This Week's Notes...

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​   And just like that- it's time to plant for the season! While I am almost done wih the early crops like cauliflower, onions, peppers and perennial herbs, it is now time to start the tomatoes, basils and many flowers. To conserve space in our attached greenhouse, I have dropped our microgreens down to a smaller rotation, taking out the long week crops ( like peas, broccoli & red cabbage) until I can begin moving trays out to our hoophouse. The hoophouse is awakening, with leeks and sorrel popping up and items that overwintered, like mustard and tatsoi will have a short showing before it gets too hot and we switch to some less finicky crops. We have an entire bed of early strawberrys this year that look amazing right now, with some luck, the new doors Brian built in fall will keep the chipmunk out who ate them on us last year!  I put out a lettuce tester tray to see if it survives before getting everyone too excited- but, the growing season is on (wether I'm ready or not!)

    For the last 2 years, we have been expanding our garden plants selection for F@td members and it's clear we have some green thumbs out there! In addition to Venezia Farms Vermicast, I have added our Red Wriggler worms to improve your soil or start your own worm bed. My mother raised worms and it was one of the 1st things I did when I re-started the farm in 2015. I intended to sell them and the castings, but found I needed every bit I could get. Fast forward and our soil is pretty fantastic and last fall I had an explosion of worms in one of our compost bins that I was able to overwinter with our members in mind. You may be shocked that these worms sell for $70lb! I am starting with 2 oz of "bed run" worms, which means you have multiple ages of worms to innoculate your soil. Every 90 days, worms double in quantity, so it doesn't take long for them build colonies. Generally, I "plant" worms under my tomato plants each spring and by fall find them happily wriggling under the mulch everywhere I pull a plant.

     Thanks to your emails, we got a few website problems fixed this week and found an overhaul project we need to work on while investigating why the search bar was showing items from people we no longer work with (these items get hidden but were kept so I could run reports when finding new vendors). Basically, old and not frequently used files are causing a slew of problems here and on google. This week, I began by reviewing Frederyque's items. She was one of the origional bakers for F@td and had many items that could be condensed into 1 listing with a dropdown box and about 30 others that had been tried and then hidden over the years. While we worked on it, she added some new muffin and cookie flavors, revived a listing for Espresso Pie that she remembered everyone loved, and has a couple new items to bring to us in the coming weeks. Overall, a positive experience, so- 34 more vendor to go! Besides fixing little glitches, this overhaul should make scrolling a bit easier for you too.

    Thank you to everyone who has been giving product reviews! I've invited our vendors to come to the site this weekend and see what everyone has been saying. This will also help me with our item cleanup, since we have many things that rarely get purchased, but I won't want to take them down if someone enjoys them, even occasionally. Eventually, getting everyone signed up with an account on our website will lead me to being able to switch the way I close the store- and maybe even reach the long time goal of not having to close the store at all. Amazing what a little tech help can do!

       

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