Turkey Hill CSA Newsletter - May 2009

Welcome to spring!

Its May again on the farm and the bees are buzzing! Our new early water proved to be incredibly valuable, allowing us to plant a small very early section of crops including spinach, beets, carrots, kale and lettuce. The new system  took some work to get the kinks out, but eventually worked perfectly, keeping our pond filled for the few weeks in April before Fire Mountain water comes on.  This main season water (Fire Mountain Canal) is now of and going full tilt. Early water means early harvest and we are on track for starting harvest the first or second week in June! There is still time to sign up before the harvest begins.

I've posted some pictures so you can see the early crops progressing.

the field beyond the old apple orchard	packed greenhouse
garlic and baby lettuce	beds ready to plant

I also posted these pictures and more as a full slide show with captions, click here to view the slide show.

Also, here is a video of me running our Celli Spader . The video doesn't quite capture the very slow creeper speed the tractor is in, moving slowly forward while the spades slice down and kick back, chopping, loosening and pulverizing the soil to over a foot.

With a little under an acre planted so far, spading is a big activity at the the moment. I spend more time on the tractor in the spring than any other time of year, and now is crunch time, trying to get all the beds I need for the year ready. The recent rain has helped a lot - without it, I have to irrigate before I can spade - or the soil is too dry and hard. After a day of solid rain, the fields are perfect for tilling this week.

In addition to the field crops, we have been working to get the hoop house planted. This big field house gets the first planting of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other heat loving crops. We rebuilt the house this spring in a new location and we are now getting the soil prepared for planting, we should start filling it up next week. 

We are also busy working in the heated greenhouse - we are transplanting the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, flowers and other long season crops into jumbo six packs. These will go out into the field in late May or early June. We are also planting the last of the spring head lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, chard and kale crops as well as large seeded annual flowers and some veggies like our early cukes and squash. 

 

We had a flurry of signups for the CSA before the discount deadline, but we also still have plenty of room for new members. Our first harvest is just five or six weeks away, so if you or anyone you know has been thinking about signing up - now is the time to act! Thanks for your support!