and Gumbo Ce Soir !) and to get the barn ready for a real barn dance.  Let me tell you, the barn is going to be awesome once we get done with this make-over.  Get ready to dance!

We invite you to run along side our fields in April! By then, the transplants we are planting now will be much bigger! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Get ready to run, too!  April 4th will also be the date of the very first JBG Garden Gallop, a 5K and a fun run through our fields.  For those of you who don’t want to run that far, we’ll also have a shorter fun run/walk that’s great for kids.  The best part is when you do the 5K or the Fun Run, you’ll get a chance to see our fields in all of their Spring glory!  Then, when you’re done, you can relax, listen to great music, and eat the food prepared by Iron Wood Icehouse.  They will be cooking a big farm-to-table buffet for everyone, complete with meat and vegetarian options.  For desert, we will be turning to you, the wonderful bakers in our community, and will have a dessert potluck set up for all of the goodies that you bring.

Brenton & Mike confer during last week's cold snap. Photo by Carrie Kenny

What I’m most excited about is for all of you to see how beautiful everything is out here at River Road.  This time of year is sometimes called the Hungry Gap because the harvests are slimmer.  This year, though, the fields are full, and are crops are just beautiful.  I have to thank Mike Reed, our Farm Manager, for this.  He has done an amazing job managing our crop plan and ensuring that plants get into the ground on time.  Thank you, Mike - your efforts have clearly paid off!

Our cover crops love this weather. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Our cover crops are also thriving.  I'm not the only one with Spring Fever - they, too, love this weather!  We are just starting to till some of these plants back into the soil.  The timing has to be right on this, too because we have to give the vegetation enough time to break down prior to our next planting.   This is one more factor that Mike and I must consider when doing our crop planning.  We are also always at the mercy of the weather, and all of the rain that we had in January and earlier this month really set us back.  Until now, it has been too wet to prepare the beds, so now we are scrambling to catch up.  But catch up we will - and come April 4th, our fields will be full of beautiful Spring vegetables.  I can't wait to see you then.

Come see the fields in April when these little Spring transplants have grown up! Photo by Scott David Gordon