At a “warm” and sunny 16 degrees today, I got the ball rolling on planting in the hoops. I let the hoops rest in January and didn’t worry about maintaining what little was left in there. Good thing I did or I would have been really stressed during these super cold nights.
First thing was to try to dig out the compost we left in the field and attempt to get it to thaw out a bit. After shoveling off the layer of snow, I covered it with a big piece of plastic in the sun to trap the heat. Snow shoes would be nice right about now as I had to drag the plastic sheet through 2′ deep snow. It sure felt good to be working outside though! Cabin fever be gone!
The little hoop got plenty of rest after pulling tomato and basil plants last fall. I let the plants dry up in the hoop all winter and today was the day to pull them out. It smelled like dried basil in the hoop which was glorious.
The big hoop still had cold crops from our Fall CSA that needed to be removed. The wheel hoe was back in action! Everything is now prepped and ready to be planted.
Ran out of day light today but will get back in the hoops to plant spinach, salad and radishes before the end of the week! If all goes well we should have a early crop by April to bring to Canton market!
HAND SOWN FARM 
Meg so glad you can get your hands back into the dirt again!!! Now you can get ready for the BUSY season and hopefully you can do it gradually at first. Anyway have fun. you and Andrew give each other a hug from me. Love you and miss you.
A better sign of spring than we got on groundhog day!
I agree that 16 degrees is Warm! When I took Leo out yesterday morning it was -16. Today it is 16 degrees, that is a 32 degree warm up! they are saying mid 30’s by the weekend! Wish I could be there in the warmth of the hoop house.
How exciting! It feels good to be starting afresh at this time of year. You are an artist getting ready to paint glorious paintings to share with us, the lucky ones:)
Thank you