flat of strawberries from golden ridge farm

I realized – right about then, I guess – that Eric before he left had told me he ordered some plants that would arrive in April. It was for and it was a login and password. Anyways, there I was twiddling my thumbs on another rainy day when I noticed Eric had left a sticky note on the file cabinet. I had never even been on a farm before May, and those who know anything about it know the season begins in January, generally speaking, though really it never ends. Sometime in early April I was sitting in my new office, silently panicking, wondering why in the heck I was hired to manage a farm when I knew nothing about farming. The neighbor’s huge forsythia on a cloudy day The fading and falling purple and white flowers of the tulip trees gave way to the red buds and violets as it goes but it all seemed as if nature was nonchalant, indifferent – to human aesthetic appeal, anyway.

Even the gigantic forsythia across the road seemed a bit drab, subdued even the typical golden, effervescent flowers had nothing from above to radiate back so there it sat flat for weeks waiting like me for any little bubble of hope. It was one of those Missouri Aprils where the spring pastels were drowned out by endless grey and wet. In fact I was no better than third in line for the position after I interviewed, but I’ll save that story suffice to say fortune was in my favor. He was heading to another local farm – the Founding Director of which just so happened to be my housemate – and Seeds of Hope kind of fell into my lap. Around late January Eric was on his way out and I was on my way in. I wasn’t ready anyway, and I wasn’t the only one who knew that. Another farmer, Eric, who had much more experience was hired and I started working in the food pantry at the office. I had apprenticed the previous two years at Seeds of Hope under Gabriel who had left in the Fall to “get his cabin built before winter.” A little known story is that I wasn’t actually hired for the job after Gabriel left. Everything about me was green except my thumb. Along with the 500 strawberry plants I also got 12 grape vines and 15 or so raspberry brambles. I remember it was four years ago in April when I got them in.

Flat of strawberries from golden ridge farm