News From Gardens of Eagan

By Atina Diffley

As you read this, Gardens of Eagan (GOE) greenhouses are full of miniature transplants at dark-green, four-leaf stage. Each plant stands upright in its bed of peat and compost; its cotyledon leaves fading from green to yellow. The cotyledons have completed their stored energy role of bursting out of seed and providing nutrient support until the plant's roots and leaves are ready to photosynthesize their own food. Mission accomplished, they will drop off and decompose as the "true" leaves step up to the purpose of gathering sunlight and carbon dioxide, mixing with water and turning it into plant super food.

There are around 13,500 kale transplants smiling in the sun here, which is about the same number of Wedge members who are now part of owning Gardens of Eagan Farm. Right now, these 13,500 miniature kale plants could be bunched together, barely filling a five-gallon bucket. By the end of April, they will be six-inches tall and ready for transplanting. Exponential growth, by mid-June harvest should begin and last for five months until mid-November. By fall, if all goes well, these 13,500 kale plants will have produced 740,160 leaves - the equivalent of 7.71 semi loads of kale for Twin Cities consumption - from less than half a cup of seed.

The excitement of spring potential is everywhere on the farm in April. It is in the mud, the compost and the first spring weeds busting through the winter crust. Already the soil synergy is speeding up as bacteria break down last summer's plant residue and fungi colonize roots, aggregating the soil and sourcing minerals for the plants. The excitement is in the water, moving freely after spending a winter frozen, and in the insects, beneficial and pest, as they crawl out from under their winter's leaf litter shelter and return to their active roles in the farm's ecosystem. Most of the farm's crew has returned, and they are as full of spring sass as all the other species here.

And the excitement of spring is in the marrow of the new GOE/Wedge fusion. It's not just: GOE (staff, soil and ecosystems) + Wedge (bountiful wellspring of local organic food and its committed member/owners) + Linda Halley (new GOE farm manager extraordinaire) = new improved GOE/Wedge. It is so much bigger than a sum of the parts and wafts the promised potential of spring.

Here's to toasting the inspiring dance of relationships between species and to all of us cotyledons contributing our stored energy to growth, education and human super food.