Transplanting Joy

We have two Karyns on the farm this year! Above, both return to the trucks loaded up with tulips.
Thanks to Rod Just for the photo!

Spring has sprung here on the farm, and that means it is all hands on deck to move our young seedlings from the greenhouses to the fields. The young veggie plants are popping out of their seeding trays and ready to grow big in the freshly tilled soil. Transplanting is one of my favorite tasks on the farm and I love feeling accomplished when I look back at the neat rows of plants we have rehomed.

A typical bed on the farm is around 250 feet long and holds anywhere from one to three rows of a crop. Crops require different amounts of room to thrive, and we do a lot of math to ensure we are maximizing our production in each row. Last week, we handplanted a bed of spinach in three rows, with the plants spaced 3 inches apart. Four of us rushed to get the plants tucked into the ground before the end of the day, planting over 2,000 starts in just under an hour. Immature spinach stems are delicate, and so we transplant them on our knees. Luckily, most of our other starts are a bit hardier, so we can enlist a lot of mechanical help from our tractor implement.

Our ride-along transplanter has three seats and room for 30 trays of seedlings. From afar it may look like the tractor is moving very slowly, but I assure you it does not feel that way when you are responsible for tucking a start in the ground every six inches! Though daunting at first, I find riding the transplanter feels like a fun game and the speed keeps me very present in the moment. When new hires join the team they often struggle to keep pace with the transplanter, so a more experienced crew member will sit in the back and help them tuck the plants they miss. This is a great example of the comradery I witness every day here on the farm.

When I first started farming I was shocked by the speed at which transplanting is done. I have a little love for every baby plant we grow, and it can feel strange to roughly shove them in the ground. But I’ve started thinking of the crops we grow as collectives, caring for the whole succession rather than worrying about each individual plant. In my own little garden I revel in slowness, joyfully pressing each start into the earth and wishing it luck on its next leg of life. Yet, I find a different kind of joy here on the farm when I look out on a mature crop and marvel at how much it has grown since we transplanted it only a month ago. I love being a part of a team that grows a lot of food and shares in the abundance.

~Viv