Spring arrived in a rush this week. After last weekend’s frost, the asparagus surprised us by bouncing back quickly, and we were harvesting by Wednesday night. Rhubarb is also nearly ready and the spring turnips in the greenhouse. In the field our early seeded greens are up and growing, but still tiny. We are mostly through planting onions, and getting ready for the second planting of cabbage to go out. And it’s been dry, so we are already busy keeping everything watered. Friday night was so warm that we didn’t have to close the greenhouses overnight. Summer nights are coming!
This week we will have fresh chicken!
This week the Duffern Grove market is back outside and we will be there for the first time!
It will be another busy week of planting. Onions will hopefully get finished and then cabbage, and with the long weekend approaching, we should get ready for tomato planting. After the cooler temperatures forecast for Tuesday night we’ll look at the forecast again and see how soon we can find time for planting.
In CSA this week we have Asparagus, Lettuce, Hakari Turnips, Carrots, Beets, and Garlic Chives.
Also worth noting, this is the last week of the Winter / Spring CSA season, with the summer season starting next week. So if you’ve signed up for a Summer box, it starts next week!
Now is also the time to get your spring seedlings. Quantities are a little lower this year than in the past to avoid having leftovers at the end of the season, so shop early for best selection!
Lambing hasn’t gotten too busy yet, but we have one lamb who needed extra help living in the kitchen, so she is keeping us busy. We’ve also been working around the new lambs while trying to clean out the barn from the winter’s accumulation of manure and straw. More sheep over the winter means a thicker bedding pack, and Nathan has started hitting his head on lightbulbs, so it is past time to get it cleaned out. All that manure will eventually become fertility for future crops once it has time to break down in the soil. So far we have one third of the barn cleaned out, so we’ll have to shuffle pens around sometime this week and go at it again. It’s too much shovelling for one day anyway, even with the tractor’s help.
Well that’s the news for this week. Chicken processing days are always busy, so we’d best get back at it.
Happy Ordering!
Nathan and Aleta Klassen
https://www.localline.ca/nith-valley-organics
