Moving along

Farm Fresh Family

Things are starting to move a bit quicker here on the farm. CSA registration forms are coming in pretty steady, seedlings are growing like crazy, lots more seeding to do and on Easter Monday we got our first official seeds in the ground. I planted radish, lettuce mix, spinach, carrots and onion sets. I knew there was rain in the forecast so I wanted to get a bit in and Monday was a beautiful day.



Fancy carrot sign


Taking a moment to enjoy the beatiful sunny day, measuring my bed to make sure it really was 350feet


Peace to all

Yesterday started a new round of seeding in the greenhouse shed including broccoli, lettuce, Chinese cabbage, regular cabbage, basil, kohlrabi, kale, turnip, Asian greens and mint. I also finished potting on the eggplants but still have peppers and parsley to go. I start my peppers, tomatoes and eggplant in open trays and then pot on when they reach the first leaf stage. It saves alot of space for the first 3-4 weeks of the plants life.

On an unrelated farm topic I successfully completed my first 5K last Saturday at the Source For Sports 5K Bunny Hop. I've always wanted to learn to jog but never made the time but about 4 weeks ago I laced up my sneakers and made my first attempt. It was not a pretty scene but I quickly became hooked on going further night after night. The first race was quite the experience, there was over 250 people there and they all looked very professional in their racing gear doing all there proper stretches and looking all so serious. I loved every minute of it. My goal was under forty minutes and I came in 32:49. I was very pleased even though I was towards the end of the pack. I quickly realised that the folks there were not messing around, they were there to "race hard". I took it pretty easy and tried to just finish without collapsing in a heap at the end. I hope to be able to participate in a few more this summer, hopefully the farm schedule will allow a few races here and there.


Here's sending good hug vibes to everyone reading this blog!!!!

The Waiting Game

All of the 2011 CSA registration forms have now been sent out. It's now a waiting game to see how many people will respond to renewing their shares from last year or how many of the folks on the waiting list are still interested in the program. I find this time of the year to be very anxious as I'm waiting for all the forms and checks to be sent in and wondering if I'll sell all the shares or if I'll have to actually advertise a bit. In the past word of mouth has always sold the shares but this year we have expanded to 60 members and we are no longer going to the farmers market so it has gotten to be much harder to advertise the program. Derek tells me to just relax so I guess I should just take his advice.

We have started a few seeds in the grow room but we have purposely waited a bit longer than other years. I found that starting seeds too early just does not pay off as the plants often are root bound and stressed before they are even planted into the ground. So far we have leeks, onions, peppers (hot and sweet), eggplants, celery, celeriac, cutting celery, parsley and brussel sprouts planted and broccoli, green onions, tomatoes, lettuce, basil and a few others are in line this week to be planted as well.


A tray of onions just nicely coming up


The greenhouse shed is all cleaned up and ready for plants


Thermometers, I'm not sure why there is always a difference between the two. It was very toasty in their yesterday, over 30 degrees for most of the day


Ben & Jake are pretty excited that the snow is almost gone from their swingset


The raspberry canes


Boys and their toys

Potting soil, dirty fingers & smiling faces

Well, we finally got the seedling room set up, bye bye play room, hello grow-op. The boys think its great right now as the room sounds very hollow and they can make a lot of noise with their trucks and tractors, but little do they know that "mean" Mommy will be returning soon growling at them when they touch the tiny seedlings or when they think its fun to have potting soil fights. I'm hoping that they will be nice to my tiny plants but I'm afraid it may be a battle. So far, leeks, onions and shallots have been seeded to be followed later this week by peppers, celery, celariac, parsley, lettuce and eggplants.


Just planted red onions

The Local M.E.A.L event went over really well. I had a great time and I was amazed at how many people showed up. The 20 seconds per slide trick was actually quite pleasing to listen to but it was hard being the presenter. I was glad when it was over but I really did have a great time. The video has been uploaded so if you want to give it a watch here it is A Local M.E.A.L

Work is now all done at the ski park which is a mixed blessing. I really enjoy my winter job and find it a bit sad when that season is over but at the same time I'm happy to be getting back into the farm swing of things which really means trying to catch up on the piles of paper work and the organisational activities such as planting schedules that I've neglected.

I also finally finished up the final touches on our 2011 CSA registration form and got that e-mailed out to our members. I've now got to get organised and start sending off information to all of those on the waiting list. The fun never ends!!!


The boys having fun in our friends greenhouse, it was SOOOO nice in there.