What are you waiting for, when our members have such great things to say?? :)

Is our program a good value?

"Absolutely. No question of the value. It goes beyond the price comparison at the Supermarket. Garden fresh food, eating within the seasons, trying new things (hello garlic scapes! Holla!)"

The countdown continues, with our member's positive comments taking us along!

Here's another one, answering if the boxes are a good value:

"We believe so, it doesn't cost us one cent more (I think it's actually a bit less so far) for yearly grocery $ for WAY better quality food (It really does taste like it came from my parents garden) and the variety was just so much better than we ever expected (some stuff that I didn't know grew here since the stores must not have a local source)."

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are now SOLD OUT of a number of shares in the CSA, which begins delivery next Monday, April 1st. Here's the shares that are sold out, as well as an explanation of why we are limiting the numbers that are available of each type of share.

We still have veggie shares, fruit shares, and staple shares for purchase for the 2013-2014 CSA season!   

EGG SHARES: The egg shares sold out first this year, within 2 weeks of opening registration.  This is because there's only a limited number to sell: on our farm we can only have 99 birds laying at  time.  This makes for about 50 dozen eggs per week that we can sell.  We have talked a number of times about increasing our egg production, which seems like a no-brainer with the high demand we have for eggs, but is actually a bit more complicated that you would think.  In order to have more laying hens (and therefore, more eggs available), we would need to become part of the quota system (egg production is one of those farm products that are highly regulated the larger you get).  In doing that, not only to we pay for quota, but our eggs would also have to go to a grading station, the closest of which is in Amherst.  To us, this just adds another step away from the customer and is not ideal.  We also talked about buying eggs in from another farm (either organic or non), but decided that it starts to get really complicated making sure the folks who paid for TapRoot organic eggs get TapRoot organic eggs, and ensuring that  we have adequate supply to commit to more eggs shares for the full year as well.  There's a few other ideas that we are thinking about, and we would like to be able to supply everyone who wants eggs with a farm fresh dozen every week, but we just haven't worked it all out yet.  Just so you're aware of the process and the explanation behind what's going on with the egg shares!

I am compiling a list for those who would like egg shares in the future.  Email teri@taprootfarms.ca to be added to the list!

MEAT SHARES: The meat shares just sold out today and I am still drowning in the barrage of emails in my inbox!  Because of the planning involved with raising enough animals for the meat shares, we decided that 150 is our limit for this year.  We've ordered the following for birds this year, most of which will be for the CSA meat shares:

We also want to do some work this year on finessing the meat shares: making sure that we have clear standards for the way the animals are raised, that we produce as much as possible from our own farm, and improving on how we do the shares and how we communicate with customers.  Also, space-wise, we are at maximum capacity for freezers on meat weeks, as well as van space and cooler space.  The meat shares are relatively new to the farm and we have lots of ideas for the future, and want to make sure we are able to manage it well and thoroughly impress each meat share customer this year, and keep them (and more folks) in the future!

FLOWER SHARES: The flower shares are sold out, and we would like to cap it at the current number of 30.  However: we are doing this as insurance, as we would like to make sure we are able to deliver what we promised to those 30 people.  Tim and Valarie have planned to grow enough flowers to be able to offer an additional 10 flower bunches each week as add-ons.  Therefore, though I unfortunately have to tell you that the flower shares are firmly sold out, I will say that I do have a list that you can be added on to as someone who is interested in being notified when flowers are available as add-ons.

This is our first year offering a flower "share": In the past, Valarie has made gorgeous bunches of flowers and sold them through add-ons, but with a second flower-lover in our midst, Tim C., we have decided to go for it and make it into a share this year.

(If you have no idea what I'm talking about: add-ons are additional items that can be ordered online to come with your regular share delivery.  You will need to log in to your current TapRoot account to do this (if you are .  If you don't know how, I can help!)

Right now, Tim and Valarie have forced some forsythia and pussy willows, which are available as add-ons.  They are also hoping and planning to have something available for the week of Mother's Day.

I have a list of email addresses called the "First Dibs Flower List" that you can email me to be added on to: once the new season starts, these folks will be the first ones to know when I add flowers to the add-ons section!

So, in summary: Bad news is, we are sold out of meat, egg, and flower shares.  Good news is you still have a bit of time to sign up for veggie shares, fruit shares, and staple shares!

If you have any questions about all this, please don't hesitate to call us (902-542-3277) or email teri@taprootfarms.ca.

Jem here, hopefully we have seen the last snow day of this winter. I deliver shares to HRM on Monday Wednesday and Thursday, however Wed and Thurs were combined last week and the van was as full as I have seen it. Also on my first call at Petes of Bedford when I opened the back door three 50lb sacks of potatoes wanted to fall out on top of me. Somehow I held them in and managed to take them out one at a time. But I wouldn’t want to repeat that. So here we are on week 52 and for some people it will be their last week of CSA, so thank you for coming out every week and collecting your box(es), we have very much appreciated it. For others it will be as before continuing on, which is great so I look forward to seeing you again each week. Then there will also be lots of new people to meet which is so exciting for me; sometimes I only have time to say” Hello, Enjoy, Bye” other times I have time to chat a bit about life or the weather. Either way is fine with me, I’m certainly looking forward to warmer days, lighter boxes with more greens and less roots( though I do love my carrots and parsnips) and new and continuing friends among our members. Taproot is a great place to work and I am very blessed to have been here for almost 3 years and hopefully a few more to come. Thanks Jem.

Yesterday, thanks to the hard work of two of our newly arrived Jamaican workers, Courtney and Bolo, the plastic is officially on our first tunnel of the year.  This will be probably the first space that we plant into outdoors, though there's a lot of work still to be done inside the tunnel... Work that will be ever the more pleasant with a covering helping warm the space and block the wind.  The black landscape fabric on the ground (used for weed suppression) needs to be pulled up, the tomato remains pulled out and composted, the soil tested and any amendments added, and the soil prepped for planting.  The plan is to have early plantings of carrots, beets, chard, kale, bok choy, lettuce, and salad mix in the first few tunnels.

The plastic went on so fast I missed even seeing them doing it, and then they had a very smart way of threading the rope that holds the plastic on back and forth across each side: The spool was threaded through a ring that could be pulled back and forth with ease, with a person on each side anchoring the rope (all those extra folks in the photo-- including me-- are just there "supervising": hard to stay away when something exciting is happening on the farm!). 

It's already more pleasant inside the tunnel than outside, and the excitement is in the air around the farm!  I see Tim R. and Courtney out there again today, heaving around big sheets of plastic that I know are at least 10 times heavier than they look!

Yay, season extension!!