As the cotton wood trees open their buds and emit the sweet fragrance of the coming season, the fiddle heads are poking up through the rich soils beside streams deep in the forest, the morel mushrooms and the false Solomon (Maianthemum racemosum) seal have begun to make an appearance in our meals.
What all this means is that the beginning of the growing season is now here.
The rains of the past weekend have signaled us at Hope Farm Organics that it is now time to put forth our energy and sweat into producing the delicious food that sustains many throughout the season with full steam ahead.
Last week, our upper fields reached the right moisture content to begin cultivation in preparation for planting.
While our lower bottom land fields are still a bit too moist to cultivate, it will not be long before all green manures are turned into the soil and seedlings will be impatiently awaiting their insertion into the humic gleysol. Humic gleysols are apparently not suitable for growing vegetables and barely good enough for forage, according to textbooks nor is our bio-geo-climatic region suitable for commercial vegetable production
One word - cantaloupe.
Take that, textbooks!
Although the melting of the snow and warm temperatures were record breaking, we will for the most part be starting
our season at our regular time, with exception to some small early crops that will be protected with remay cloth.
As the season progresses, our farm will have doubled in production yet again for the third year in a row and we now will be putting in a nice root cellar to extend our season into the dark months of winter that await us come November.
As I begin to work the typical 15-18 hour days, seven days a week, I will now discontinue writing columns for the season as I require that little extra bit of time each week for crop planning.
It has been a wonderful experience writing in the Prince George Citizen and I am grateful for the opportunity to rant and educate.
I hope to begin writing again when time allows.
I encourage all readers of The Citizen to grow a garden this summer.
Be it big or small, the act of growing the garden will be just as nourishing as the food that you harvest from it for mind, body and soul.
In the words of the movie character Joe Dirt, "life is a garden, dig it. You make it work for you."
Have a wonderful summer, Citizen readers, and stop by the farm if you are out in our neck of the woods. Just bring gloves, a hoe, a sturdy back and an appetite for discussion.
We will provide the weeds and mosquitoes.
