Mother Nature Motivates March

Seasons aren’t like a traffic light when one car stops, and then the other goes. It is more like having some spring during winter and winter during spring. If you think that statement is true, hang on for some of the “rest of the story.”

March is an exciting month, with spring starting each year between March 19 and 21. A few interesting facts about March are: Women’s History Month shared with National Nutrition Month. March 4 is National Grammar Day, National Son’s Day, and Employee Appreciation Day. March 17 is Saint Patrick’s Day, and March 21 is National Teenager’s Day.

As the daylight increases each day, and the days get warmer; there is still a balance to focus on because our silent partner is Mother Nature and always gets her way. If the weather gets too warm too early, fruit trees get pushed and a seasonal or late frost can have a light crop or no crop for the year. It’s the same with vegetable and flower plants; it’s tempting to get a head-start for an earlier harvest of some crops, but the plants can be set back just by planting too early. We often get early warm weather for seven to 10 days, and the soil temperature is rising, which the soil temperature is the pulse of the plant. However, if you get a cold rain or two, all the soil temperature gains are lost; it stuns the plants.

For those who like pure maple syrup, March can be the month for maple sap flow. It starts to flow when daytime temperatures rise above freezing, and nighttime temperatures falling below freezing. The sap moves up into the tree during the warm day and then drops back down on the cold nights. The maple syrup producers have a short season, if it gets too warm, too quickly, and for too long and doesn’t drop below 32° at night. Farming would be easier if we could talk to Mother Nature, but as farmers, we accept that if we get a setback due to weather, we have to hope that the future will be better.

We started masking up because of the pandemic in March 2020. Finally, after two years, people are free to navigate their lives and are leaving their masks at home. Our farm market was never closed throughout that period. We welcomed and served our customers with or without masks; it was their choice.

Science has been a big part of agriculture. As a farmer, experience tells me that one should be cautious until all the facts are presented. I trust God and the free will to choose. Look at the beginning when Adam and Eve were and the Garden of Eden and were told to trust and see where it got us all.

As farmers we have a long history of offering free advice; there are no billable minutes. So, whether it’s family, friends, or customers, you can always go back to the farm to get questions answered, solve a problem or share knowledge.

A nutritional tip from the farm is by God’s design, humans and livestock often lack minerals that cannot stimulate their vitamins. Lacking minerals doesn’t support wellness. Most of our modern agriculture for the last 60 years has exclusively used synthetic fertilizers, and the minerals have been depleted from the soils. Again, by God’s design, livestock utilizes about 65% of their feed’s nutritional value. Then it leaves 35% of the nutrition to nurture the fruit and vegetables as fertilizer to add nutritional values. This is the science that you can truly count on.

At our farm market, we have a recipe from a German doctor Dr. Barbara Hendel for an inexpensive way to get 84 minerals and trace elements every day. All you need is an empty pint mason jar and a trip to our farm market for a free recipe using Himalayan crystal salt. Another tip is look up the benefits of NAC/600 mg. It has been one of my go-to everyday tips for years. NAC truly is a golden nugget.

I hope you have a Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, and since we are told, we are all Irish on that day, I will be known as Ron O’Really. Diane’s homemade Saint Patrick’s Day cut-out cookies are a hit and a treat to enjoy.

If you want nutritionally fortified eggs and seasonal vegetables, you are welcome to stop by Eichner’s Whole Farm and Greenhouses and let us be one of your year-round destinations for 2022 at 285 Richard Road in Wexford and get the “rest of the story.” n

By Ron Eichner