Strawberry season is here! First picking today, so we’ll have to see how many we get, but at least it should be something. Rain in the later part of the week may make our picking schedule difficult, but we’ll just have to live with it. We need the rain, and have been thankful for what we have gotten, but it’s the timing that is the issue. Especially finding four dry days in a row for making hay. So we did something we haven’t done before; we cut hay, expecting it to be rained on. Not ideal, rain not only makes it difficult to get hay dry, but if not managed properly can rot the hay in the field. Even with good management, rain will leach nutrients from hay, reducing the feed quality. But like everything, it depends when and how much. So we cut Friday, with rain in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night we got a few drops, and overnight we got enough to get the bottom of the gage wet, but considering the season we are dealing with I think we did fairly well. Overall I think we would have lost more nutrition letting it stand for another week and get more mature. Now hopefully it stays dry until Wednesday.
CSA this week we have Strawberries, Asparagus, English Cucumber, Lettuce, Arugula, and Dill
Also this week we have fresh chicken again. Once again this time they are mostly large chickens, most of which will end up as parts rather than whole chickens. But if you want a six pound whole fresh chicken, do let us know and we’ll set one aside for you. And if you are looking for a smaller whole chicken, we’ll have those in three weeks.
Also coming up, in July we have some lambs booked, so if you were thinking of ordering a whole lamb (cut however you want), now would be a good time to start thinking about that.
Stuff is coming along nicely in the field and the weeds are mostly staying under control. Early in the week we were noticing the garlic looked a little lighter green than we hoped, but a well timed application of fish fertilizer is already helping them come around to looking better. The wood chips are all spread for the squash patch, so we are ready to plant at a somewhat more reasonable time this year than last. Now we just have to get them seeded between all the other little jobs we have for the week. Somewhere between Strawberries and Hay, and all the other things we have going on this week.
Well that’s all the news for now. Chicken days are busy and there is hay to spread after the rain so it drys.
Until next week,
Happy ordering!
Nathan and Aleta Klassen
https://www.localline.ca/nith-valley-organics
