Trained Chickens

It's a bit of a nutsy weekend. The CSA shares are selling which is keeping me busy. Tomorrow is the Live The Smart Way Expo in Halifax and so we're gearing up for that while enjoying a last blast of Winter weather. Beckie's not feeling so hot and I'm busy organizing, advertising and planning. But it's going to be great! We will be at the FarmWorks booth from 1-4 and we'd love you to drop by. It's at the convention centre. Parking at Scotia Square. 

Steve is working on the greenhouse frame again today. It's nearing completion which is fabulous. I have big plans for next week. 

Even the chickens are being helpful. We have a chicken who regularly lays her egg on our front step. Yes, right on the step. I found the first couple by stepping on them. Even with this horrible wind and blowing snow she laid her egg there. How weird is that? In fact she's taught a friend to do it too! Lol. That's a little cat house beside the eggs. The kitten uses it as a shelter when he's waiting for us to come home. I'll have to re-paint it this year. It's looking a bit grim. 

Ok well off to buy a pump for Steve to play with. He's inventing a greens washer for us to use on all our leafy greens and salad mixes. A root veggie washer is next he says. Have a lovely weekend. Hope to see some of you tomorrow afternoon in Halifax! 

Why buy your veggies from us?

Our CSA is now taking new customers who want to share in the harvest of our vegetables and fruits. And I suspect that if you are met us at the Live The Smart Way expo in Halifax or just around town, you'll want to know more about us and what we do. This blog will show you some of the things we've been upto over the past couple of years, both the fun and the strange, lol. And it'll give you an idea of the kind of people we are too. I'm not sure if that's a good thing but you might as well get to know us as we really are 🙂

So why choose Annapolis Valley Growers for your CSA support? Well, frankly because we need customers like you to make the CSA and the farmers market work. And we know we offer delicious food in exchange for your hard earned dollars. We aren't a supermarket who produces perfect looking bland food, although I'll admit their tomatoes have gotten better over the years. But they still can't beat the flavour of your own homegrown or our fully vine ripened tomatoes and cucumbers. Mmmm now I'm craving a tomato sandwich, lol. Ours may not always be perfectly round but they are perfectly delicious. And we really welcome your feedback to let us know what flavours you enjoy most. We grow about a dozen different varieties for the CSA and more as plants to sell in our nursery, and we'd love knowing what works best for you. 

The clocks have changed this morning and it's surprisingly dark. The snow is largely melted again and since it's a new moon there was mostly just starlight to illuminate things outside. But the roosters are crowing and I can see the sky is starting to lighten a bit over the hill. Morning is coming and with it another day of spring farm work. Today that means planting another batch of wheatgrass and some cucumbers. I'm still waiting for the bulk of my seeds to arrive this week but I want to get some peas in the ground if I can. It's still too cold to plant things like beans but spinach and peas will be okay under cover as well as some of our Asian greens. But we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. It's now 2 months until our first vegetable deliveries and the market start up. Time to get planting. So much work! But the greenhouse is shaping up nicely so that's a plus. It'll be so nice to have the extra space and if I can kick the chickens out of my lean to greenhouse then I'll have another place I can use for plants. We're at that time of year where Mother Nature teases gardeners with warm days and cold nights. But my little lean to is great for hardy seedlings and then tomatoes and peppers as the year goes on and the nights are warmer.

Just a reminder if you are interested in investing in FarmWorks, that their current share offer is closing on Tuesday so give them a call today. 

In the meantime enjoy the warmer weather and if you're a gardener take some time to prune and clean up the yard. Compost and manure can be spread now too. Spring will be here before you know it. 

Greenhouse Restoration

We were very fortunate to be able to not only get a lot of lumber for framing greenhouses but also a metal framed one that was damaged in the snow last winter. Why was it damaged? It was in a location that collected a lot of snow and the weight collapsed one side, bending and breaking the gable ends. But thanks to my awesome friend Colby and my amazing husband Steve, they're cutting and bending metal pipe, forming splices and making new pieces and the greenhouse will have a new life. It will also have reinforced anchoring, purlins to strengthen the walls and rebuilt roof pieces. We will also be keeping an eye on he angle of he roof to see how it ends water and snow. Keeping the roof free of snow is important to a greenhouse in the winter and so is keeping he fallen snow way from the walls. There is a tendency to just leave the piles of snow that slide off the roof but they can cause pressure on the side walls so it's better to keep it all dug out if you can. 

