Next week I’ll be starting up the greenhouse, seeding the first flats for the Spring CSA. There are no more Spring shares available, but there are still plenty available for the main summer season. 

To peat or not to peat has been an eternal question! We have been using raw peat moss in our greenhouse seedling mix since we began. Peat is a renewable resource, but can be exploited, and the harvesting of it can be damaging to wetlands. When I was on the board of Demeter Canada back in 2000, I was asked to do research on peat. What I found at that time was that Canadian peat was developing faster than it was being harvested. Which means that peat moss was forming in natural habitats faster than it was being extracted. In the US, peat was being harvested faster than it was developing. 
  Like fossil fuels, we’ve tried to limit the amount of peat we use, while at the same time exploring alternatives. From 1997-2002 we made a separate leaf mold compost to replace some of the peat in our mix. This worked pretty well, but was labour and time intensive. We had to gather hardwood leaves in the fall, chop them fine with a lawnmower, and layer them with nettle plants (to reduce the acidity). They would take a year and a half before they composted enough for us to sift them and add them to our mix.
  During that time there was a fad that promoted coconut fiber as a peat alternative. This has its own ecological questions, and we found it didn’t work well in our mix anyway.
  After getting horses on the farm in 2010, I observed the way the piles of horse poo in the pasture would break down. It looked a lot like peat. We tried drying it and sifting it and experimented with replacing the peat moss. Again, the plants did not respond well. Maybe more experimenting would lead to something, but my gut doubted it.
  Now a new product is just coming into the market: EcoWool, pelletized wool fibers that are suggested to be used as a peat alternative. My friends, Jennifer and Tim (biodynamically minded sheep farmers) from All Sorts Acres just north of Mt. Forest have begun producing it (see picture below). I’ve gotten some from them to experiment with this year. This is a great development for the wool industry that has struggled to know how to survive. If you purchase peat for your garden, I’d highly recommend trying some out.
  But for me, here’s the rub: right now I purchase about three bales of peat moss a year, costing about $50. That’s all I need. If I were to substitute the EcoWool one for one, I’m guessing it would cost around $2,000.
  I’ll be doing some experimental soil mix recipes to see if there is a way to make it work.  

This past season saw perhaps the best onion harvest we’ve had. They were larger than other years and still so tasty. Because of their size, we could give out fewer of them and give you more at the same time. Because of that, even though we grew the same (actually a bit less) row feet, there were more. Most of this I would subscribe to the added fertility that the chicken wagon adds going through the rest areas the year before. 
However this might have a consequence. This extra fertility might make them bigger, but might also make them not store as well. We don’t have the best onion storage anyway, but they usually keep through early spring. But this past season also saw an unusually wet August (remember the tomato late blight?). So just as the storage onions were sizing up, there was maybe too much water. This would impact their storage.
All this to say, the onions are starting to go off. We have an abundance of them, so I will offer them free choice (as still one of the items). We’ve been eating the off ones, and they are starting to go bad from the outside. So the one or two outer layers might be no good, but the inner layers are fine. It’s sometimes hard to tell before peeling it. So feel free to take extra and make use of what we have. 
Onion soup? Caramelized onions with every meal?

Happy New Year! 
Reminder, we have another Winter CSA pick-up this Friday January 5. We’re already half way through the Winter season!
Also, a reminder, as in other years the month of January I reserve for return members to rejoin for the coming Spring CSA and Main Season CSA. There is a waiting list for the Spring shares, so make sure you let me know if you are planning to rejoin. In February if the CSA is not full I’ll open it up to new members. 
Many of you have already signed up for this coming year, thank you. If you are not able to make a first payment right now that’s fine, just let me know your intentions for the coming spring and summer. 
The main seed order is scheduled to arrive this Friday. In about a month’s time I’ll be starting the seedlings for the spring greens! In the meantime, I’ll be catching up on bookkeeping, and finalizing the greenhouse and garden plans for this season. 
Welcome winter,

Cory