Local farmers focus on picking the perfect asparagus
The arrival of spring means asparagus season, with local farmers gearing up to harvest and sell the season's first crop.
The combination of rain, temperatures and ideal soil is the perfect recipe for a timely harvest.
At Valley Farm Market in Elmvale, owner Henry Linde says they usually start picking during the first week of May.
"And I have not really seen any changes of years that we could actually start a lot earlier -or a lot later. It's always asparagus. It's pretty consistent that way," he explained.
- Download the CTV News app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates sent to your email inbox
Like Valley Farm Market, Barrie Hill Farms is entering asparagus season.
Owner Morris Gervais anticipates selling more than 100,000 pounds of asparagus this year.
"It's very, very, labour intensive to harvest the crop once it starts to grow, because once the warm weather comes, it's completely driven by temperature," Gervais said. "If it gets to be 10, 11, 12C, the asparagus slows down and stops growing. But as soon as it turns 19 or 20 degrees, it grows really, really quickly."
In addition to preparing for the harvest, Gervais' farm offers a pick-your-own produce experience, inviting visitors to join in the agricultural activity.
The experts say to look for asparagus that is eight to ten inches in size when purchasing it from the farm or in-store.
Local farmers anticipate that the asparagus season will wrap up by the end of June, when they will start to turn their attention to strawberry season.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
DEVELOPING Alberta's request for federal assistance approved after fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park: Trudeau
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
BREAKING Loblaw, George Weston to settle class action over bread price-fixing for $500 million
Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and its parent company George Weston Ltd. say they have agreed to pay $500-million to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding their involvement in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme.
EXCLUSIVE One address, 76 foreign currency dealers: Inside Canada's money service business 'clusters'
An IJF and CTV News investigation has found dozens of cases across Canada where multiple money services businesses (MSBs) are incorporated at the same address, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the location's actual occupant. One money laundering expert calls it an 'abuse of the system.'
U.K. police officer suspended after video appears to show a man being kicked in head
A British police officer was suspended from all duties Thursday after a video was posted on social media that appeared to show an officer kicking and stamping on the head of a man lying on the floor of a terminal at Manchester Airport.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
Norad intercepts Russian and Chinese bombers operating together near Alaska in apparent first
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
Biden explains why he ended re-election bid in Oval Office address
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Jasper mayor says alert system to be reviewed after message 'glitch'
More than 25,000 people have been displaced from Jasper National Park since wildfires started to threaten the picturesque corner of Alberta Rockies on Monday, but the mayor of its namesake municipality says not everyone received an evacuation alert when it was sent out.
Unclaimed bodies are piling up in Newfoundland. A funeral director blames the government
A funeral director in St. John's says the bodies piling up in freezers at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital likely belong to people whose loved ones couldn't get enough government help to pay for a funeral.