It’s been a busy week, but we survived. Even got a few things done we weren’t counting on. But as busy weeks tend to go, some tasks have been pushed on to the following week. The front of the house is a bit torn up right now with the accessibility upgrades, but it seems that customers have mostly been able to find their way through to the garage for eggs and order pickups. At least chores are going faster with fewer hens since Wednesday, but we still haven’t finished manure clean out or moved the new hens into the main henhouse. But we got started on the spring manure clean out for the sheep, so at least there is some progress.
Don’t let the recent string of snowstorms fool you, spring is on the way! And since the greenhouses allow us to get a jump on the season, we planted the first tomatoes out between rows of lettuce in the production house on Saturday! It will be a few months yet, but we are looking forward to early cherry tomatoes this summer!
This week in CSA we have Bok Choi, Baby Kale, Spring Radish, Carrots, Beets, Cabbage, and Parsley
Rainy days late last week pushed more work inside. But there are always projects there too. Nathan has been working on rebuilding a cultivator to hopefully improve weed management in the summer. At this point it is torn down into about a hundred pieces for repairs and painting. Hopefully with a few more weeks of on and off work it will be ready for the summer to do a good job and look good doing it! It sure is a lot of pieces! And now when we work late there are nice lights in the shop!
After a slow start on Saturday market picked up and it turned out to be a really good day. After a few slower weeks with lower availability on some products and Saturday snowstorms it felt good to be busy again with more greens and to move through some of our backlog of egg inventory from the previous few weeks. So we just wanted to say thank you for your continued support for us at market and through your orders. It is what makes this all possible.
For the past several weeks we have enjoyed having our seedling house venting on computer control. Not only is it one job we don’t have to worry about, but hearing the motor adjusting the vent throughout the day is a reminder of how much better job it can do than we ever could. But there are more zones that still keep us on our toes. So our Sunday plans were thwarted for a few hours because vents needed to be managed. It seems like a lot to manage this spring getting more zones automated, but managing them by hand is stressful, and expensive when we fail. So it’s still a goal we are working toward. And with each improvement we are freed up to work toward the next.
We started on the driveway upgrades by the fuel pumps, but only got half way while the equipment was available. So we are still at the point where things are worse before they get better. Some of the area has gravel, but there is work still to do. We think we have a plan for equipment, but when exactly this week hasn’t been fully decided. It is possible to get fuel by parking on a funny angle, which I suppose is an improvement to the mud we had before, but we’re looking forward to the project being finished.
Well if the weather hasn’t scared them off we’re expecting the guys for the renovations to be here anytime, and the crew is already here for the greenhouse. Lots to do so we’d best get back to it.
Until next week,
Happy ordering!
Nathan and Aleta Klassen
https://www.localline.ca/nith-valley-organics
