It is finally spring! The days are getting longer and bits of the farm are drying out enough to let us plant. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are ready for transplant from the flats into 4 inch pots. The frost lately has kept us on our toes to cover every one of them with a blanket at night. We hope to get the greenhouse tomatoes into real soil by the end of the month.
Our garlic, planted last fall is looking good, the gophers have yet to find it and start munching. We are waiting for the Fava Beans (yes they are back) are planted but still not germinated, but we expect them any day. The hoop houses are ¾ planted, with the last greenhouse slated for planting this week. We have kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, sugar snap peas and more growing. Usually we have overwintered crops coming on strong, but alas they are casualties of the 6 degree weather in December.
We have our first harvest planned for April 13th. That is also the date for our farm opening pot luck from 3-6 pm. I will be sending out the assignments for pick-up day within the next week, so that you will have a chance to make changes if necessary. We will have a sign-up for helping with the harvest (you are expected to help with 2 harvests during the season) this will start in early June when you see sugar snap peas on the list.
There are many exciting things happening in Helvetia. Our friends and neighbors, the Schoch family are very close to opening their organic creamery. They need our help to finish the project. They have a kickstarter account if you go to www.kickstarter.com and look for their farm you too can be a part of helping other family farms stay vital.
The county commissioners race is coming up fast. We have just 60 days to get the message out to elect representatives that will work for the citizens not special interests and developers. Please consider contributing to both Allen Amabisca www.allenamabisca.com for County Chair and Elizabeth Furse www.elizabethfurse.com for District 2 representative. This election will change the balance of power the thus the direction of Washington County.
The court of appeals decision last month highlighted the pseudo factors used by the current county representatives in their land grab for high value farm land in Helvetia. The current county commissioners who voted for this land grab: Andy Dyuck, Bob Terry and Roy Rogers must be voted out. We have the ability to replace Dyuck and Terry with effective leaders that support strong city centers and preservation of foundation farm land. Please don’t let this opportunity slip by. There are many ways to help:
1. Join the team: Help with calls, canvasing and donate money to the campaigns of Allen Amabisca and Elizabeth Furse.
2. Donate to the Schoch farm kickstarter. www.kickstarter.com, search Schoch. Do it today, they have just under 2 weeks to meet their goal or they get no money.
3. Make sure to send in your deposit for the 2014 season, let friends know we do have a few shares left for 2014. It will be a slow ramp up of veggies given the weather, but we are filling our hoop houses with tomatoes and peppers in the next weeks to get you the earliest of our summer favorites. Broccoli and Cauliflower goes in the ground this week!
See you all at the potluck April 13, 3-6 p.m.