CSA veggie pickup reminder

Hello everyone,
Well, the weather was cold,cold,cold over the weekend..we were down in the low twenties until Tuesday night..a bit warmer since then. We ended up turning the drip off once again..it seems like we get all set for a warm spell and it cools off again. We did not get much moisture from the storms this week..just lots of cold and wind. The last couple of days have been gloriously sunny and warm..we are all hoping it will last for a few weeks!! The cold temperatures have been putting a crimp in our outdoor planting plans..we are 2-3 weeks behind getting new things planted out..we may end up with a slight gap between what we are harvesting out of the high tunnel and what we will be able to harvest outdoors in 3 weeks.

In spite of the cold early in the week, this has been a busy week for planting. Our potato project Sunday got put on hold..it had only warmed up to 24 degrees at 8:00 when the first folks arived{I think we may have warmed up to 40}..needless to say we chickened out and spent the morning in the tunnels planting tomatoes..and hauling water to water them in..not to mention filling and hauling something like 75 gallon milk jugs to keep them warm. It looks like we are growing milk jugs instead of tomatoes!! Thank you to John and Mary, Gail, and Jon for braving the weather and hauling all those jugs of water..the tomats look great..I think they have grown at least 2 inches since Sunday!! Monday it was a glorious sunny day..we planted out lettuces, mustard, collards, mizuna, and bok choi..then spent a good bit of time getting them all tucked in under frost blanket for the night..Jon pulled it off this morning and they are looking great. Tuesday the folks from Ridgway community garden were down..we pricked up more celeriac..started basil..filled more pots for cucumbers, summer squash, lettuce, etc..AND hauled all those plants back out to harden off!! In the afternoon Jon and I got the rest of the leeks and shallots in while Mom and Della filled pots for the winter squash and melons and got them started. Wednesday we got a good start on potato planting..we got the German Butterball and the Sangre all planted..2 varieties down and 6 to go!! in the afternoon while I tried to catch up on some paper work, Jon and Della turned the drip on Again and worked on getting the drip fixed up in the allium beds. This morning we planted the sweet potatoes in the low tunnel. Della and Jon are working on getting a bed ready for asparagus {it won't be big enough to harvest for a couple of years, but we will be looking forward!!}
And, of course, tommorrow we harvest!! the look of the high tunnel is changing..we will have space empty after this week for cucumbers and peppers, and maybe some eggplant..

Note: This Sunday May 8th is a work day..it is supposed to be warm and sunny so we are going to plant more potatoes!! Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!

NOTE: This from our good freind Jon..he is working with a local group...name of which I can't remember for the life of me {Sorry Jon..you may have to write it on my forehead or something more drastic!!}..on local food issues. this is one of many progects they are working on..if it is successful it can expand to every school!! Wouldn't that be awesome!!

Community Members and Valley Residents..
Pamona School is putting in a school garden.
We need your help!!
This will be an educational/demonstration garden with the possiblity to expand.
Here's what we need
Lumber- 2x 12's
Soil
Seeds
Transplants
Tools..shovels,rakes, hoes..both large and small. seed planters and markers, wheelbarrow, buckets, hoses, wagons, trowels, tomato cages, watering cans, spading forks, pruning shears..
Shed/locker to store garden suppleis
Money to fill in gaps not donated
AND most important thing..your time and support to get this into the ground!! Help to build beds, setting up the garden, hauling stuff, and care of the garden to ensure its success.
THANKS to Alpine Lumber..they have donated all the wood for the beds!!!
For more information or to volunteer contact;
Jon Clayshulte..  jon.clayshulte@gmail.com  or
Christina Fulmer.. cfulmer@gmail.com 
 
If you have items you would like to donate you can drop them off here at the farm and we will make sure Jon gets them..please put a note on them as to what they are for and who they are from..


What is available for the CSA;
We still have some hail damage on crops from out doors..part of the sugar snaps in the low tunnel are blooming their heads off..about 1/4 of them got pretty damaged by the cold over the weekend..the ones we had tucked in with the tomatoes under 2 frost blanket and many gallon jugs of water did great..the ones where we had not planted tomatoes yet were only under 1 frost blanket and not water jugs {we were anticipating about 27 degrees but it got down to 22} are not so happy..they are busy putting out new growth though and will just be a little later than we wanted. should have a few carrots again this week..not sure how many though..we have beet greens now and should be seeing beets very soon.

note..not sure what to do with your veggies?? I have recipes for many of the crops we grow on the website..I try to add more as new and different things as they come into season. also, since we are getting a pretty large array of herbs and I can't remember half of them, Della is compiling a notebook with some growing information and uses..look for the blue notebook by the cut  herbs

from the high tunnel
salad greens
kale
chard
mustard
mizuna
bok choi
collards
beet greens
orach
turnips
radishes {a medley of colors!!}
scallions
green garlic
lettuce
carrots..just a few

NOTE: our spinach and salad greens are NOT ready to eat..we do chill them twice in a cool water bath but we recomend you wash them before eating. {you may be noticing what looks like little white hair in the salad greens..it is fibers off the floating row covers we use to protect them from the cold..usually we manage to find most of them  when we chill it but I noticed some that we missed yesterday when I made my salad for lunch.}

From outdoors
spring onions
green garlic
Rhubarb
herbs {not sure just what weathered the hail..they may be in short supply until they have a chance to recuperate}

from Della's greenhouse
herbs..not sure just what this week

from storage
horseradish

bedding plants
pansies
and herb plants..chives, sage, broadleaf thyme, camphor, licorice flag, peppermint, tarragon, and more!!
artichokes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and possibly more
just have a couple of tomato plants from the early planting left..will have more in a couple of weeks when they get a bit larger

Note; the tomatoes are doing so well with their jugs of water I would like to use them on the cucumber that are going in next week so Please bring more jugs!!

Thanks to everyone who is bringing us jugs and stuff for the compost bin!!

We still have shares available..our goal is 50-60 members..if we get this many I will not have to make the trip to market every week!!
 
Note: We have a group in Telluride who needs another person to share pickup..also in Ouray..

Anyone who would like to car pool out to the farm, I will put a sheet out so you can share contact info


If you would like a tour of the farm, please let me know..I still plan on doing a tour one of these Saturdays..I think maybe sometime in May if the weather shapes up!!

Returning members 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. {not mailing list sign up!!}


Workdays for May with be Sundays..9:00-noon...project for Sunday May 8..planting potatoes!!! This is a pretty big project..we have close to150 lbs of seed potatoes to get in the ground!! Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!

I will have a sign up sheet up Saturday for workdays in May

Looking forward to seeing all of you Saturday

All of us at Circle A Garden