As I sit here
writing our first newsletter of 2007, it is about 20 degrees outside and the
wind is whipping up a new flurry of snow from the northwest. Seems like the perfect time to sit down with
a cup of hot tea and let you all know what’s going on at Blue Gate Farm. We had about 10” of snow in January so that
was a fitting answer to our snow less December.
We even had a few days of really good cross-country skiing weather. The balmy early December temperatures allowed
us to do some very late (or early) plowing to nearly double our available
garden space for this coming season. So
that should keep us busy come this spring.
The first week of
January also provided a new dimension to the farm. We added an eight-week-old puppy to the
family. She is a Blue Heeler (also known
as an Australian Cattle Dog) and is blue in color and given where she
lives…well what else could we call her but “Blue.” So we are now settling into a routine with
our new friend. She certainly keeps
things hopping! You can check out a few
pictures of her on our website.
January also marks
the start of the “planting season” for us.
All of our seed orders have been delivered so we are ready for
spring. While the majority of those
seeds will go directly into the garden, a number of them will be started as
transplants. All of the main season
Allium crops have been seeded into flats in our sunroom; these include leeks,
shallots and five varieties of onions.
It’s such a delight to go out there on a cold, snowy day like today and
bask in the wood-fired warmth with while attending to flats of seedlings. You can just smell spring in there.
As many of you
know, we erected a high tunnel last fall to use as season extension for our salad,
greens and root crops. As this structure
has only passive solar heat, we were a little anxious about pulling everything
through the end of our Winter Share season at the end of December. Well not everything in the tunnel went as
planned, but crop freezing wasn’t a problem.
Just today, with the temps in the high tunnel at 33 degrees we harvested
a bunch of carrots, still going strong.
What a treat! We will soon clear
all the beds in there and open the sides to allow the ground in there to
freeze. Then close it back up and till
for earliest spring planting.
A membership
update: we anticipate beginning weekly deliveries for 2007 in late May or early
June (depending on the weather) and running into October. We have doubled our available membership to
25 for this season, and the new slots are more than half filled already! For those of you who have been with us
before, don’t worry we won’t give your spot away before April 1, but if we
haven’t heard from you by that time we will open it up to our waiting
list. You can send your registration and
deposit in at any time to reserve your place. The form is available on the CSA
page of the website www.bluegatefarmfresh.com. If your contact information has not changed
since the last time you filled out a form, you can leave that info blank, just
fill in your name and your season choices and we will do the rest. Since we are filling quickly, if you know
anyone that might be interested in joining us for 2007 please let them know
that they shouldn’t dally.
More next month…
Best from the
farm,
Jill & Sean