Farm news – April, 2024 from Orchard Country Produce

The fields are being plowed, tilled, beds made for black plastic and the first sweet corn is in the ground.  All the plugged peas are planted and Oliver will be seeding the last crop of peas this week.  All the spring onions are in the ground.  The first two plantings of broccoli are in the ground. Several plantings of radishes are in and coming up. The red beets are in as well and looking good.
Peaches, plums, nectarines and raspberries are pruned.  The weather is finally warming so we will be planting “around the clock” to get everything in as soon as possible.
We are harvesting lots of asparagus right now on our one acre plot.  We are getting about 75 pounds per week.
We are also harvesting rhubarb as well.

     The tunnels are still producing a lot of fresh greens.  We have planted about two-thirds of the cherry tomatoes in tunnel one.  We are still harvesting spinach from that tunnel so we are not quite finished planting tomatoes yet.  The next big job will be stringing up the tomatoes.
We are nearly finished with red beets from the tunnels and radishes are gone.  We are still harvesting lettuce, chard, and kale.  We have new spinach that is about four inches high right now.  We will begin picking it soon.  Then we will be able to pull all the old plants out.
The tomato tunnel is full of good early red tomatoes.  The tomatoes are getting bigger about 4 -5 inch diameter.  They are still green, but they are loving this weather.  We are still projecting tomatoes by the third week of June.

The greenhouse is still going strong with a large seeding of sweet corn for this week plus 500 red tomatoes for the last batch of tomatoes that will begin to be harvested by the third week of August.
We have a lot of bedding plants, herb plants and vegetable plants in the greenhouse right now which we are hoping will be selling well at all the farm stands and farmer’s markets in the next couple of weeks.
We had some trouble last month with the germination box.  We had to get a new control panel and thermostat and water heating element in the middle of the month.  Things seem to be working now, but it was tough for a few days .  We are seeding the second batch of watermelons and the first batch of sugar cubes.  These will be harvested in August.

    Thanks to everyone who signed up for the full season of the CSA.  We are looking forward to the first week of shares on June 6 and June 8.  We are hoping to have asparagus  plus we should be into full strawberry season at that time.  If anyone would still like to sign up for the CSA you can sign up for session one for the first 12 weeks for $375 and session 2 for the second 12 weeks for $375.  The information is on the website or you can email me and I can answer any questions.
We truly enjoy farming – planting, caring for, harvesting and selling all our produce.  We do not do a lot of advertising.  We hope that our fruits and vegetables speak for themselves.
We are thankful for all of you that sign up for the CSA.  Your checks which come to us during January, February, March and April are very important since these are the lowest monetary months of our year, yet they can be the most expensive with repairs, seeds, supplies and trees.

CSA dates 

June 6 – August 24 -12 weeks – $375
August 29 – November 16  -12 weeks – $375
Add a dozen eggs for $72 or one/half dozen for $42

Canning, Gardening, Grilling and Preserving

We are eating asparagus and it it delicious.  I saute it in a  cast iron skillet with butter and salt.  I only cook it until it turns a bright green color and it is still firm.  It is sooo good!
I am looking forward to having some fresh rhubarb.  I used the last of the canned rhubarb two weeks ago for a early opener strawberry-rhubarb pie.
It is getting tough to find good ways to use old potatoes at this time of year.  I remember as a child that one of my jobs was to go to the basement every Saturday and put all the sprouts off of the potatoes.  We usually ran out of potatoes in April.  I was always glad because then there was no more sprouting. But since we did not go to the stores, that was the end of potatoes until the new potatoes came.
Those new red potatoes were small about two-three inches round and so good.  My mother usually served them with peas and always soaking in milk and butter.  We do not grow potatoes like that now.  We have not had good success with early May/June potatoes.  Probably because our weather is more harsh in the spring then the weather in my home area.  The memory of those potatoes still sticks with me.

The St Luke’s Farm Stand is open every Saturday from 8 – 1 pm .  Come out and support the local farm on Saturdays!

The Belle View Condos Farm Stand will be opening on Thursday, May 2 from 2 – 7 pm

The East Columbia Library Farm Stand will be opening on Thursday, May 9 from 12 noon – 6 pm

The Fairfax Community Market will open on Saturday, May 11 from 8 am- 1 pm.

Try to come out and support our farm in one of these locations.

Have a Great Day!
Louise