Year’s First Harvest
Just Picked Asparagus
Yesterday we harvested the first crop of the year. After several sunny days the asparagus had grown up prolifically and we were able to get decent amount of asparagus cut. Not only is this exciting because it is the first crop of the season, we finally can eat something of our own. But this is also the first year, after waiting 3 years that we can harvest the asparagus. Asparagus is a perennial crop that needs a few years to establish itself before you begin to harvest it. This is not to say that we didn’t have any asparagus in the last couple of years. But we had to be careful to only harvest a bit and only a couple of times to ensure we did not over harvest, which could lead to long term damage to the crop. Asparagus can produce for 15 years if cared for properly. After 3 years of waiting we are now about to harvest the asparagus for everyone to enjoy for years to come. Personally I love asparagus and I am excited to have it available for snacking on raw and to cook with it for dinner.
The Birds and the Bees
Trilliums
The Trilliums are in full bloom back in our forest. The forest looks beautiful carpeted with the White Trilliums. Spring is such a nice time of year in the bush as the trees are beginning to leaf out and the forest floor is covered with flowers. It is also a good time for wildlife sighting, because you can easily see through the forest without all the leaves. So far this spring I have seen several wild turkeys, including finding a hen on her nest of 13 eggs. The Eastern Bluebirds who return each year to our nest boxes are back. We also have seen Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Blue Jays, Robins, Red-winged Blackbird and many bright yellow Goldfinches. There is a pair of Baltimore Orioles who have been hanging around our house for several days, taunting our cat from through the window. There is also a Black bear who is living back there somewhere. We haven’t seen him yet but he has been knocking over our beehives so we know he is around here somewhere. It looks like a tornado went through our hives every time he visits.
Beehives after the bear visited
Putting in the Crops
This is the season for planting and boy have we been busy getting crops into the ground before the rain. Over the last couple of days we planted 50, 000 June strawberries plants. It took 2 days with our 3 row planter to get them all in the ground. Also a lot of onions were put in the ground. We now have 2 acres of Broccoli, Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts planted. I hope everyone likes Brussel Sprouts because we planted about 4000 plants. Even though we have got a lot in we still have a lot to do. There is another 50,000 Day-Neutral Strawberries plants that have to be hand planted, a back breaking job.