What a Difference a Week Makes!

Good morning from Opal’s Farm! I realize that some Opal’s supporters may not share the same scene I have looking out my office door this morning (thanks to all of you across Texas, the nation, and even the globe! We appreciate you all so much). The sun has just come up and it’s a brilliant Spring morning. Last week’s wintry morning has been replaced with cool Spring mornings. The birds are talking loudly amongst each other, and the trees are beginning to bud in radiant greens, whites, and purples. The projected high temperature for today is ninety degrees (in March)!

Spring planting is moving ahead at breakneck speed. Professor David Cole, Stephanie Schmitz, and the students at Tarrant Count College NW’s Horticulture Department grew four hundred tomato plants and one hundred pepper transplants for the farm this year. The one thing we are unable to have has been a greenhouse (no structures on the floodplain) so we can’t start out tomatoes and peppers on time. Providing our transplants saved the farm hundreds of dollars. They’re also bigger and healthier than those that come from our regular vendors. Hopefully, we will be able to provide tomatoes early this year.

All our tomato and pepper plants are in and trellised thanks to our wonderful volunteers. Melissa, Jamie, and Tony came during the week, and we had two great workdays with the Ridglea Presbyterian Student Ministries and The Hills Church Unity Builders Ministry over the last two weekends.

We skipped market this Saturday so we could pick up, deliver, and plant all our transplants. Don’t worry though. We’ll be back next week with more of the organically grown fresh produce you all look for from Opal’s Farm!