We are finally far enough into February that we are really starting to notice the increased day length. And stuff is growing again a little better than it has the last months. Not yet enough to make a huge difference in supply at market, but it is coming at least!
This week we are back to our delivery route for our Dufferin area customers and pickup only at Montgomery’s Inn. Market was better than we’d had recently at the Inn, so that is encouraging anyway, but it is so much easier to make progress at home when we aren’t trying to do a second market at the same time.
Last Monday was the second day for our Environmental Farm Plan update. At least it’s done now. Learned a few things we hadn’t thought about before that could use improving, but overall not the most intellectually stimulating activity overall. But now we’re at least up to date for the next five years.
Tomatoes are coming! Well not for a while, but we have the first seedlings growing. So now in the next few weeks we will be potting them into individual pots to let them grow for a while in the seedling house before they get transplanted into the ground in the production houses. Then they just need to grow a couple feet taller and make some fruit, but hay at least they are started, right? We’re excited anyhow about this reminder that spring is coming! Looking forward to early cherry tomatoes this summer.
Duck Eggs are here! The new flock started laying late last week. Well so far it was one for a few days and now two yesterday. But we take it as a sign that more will be starting soon. So soon they will be a regular part of our egg options at market. For those of you not familiar with duck eggs, I like to think of them as like a really good pastured chicken egg, but even more, and richer.
CSA this week we have Baby Kale, Delicata Squash, Carrots, Watermelon Radish, Onions, and Huckleberry Gold Potatoes.
We finally traded in our old transplanter and picked up the new one this week. A slight amount of final assembly will be required to turn it into a functional machine, but at least it is here. And much the same as I had done with the previous transplanter, I will have to make an adaptor to run water to the three wheels we intend to use rather than the two that come stock. Nothing that a few hours of work can’t accomplish, but it’s another thing to do before April when we want to be planting onions.
Another little project this winter has been a bit of reorganizing in the packing house. For the last several years we have had a Wearhouse rack next to where we park the van. It seemed like a good idea as a way to use the vertical space better, but we haven’t found it as accessible as we hoped. Additionally, when we get the new van we will need more space for accessing the side door for loading. As things sometimes go, after using the space one way for several years new ideas emerge for how we could perhaps use it better. So the racking has moved to a new home to transform a different part of the packing house. Hopefully we like it!
Less progress to report on the greenhouse controller and manure spreader projects this week, but we made it through, and at least I got some rusty parts to a welding shop so progress should be happening on replacements. And we survived another week of two markets, and continuing transplanting in the greenhouses as space is available. And so far we at least have some greens to take every week to market. Good thing there is more sunlight coming because they can’t grow fast enough at this point!
Hopefully this week being home on Monday and not having market on Wednesday will help make project progress more possible. My Wishlist would be to finish the manure spreader, finish control wires to greenhouse 2, and start on controls for the seedling house. But that may be too ambitious. We’ll see. But at any rate we’d better get at it!
Until next week,
Happy ordering!
Nathan and Aleta Klassen
https://www.localline.ca/nith-valley-organics
