Greetings all,
We've been busy this spring! OK, so I actually have quite a few announcements. We are adding a new pick up site in Rogers & St. Francis; we are adding Maple Syrup to our farm products available for our CSA Members, and we're RIGHT ON SCHEDULE with everything in the greenhouse!
We've got a great start with the germination chamber and greenhouse, with thousands of peppers and tomatoes already seeded. We seeded all of our first 2 weeks of lettuces today, along with some of the cole crops like broccoli and cauliflower. We plan our seeding schedule around the number of days until harvest, because every variety has a different time frame we need to account for. It is a finely tuned science.
We start our tomatoes and peppers in small cells and then transplant them into larger cells; I added a picture below. Why not just start them in larger cells to begin with, right? Well, the germination and success rate is much better if we start the seedlings in the smaller cells first. The amount of dirt surrounding the seed is crucial to their success.
Pictured below is the 500 cell trays that we use, which just means there are 500 holes in each tray. We transfer them into 50 cell trays; so there are 50 holes, meaning those 'plugs' as we call them will be significantly larger to accommodate for large root growth that would be impossible in the 500 cell trays. About a month after that, we will transfer them into the field!
Next on the agenda, we are happy to announce we've added a few new products. For our "Add-on" products, we have the Fall Storage Share, the Apple Share, 3 kinds of Honey packages, and most recently MAPLE SYRUP! This is definitely a labor of love. We've done this for a handful of years for our family but this year decided to expand our operation from tapping about 30 trees to tapping 175 trees!
We invested in a filter press this season, which is used to filter out the larger minerals (making a nice clear, consistent syrup). We also use a hydrometer to make sure the density is just right. It's cooked over 100% wood heat, which improves the natural maple flavor.
We added DMR Clinic in Rogers to our CSA delivery sites! We are super excited to be working with such like minded community members to offer our produce to the surrounding area. Clients at DMR and anyone in the Rogers area can sign up for the new site!
We are also adding a site in St. Francis! Every CSA pick up site we add to our delivery route is intended to provide more convenience to our Members. We appreciate you!!
Do you want to sign up for your share online? We've got the online Membership form and payment option available under the Become a member tab.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Take care,
~The Farmer's Wife