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This week we had an early snowfall along with the rest of southern British
Columbia. However the garden still remains productive. There are potatoes,
carrots and parsnips slumbering in the ground where they grew. Broccoli and
Chard don't mind snow a bit. The winter crops of Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage,
Purple Sprouting Broccoli, and Perpetual Spinach are not ready yet but growing
well. We ate the last Italian Sweet Pepper just the other day. Year round
gardening on Salt Spring Island is a reality.
This fall we plowed up another acre or so and seeded it for hay next year.
Fall rye, which is up already, was mixed with sheep and horse pasture seed. We
seed by hand with a rotating spinner which throws out a wide swath of evenly
spaced seed. No fertilizer of any kind is added. This is possible because the
land we are opening up is virgin soil and quite fertile. We will have about 5
acres in hay for the next season.
The summer strawberry crop exceeded expectations. We picked more than one
pint per plant and they lasted into mid October. These plants are Tristar
Everbearing strawberries and the first year is usually the best. We will plant
more next spring and then will have an early crop from last year's plants and a
late, heavy crop from the new plants. Our B&B guests loved the
strawberries.
This year we were delighted to meet the many
interesting guests who chose our farm B&B for their Salt Spring Island
visit. They came from as far away as China, France, Germany, California, Washington
D.C. and several other US states, as well
as most Provinces of Canada. We truly enjoy helping people discover our island sanctuary
and promoting our farm concept of local, organic food.
August 03, 2008 August Cornucopia
March 02, 2008 Spring 08
May 04, 2007 New sheep for spring
December 04, 2006 Winter comes early
August 30, 2006 Harvest Time
May 29, 2006 Spring 2006
February 03, 2006 Wet and Windy Winter
December 04, 2005 Getting ready for winter
July 27, 2005 Summer's Here
May 31, 2005 Spring Planting
March 20, 2005 Almost Spring on Salt Spring Island
March 12, 2005 Salt Spring Island in Winter
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