Thursday, May 12, 2016

We're in Full Spring

To view the latest from Ridge Berry Farm visit our new blog and site!

Mothers' Day is over (the busiest day of the season for the Tea Room) and the tulips are in full bloom. This means the farm is in "full Spring" and in fact everything is blooming.

The tulips are in full bloom
Our Asparagus continues to surprise us. One day we see them just penetrating the surface of the soil...and it seems the next day they stand three feet tall. There is nothing as delicious in Spring time as freshly picked tender Asparagus from the backyard. If you're not growing them yet....you really should. It is a very simple perennial to care for.

If you cannot grow them, it's certainly now time to look for great local Asparagus at your farmers' market.

The Asparagus shoots really spring to life after a good rain
In fact, just about everything has started to bloom around the farm. This year's crop of Black Currants looks outstanding. We've never seen anything like it!

Look at all these berries in the making....this year's Black Currants will be prolific
Even our Strawberries are in full bloom. This being our first full year with our Strawberry plants, we finally expect to make some decent Strawberry jam for the Tea Room (you just can't beat it with scones and clotted cream).

The Strawberries look just as promising
Perhaps it was the mild Winter, or the early Spring weather, but even our Apple trees look like they will be producing a lot of fruit.

Beautiful Apple blossoms
The only worry for us now is frost. The average last frost in this area is mid-May. Last year we lost our entire crop of Kiwis due to a May 25th frost. We're now just crossing our fingers.

Finally this week we finished our Birch syrup. We made enough for our family BBQ's but we still had quite a bit for bottling and it is available in the Tea Room market.

This year's syrup is light, but still as dark as ever. It always reminds us of the colour of tar!

Dark as ever...this year's Birch Syrup is ready for BBQ season

No comments:

Post a Comment