Last week after a morning of starting watermelon and squash in the greenhouse I returned in the afternoon to find the soil tossed aside and each of the seeds cracked opened with only the shell left behind. At first glance it looks like a mouse has had a field day in each of the newly planted trays.
But after quietly hanging out nearby the greenhouse I see that the true pest is a robin, who swoops in and out of the window with ease looking for new seeds to eat.
Even with the best planning, the unexpected can happen at the farm on a daily basis. I am not a perfectionist, I don’t know how a perfectionist could be a farmer. I do my best to roll with the punches to avoid utter frustration. This spring, work in the greenhouse started out great, like it always does filling trays with a soil mix, planting, seeds germinating, little seedlings growing, and eventually transplants finding their way out of the greenhouse.
This year my optimistic self was thinking, yup of course things are going well, you’ve been farming for years. But the farmer in me was thinking don’t get ahead of yourself, keep an eye on everything, plant extra just to be safe.