It's only rained once in the last month. The little sprinkles that barely touch the ground don't count. Every time I look at the forecast rain is a week away. Right now it's calling for rain on Sunday but yesterday it was calling for it on Saturday. Last week it was predicting rain for yesterday. It's so frustrating! We planted broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage almost 2 weeks ago and it was supposed to rain after that weekend. Fortunately my dad has been working hard getting the irrigation set up and we've been using that to water our seeds and seedlings. I didn't even consider that we would need it so early. Trial by fire it seems. No point making the first year easy. Show me how it really is in this business. This is the reason that I love perennials so much, they don't need as much coddling as our annual veggie crops. I attended a Permaculture workshop this weekend at the lovely Living Centre in London. I'm taking their Permaculture Design course and it requires me to attend 4 weekend workshops throughout the year. It's one weekend a season so I have the opportunity to witness permaculture in action throughout the different seasons. This weekend was all about forest gardening. I'm pretty familiar with forest gardening and my home garden is not far off of a very small forest garden. The biggest thing that I take away from permaculture is to work with the environment you have and plant things that can thrive in it. And plant things that are useful and you can get a yield from. There are so many more sources of food from plants than we are even aware of and they don't require the work and inputs that our annual staple crops require. Unfortunately they also require some commitment. Commitment to the land by planting things that won't necessarily yield this year or next but when they do can continue yielding for even a hundred years. Commitment to educating ourselves and trying new things. Commitment can be a scary word but I think our culture needs a little more of it. Let the roots sink into the ground and see how we grow. CSA UpdateThe first week is zooming towards us. The week of June 8th is scheduled to be our first box and so far so good. Even with no rain things are growing. We should have LOTS of fresh lettuce, green onions and some rhubarb. Like I said in the last newsletter, the first few baskets may seem sparse. That's how it is in spring folks! In the next couple years as we get some asparagus in and we add a hoophouse there will be a bigger selection at this time of year. As the season moves on into summer the boxes may contain more than you can use at times. I'm doing the best I can to stagger things. Again, I appreciate you signing on this year and I am working hard to make it worth it for you. I'm also trying to be very up front about what you can expect. Feel free to send me any feedback, comments or questions.
So with the first box scheduled for the week of June 8th here are some reminders: Tuesday is the Lake Land Meats pick up Wednesday is Grimsby/Beamsville Thursday is Lowell Ave and Contact Niagara I have added a Friday pick up at Lake Land Meats. If anyone is interested in changing to this pick up day/place please let me know as soon as possible. There will be a limit on the number of people and you need to pick it up before 5pm. Remember to bring your own bags to pick up your produce. If anyone has any recipes they would like to share please feel free to send them to me or bring them to a pickup. Recipes for less familiar vegetables are especially welcome. This is part of the "Community" part of the Supported Agriculture. Some people may not have any idea how to use certain vegetables or may not know how good a certain vegetable can taste. If you have some knowledge then feel free to share it. I look forward to seeing you all in 2 weeks!! Jackie
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JackieI'm a garden farmer, herbal enthusiast, motherwifesisterfriend and Archives
April 2022
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