Farm Update

Subject: Farm Update
Date: Sunday, May 01, 2011 4:50 PM

Hi Everyone,

As I sit in our office waiting for the daily rain to stop, I thought I would drop you all a line and update you on what's happening with your food. I've decided not to complain anymore about the rain because I know there will be a time this summer when we're needing rain desperately. With that being said....the wetness of the spring has had an affect on the potatoes. They are beginning to show their faces, mostly their eyes, ahem....but are taking way longer than normal. I've even dug some of the seed up to see if it was rotted or not and it seems fine and beginning to sprout. We planted more today and I didn't plant them at quite the depth I had the first batch. Maybe that will help them sprout a bit faster. We have Kennebec's (white) Red Pontiacs and Red Norlands, Prairie Blush ( Yukon gold and red hybrid), Yukon Golds and German Butterballs. We have never tried the butterballs, so have just put in a few to see how they do and how they taste. The spicy lettuce, the Chinese cabbage, anything with a more waxy leaf than a shiny leaf are under row covers. The flea beetles will eat them up if not covered. They don't bother the plants with the shiny leafs like the milder lettuces. They also don't bother the broccoli or cauliflower which have totally waxy leaves. Only Mother Nature knows why. I actually looked under the covers this morning to see how the arugula was doing and tore off a couple of the the baby leaves to taste and it's so tender with that nice arugula bite. I tried the mustard greens and cress as well, and they to were tasty with a little kick. We put in the herb area this past week with basil, rosemary, chives and a couple of types of parsley. Peas, radishes, broccoli raab, kale, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, spinach, turnip, carrots, beets, onions, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, etc. all coming along pretty well. The strawberries and blueberries are LOADED with blossoms.

We have laid our black plastic mulch and will leave it without planting for about a week to warm up the soil to get it ready for the summer crops that we will be planting this month. Also our two other organic growing areas in Monkton (corn) and Baldwin (melons and winter squash) are shaping up as we get them ready for planting.

We have had many takers of the asparagus and it's still producing. It's slowing down a bit, so if you would like to get a little more, you should probably email or call first just to make sure. Some thought they had to pay for the asparagus, we consider that part of your CSA membership even though it's not during the CSA season.

We are raising this year's first batch of chickens for the freezer. The first 100 should be ready to go in about four weeks. There seems to be a greater interest in the chickens this year already. We can have them cut and packaged any way you would like. It is more expensive the more cutting and de-boning that needs to be done. We have them processed as whole chickens unless we have any special orders. One customer has decided to pick up hers when they're fresh and just cut her own before they go into the freezer. You can email us if you would like any more details.

We have installed 4 new packages of bees, which hopefully means four new hives. The first package I installed without any protective gear on, because some members were here, (I don't want to mention any names Melly, Mark and kids) to get asparagus and I didn't want to take the time to suit up and one of the girls stung me right above my eye. Well, for two days I looked like I had been in a bar fight and hadn't done to well! Honey will be extracted in July.

Please feel free to drop by and take a look around the farm any time.

Many thanks to Tina and Mason for all their volunteer help. They tell me it's their therapy and I don't argue with that.

We will be seeing you soon!!

Steve and Vicky