challenges and nature

In my last post I commented on how cool this Spring has been. Would you know it, the next weekend we had a snowfall and very cold weekend, which killed all my tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings in the greenhouse. And that is with heat in the greenhouse too, just not enough I guess! Who would have thought that we would have such weather in the middle of April. I knew I was starting the seedlings early but it is still sad, they were coming along so nicely. I immediately replanted tomatoes and peppers, they are coming along nicely in my house right now. I'm not taking chances with them outside until I'm sure these cold snaps are done with!

I recently purchased a really great time-saving tool. It is called an Earthway Seeder. I love it! This week I planted hundreds of beet and carrot seeds with barely any effort at all. The Earthway Seeder makes the furrow for the seed, plants the seeds, covers the seeds, and marks the next row all in one go! What a time saver and also, what a back saver. Check out this video to see an Earthway Seeder in action.

In my last posting I promised to include a photo of Tim and Wendy's garden full of good things to eat. The lettuces in this garden are growing much more rapidly than in my other gardens. I think this may be due to all the good compost Tim added to the beds and to the fact that this garden is protected quite well from most of the elements.

Many pictures!

I haven't posted pictures for a long time, so here goes.

First at the farm; Steve has turned the soil 3 times now with his tractor, and is planning to turn it a couple more times too. Here is how it looks so far!


It looks really great but the soil is still too wet, when you walk on it it is a quagmire. It should be only a few more weeks and I should be able to start seeding and planting though. I can't wait. I've calculated that I will have approximately 44 beds in this one area alone! They will fill up pretty quickly though with all that I have planned.

Below is my newest piece of property that I am working with. This is at the home of Tim and Wendy Turner, who have kindly allowed me to use it and are very supportive of my venture. The beds are brand new and were started by Tim with lots of compost and leaves and then some soil was brought in to fill the beds. These beds are already full of seedlings that I transplanted from the greenhouse since this pic was taken. I forgot to take a new pic - silly me. Next week!

Below are some assorted pictures I took in the greenhouse yesterday.




As well as the cold-hardy plants I've started some warmer weather loving plants such as tomatoes, eggplants, pepper, melon, summer squash, and zucchini. Some of these will be potted up and stay in the greenhouse, but others will be planted outside once the soil is warmed up enough.

Enjoy the sun!

Kale is wonderful - really!

Sorry I missed my posting last week, I was out of town visiting friends in Washington DC and have been sick with a rotten head cold. That's what you get for sitting next to people with colds on airplanes!!

For all of you out there who have an aversion to kale I think you should try it in the Spring, you may just change your mind. Late last summer I planted Red Russian kale. It was very prolific in the early Winter and there was enough that I let some overwinter. Now they are growing like crazy and have delicious tender, sweet leaves that can be used for salad greens or just steamed very lightly - yummy and very good for you too!!! Another plant that I started last year and is now bountiful is the purple sprouting broccoli. It is full of small shoots that are delicious. Unfortunately I don't have enough to sell but I am planning on having an abundance of them for next year.

This week Steve, who owns the farmland I will be using, ploughed it for me. He is going to turn it over a couple more times so that all I will have to do is start planting. What a great guy! He lets me use his land and gets it ready for me too - I am so fortunate - as you can imagine this saves me a huge amount of labour!

The cold nights are still lingering! It has to change soon right?!! My greenhouse is full to overflowing with plants ready to go out. Soon! I can't complain though, I regularly communicate with farmers on the SPIN farming forum who still have 3ft of snow!

There is quite a lot in the media lately about rising food prices here is one article.

We all know that organic food is better for you than industrial because of the absence of chemicals and pesticides, but did you know that organic foods have a documented higher mineral and vitamin content? Check out this article to learn more.