While the occasional frosty night reminds us that it is still winter, we are itching for spring. Good thing spring isn’t quite here yet as we still have a little time to make headway on our Winter Projects list. Last week on a warm and windless day, we stretched the plastic on the new greenhouse. It was surprisingly easy, no doubt because Randy and Patrick did such a thorough and professional job assembling the structure. We still have to put on the roll-up doors and side (for cooling and ventilation), but for now the greenhouse is functional and full of tiny vegetable seedlings and freshly planted seed trays.
Out in the new orchard, we have planted 38 more blueberry bushes and nearly 150 
blackberry canes. The blackberries will produce a small amount of fruit in 2018, but we’ll have to wait until 2019 or 2020 for the new bushes to produce a blueberry crop. A thousand asparagus crowns have been ordered and are next on the list for planting. Eventually we will be planting something that will be ready this year! Onions are the first crop to go into the ground in late February.
What do all these winter time activities have in common? They are expensive! The list of preseason expenses can be daunting. Each year we buy organic fertilizer, irrigation supplies, mulch, and wax boxes before the season begins. This year we need a new air conditioner for the cold room, a disk harrow (we’ve been borrowing a friend’s for the past year!) and an enclosed trailer so that we can bring more produce to market. All this on top of our regular monthly expenses at a time of the year when we are not harvesting and selling any produce. That’s one reason why the CSA is so important to our business. All the CSA deposits, and especially those members who pay for their share up front, allow us to get what we need to get the growing season started. A big thanks to all our 2017 CSA members. What would we do without you?
