Every year, cows across the Hudson Valley skip, prance, spin, and leap into grassy pastures for the first time of the season.

At Hawthorne Valley in Ghent, New York, this event is a rite of spring.

To kick off my annual CSA series (A Content Series on Agriculture), I head to the cow laneway, standing out of the way and hoping Dolomite the bull doesn't run me over, to share the experience of watching cows sprint to fresh grass after an especially long winter in the Loafing Shed.

And to help us experience this more fully, Stacy Szymaszek reads from their poem, "Epilogue: Cow Parade," from their collection "Essay."

You can purchase "Essay" here: https://asterismbooks.com/product/essay-stacy-szymaszek

To learn more about the Hawthorne Valley dairy herd, visit: https://farm.hawthornevalley.org/our-dairy-herd/