Spring 2009 CSA

Newsletter January 2, 2009

Dear Farm Share Holders,

I have received and deposited your payment for your participation in our Spring 2009 CSA. Thanks so much! Some of you forgot to include your paperwork. We need your application as it provides us with contact info and your acknowledgement; so please forward ASAP.

Just a quick note to bring you up to date about our CSA and related activities here at the farm; our mesclun greens are a little confused as two weeks ago the lettuce was frozen and the mizuna and arugula were covered in snow. Now it is more like spring, as we have surpassed the shortest day of the year (12/21)and temps are back in the 80s. This weekend however, we are back to expecting colder weather again. Just another week in Texas I guess.

Regarding spring planting, we will begin sowing plug trays this weekend with tomatoes and peppers being our first objective. Our target date is to get them in the ground by February 20th. This will ideally provide us with some small-fruited tomatoes around April 15th. The tomato hybrid Early Girl will yield first, followed by the cherry hybrids, and then cherry & beef-stake heirlooms beginning by mid-May. This year, our peppers are mostly sweet Italian with a few bells, and just one or two varieties of hot peppers. We anticipate planting potatoes and sweet corn in late February as well.

We are going to be pushing the envelope a little, but we are hoping to get an early spring crop of broccoli and cauliflower. We are targeting the Jan 18th timeframe to get these plugs in the ground. Given normal weather conditions, we would anticipate a two to three week harvest window beginning in early April. Other items that will be sown are carrots, swiss chard, bunching onions, parsley and cilantro.

With the holidays now behind us, I would like to remind you that the CSA is in full swing and we at the farm would appreciate you letting your friends know about our spring 2009 program. FYI I have started experimenting with some of the online Google Ads on Houston related web-pages (Kinda fun to watch so excuse our capitalistic behavior as we turn into shameless marketers over the next several weeks.) This having been said, please feel free to forward this note to any potential subscribers that you may know.

Regarding Pick Up locations, I believe that I have found a Host to sponsor a Kingwood Pick-up location, so let your Kingwood friends know that they are not left out. We are still looking for a Pick-up location in the West Gray/Montrose as well as the West U areas of Houston.

Hope to see you sometime soon at the Bayou City Farmers Market.

Until next time,