Peas and Carrots, ready for lift-off!

Hello all,

We planted the first round of peas and carrots yesterday! What a joy it was! The sun was out, the wind blowing and the soil was dry enough to plant! I got to use a Planet Jr. seeder to plant both peas and carrots...its a seeder that was designed by the 4 Cole brothers from Chatam Co. NC in 1885! The seeder does a great job and is easy to use. Just because something is old doesn't mean its outdated and just because something is new doesn't mean it's any better...I found this little bit of wisdom in a book recently, though I couldn't tell you where. It has the ring of truth in my opinion, especially where sustainable agriculture is concerned. Many old tools, techniques and skills are resurfacing and perhaps never should have been considered outdated. This photo is the Planet Jr. Doesn't look like much but it does the job!

Spring is about to arrive! It is slowly warming up out there and as you can see, we have some croci on the farm! The potatoes are cut into seed pieces with 2 or more eyes per piece and are healing before planting. They will go in the ground this week. Baby onion plants are on their way from Texas and will go in the ground asap. Flowers will follow...

We've been accepted to the Western Wake Farmers Market! We are very excited to become a vendor there and very grateful for the acceptance! In my opinion, the market is the best market in Raleigh because of the group that runs the market and the wonderful job they do. There is good diversity of products and vendors, they often have music, opportunities to learn about food and overall, the market is well-rounded. Check out the WWFM webpage and come to the season opening on Saturday April 3rd!

FYI, Farmer Joel Salatin and local agrarians will headline a panel discussion at a special showing of the independent film Fresh, The Movie, on Tues., March 9, 7-9pm, at Meredith College for the 3rd Annual Film Feastival.


Please consider signing up for Ben's Produce Summer 2010 CSA. A BIG THANK YOU to those of you who have signed up! We still have membership spots open and the deadlines are rolling but we do have limited capacity. Please make your deposits at your convenience and the 2 payments thereafter are due 30 days and 60 days after making your deposit. Please see the brochure for details. Please send us your deposit along with a copy of the brochure (or the CSA Sign Up Form) with your information.

This coming Tuesday, March 2nd, we plan to have produce pickup at our house, 604 Sasser St., between 4:00 to 7:30 pm. The next NCSU delivery will be Wednesday, March 3rd. Remember to have your orders placed by Monday evening.

A few of you occasionally may have trouble placing orders. Please make sure you receive an automated confirmation email a few minutes after you place your order. If you do not receive this email your order was not placed and we will not receive it. Please try again or email us your order to shields.ben@gmail.com or call Ben @ 919-800-8898. Also, we do not accept online payments, e.g. PayPal. We only accept payment of cash or checks at pickup.

Although we are quickly approaching spring, please be aware adverse and/or cold weather may postpone harvest of your produce. In response to this, we may postpone pickups by a day or two. We will provide primary notice of pickup changes via email (especially for those of you who place orders) as well as via blog and online store. Thank you for being flexible with us!

Purchase of vegetables is made through our online store-
www.vendio.com/stores/bensproduce.


Available new vegetables:
SPINACH

Current vegetable availability includes:
baby beets
brussels sprouts
carrots
Chinese cabbage
collards
scallions
lettuce
sweet potatoes
Vitamin Green (a mild Asian leafy green)


Late winter /early spring vegetables will include:
arugula
broccoli raab
mixed baby lettuce & greens
mizuna
radishes
swiss chard
tatsoi
turnips