News and Veiws from Circle A Garden

Hello everyone,

Well, Mr. Goundhog was able to see his shadow very well here. If he had waited a day, he may have decided on a quick trip down south!! {2/2 was a warm and sunny 50 degrees; 2/3 was a cold, cloudy 30 degrees}. Our Febuary weather contnues to be off and on; one day warm and sunny, the next cold and cloudy. We still haven't gotten much snow here at the farm. It's like there is a huge dome over an area that goes from about Colona to Olathe this winter; snow all around us, but we haven't gotten much of anything..if Murphy's Law is in effect this weekend we could have snow just for our workdays!!

All the transplants that we started in the propagation house last month are growing like weeds!! Many of them are ready to be transplanted into the high tunnel  next week. The celery, cabbage, lettuces, and hightunnel tomatoes we started last week are already coming up!! We have gotten a number of things planted {from seeds} in the high tunnel; carrots, greens, spinach, beets, peas, and turnips. This next week we will be seeding salad greens, more beets and peas, and radishes, as well as transplanting chard, kale, collards, lettuces, chinese cabbage, endive and radichio, mizuna, bok choi, and kohlrabi.  Outdoors we have gotten a good start on tree pruning.

We have found a few more interesting varieties of veggies to try out this year.
Two tomatoes from China; one is supposed t be violet purple with irridecient green stripes; the other light yellow with golden speckles; both are small {1-3 oz}.. a bit larger than a cherry tomato but not as big as some of our slicers. Both are supposed to have excellent taste.
Since our spinach season is fairly short,{mostly spring and fall since it doesn't tolerate heat very well}we have been looking some other mild greens that like the heat more. Last season we tried out New Zealand spinach in Della's greenhouse..it did very well and those of you who got to try it really liked it so we are going to try it larger amounts of it in the high tunnel. We are also going to try Malabar spinach in both Della's greenhouse and the high tunnel. {We have tried both of these outdoors in years past and they didn't do well for us..they would just get going well then the weather would cool off  and they would really struggle}
We have found a couple more interesting cucumbers. One is from Australia {Richmond Green Apple} that is similiar to the lemon cuc only it is green. The other is called Sikkum. The ripe fruit is a rusty red color and is good eaten either raw or cooked. {In Asia cucs are often stir fried and are supposed to be very tasty}
We are going to try out a couple more dry beans..Papa De Rola, from Portugal..1/2 white, 1/2 beige with red streaks..very tasty. Another is called Greasy Grits. {I just liked the name!!} The last one is called Succatash..it is shaped like a kernal of corn and is a deep purple color. I am not sure how many of these will be available for the CSA this fall..we just got enough seed to try out..if they do well for us we will save seed to plant for next year.

I am going to try to set up monthly workdays again this season. If these work days don't fit into your schedule, we can set up other times as well. We can also set up special sessions geared toward children as well.
Weather permitting Feb workdays are;{if we get much snow we will have to postpone until the snow melts}
Saturday Feb 13 and Sunday Feb 14  10 am-3 pm. The project for the weekend will be working on the low tunnel..Saturday we will work on much needed repairs to the frame..leveling out the arches..replacing purlons..repairing doors and windows. Sunday we will be putting the plastic on..
Denice, Micheal, and their family will be here to help with this project..they are our first 2 interns for the season {they are planning to be here most of the season; their goal for the future is to have their own farm and CSA in Maine}..

We will do the potluck lunch again for these  workdays..we will make a big pot of soup or chile..not sure just what yet {I found a recipe for a lentil and winter squash soup that looks yummy..I am thinking of trying it!!}..Please let me know if you can make either of these days so I have an idea of how much soup to make..Come for the day or just a few hours..we will plan on eating around noon

We are now taking new member signups for our 2010 season. Our anticipated start date for veggie pick up will be Saturday April 3.{we will let you know if this date needs to change..so much depends on what the weather does in the next 6 weeks} We can set up appointments for tours so that we can show you around and chat about what we do.{just give a call 970-249-9725 or shoot us an e-mail}

Thank you to all of you who have already signed up for the 2010 season!! This helps me in planning how much to plant in the greenhouses and high tunnel for April...it also gives me an idea of how many new members I can sign up after the New Year.. PLEASE..if you are planning to join us for another season of fresh veggies..take a few minutes to sign up...

Note: ...Please let me know if you need a partner. I will add it to this newsletter to see if we can hook you up with someone....
 we have an Ouray group forming..they would like a couple more folks from up that way to share pickup.
Also have a couple in Ridgway who need a third person to share a Mini..If you need someone to share with, please let me know..

Returning members from 2009 will need to use this link;
circleagarden.com/members/returning   It should give you a place to type in your e-mail address {the one you used this season} It will send you an e-mail with a secure link that you can use to complete the signup process..{this verifies that you own the e-mail address}.. for those of you who are sharing..use the e-mail address of the primary user{should be whoever did the signup for this season}..If you have any problems please let me know..I did a test run and it looks like it all works, but..I am very new to all this and ....who knows when my little netherspere gremlin will pop up!!

New members will need to go to the website {www.circleagarden.com} and use the member signup.


Looking forward to spring!! Six weeks and counting down to first veggie pickup of the season!!


All of us at Circle A Garden