The past few weeks have been a series of ups and downs. In late April, Steve and I were facing a backlog of planting, thanks to spring’s late arrival, so we rejoiced at the early arrival of Alison Reilly, our seasonal apprentice. Alison’s first day on the job was a trial by fire—five hours of nonstop onion transplanting. By the end of it, as we loaded the empty trays into the truck, I prepared her for the possibility that we might return in a week to find all our work wiped a