Whatever the rest of April brings us, it feels like spring right now! After a great deluge just after the first of the month, we’ve had a stretch of good weather long enough to work some ground and plant some peas on a high, sandy piece.
Spinach, Swiss chard, potatoes, and onions will follow shortly as we work more ground and the tomatoes and peppers are flush in the greenhouse, growing healthy frames that will support the crop to come. We’re fertilizing and weeding the strawberries and you can find the last of our winter cabbage and cauliflower in at the Skagit Food Co-op here for the next couple weeks.
As soon as we get a calm day we’ll be ready to cover the hoop houses just south of our La Conner farm stand so we can sneak in an early planting of lettuce before our summer crop of tomatoes and peppers are ready to transplant and we’re sorting and dividing dahlias in the pack shed for this year’s crop.
What does this all mean for you, dear customer? Well, it means we’ll be in fine shape for June, but April is, as I’ve heard, the cruelest month. Maybe not for all of T.S. Eliot’s reasons, but nevertheless. We may have sun, light, and warmth, but none of the year’s hard work or new growth has quite yet come to fruition, and last year’s crops can only carry us so far.
So just as we plant our seeds in spring for summer’s harvest, so can you! There is still time to sign up for our 2014 CSA Farm share program. For those of you who aren’t familiar, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture—by committing to a farm share now, you can ensure delivery of a box of local and organic from mid-June through early October. Our shares contain from 8-10 items every week, including a variety of seasonally available fruits and vegetables.
You can sign up online at our website, www.hedlinfarms.com or call our office at 360.466.3977 if you have further questions.
From all of us at Hedlin Farms, enjoy your spring and we look forward to growing for you in 2014!