News and Veiws from Circle A Garden

Hello everyone,
Welcome to springtime in the rockies!! We woke up Saturday morning to about 3" of snow...but the sun was shining..so we slogged out to the high tunnel with the folks from Ridgway community garden..weeded kohlrabi, chinese cabbage,radishes, turnips,chard, kale, and other assorted goodies..toured and admired all the many transplants,herbs and other green growing things in the propagation house and Della,s greenhouse...ate a bit of lunch...chatted about everything under the sun..and weeded a bit more in Della's greenhouse.  Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were glorious, sunny days...60-70 degrees...most all the snow melted off.. some of the mud even had a chance to dry up a bit..Denice and Micheal were able to get over for a few days and we got beds ready to plant peas, favas, lentils, and cabbage..then Wednesday we woke up again to another 3" of snow!! So we spent the morning sorting seeds and chatting...after lunch the sun was brightly shining and the snow was melting rapidly so we went out and cleared a few trellisses..if we don't get any snow before tommorow we are going to plant peas!! The weatherman is predicting another storm though so we may have to wait until Monday!! {we are hoping for a nice gentle rain AFTER we get the peas in!!}

Nine days and counting to to fresh veggies!!! Our first veggie pickup of the season will be Saturday, April 3, 9:00 am to noon!! We can't wait to see all of you!!
 The cool weather and snow is slowing down the growth of many of our veggies but I think we will definally have spinach, leeks, kale, bok choi, pea greens, mizuna, New Zealand spinach, and a pretty good variety of herbs {chives, rosemary, marjoram, chervil, thyme, lemonbalm, to name a few} on the 3rd...

depending on what the weather does this next week we may also have radishes, turnips, green garlic, green shallots, salad greens, mustard, and chard...

peas, carrots, chinese cabbage, lettuce, kohlrabi, scallions, and some of the other greens are growing well but may be a few weeks out..beets are all up but growing VERY slowly..we will eventailly have them, but looks like it may be May before they are ready..

I'll have a better idea next week just what will be available for the first veggie pickup...

A few basic guidlines for the season..
*Pickup is 9:00am-noon April to about mid October when the time changes then it will be 11:00am-2:00pm..it takes us about 2 hours to set up {hence the time change in Oct..it starts getting awfully dark and chilly of a morning when we go back to MST} If you are running late, please give us a call so we know you are on your way..If we do not get a call before 11:30 we will assume that you don't want your veggies and will feed them to our interns or donate them to Christs Kitchen!!

*If you are unable to pickup your veggies on Saturday morning, please make arangements ahead of time..We will be happy to bag them for you {up to 6 times/season, more than that there will be a charge of $2.00/week to help cover labour and cooling expences} You will need to pick them up by Monday evening so we can clean out the cooler. We do have several folks that we bag for each week..The cost for bagging is $75.00 for the season..If you are interested in this option, please contact me to make arrangements.

*For everyones convenience we have a new feature on our website so you can check your balance. If you go to our homepage and look under our products..click on Your membership status..it will ask you for your e-mail address and should sent you an e-mail with your membership information..Please let me know if it doesn't work so I can fix it!!

*We will try to schedule a couple of workdays each month this season. We will try to mix up days and times..some on the weekend, some weekdays, some evenings..If these workdays do not fit into your schedule, please make arrangements for other days or times that will work better for you. If you have children and would like to set up a special time for them to come out to the farm we have a "Kids Program" as well..we do a small project geared toward their age and abilities..do a short tour..and harvest a few veggies that they can take home for their supper..it generally takes about
1 1/2 hours..then each week when you come to pickup your veggies they can visit "their" veggies and watch them grow.. 

*We love having folks visit us and tour the farm..BUT... please do not just drop by..If you want to visit the farm other than veggie pickup day or scheduled workdays..PLEASE call first.. one; we may not be available and two; we do have a watch dog..For her comfort and your safety, please let us know if you are coming out so we can put her in the house before you get here!!

*We encourage all our members to bring their own bags or boxes for their produce..we do have bags available if needed though.. We ask that everyone bring back any clamshells or fiber boxes that your produce is packaged in so we can re-use them.. we can also re-use other clamshells as well..It keeps them out of the landfill and reduces our packaging costs..

*This season we want to encourage you to bring us your compostables!! {unless you have your own compost bin going!!} We will take kitchen scraps {no animal products except eggshells,please!!}..please contact us before bringing us any lawn clipping or yard waste..we need to make sure they're organic and don't have a lot of weed seed!!!

*Each week throughout the season you should get an e-mail update on what's happening here on the farm and what veggies may be available for Sat...Please be aware that our produce is seasonal!! While we try to grow a pretty good variety what the weather is doing will affect the type and amount of veggies.. cold, heat, wind, hail, rain,{or no rain!!}, frost, snow, etc. may dammage certain crops, or delay when we can harvest them..That is one reason we grow so many differsnt things..if one crop fails, we have several others to take its place..I will try to keep you posted on what the weather is affecting us..if you have questions about a specific veggie, let me know and I can give you an idea on what's happening with it..

*Many of our veggies can be preserved for the winter..if you are interested in preserving, please let me know so I can keep you posted on when and what we will have in larger quantities..

*We thank all of you for supporting small-scale local farms!! If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know!! 



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.

Workdays for April will be Wednesday April 14 and Sunday April 18 10:00 am- 3:00 pm
projects for these days will be getting more beds ready for planting and getting potatoes planted

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 ..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

Farm tour..Saturday April 3  10:30 am - noonish..come see how the garden is growing..although we won't have much planted outdoors yet, the greenhouses and high tunnel will be bursting at the seams!!

We need your help.. ..we are hoping for a full membership this season {50-60 members}..Please talk us up with your friends, families, and co-workers..I can tell folks all about what and how we grow our veggies, but it is your enthusiasm that bring in the most new members!! Please let me know if you have anyone who would like a tour or needs more information about our CSA..we can set up additional tours here in March.

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.

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.


Hope you all are enjoying this whacky spring weqther!! Please let me know if you plan on joining us for the tour of the farm on April 3.


All of us at Circle A Garden