An organic experiment

Hello everyone!

Finally the risk of frost is as good as gone, so we're now stocking organically grown herbs for your garden, as well as tomato plants and some fun flowers. If you've been itching to get your green thumbs going, now is the time.

We've brought in some heirloom/heritage varieties of tomato plants as well. These are the old timers, the varieties that have not been tinkered with in a lab. In our great grandparents age tomatoes, carrots, and potatoes were all different colours and shapes depending on where you lived and what kind of seed you had access to. Then international shipping took over and the agricultural industry started to standardize the 'ideal' colour, size and shape of products. Suddenly all carrots were straight, long and orange, all tomatoes were red and round, and all sweet peppers had 3-4 lobes. In the case of tomatoes in particular, taste took a back seat to looks. People are now rediscovering the heritage varieities of lots of different foods now. We are currently carrying over a dozen varieties of heritage tomato plants (all raised spray free), for you to try out in your garden. These varieties may not be as disease resistant, or produce as much fruit as newer varieties, but the taste is beyond compare. AND they look just so super cool! Give a couple a try in your garden this year.

The world of Manitoba local produce is still pretty slow. This sun and the promised heat for next week could quickly change things. The asparagus is starting to peek up out of the ground, so it could really take off once the heat hits. I will of course keep you posted.

The fiddleheads are still going strong and should be around for another week or so before they disappear again until next spring. The morels are taking a break but the season is by no means done. Some heat will get them rolling again, I will keep you posted.

So now for the experiment part. I have found a distributor out of BC who will ship organic fruits and veggies to little stores like mine. More this year than ever we have been having customers request organics. We aim to please, so we're about to give it a shot. I'll be placing my first order for some organic produce (bananas, apples, oranges, lettuces, onions etc) on Monday the 25th, with a delivery date of Wednesday the 27th. As with all experiments, we'll be counting on you to make it a success. If we're not carrying what you've been hankering for, let us know. And if you would like for us to keep stocking organics, let us know AND buy some of them. We'll give the trial period a few weeks but if sales in the organics section is a complete flop, we'll have to consider the experiment a failure.

Never fear though, as always my business will focus on local first. If it is the season for local asparagus, Manitoba grown will always trump import organics.

Now get out there and enjoy the sunshine!!!

Take Care
Erin