Seasons

This was published in the June 17, 2021 edition of The Fish Wrap.

We want to offer a wide variety of seasonal veggies available all summer long. To achieve this, we make a crazy schedule in the winter that has every bed occupied sequentially with 3 or 4 different crops, planned down to the day of planting. Of course Mother Nature has her own schedule and she always wins.

Humans are the only animal that doesn’t live by the seasons. We used to, but today, we can eat watermelon in winter. Electric light and heating and cooling allow us to keep our productivity consistent. To succeed in our careers, we need to grind all year long, with no time to rest or recharge. We don’t expect a flower to bloom constantly, so why do we expect that in ourselves? Living in harmony with the seasons makes us more present and connected, and our stress reduces as we go with the flow.

It’s strawberry season at RLF! Berry seasons are short and give us a clue to our sugar addiction. Berries contain very rare and valuable vitamins and minerals that can be stored in our bodies all year. When our nomadic ancestors came across some berries, they dropped everything and had a berry party! We evolved a love of sugar so that we would gorge on scarce nutrient sources. The instinct remains, but those gummy bears contain no nutritional value.

Working with our garden schedule and Mother Nature’s timeline takes creativity. When it’s time to plant, you have to decide what’s more valuable - the plant that isn’t mature yet or the plant that needs to get its turn. If it’s too heartbreaking to choose, you can interplant! You can find two plants that share the same infrastructure like tall tomatoes and shorter peas. Or just alternate rows with two plants that make good bedfellows!