It appears that Spring may actually be here to stay now, and you all know what that means! Please set aside a couple of hours in your busy schedule for next Sunday, the 22nd, at 1:00 pm, and join together with your fellow co-op members to plant our 2012 potatos!
We're a bit later than last year, in part because spring has been a long time coming, and in 2011 a cold snap ended up setting everything behind several weeks anyway. But we do need to get our seed in the ground now, and we need everyone who can make it to please get in touch and confirm availability, asap.
Your FSC (Field Management Sub-Committee) has been hard at work prepping the field, and are pleased that our efforts to try something different this year are coming along nicely. If you haven't been to the patch in a while, the area that we will be planting next weekend is already divided into rows that were mulched with cover crop and hay, over the winter. Rather than inviting the tractor in to plough the whole field under last fall, we left it to die back naturally, and saved on fossil fuel by waiting. The plough will be back to help us stay on top of the rest of the field where new cover crop will be planted a bit later, but the area that will soon be under potato production this year has been tilled entirely with only a hand-held rototiller, thanks to our success with overwinter mulching.
Please prepare for next Sunday by 1) responding to this email
2) inviting friends and family, and or prospective new members!
3) bringing your membership fee for 2012, if you haven't paid yet
4) remembering the following:
- garden gloves (and maybe a hat since it could be warm!)
- rain jacket and boots (it's likely to be damp, if not raining a bit!)
- your water bottle (muffins provided for later, or bring what works for you!)
PS If you haven't seen the Ross Sisters before, this potato-friendly video contains some warm-up exercises to get you in shape for the gardening season ahead! ;)
