How quickly April has disappeared before my eyes! I’m very excited to start farm share deliveries this week to our Early Spring season members. This is my first year using the Harvie software platform so please don’t hesitate to ask questions. I’m learning alongside you!
When you arrive to pick up your produce, please bring a reusable grocery bag to transfer your produce and take it home. Your produce is packed in a sanitized plastic tub with a plastic liner to ensure food safety and freshness. Each tub is labeled with your name and contents so it should be easy to locate. Please leave the plastic tub behind so we may sanitize it and reuse for your next delivery. Please take the plastic liner with you. We are not able to reuse these for food safety purposes so perhaps you can use it at home. This is a different procedure for those of you who subscribed in year's past.
On Farm Pick Ups: The farm gate will be open during pick up times. If you would like to enter the farm and visit, please wear a mask and maintain the 6 ft social distancing guidelines. If you have pets, please keep them at home or in your car. Our livestock guardian dog, Luna, is very protective of our livestock - that's her job! Please don't hesitate to call with any questions 530-304-3754.
True Juice Pick ups: You may pick up your produce from True Juice on Fridays between 10am and 5pm. They have remained open during the pandemic with take out service offered to customers. Your box will be packed with an ice pack to keep items cool, however they will not be refrigerated after delivery. So the earlier you pick up your produce, the fresher it will be when you take it home. Please leave the ice pack and plastic tub behind for sanitizing and reuse.
April has been incredibly busy! With the help of farm share member, Jane, we have been germinating seed since January. April finally provided us with enough warm weather to move all the seedlings out to the little greenhouse. When we are ready to transplant, the seedlings are staged in the lath house to harden off. Hardening off is the transition of exposing the seedlings to the outside elements (wind, direct sun, temperatures) from which they were protected inside the greenhouse. This is done for a few days prior to transplanting in the field. We have also started direct seeding the field and installing all the irrigation. This will continue through June to ensure multiple successions of produce through November.
Our big accomplishment this month is planting the new strawberry field. Farm share members Patricia and Jane helped plant approximately 1,000 bare roots in one day. While we will have to remove flowers this year to allow the plants to grow and become well established, next year will provide a bountiful harvest of giant organic Albion strawberries.
Other vegetables that are growing in the field include multiple lettuce varieties, snow peas, thyme, beets, carrots, potatoes, green beans, cantaloupe, dahlias and zinnias. By the end of the week, the pak choi, spinach, cabbage, summer squash and cucumbers will be planted too.
Our native lilac is absolutely gorgeous at the moment, and the bees are just finishing pollinating the chestnut tree. Our apple, plum and pear trees are done blooming and our bees loaned from Brambleberry Hollow have grown from one to four boxes in a month. As they fill with honey, we add more boxes. They seem to be very happy.
In the world of poultry, our chicks are now large enough to forage and have been moved to transitional housing with our older hens. Their housing is encircled with a temporary fence so the hens may get used to each other without hurting each other while establishing a pecking order. They are also still on different feed so it’s important to keep them separate until the chicks are ready to lay eggs (18 weeks). For now they are taking high steps as they feel grass for the first time – I guess it tickles. They are funny to watch.
I look forward to welcoming you all to the farm when the COVID restrictions lift. Until then, I will try to include lots of pictures for you to enjoy. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram until you can visit regularly.
Blessings,
Carrie
