Greetings!

WOW! Stepped outside on the last day of February to be hit by the sweetest smell of early spring: The FIRST FRAGRANCE OF PRE-SPRING... the surprisingly, intensely sweet smelling sweet box plant.

The flower is so tiny and barely visible, you have to hunt for it!  But what this evergreen ground cover plant lacks in flower beauty it more than makes up for in the extraordinary and pervasive fragrance.

Now, the sweetness of the sweetbox flower greets us multiple times daily with every trip outside and wafts in the windows on days when it's over 65•F and we open up the windows and doors.

How are YOU doing?

We hope you’ve been enjoying your weekend. What’s up in your garden and garden planning/planting?

This past week we planted ~90 more ramps in the woods, and seeded tomatoes in the greenhouse. We also transplanted leeks and perpetual spinach (a kind of Swiss chard), and some lacinato kale from the greenhouse.

But when you can’t grow leeks and spring onions outside… we’ve actually regrown them from stems and roots in our kitchen window. Betting you maybe have too…? ‘Cause you know… a grower’s gotta grow stuff! 

And sure, it’s not much in the way of feeding a family, but like microgreens, fresh snips here and there of live growing food is always a good thing.

We’ll soon be on the lookout for the first spring plantain… plantago major. A majorly beneficial and edible weed to get to know. Have you used this plantain in recipes and/or remedies? If so we’d love to hear about it.

Speaking of leeks, here’s our family’s favorite leek potato soup recipe featured on our recipe website. Just 5 ingredients plus salt.

Hang in there… Spring is just around the corner!

From our hearts to yours,

💚🙏🏼🌿

Coleman and LeAura Alderson