Just as our urban gardens and streets are filling up with lush growth and spring blooms, the seedlings on our regional farms are exploding into thick green leaves and tasty treats. It is an exciting time with early spring crops like ramps (wild onions) and radishes being harvested, and a very busy time focused on planting and more planting so there will be lots of great harvests throughout the season!

The planting season is really in full swing on most Midwest farms, with the norm of 14-hour planting stints when it's not raining. It's an intense time because the farmers never know what Mother Nature will bring the next hour or day, and if planting will need to come to a halt or go full speed ahead before the next rain. And then there is the cold May temperatures we've been having which just slows down the growth of many crops. For most crops, there is a certain time window for getting the seeds in the ground. If the time window passes because the soil doesn't dry out enough, then a farmer may need to switch to another crop.

Planting is managed along side the wonderful work of spring harvesting. The new crops we will get to taste over the next few weeks include cabbage family vegetables such as radishes rich in vitamin C and arugula with high amounts of folic acid and calcium. There will be red beets filled with potassium and folic acid and their green tops containing beta carotene, calcium and iron. And we'll be able to eat so many healthy delicious green leaves from salad and sauté mixes to herbs such as cilantro, chives and garlic. What a wonderful start to the season!