Why are we going to all the time and trouble to fix up a greenhouse when we could just take our loan money and buy a brand new one? Well, we want to use our resources wisely and that includes using our brains and muscles when we can, and using our money when we have to. The amount of money saved by fixing this up ourselves will allow us to build two more greenhouse frames. We did not cheap out on the plastic that goes on a greenhouse and bought the proper 6mil 4year UV protected film. The amount of effort needed to re-cover a greenhouse makes this option worth it for sure plus regular super six vapour barrier may only last a single season. I will say it's definitely worth shopping around for the plastic. For the same rolls we got quotes $350 different in price. Take your time. Do your research. And make decisions that work for your individual situation. For us that means reusing and recycling where we can. And hopefully by the end of the day we'll have a greenhouse to show for it. 😊

Spring Rains

Due to a few warm and windy days all the snow is now gone and everything's sopping wet. The ducks are loving it but it's a bit wet for we humans.

 Being careful not to turn everything into a mud pit is important this time of year as the ground thaws and freezes. Certainly work on the garden can't happen until we have lots more good drying days. But that's okay because the weathers not quite warm enough yet anyways. Our seedlings are started in the house and once the greenhouse is ready to go again it'll be full of shelves of the tomatoes and everything we need to start early. Most seeds like to germinate at about 21 degrees so a warm room indoors serves that purpose then the still tender seedlings move to a nice warm greenhouse once the weather has passed the freezing mark. We're not quite there yet. Sure, we could heat the greenhouse, but it's not really worth it this time of year. Better to wait for a bit longer and be patient. I will be putting the small wood stove out of the barn into the greenhouse but it's not going to be enough to protect against a freeze should the weather get really cold. 

Getting our CSA up and running has been keeping us all busy. The website is now 90% functional and can be found at avg.harvesthand.com   We hope you'll have a look and tell us what you think. 

Our Winners!

Planning our Beds

Long before we even dig a fork into the ground, we plan out our crops for the year. Each bed gets used for multiple plants and we take into consideration crop rotations, weather, bed location ie. sunny or shaded, availability for CSA members, growing and cropping times. There's actually a lot of thought that goes into the planting of 54 beds plus the greenhouses. As you can see, I'm just in the beginnings of putting everything from my sheets of paper into one spreadsheet. It should help me keep better records and aid in rotation for the next 6 years too. Having the spreadsheet also means that when it's done I can glance down a particular month, say August, and I know what to plant, what to harvest, and I can make sure our veggie boxes have a good mix of produce. Being able to alter the list can be helpful and printability is also useful. Well back to work for me. Spring will be here before we know it and I want to be ready. 

Warm then cold then melting then snow

Yes the weather has been up and down this week warm enough to melt everything and cause the rivers to flood and then it got cold and we had freezing rain, ice pellets and then a bunch of snow. Fun hey? But rather than panic we just salted the driveway Steve went out early this morning to shovel. He's over at the church cleaning with the kids and I'm here making lunch. Perfect for a cool day is split pea soup with some nice fresh bread. And it's so simple to make! 

Place in a heavy pot with a lid:

2 chopped onions and 1 tbsp oil. 

Fry until lightly golden.

Add:

1 pound split peas

2 litres of chicken stock or water 

1 bouillon cube if using water

2 bay leaves

Leftover ham steak cut into cubes

Dash pepper and herbs. I like bouquet garni or herbes des Provence. 

I simmer gently on top of the stove for about an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn't stick to the pot. Pea soup has a tendency to separate into layers with a thick layer of peas on the bottom and liquid on top. Cooking at low heat means you won't scorch your peas with occasional stirring. 

Be sure to remove the bay leaves before serving. They can taste quite bitter if accidentally crunched. And for really fast soup (my five minute method) grind the peas into flour in your grain mill then follow the above directions. Stirring frequently. Voila! Pea soup in five minutes. 

Today I'm doing the long boil method. I like a nice chunky pea soup and I'm using a jar of our mixed green and yellow peas. We had a small piece of ham steak left over from a ham steak stew I made this week. It was perhaps 2x5x.5 inches and I just cubed it and threw it in. Once it's done cooking I'll check to see what it needs for salt. Pea soup is one of those dishes that benefits from a little salt and I add mine near the end of cooking. Same with freshly ground pepper. I put a little in at the beginning and then I grind some fresh on top of each bowl. 

Well there you have it. Pea soup day!