Tuesday, April 17, 2012

It's busy April!

Today was week 6  in the spring session of my CSA.


Baskets today were well represented by the colour green, which in my opinion is the official colour of spring.

Cut lettuces, pea shoots, sorrel, swiss chard, mizuna, mispoona, onions, green garlic, and a bit of rosemary.
A whole lot of healthy eating...are you green yet?

It is a busy time on my little farm. Besides growing the vegetables and getting the baskets out, lots of other things are happening too.

I was happy this week to have my help begin. I am so pleased to have an intern working with me this year, and it seems like it is going to work out really well.

He is here to learn about what I do, but really more importantly start to think about what he can do on his family's farm.

If you come out to any events at the farm, or pop by for any reason, you'll meet Maris.

We'll be busy this week, and for the next several weeks doing the transplanting.  He fills the pots with the soil-less mix, I transplant. We scramble to get labels done, and my sweet little Mollie gets some labels printed up when she pops off the bus after school too.

But we won't get the labels all done as we do the transplanting. It is just too time consuming to do it that way and the thousands of tomato plants are screaming "get me out of this little cell!"

Bored? Time on your hands? Want to be part of a labelling party? Apply within-it's fun. Well...it could be!

What I do is so very labour intensive. Good-but labour intensive.

I popped on my tractor last week. Glad it started. It's an old tractor and one never knows.
But it decided to carry on, and the soil turned up beautifully. In fact didn't really look like the clay it is.
In all my years working this soil, it has never turned up like this in mid-April. Wow.




So in went spinach, more radishes, more carrots, and salad. The peas are up nicely, and the beets as well. But things outdoors will grow slowly because the nights are downright cold. Tonight sure is.

Inside my unheated hoophouses, the tender eggplants and peppers already transplanted are doubly protected with 2 layers of Remay, under the double poly.
We can't take chances...it's early still.

Interesting April.

I wait with baited breath to see what this year brings. Every year is different.
In the garden, in life. I feel optimistic about it all!





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