| Hedlin Family Farm |
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3/23/12 Sign up Now for your 2012 CSA!
With April coming to a close the throngs of tulip-seekers flutter home again, like so many petals fallen between the rows…and we’re looking forward to another busy month ahead of us! We’ll be at the Bellevue (Thursday), Sammamish (Wednesday), and Mount Vrnoen (Saturday) farmers markets, all starting in May! Then we’ll pick up at Bellevue on Saturday and Mercer Island (Sunday) when they open in June. Also, and of more immediate interest—Our La Conner farmstand is now open weekends!
We’ll move from weekends to seven days a week once a few more of our spring crops come in, but until then, please stop by Saturdays, Sundays, and whenever you see the doors flung wide to stock up on cauliflower, carrots, leek, rapini, leafy greens, fresh cut flowers, and vegetable starts! We’re also carrying some of the best Edison-Bow has to offer, by the loaf, the wedge, and the dozen! Get your Breadfarm Bread, your Samish Bay Cheese, and new to us this year, Well Fed Farms’ eggs from their pasture-raised chickens! We’ve been looking for a well fed, local egg for a few years now and theirs fit the bill (or is that beak?)
There is still time to sign up for our 2012 Farmshare CSA Box! With pickup locations around the lower Skagit Valley you can get your fix of fresh, local, and organic produce most anywhere in the county – La Conner, Anacortes, Mount Vernon, even Sedro-Woolley! Give us a call or check out our online sign-up at the right
side of the page.
With this dry weather recently we’ve finally been able to get out and work some ground, mowing down the remnants of harvested crops, discing to break up the soil, break down vegetable matter, dry things out and get some airflow down there prior to plowing.
A few more dry days and we’ll be in position to plant the first rounds of transplants, which are clamoring to get out of the plug trays they’ve nearly outgrown. Lettuce and onion starts are first on the docket, with successions of cabbage and cauliflower coming up right behind them. In addition to the transplants we’ll be sowing peas, mixed greens, radishes, turnips, and the like if this weather holds. Hold, weather! Hold!
-the Chardmonger.
As I write this, the sun and the rains are engaged in an epic struggle for control of the heavens. ·While the sun may be holding its own up above, here on earth the rains still have control of the board.
Despite the persistent precip, we have taken good advantage of every planting window that’s presented itself in the last month, and here at the cusp of June we find ourselves nearly caught up with our plantings.
It’s been a good spring to be growing in a greenhouse. ·The lettuce we planted in the crop tunnels back in March can be found on our shelves in sweet, crisp abundance. ·Our tomatoes and peppers went into the crop tunnel right on schedule and are taking every advantage of their fortunate circumstances.
While my Cinco de Mayo forecast for ripe tomatoes turned out to be a touch optimistic (though not without precedent), if you chance in to the stand this weekend, you may be lucky enough to find a pint or two of the first cherry tomatoes of the season, and even the occasional heirloom. ·Expect a merciful return to tomato abundance by mid-June.
Even outside there are signs of life. ·We have a fine little stand of spinach from our first succession that will be ready in the next week or so. ·The bloom on the strawberries is as thick as I’ve ever seen it, and the first of those blooms have ?transformed? themselves, under the bees’ vigorous ministrations, into tart, close lipped promises of a sweet, lush, June.
Our Farmers Markets are ramping up for the season, and in addition to our La Conner farmstand, you’ll be able to find us at the following markets weekly through most of October.
Mount Vernon [www.mountvernonfarmersmarket.org] – Saturday, 9-1
Downtown Mount Vernon at Gates & Main
Sammamish [www.sammamishfarmersmarket.org] – Wednesday, 4-8
801 228th Ave SE (Between City Hall & the Library)
Bellevue [www.bellevuefarmersmarket.org] — Thursday 3-7, Saturday 10-3
Thursday – Saturday (Runs until Thanksgiving)
First Presbyterian Church Washington Square
1717 Bellevue Way NE 10610 NE 8th St.
Mercer Island [www.mifarmersmarket.org] – Sunday 10-3
Mercerdale Park (Between 77th & 78th on SE 32nd)
There are still shares available for our 2011 CSA Program at all locations. ·Sign up today and check vegetable shopping off your list for the next five months
Your chardmonger (in about three weeks),
Kai Ottese
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