We are pleased that our 2010 season help arrived this month and we quickly put them to work. They came in a mini van with California plates and unpacked their stuff into our converted corn crib living quarters. They had a weekend to get acquainted with the area and then we got started with greenhouse seeding and field planting.
This week we were busy planting potatoes (all 500 lbs of them...300 lbs more than last year) and onions (about 2,000 in the ground so far). In between planting we weeded our crop of raspberries. The young plants are doing well this spring and we can't wait to harvest raspberries for the first of many years to come.
The season is in full swing and one can already see that we have expanded quite a bit this year. The greenhouse tables are already full of flats of seedlings and we have to make at least 8 more tables to accommodate all the flats left table-less at the moment. We are also growing on 2 more acres of land this year (making the total acreage a little less than 5) and we planted the onions and a few potatoes in this new ground. It has been farmed organically the past 3 years so we are hopeful that it will do well for us.
The tasks are mounting up and the anticipation of fresh picked veggies is making for an exciting Spring. Plus our Organic Certification application is being processed and we are being inspected at the end of the month. Hopefully, we will be able to label our produce as Certified Organic by the first market!
May started off well for us in that we got just over 1 inch of rain. Not too much, not too little. Perfect for our spinach, snap peas, and potatoes pictured above. The plants in the ground should really take off now and we'll be harvesting by the end of the month! We have tiny carrot, beet, salad mix, chard, cilantro, dill, radish and turnip seedlings coming up in our direct seeded beds. Our sweet potato slips came in the mail and got planted just before the rain so they should be off to a good start, all 500 of them! We have begun the spring Brassica planting and have all the kale in the ground. Next up, kohlrabi, cabbage and broccoli. Before seedlings get planted they have to harden off. We move them out of the greenhouse for a few days so that they can adjust to the direct sun and all the wind before we plant them in the field. Pictured above are Brassicas and flowers hardening off. Now, hopefully we will have a few days without rain so we can get these plants planted! The tomatoes pictured our going to be planted in our hoop house to get a jump start and hopefully be ready a few weeks earlier then usual.
