Come visit the farm next Saturday May 6th and celebrate spring! RSVP to info@orchardhillfarm.ca if you can make it, but if you forget – come anyway. We will have wagon rides, an asparagus cooking demo at 3pm and snacks! There will be plants, eggs, honey and bread for sale, and it’s a great chance to check out the farm if you’re thinking of joining the CSA – there’s still room. If you’re already a member, it’s a great time to drop off payment and visit with fellow members.

The pick ups will start Wednesday, May 17th (or 24th for some half shares)! If you’re signed up and haven’t gotten an email from info@orchardhillfarm.ca, please let me know!

We have planted a lot of the early crops, and the first few weeks were full of tests – we tasted all the varieties of potatoes that did well against leaf hoppers, performed well in storage and chose 3 to plant again this year. We are participating in a potato trial run by the Bauta Seed Initiative to try and come up with new varieties of potatoes that grow well under organic conditions (and taste good!). We will be receiving some new varieties to trial again this year. Here’s a photo of our three interns for the 2017 season, and the line up for tasting – their name’s are Yoan, Maike and Connor. They have already been a great help with all of the early season work and are getting along well with the horses.

Another trial that we’re running this year is in the garlic field that was planted last fall – we have divided it into 15 sections, and there are 3 different tests on randomly selected plots within the field – we will attempt to control weeds using a living cover crop (oats), mulch (hay) and standard cultivation. Here is a hill view of the field with the mulched sections visible.

Ken and Martha are all moved in to their new(ish) house, the one on the laneway that was under construction in the fall. There are still a few pieces to keep them busy next winter (tiling floors, doors, railings, etc), but the kitchen drawers and counters that Ken built from raw edged walnut slabs are absolutely beautiful.

Hope you’re enjoying the beautiful weather and we’ll see you soon!

Ellen