Happy Beltane!

April 19, 2026

In case you wondered, mid-spring is the best time of year to soak in the beauty of the farm. Garlic and cover crop are growing like weeds, the trees are in full bloom, and signs of fertility abound. As I was surveying the fields this time last year, I found myself wondering shouldn’t there be a holiday to celebrate all this life? Turns out, there is. Beltane, which falls on or about May 1. This ancient Celtic holiday marks the midpoint between spring equinox and summer solstice. It’s when sheep and cattle were driven to pasture, when fields were plowed, and when young couples married. Our modern calendar pegs the start of summer at the summer solstice, but for the ancient Celts, it started with Beltane. As a modern farmer surrounded by signs of life, I must concur. So Happy Beltane, y’all!

Planting begins in earnest next week, wrapping up months of pre-season preparations. In terms of prep, I’m most excited about the long-overdue pruning of the crabapple trees dotting the edges of the fields. These are the showiest of our flowering trees, and you’d think they’d provide plenty of shade in the summer, but their branches were dipping so low, and their offshoots had become so numerous, that there was not much space for a sweaty farmer to take refuge. Parking the trucks under the canopy, which we like to do on hot days, meant bending and sometimes breaking the lowest branches. And though we always welcome the presence of paper wasps (a natural predator of cabbage moths), their tendency to build nests in the lowest branches meant a mower operator had to give a wide berth—and cede ground to the offshoots—or risk getting stung. Dan and I both have a high threshold for letting things run wild, but by the end of last summer, we agreed the time had come to tame the trees. Fortunately, two days of aggressive pruning was all it took to get the situation under control. Now there’s plenty of clearance for farmers and trucks alike. From a distance, the trees have a graceful shape. Up close, you might be tempted to climb them.

The blackberries also underwent a serious makeover last month. Two years ago, as we prepared to install a new trellis for the new plants, I realized I had spaced the beds a little too close. At that point it was too late to make a change, so I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Two years later, crowded aisles and just-sorta-okay yields prompted me to thin the alternate rows by as much as two-thirds. I also trained the floricanes outward, so that sunlight will hit the primocanes emerging at the center. The V-shaped rows look pretty neat for now, but once the primocanes mature, the jungle look will return. Hopefully, it will be a much tamer jungle, with big fruits within easy reach.

We’ve got a lot coming up this week. Jackie and Nancy return to the fields this Tuesday, just in time to plant potatoes. The farm stand reopens next Saturday and will feature potted plants—kale, chard, collards beets, lettuce, onions, peas, herbs, and more. Plus, representatives from NOFA-NY and the Real Organic Project will join us at 10am for a cover crop workshop and field tour. The event is free and open to the public—you can register here.

Lastly, the farm will participate in a farm-to-table for schools workshop on May 1 (Beltane!) at OBVR. This event will bring together educators, nutritionists, farmers, and food policy experts for a collaborative discussion on how a grow a farm-to-table program for K-12 students. If you’re a teacher or administrator interested in incorporating farm education into your curriculum, this is the workshop for you! You can register here.

 

Thanks for reading and looking forward to welcoming everyone back soon!

—Caroline