So I managed to get all the beds prepared today for the squash, tomatoes, zucchini, hot peppers and tomatillos.  The next couple days look rainy, but if anyone is able to come out and help put all these plants in on Thursday or Friday it would be a planting party! Please let me know if you are able to come out… there can not be too many!!!

Here are the planned May greenhouse seedings that you are welcome to join:

May 4: Cucumbers and squash
10: lettuce, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi
16: rutabaga, zucchini
20: lettuce, fennel
28: radicchio, lettuce
31: cucumber

The “Nature of the Beast” is referring to the weather, of course.  I wanted to give you a picture of how this year is stacking up compared to others.  In my 23 springs growing the CSA in West Grey the earliest one was in 2011, when March saw many days in the 30 degree range.  I was able to start preparing the fields at the beginning of April.  By Mid April many of the early crops were seeded and transplanted outside in beds.  That year turned into a cooler and wetter than normal year.  The latest spring I’ve experienced was last year, 2018, when I couldn’t start preparing soil until May 10, after snow covered the ground most of April. This turned into the hottest and driest in my experience.  Even though there was about a month difference in this schedule, in both of these extreme years, the first harvest came only a week apart: the earliest spring harvest began the third week in June, and the latest spring harvest began the end of June.  There has been a trend, I would say, over the past ten years of springs generally being later than the average was for the ten years before.  If you have a small home garden, where you do everything by hand, you can get on the soil way earlier than I can with equipment.  Even though the season is likely to shift into summer like weather very soon, crops don’t instantly become ready… I’m still looking at a third week of June or so start… be patient.

Happy New Year!

I am immersed in the seed ordering for this coming season, so am making plans for a great year to come!  Several changes have been made and are in progress to improve the management and production of the farm, and meet the needs of the community. CSA shares are still available at the farm on Tuesdays, as in previous years, in small, medium and large weekly and biweekly sizes.  New will be an on farm market Friday afternoons from Canada Day weekend to Thanksgiving.  This will be open to the public.  I know the CSA does not work for everyone, every year, but many people are still interested in connecting to the farm.  So new this year, I am offering pre-paid cards for farm products in $50 and $100 options.  This will allow you to come to the Friday market when you can and purchase what you would like, making a commitment to the farm, but with more flexibility.
Signing up for a CSA share now, or purchasing a pre-paid card now, helps cover the costs of seeds and spring start up greenhouse expenses.  Please contact me to make arrangements, or if you have any questions.
Cory

First, since there is no Winter CSA from us this year, there is another local Winter CSA still looking for members: Green Being Farm near Neustadt.  Contact them for more info: info@greenbeingfarm.ca

Ducks: If you are interested in ducks I now have multiple sizes, $4/lb.
Kale: There’s still piles of kale, $5/ two bunches.
Carrots: small orders of carrots are available, $1.50/lb
Potatoes: Bulk orders are possible and I can store them for you in our root cellar if you like, $1/lb.

Contact me to arrange orders and pick-up…. thanks!

The space previously reserved for apprentices has been changed to a Bed and Breakfast.  A new page has been set up for it here on the website.  If you know anyone looking for a farmy place to stay, have them contact us.

There are still plenty of shares available for this coming 2018 main season CSA.  See the CSA Economics page for share sizes and prices, or contact me for more information.  Also, those of you who usually get eggs from the farm let me know when you want to come by for your eggs, as they are piling up… As you can see, the chickens are so ready to lay, they are crowding the boxes!

Aster Lane Farm’s bread is amazing and easy to order.  Go to http://www.asterlanebread.com to see what they do.  Send them an email to orders@asterlanebread.com and get on the list to order from their weekly selection.