Spring Planning on my CSA Casi Cielo

February has begun, and with it my urge to get back into the outside earth and

zucchinis 3 kinds great for all kinds of things including salt and vinegar chips!

apples from my tree in a handbuilt altered casserole

grapes are bearing fruit in September

That means I need to shift my lens slightly to the outside of my home. yep, Casi Cielo 2016 will be taking shares and in full swing.  Thursday afternoons were just not the same last summer without harvesting and having families coming to pick up their food boxes.

Of course, things are being tweaked and improved to be more effective and efficient. This is the link on Facebook to the group where folks can find photos, recipes an updates on what is happening in the garden.  This year I hope to have more involvement by families in the growing and harvesting of food, and to incorporate a barter system of sweat eqity.
Really hoping that there wont be any woodchuck updates this season.
Here is the link to the group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/492776387465846/

Details forthcoming shortly, room for 10 families over the season with bi weekly pick up!

My name is Nancy Bokland and my   Community Supported Agriculture project or micro Urban Farm, called Casi Cielo or Almost Heaven for 2016  I have a small house on a big yard in Norwood/St. Boniface where I am living out the principle of grow food, not lawns and working to make it all an edible landscape. Since my “farm” is quite small, my plan is to offer a crate of fresh, organic (not certified) , locally grown fruit and vegetables on a bi weekly basis starting in mid- July until the end of September for a total of 14 weeks. I may take a break of a few weeks in July if we have a stall in growth like last year, but will “beef” up any slow weeks with baking and preserves. 

I love growing food and flowers.  I love sharing the fruits of my labours with others, and would love to grow full time.  I want my customers to know how I grow the food, and even have input into what I grow, to match the needs of their family’s diet.  If you cannot pick up your vegetables due to travel or other summer time issues, please call and let me know if you are sending an alternate. 

 

This year,  a full family  share in the Casi Cielo project will 325.00 per food box.    The food will be fresh, full of nutrients and hand picked.  There is risk in any farming or gardening venture, but I will aim ensure a good quantity, with high quality food throughout the season.  Amounts  and types of produce will vary with the seasons, and the weather conditions. So far the list is potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, 3 kinds of beans, beets, cucumbers, 2 types of zucchini, peppers, kale, lettuce, spinach, rhubarb, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, ground cherries, hascaps, raspberries, okra, eggplant, basil, thyme, oregano, chives, lemon balm, snap peas. The list will grow based on demand, and always open to suggestions.  

My aim is to supply enough vegetables for a family of four, or two vegetarians for each week.  Pick up locations will be one mid city (downtown) point and my home in St. Boniface.  Pick ups will be on Thursday afternoons between 5-7 pm.

If you want to be a part of my farm dream comin alive; email me at nancyblokland@msn.com, with your name, address, and phone number.  deposit of 50.00 required by April 15^th, with the remainder due June 1, 2016. Please call me with questions, concerns or requests at 204-799-3792

 

 

Tricked again....

I was feeling a burst of energy earlier this week, we had temperatures over zero degrees.  That lasted one day, and more snow.  Seriously...in April.  I like everyone else here is very weary of winter, and my sense of exhaustion is part of that. I really dont want to schlep pots back and forth from the kiln into the house over incredibly icy and treacherous conditions. another kiln is firing right now, fingers crossed that I wasnt so tired that I forgot to glaze the lower half or anything scattered brained like that!

I find myself super tired, and have this gut feeling (literally) that I need to slow down a bit.  So, I need to change my focus from making, to selling, a different kind of energy.  Grateful that my time on social networking appears to be paying off, and seeing more orders coming out of Pinterest  and Etsy. Happy to see pottery in Royal Blue, which I can make at home going far and wide. I have some easter baskets ready to go, just need to do the photos, but I am pretty happy with them, hope they find good homes and get filled with really creative things!

Fairy Garden Pottery

with Spring still a little way off, I am drawn to my garden catalogues and Pinterest fairy gardens, giving me hope for green being in my life again.  The temperatures were better today, but I dont remember the last time the snow was this deep in the back yard.

Today was Louis Riel Day or Family Day here in Manitoba and I happily spent the morning playing in clay.  I have decided to open a second Etsy shop before Spring focussing on Fairy Garden supplies, with tiny pottery pieces and tiny rocks collected in beach scavenges and maybe some sea glass.

I will have little houses, benches, teeny bird baths, stump chairs and more. It is the best way to keep my hands in the clay, when the back is too achy for the wheel or handbuilding big pieces.

There is grass and garden under here somewhere.