Lush cover crops in between the raspberry rows

In the pack this week…

We expect to have carrots, head lettuce, beets and greens, sweet turnips, green onions, swiss chard or fennel, and we hope to have strawberries.

Bedford pick up before people have arrived

On the farm…

Things are looking up!  The weather is better for growing crops.  The rain came just when we needed it.  Phew!  

The new strawberry blossoms are looking good.  They don’t have botrytis like the earlier ones had.  

Strawberry blossoms with bee doing its job

I saw the first red strawberries and that is pretty exciting!  Our goal is to provide organically grown fruit from our farm in the produce packs.  This is a long-term project but it is great to see the first little beginnings.  We will still have to buy strawberries from other farms, but eventually we want them all to come from Abundant Acres.

Still on the good news front, the laying hens are making me very proud.  Last year, the hens from the US were obnoxious, uncooperative, and generally a pain.  They flew over their fence, laid eggs everywhere so I had to hunt for them, and made a fuss when I tried to collect the eggs from underneath them.  This year, the hens from New Brunswick have been very sweet, they stay in their fence, they lay in their nesting boxes, and when I go to collect the eggs, they lift themselves up to make it easier!  They are also laying like crazy so we have enough eggs for everyone who wants them.

“Here you go!”

I’ve introduced Nadege and Hilary, partners of Bruce and Marshall.  This week I want to introduce Andrew and Andrea.  Andrew is Lori’s partner.  He came to help us harvest on Thursday last week.  Yay!  Thanks Andrew!  

Andrea is Benjamin’s partner, and she did something very special last Wednesday.  She and Benjamin, along with their daughter Ellianna, were very happy to welcome a little boy, Brendan Birch Isaiah Lee, into their family.

Here are a few more photos from the farm.

David has a new method to prevent burning on his ears.

Cows checking out the garden

There’s more to farm work than what happens in the field.

David seeding a cover crop of buckwheat. It germinated very quickly!

Lovecarrots