3 bits of News!

News bit number one!

Crampton's Market will be hosting a free "backyard composting" clinic on Saturday June 19th at 2pm (rain date Sunday June 20th)
Sign up at the store so that we know how many people will be showing up. Then come to the market on June 19th at 2 pm. It's as easy as that. Resource Conservation Manitoba staff will be showing us all how easy and smell free composing in your back yard can be. Everyone should compost as it reduces the amount of waste that enters our landfills. Gardeners in Winnipeg would be silly not to compost as it is the best way to amend and enrich your garden plot. Sign up the next time that you are in the shop.

News bit number 2!

-They've crossed the border! Those tiny new crop potatoes that we all know and love, are now available....from British Columbia. This is big news. Until this week, these new crop goodies were only available from the US or much further afield. But spring must be pushing on. Usually the Manitoba new crop potatoes come into season about 3 to 4 weeks after the B.C. ones. So that means that in the next month or so, we will be having so many more of our own Manitoba veggies ready.

We can tell that things are still moving along though. I have been receiving sporadic shipments of locally grown spring greens, spinach, pea shoots, cilantro and dill. Most of these crops were grown under cold frames and so did not suffer from the torrential downpour that we had on Saturday. These shipments are currently very come and go. As the weeks go by though, the local produce count will be on the rise. I just can't wait.


So what is all of this rain doing???

It all depends where in the province your fields are. If you are near Starbuck Manitoba your fields were flooded with over 6 inches of rain in the last week, if your fields are near Otterburne Manitoba, your crops only got 2.5 inches. Some people are floating, others are irrigating.

One of my poor asparagus growers now has a very nice mud pit for a field, which makes picking asparagus slow going, and not at all profitable. If it takes you 6 times the time to harvest a crop than it used to, slim margins quickly disappear. Another of my asparagus growers were lucky and got away with just a few inches. It's all the luck of the draw.


News Bit Number 3!!

On a different note, the good varieties of stone fruit are now starting. We received our first shipments of Nectarines, Peaches, Cherries and a new fruit called an Aprium (cross between an apricot and a plum) today. These fruits are from Southern California. As the season progresses the fruit will come from more and more northerly locals, slowly moving up to Northern california, through Washington and finally up to our own BC. The B.C. Cherries, Peaches, Plums, Pears and Nectarines will become available in Mid July, until then we'll just have to enjoy the goodies from the US.