Hello everyone,
Happy December! It's the last month of the year, and a welcome one! The pace at the nursery has definitely slowed down since the snow covered the ground, but we're still working on a few projects worth sharing: that's the first point of the newsletter. Finally, we've written a few lines to thank all those who have supported us in one way or another this year. We'll conclude this newsletter with a few words about our plans for the coming year. Happy reading!
A cold room! This is indeed our last big project of 2023. This cold room is a major technical and logistical challenge that we've been thinking about for a long time. Premeditated, if you will. Insulated by the cutout core of doors and assembled with the sweat of our brows, this room will be cooled to around -1°C by a used freezer unit. That saved us a few bucks! But why would we need a -1°C cold room? Too cold to be a fridge and too hot to be a freezer, this cold room will be used to store our bare-root trees over winter. It will allow our trees to spend their winter in dormancy under controlled conditions, avoiding the loss of grafted trees to field mice. It also allows us to prepare your orders just before the ground thaws in spring, so you can plant them at the ideal time. Basically, it gives the nursery more stability, which is not bad, is it? To wrap things up, here's Victor-Émile, our helper of the moment, at work installing the cold room evaporator:
Orders on our website have been closed for some time now. But fear not! We'll be at the Café des Orties Solstice Souk on December 21. We won't be there with trees, but with gift cards that can be used when orders are back in. A great gift for family and friends! Speaking of orders, they'll be possible again from January 27, 2024. This date coincides perfectly with the Seed Festival in Papineauville, and it's no coincidence! As you can imagine, we'll be there once again. Come and chat with us to prepare your spring planting of perennials and edible trees!
Finally, it's really important for us at the nursery to thank our generous collaborators and customers. Whether it's a helping hand, a bit of visibility or the purchase of a tree or service, we're extremely grateful to everyone who believes in our project and is helping us get our business off the ground. Through this project, we hope to make a positive impact in our community by democratizing edible landscaping, and when the community responds with enthusiasm, well, it warms our hearts! From our side, our way of saying thank you will be to keep the momentum going.
In fact, we have big plans for 2024! The development of automated irrigation infrastructures, the development of new products, the construction of a shade house for cuttings, and so on. It's going to be just as busy a year as the last, but we're certainly not going to complain, as we're really looking forward to starting it with you!
This concludes the December newsletter. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us! Happy Holidays! See you in 2024, and be well!
La Réfriche Nursery team