April 2026

There’s not much more on my mind these days beyond tomatoes.

Just a couple of days ago, we finished planting over 800 tomato plants between two market gardens. Eight hundred plants. That’s 500 more than we typically put into production, making it our biggest year for tomatoes by far. What will we do with all those tomatoes? Get them into your kitchens, onto restaurant tables, and preserved in jars for enjoyment well past the harvest.

When you spend days on end planting one crop, your mind enters a certain state—the motions of pulling down twine, digging holes, clipping tomatoes, over and over again, become a sort of meditation. Although the hours are long, the body is strained, and the lists never seem to end, stress fades away with this kind of work. It reminds me of a quote from Arthur Brooks: “You know, my great grandfather probably never went home to his wife and said, ‘Honey, I had a panic attack behind the mule today.’” There’s something about the repetitive motions, constant movement, and time in the sun that feels aligned with how we’re meant to work. I’m grateful to have a job that lends itself to moments like this. The work is already paying off long before the actual harvest begins.

Also going into the garden this week are cucumbers, squash, basil, peppers, and one final round of lettuce. And the winter veg still hasn’t slowed down; carrots, beets, chard, and lettuce will continue to grace the Saturday market tables while we patiently wait for those first tomatoes to come off the vines.

I hope you’re as excited as we are.