Here we are the end of the first week in May and we haven't done any work in the field yet. I'm getting a little anxious because normally we would have planted onions by now.

Unfortunately, the ground is just too wet from the April flood and a good part of the field is like quick sand right now. We just can't seem to shake these weather related issues.

On the other hand, several nice, sunny days have really helped the garlic come through its "drowning" that also occurred in April when the Des Lacs River submerged it for 14 days. There's still a lot of speculation on how it is going to turn out but as of right now it appears most of the plants are going to grow. One variety, Belarus, is already hitting the six-leaf stage, which isn't surprising becuase that is the first one to emerge in the spring. Others are just popping through the mulch.

We were hoping to find enough people today to put the cover on the greenhouse but a couple have backed out so we aren't able to do it today (Saturday). Instead, I'll be working on getting the high tunnels back up and running and if it dries out enough by this afternoon, may attempt to till the high ground and get some onions planted so we are least beginning to make progress.

This morning we received a package from the Agricultural Research Service in Ames, Iowa that includes numerous varieties of products no longer in the system. We are going to grow them and observe how they do against  today's varieties. These are items that were sold in the Oscar Will catalog in the 1940s and 1950s. This will be our second year of doing this research.

Thanks to everyone who attended the CSA tasting in Minot on Thursday night. It was a great turnout and we appreciate your interest in North Star Farms. We will have a tasing at the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck this coming Friday (may 13) and hope to add a number of people to our Bismarck/Mandan CSA this season.

We have lots of new varieties and we have many of the old standards that have done very well and remain popular. Check out "Our Products" on this Web site for a full list of items. And, as always, we encourage people to come visit. It doesn't look so good right now as the only things growing are the garlic and our rye cover crop. As the season goes, it gets better.