Farm Happenings at Firmly Rooted Farm
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Farm Happenings for April 16, 2020

Posted on April 10th, 2020 by Tamara McMullen

Welcome to your first spring CSA Share!

Thank you so much for joining us.  If you are here, you jumped on this share very quickly as our spring share sold out in just a few weeks after being launched in February.  We feel very loved. 

We hope you read the share description when you signed up, this share is definitely very salad green centric!  Salad greens are the harbingers of spring.  Luckily, they are also very versatile: spinach in great is salad but also omelettes, soups, or pasta dishes, as is arugula.  We hope you’ll try some new dishes and revel as we do in these first flavors of the season.

This year is different then our previous one’s farming; it’s scary, there’s a lot of unknowns, but by joining our farmshare you can feel rest assured that you will have healthy, delicious, organic vegetables delivered to you in your community.  We’ve sure found comfort in knowing that we are food secure over the past weeks as this crisis has unfolded. 

Important Details:

We’ve had to make some adjustments to our share drop off times due to changes from COVID-19 so please read the following carefully:

On Farm, Belgrave: Thursday 3:00 p.m. – Sunday 9:00 p.m.

Pick up at your convenience from our walk-in cooler, please sanitize your hands with sanitizer provided before entering

Blyth, Wonky Frog: Thursday 1:30 p.m.  – 6:00 p.m.

Shares will be left in front of Wonky Frog for self serve pick up

Grand Bend, Completely Rooted: 2:00 p.m.  – 6:00 p.m.

Please call 519 238 ROOT (7668) when you arrive, your share will be brought out for contact free drop off

Bayfield, Shopbike: 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Please call (519) 565-5625 when you arrive, your share will be brought out for contact free drop off.  If you arrive after 3:30 p.m. your shares will be left outside for self serve pick up.

*Goderich, Square Brew: 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Pull up to the drive through window and let the staff at square brew know the name of the person who purchased the share you are picking up. 

*Please let us know if you are picking up in Goderich and are unable to pick up at Square Brew, we may be able to drop your box on a porch downtown, contact Tamara at firmlyrootedfarm@gmail.com

None of our drop off locations are able to hold shares for you, if you are unable to pick up, you’ll need to reschedule, cancel or change delivery location (before the cut off to do so which is Monday evenings at 8:00 p.m.).  You can do that through Harvie here:

https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001542514-How-to-reschedule-change-a-delivery-location-and-hold-a-share-

On the Farm

Now let’s get to the good stuff! 

On the farm we are loving our greenhouses, they are why we can offer this early share.  We started planning for this, and planting for it last October.  We put in a last round of scallions, cilantro, kale, swiss chard and salad greens and crossed our fingers that all would go well for them to be ready now and mostly, they worked!  We also planted so many carrots (and a few other roots) that we’ve been holding in our walk-in cooler.  They are still so sweet and crisp.

Since early February we’ve been planting new rounds of arugula, spicy mesclun, salad mix, baby kale, and spinach to get us through the next few weeks, and green onions, bok choi, head lettuce, herbs, carrots and beets that will be ready in early May, or June in the case of the carrots and beets.

We also put in 1500 bed feet of various hardy crops outside this week, then it promptly snowed a few days later.  This always happens, but it’s always a little shocking.  Luckily the seeds and transplants are all tough and can handle the insane variety of weather that comes our way in April.

Garden Like a Professional:

If you, like many people, have been prompted by the pandemic to start thinking about growing some food at home, then sprouting is a great place to start.  The investment is low, the turn around time is quick, and the results are nutrient dense and tasty.  Here’s a link to some instructions:

http://sprouting.com/how_to_sprout.html

That’s all for now, happy eating until next time!

Tamara