Garlic harvest has begun!  On Friday we pulled just over a bed of Garlic and got it all tied and hung to cure for storage.  The crop looks about as good as we were hoping it would, which is fantastic, but it should make it interesting figuring out where to hang the rest of it.  Oh well.  There are worse problems to have, and we worked hard to create this one.

The hay we cut last week Saturday wasn’t dry on Tuesday like we had hoped, and there was rain on Tuesday night, like we hoped there wouldn’t be.  It was only about three mm, but it is still frustrating watching rain falling on nearly dry hay.  But on Wednesday we got it fluffed up and spread around again and Thursday night got it baled.  It still looks fairly good quality in spite of having been rinsed.

Our big walk in freezer project is nearing completion and not a bit too soon!  At this point theoretically everything should work.  The door needs its closure catch completed, but other than that it is just turning it on.  And spending the next week fixing whatever isn’t working right while it gets down to temperature.  Apparently it takes a bit of time to freeze the concrete pad inside it.  While we are excited to be this close, we still need this next step to go well.  Last Tuesday we picked up our previous batch of frozen chicken pieces from the butcher and it took some serious creativity to fit them all into our current freezers.  And our next batch of chickens goes in a week from today.

We made it through another year’s chicken audit so we can continue another year.  Not that it was really a concern.  We know we do a good job looking after the birds and our paperwork is in order, but it still feels good to have someone tell us so.

This weeks CSA box is hopefully going to contain Cilantro, Sungold Cherry Tomatoes, Curly Kale, Rainbow carrots, Mini Romaine head lettuce, Fresh Garlic, English Cucumbers, and Beef steak tomatoes.  

Other than that the normal cycle of harvest and planting continues.  Asparagus is done for the season and mulched with compost and wood chips, only the remaining inventory from last week’s harvest in the cooler for sale.  The first planting of cabbage is done, tilled in, and replanted.  We’re just starting to plant for fall crops now so we have carrots and beets through the cold months.  The next arugula is also planted and should be ready in four weeks.  It was nice to get a good rain again over the weekend after getting things seeded, but we still don’t have the wheat harvested so you can’t them all.

Thats all for this week

Happy Ordering

Nathan & Aleta Klassen

Farming is always a gamble, but right now that is more front of mind than some days.  We’ve had weeks of good rain, and while it has been a challenge for managing weeds, the crop growth has on balance been worth it.  But it hasn’t left a lot of good windows for making hay.  So on Saturday, after rain all morning, when dry hay felt like the farthest thing from possible, we cut hay.  Hopefully the rain holds off long enough tomorrow for us to get the crop in.  Perhaps we can even harvest the wheat while we are at it too.  Here’s hoping.

New this week, the first of the season Sweet Corn is ready from Aleta’s brother Gordon.  We also finally have enough Heirloom Tomatoes to offer some for orders as well as more cherry and slicing tomatoes.  We also have a red mini romaine for some colour variation in your salad.  

This week in the CSA boxes we have: Sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, red romaine, garlic scapes, small savoy cabbage, asparagus, and mint.

Last week we finally got the steaks in for our field tomatoes.  They still need to be tied up, but its progress.

We are looking forward to the second last step on the freezer hopefully getting completed.  We are expecting our Geo Thermal contractor to hook the freezer into the existing ground loop.  If this step goes according to plan, hopefully next week the refrigeration guys can come back and get it running early next week.  And if there are no problems with that, then a week later we should be able to use it.  But that’s a lot of ifs.  We’re hoping in three weeks it is ready.

Somewhere between all this, and chasing down the last paperwork we need from our organic inspection last week, we have to pick up another batch of chicks, get our last batch of frozen chicken back from the butcher, and get ready for our annual chicken audit on Thursday.  The paperwork isn’t our favourite part of farming, but it somehow has to get done.  And the last few weeks there has been a lot of it.

Well that’s about it for this week.  Lots to do yet today.

Happy ordering!

Nathan & Aleta Klassen

It’s been another rainy week with the forecast looking like not much change on the horizon.  There have been sunny breaks to get outside work done, but it has also shifted our focus inside more than it might be on a drier week.  There was plenty that needed to be done between the greenhouses, cleaning up the packing house, and getting some of our records from the last year in order for our Organic certification annual inspection today.  The rain has helped everything grow – the vegetables, the hay fields, the weeds – and saved us a ton of time irrigating, but at some point it would be nice to have about 4 sunny days in a row.  The hay is about ready for second cut, just a few flowers on the alfalfa indicating it is about at peak quality, but without time to dry that isn’t much good.  The winter wheat is also ready to harvest any day now if it would only dry down.  Regardless, the rain is on balance helping, so we are trying to practice thankfulness.

This week there are more tomatoes ripening.  Now there are full-size tomatoes and even large heirloom tomatoes.  Arugula is also back this week.  We aren’t planting it as regularly as we once did, so it will be more in the occasional treat category rather than a regular staple item, so enjoy it while it lasts!  We’ve had a great run on Asparagus this year, but the end is in sight on that season.  We are thinking that either this week or next will be the last, so grab it while you can!  We already stopped picking one of our two patches and got compost and chips spread to manage the weeds for the summer and feed next year’s crop.

This week in the CSA boxes we expect to have Heirloom tomatoes, Arugula, Mini Romaine, Carrots, Beets, Cilantro, and English Cucumber.

This week, other than our certification inspection, we hope to continue fighting the good fight against weeds, and with luck get the steaks in for the field tomatoes.  It should have been done a while ago, but sometimes this is just how it goes.  Then if we get a dry day we can start tying them up.  At least the ones in the greenhouse look great.

Well we have a busy morning so we had better get back at it.  

Until next week.  Happy ordering!

Nathan and Aleta Klassen

This week we have been blessed with good rains and moderate temperatures.  The weeds are loving the conditions, but fortunately with the end of strawberry season, we will hopefully have more time to get them under control.  We also finally got most of the squash planted, which, while late, is no worse than last year so we are still optimistic for getting a good crop.  Carrots are ready, as well as the first cherry tomatoes from the greenhouse so it is starting to look a lot more like summer.

This week in the CSA boxes we expect to have Cherry tomatoes, Zucchini from Little Fields Farm, Butterhead Lettuce, Garlic Scapes, Curly Kale, and Parsley.

The crop of beets is looking fantastic right now, really showing the difference of both building up the soil, and having better seeding equipment.  The cabbages are also amazing, far exceeding our expectations even a few weeks ago.  Even the red cabbages, which we often struggle with, are well on the good side of doing ok.  The field tomatoes continue to grow, and are getting well past due for staking.  Hopefully this week we can make some progress on that.

Once again this week, we have Fresh Chicken available.  Once again, they tend large, but we should hopefully have some between 4 and 5 lbs available from this batch.  Let us know if you want one (or seven…) and we’ll let you know what sizes are available once we get them back.  Anything that doesn’t have to go in our freezer is appreciated as it is still looking a little tight.  We are looking forward to the completion of our freezer with great anticipation, but it is looking like it might be August before we can start moving in.  At least there is progress.

Nathan & Aleta Klassen