Sunday April 4th 2010

What unseasonably beautiful weather we are having. (Not complaining) Our lettuce that we planted in early March will be ready to harvest in about a week and we will have a lot! The spinach however is confused and thinks it is summer and wants to bolt. We are trying to keep it cool but that is difficult in 25*C deg. weather. We have sourced another organic type of late bolting spinach that we will plant this week to enjoy a longer season. Our spinach has been so popular at the markets that we are trying not to run out of it but we may see a few dry weeks.
We did a little SPRING CLEANING last week. Frankie came over fortuitously on the morning of the clean-up with his chain saw and was willing to help chop up some logs that have been lying on the ground since last fall. THANKS FRANKIE!
Amber did a lot of tidy-up around the property too and it looks just perfect to start the new year fresh.
We have an exciting new crop option for this year, ASPARAGUS! Mr Chan has been letting his Asparagus garden do it's own thing for 5 years and we have now taken over the stewardship for it. Hopefully this will be a bumper crop too. Julia and Michael helped Tamas clear out the brush from the last few years to offer the best conditions possible for the baby spears to grow. Not much to see yet but we'll keep you posted! This will be our first experiment with Asparagus but for many years we have been intrigued with growing it as it is one of MY favourite spring veggies.
People at the markets have been loving our wild-crafted stinging Nettles and Chickweed. Great for a spring internal cleansing. The best way to cook stinging nettle is to boil some water and put the steamer pan on top. Then carefully (without touching the Nettle) dump the bag into the steamer and let it steam for 2 minutes. Then add salt or herbs to taste. It is a fabulous tonic as quoted her from Vitality Magazine: (See link) http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/node/216 by making it into a tea and drinking with honey.
Chickweed is a popular salad additive and tonic also.

We also potted some Nasturtiums into hanging baskets. We will be doing a lot more hanging baskets this year and that hopefully means a lot more flowers!

This week we will be at Dufferin Grove Market on Thursday from 3-7pm.

Sandra