First week of May 2012

It's been busy week so far....this was our first official week of CSA for the season, though we've had working shares going for several months now and had a few members getting shares as early as three weeks ago.  Still, it was my first Monday of harvesting for all the shares at once and it turned out to be quite a bit of harvesting and washing!

I've been trying to do some catch up weeding, plantings of flowers for cut arrangements (this week I put out foxglove), and get some more of the summer crops in.  So far this week I've put in some amaranth, one from Johnny's, Calaloo Redleaf, and one from my friend Rob, Sahel Leaf Type.  This will be the first time I've tried amaranth and I'm hoping it's as awesome as I've heard it is.  I also put in some Kyona (Mizuna) though I may be a bit late for that.  Additionally, I've put in some Alabama Red Okra.  Now I have lots of bed prepping for the remaining summer crops. 

This week at market I hope to have:  sugar snap peas, romaine, salad mix, arugula, braising mix, kale, swiss chard, herbs, hakurei turnips, and cut flowers.  That's if the extreme heat doesn't cause bolting.  I've been shading my lettuces in hopes to help them through this hot spell.

Here are some photos of the peas:

Here are the romaines that I'm trying desperately to keep shaded:

Additionally, MamaSprings added more livestock to the homestead.  In addition to our Khaki Campbell ducklings, we now have some Pekings.  It's a good thing I have so much gardening to keep me out-of-doors because these babies are C.U.T.E.  I could sit and hold them all day: