Fresh from the Greenhouse: Our First Harvest of the Year

If you’ve been following the news from our community farm, you’ll know we’ve been busy. Late last year we installed our very own greenhouse — a big step forward for local, sustainable food production. And the past few weeks have been all about bringing it to life.

Our wonderful volunteers have been hard at work setting up the equipment to automate the irrigation system and control the motors that manage the ventilation. Getting it all calibrated and running smoothly took quite some testing, but it’s now humming along just as it should. A big thank you to everyone who put in the time and patience to make it happen.

With the technical side sorted, it was time for the real work: getting our hands in the soil. One of the main reasons we built the greenhouse is to extend our growing season — giving us fresh greens before spring truly arrives and well into autumn. Year-round harvests, that’s the dream.

In recent weeks, volunteers and I have planted argula, bok-choi, green salad, radishes, and turnip stalks. And here’s what never stops being remarkable: given just a little care and attention, the earth gets to work immediately. Seeds and seedlings go in, and within days you can almost watch them grow. All of this with minimal water use — and the water we do use is captured rainwater stored in the basement of our barn, so not a drop of drinking water goes to waste.

This week we’re already enjoying the first results: tender turnip stalks and bok-choi, fresh from our own ground.

I can’t wait to turn them into some tasty salads. Stay tuned — recipes are coming!