On the Farm, the trees get sprayed. If they don’t all sorts of bugs will come and eat that fruit right up! And we can’t have that. So, each year the Farmer goes about and sprays when and where his Wife tells him. And this is what she says: “Right here. This one,” she points to a tree whose buds are closed up tight. The Farmer aims the nozzle and douses it until it drips blue–for some reason the copper they use to stop any and all fungi is blue. Why blue? Why not green or brilliant orange as you’d expect any good copper to be? But it’s not. It’s…

Seeing as seed-starting and planting are taking place in and around the Farm this time of year, it felt fitting to share this, a chapter from the next book in The Farmer and his Wife series. Enjoy. This year, the Farmer and his Wife set out to grow all their own vegetables right here on the Farm—actually, as it turns out, that’s exactly what they did last year, too, despite an early sidestep in the way of buying a share from the Farm the Next Road Over. The seeds have been tucked in and under warmed potting soil until they reach out towards the lamp that’s been doing the warming.…