Finally some rain?

I am a total sun worshipper, so it is bizarre that I woke up this morning grateful that there is a sprinkle of rain on the ground! It has been a challenge to keep everything watered only because I have had to be so diligent about it, we have been at least a month without rain - very unusual for our region. Generally I'm pretty relaxed about watering plants, I believe that once they are mature you should let them 'search' for water thus building a good strong deep root system. That strategy would not have worked this Spring though! The sprinkle of rain didn't amount to much though, so still we wait for a decent rainfall to nourish the crops.

This past week has been busy (when is it not?!) mostly with weeding. The new field all of a sudden just sprouted a blanket of weeds that engulfed everything I had planted. Quite miraculous really! As well as hours of hoeing it took many more hours of hand weeding to get between the individual plants. Thank you so much to Sarah who volunteered to help with this, I'm very grateful as it made a long arduous job much more pleasant. Also Julie and Grace have spent time on the farm too so there is some semblance of order again now!

This week's veggies are:

. salad mix
. swiss chard
. garlic scapes
. baby carrots
. kohlrabi
. broccoli sprouts or sugar snap peas
. green onions
. radishes

For those of you who haven't eaten kohlrabi, I would recommend peeling it and then slicing it and eating it raw. A delicious unique snack.

The garlic scapes are delicous used just like regular garlic but also as a side dish themselves - just sautee in a little olive oil.

First CSA pick up and farmers' market of the season

This past week has been very fulfilling for me. I got almost all of the plants from the greenhouse planted, including the cantaloupe. Last year I was very impressed with the flavour and numbers of cantaloupe I managed to grow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can repeat that success this year! Melons need a great deal of heat and so in our northern climate they are started on black plastic (which warms the soil up, and bonus, keeps the weeds down) and then row cover is put over the top of them.

This week was the first CSA pick up of the season and the first farmers' market. I was very happy with the CSA, it was really great to see everybody, and there was an abundance of produce:

. salad mix
. green onions
. kale
. one large broccoli head
. one head of romaine lettuce
. dill
. mustard greens or chinese broccoli
. radishes
. one basil plant

And the new pick up location at the United Church in Gibsons worked out very well.

It was fun to see many familiar faces at the Fiddlehead farmers' market. It wasn't super busy but it was a beautiful sunny day and I'm sure the market will pick up as the season progresses.

Below a pic of me, just in from harvesting broccoli and veg gin (chinese broccoli).

Some pics of the washstation that has made my life soooo much easier, the washing machine is used only for spinning the lettuce mix, and look at all the work surface I have now:


A scale, bags, elastics, twist ties and Backyard Bounty labels for packaging items:


The mesh table (made from an old pallet) used for draining items:


And last, just because I thought it was such a cute picture, my neighbour Linda of Greenroom Organics, coming back from having the tire on her tractor repaired!

The new field is fenced...

What a constructive week I've had: nearly all my greenhouse plants have been potted up, numerous flats of transplants have been put into the ground, even more veggies have been seeded, the new field on Henry Road has been fenced, a lot of weeding has been done, and my new improved wash station is ready to go. Yes, I'm tired but in a satisfying way!

Here is the new field at the farm joined with the original field. We took the fencing off of on one side of the original field and combined the two to make one large one.

Here Paul is putting the finishing touches to tighten the fence - twisting pieces of wire around the fence and post.

I like this picture because it really gives a sense of the amount of work that has already been done this season - and this is just one location. It is amazing what can be done with a few good hand tools and some muscle power!
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Home again!

Oh my, what a wacky past couple of weeks I have had. Immediately after my last posting my husband Paul and I decided to take a quick trip down to California to visit his family, specifically his father who is elderly and having heart problems. Our quick trip ended up lasting longer than anticipated because Paul ended up in emergency and having surgery, so we had to extend our trip until he was well enough to travel. He had two very large kidney stones that had to be blasted so that they would pass through. It was a horribly stressful time - it is never easy to watch somebody suffer - and it didn't help that I knew I should be home planting!

We finally made it home and I've since been planting like crazy. Luck would have it, I had a call from a friend of my daughter, Hannah, looking to do some volunteer work! She helped me plant out some tomatoes in the hoophouse and transplant the first veggies into the new field:

Also my employee, Grace had kept up with the weeding while I was away so the farm is actually looking quite good:

I have decided to delay my CSA program by two weeks. The combination of a cool Spring and my absence this month means that things are a little more behind than I like. The weather has been beautiful since I've been home so I'm sure things will really start to pick up now.

