Lohbrunner Community Farm: Preparing for Summer

May is a busy time at Lohbrunner Community Farm and this May is no exception! Our vegetable farmers are busy prepping beds, seeding and transplanting crops, and doing the plethora of other things needed to have crops for the upcoming start of market and CSA season.

Other co-op members have generously donated their time to get seeds started for Lohbrunner’s U-Pick Pumpkin Patch, which will run again in fall, and the gorgeous cut flower garden that will be headed again by one of our founding members, Joan Varley.

The blueberries and black currants have been pruned and fertilized. The flower set is looking really good and the bees have been busy there so we expect a good crop of berries this year!

The Homesteaders, volunteers and co-op members who grow food collectively for their consumption, have put a new sheet of plastic on their greenhouse. This greenhouse is used both to start seedlings for the co-op in the spring and grow heat loving crops like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

In addition, the 170 feet of native plant hedgerow that Lohbrunner, planted in collaboration with Habitat Acquisition Trust and Saanich Native Plants in 2020, got a well needed spring weed. While it took several volunteers the better part of a day to weed out the canary reed grass and buttercup, we were pleased to find many native plants looking well established underneath it all and sending out new shoots and seedlings.

The various species in this hedgerow were selected to thrive in our wet winter conditions and they seem to be doing just that. In addition, we have already noticed interesting pollinators and insects in these plants during the summer season including species we don’t find anywhere else on the farm. We are so pleased to have planted this hedgerow, it adds to the diversity on this historically very biodiverse seasonal wetland property. This falls right in line with Lohbrunner’s mission and values; to support farming as well as habitat for our non-human cohabitants on this land.