While Mother Nature was playing a cruel joke on most of North Dakota on Good Friday, I was able to actually get out into the field and get some work done.

Nearly the entire state got blanketed with heavy wet snow and here in the northwestern corner, it hardly rained and by 6 p.m., the sun was out, the wind died down and it was a gorgeous night. 

Having said that, I got into the field and got some early spring work done. 

I had left all the trellises from the peas and other vines in the field over the winter to capture snow. The ground is now thawed, of course, so I started pulling up fence posts. 

As I went along, and some I had to convince with a friendly tap of the sledge hammer, I could smell the aroma of the dirt that had just come out of permafrost. And did it every smell good.

It's amazing how black and how rich that soil really is. I sometimes forget that when we build soil, the organic matter in that soil helps to turn it into prime farmland. 

I only worked for two hours on Friday night but I really enjoyed getting mud on my knees and on my boots. We've been trampling through snow for too long so the mud was a refreshing change.

The soil was barely above freezing but it was easy to work with. It's really going to be a treat when it comes time to plant onions and peas. 

I know one of our CSA shareholders wants some of that dirt. He misses the farm and he told Ilene and I that the carrots are too clean. He wants a little dirt left on them. We'll accommodate because, after all, it is clean dirt.