FORWARD MARCH.
It's around the fall when farming is at its most unforgiving. This is the time of year when it's too late to plant more corn. Or more tomatoes. Or more sweet potatoes. Whatever is done is pretty much done and if you made mistakes that year, you have to wait until next year to correct them. This, to me, is one of the hardest times to be farming.But March. Now March is a good month to be a farmer. March is that time of year when you haven't screwed anything up yet. You haven't had that drought yet. You haven't lost that crop to that weed or pest yet. All you have is possibility. March is a clean slate, a fresh palate.I imagine this is what it's like to be a professional athlete (though notably less lucrative). If you have a bad season, you have to wait until next year to improve on it. But like a good athlete, farmer's don't sit around while we wait. We think about what we did wrong. We work on the things we need to improve. We plan, we plot, we prepare ourselves––physically and mentally––for the next year when we will get another shot, another chance to do better than the year before. 2015: 0 wins, 0 loses.For us, this year is about being prepared for dry weather. It's about not raising turkeys. It's about not having goats––well, milk goats, at least. This year we're going to concentrate on our strengths. And our strengths are in the garden. We are good vegetable growers and we love to garden. We will still raise pigs, and maybe ruminants for a few months, but Further will be our primary livestock this year.With that said, we're feeling really good about this season. I mean, I say that every March, but with one more year of experience under our belts I feel more confident than ever. I'm excited about this growing season. I'm excited about the people we're going to feed. It's going to be a good year. I can almost taste it. Well, almost––tasting it starts next month.- Jesse.