Dear Farm Journal,

This bright and sunny Thursday is our first scheduled spring planting date, and per Mother Nature, we already need to make adjustments. G4 is still frozen and needs soil adjustments before we can proceed with in ground planting. G3 is technically ready, but Rufus and I decided that it would be much easier to keep 4 trays of transplants in the house, as opposed to running electricity, water, and plastic covering into G3. So today I planted 2 trays of leaf lettuce and 2 trays of rainbow chard, which find their temporary home under our sunny bedroom window. I bring our little babies up to the bedroom and liken it to how new parents bring their newborns in bassinets to their bedside. The world and elements out there are just too harsh for such fragile infants. I think back to when my Fairbanks friends started transplants in their windows for spring. I always thought they were so incredible and wished that I could do the same, but I never had anywhere to go with the transplants, living in apartments. Now I am excited to see these babies pop up in my bedroom. I’m not worried about the little bit of dirt and water they will bring in because I am more excited about the new green life they will bring to our home and farm.

This afternoon we started to deconstruct the end walls of G2. We climbed, unscrewed, pry barred, hammered, and cut away at the shell of a greenhouse which we call G2. I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. I am amazed at our ability to transform space. Rufus and I make an incredible team, and the longer we work together, the better we get. I find myself anticipating what he needs, and I am right there to help. I feel that he foresees and solves my newby struggles and steps in to help, right on time as well. There is never a dull moment when we work together. Today on the jobsite, we were graced with the presence of the patriarch and matriarch of Keewaydin Farms. Papa Rich (PR) had just finished plowing the driveway (He helps us out so much that I don’t really know where to begin…he deserves his own post) and Mother Mary (MM) was doing her daily farm walk. They both decided to take a few runs on the sled while they were here. Rufus took video as I continued work on the greenhouse and I thought…what an incredible, fun loving, sort of wacko family I have here. They bring me joy (mostly) and that is something to be grateful for.

~Joy