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May already!

I don't know about everybody else, but this year is flying by just a little too fast for me! Since my last posting life has been pretty hectic, but not! I had surgery, which meant I had to (and couldn't) do anything for 10 days. Any of you who know me knows this is VERY difficult, especially at this time of the year when there is so much to be done. Luckily, my husband really came through for me (and you!) and went out every day to plant or seed something - 3 cheers for Paul! :o) I also employed some part time help and that is working out really well too. As the business expands the employee will become increasingly necessary - there are only so many hours in a day!

In addition to everything else he has done the past two weeks, Paul built a walk in cooler! I'm very excited about this as last year it was a challenge to keep items cool after harvest. Last year I used an old fridge and our kitchen fridge, and it just wasn't enough room, but now I even have room to spare and it is easy access without having to juggle containers around to make room. To build it I purchased a device called a 'Coolbot' (you can google it for more info) that attaches to a regular air conditioner; it then very economically cools a well insulated area down to 3 degrees remarkably quickly. Improvements are also being made on my wash station to make things more efficient there.

My greenhouse at my home is overflowing with lush greenery. I LOVE my greenhouse: the look of it, the smell of it, the warmth of it. The plants outside are loving all this moisture and the warmer weather - so are the weeds!

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pictures!

I love seeing the seedlings looking so orderly in the greenhouse. This is the first year I have used plug trays (the flats with individual compartments) and so far I really like them, except I do have to water more often - they dry out practically daily.

Sunflower seeds! I threw a whole bunch in a flat to see how they would turn out for edible sunflower shoots.

This is the larger seed potatoes that have been cut up and left out on my deck to dry out a little before planting. The ones on the right hand side are the Russian fingerlings and the ones on the left are the German seiglindes. Both are delicious potatoes, can hardly wait to start harvesting!


A couple of pics of the farm starting to take shape. With the rye mostly turned over and rows of assorted veggies planted things are slowly starting to look promising for this season.

Grace Burns! Grace helps me on out a few days a week after school.

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busy, busy, busy

This warmer weather has seen me go crazy in the gardens the last week. I've been preparing beds (by turning over clover and rye) for a few weeks now, but this week I began actually planting. Yeahhh!!!! It has been a relief to move plants out of the greenhouse because it is overflowing with seedlings ready to go. I've planted out kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, and fennel. I've also seeded veg gin (a Chinese broccoli), radishes, and peas, which have all germinated nicely.

This week I also relocated the greenhouse at the farm. Many of you know that this particular greenhouse collapsed under the weight of the snow this Winter. My husband and I managed to fix it but the plastic was torn in various spots. Well, last week we had a big wind storm that blew the greenhouse apart! It was quite the thing to watch my greenhouse blowing in the wind like a big air balloon! I never did like the greenhouse where it was because in the Winter time it didn't get sun until the afternoon, so this seemed like as good a time as any to move it. As well as moving it Paul came up with some ideas to make it more sturdy. However, with this style of greenhouse (very economical) you can't expect too much. I'm dreaming of the day I can afford a larger, more permanent greenhouse. It is quite remarkable how much you can extend the season with an unheated greenhouse. Even despite the weeks of sub zero temperatures and the greenhouse collapsing on top of the crops, I am harvesting fabulous fall planted salad greens right now. Many crops can be grown over the Winter under plastic.

Today I am planning on seeding carrots and Swiss chard - and maybe even beets if I can get enough beds prepared - though realistically this will probably have to wait a day or two.

Work in the greenhouse continues as I am now starting the warmer weather crops such as tomatoes, squash, peppers etc. I start the plants in small pots and plug trays that I start in the germination area (a small heated section in my basement) until they germinate, then they are moved under the gro lights for a week or two until they grow their first real leaves. The hardier plants then go out to the greenhouse (at my home), which is unheated. The less hardy plants will stay under lights for a bit longer, until the nights heat up a little more.

My seedling potatoes arrived this week. They are certified organic Russian fingerlings and German sieglinde potatoes from a farm in Pemberton that I had a lot of success with last year; keeping my fingers crossed they grow as well again. I will be 'chitting' them (forcing them to start sprouting) over the next few weeks and then they will be planted.

I still have some CSA spaces available, so please spread the news. Only 7 weeks to go until the first delivery!

I hope you are all reveling in the warmer days as much as I am.

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