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Mon, 24 Apr 2006 |
 A new shipment of seed potatoes from PEI rounds off the saved spuds from last year that're already in the ground. The 2006 line-up: Norland, Gold Rush, Yukon Gold, and Purple Chief. (Part of this year's plan is to become entirely self-sufficient in seed potatoes for next year, this done by...saving enough to plant again!)
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Fri, 21 Apr 2006 |
 Hundreds of pepper, eggplant and tomato plants are still under artificial lights, but they'll soon be able to head to the unheated greenhouse to bask under the full-spectrum sun.
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Sun, 02 Apr 2006 |
 The warm winter meant the ground didn't freeze up as hard and deep as it might have, which in turn allowed quick and easy drainage here at the start of spring. The result, with the last week of fine weather, soil that is already workable! First planting of peas, Sugar Ann and Sugar Spring, went in today! |
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Tue, 28 Mar 2006 |
 Except for a few patches around the edges, the snow has left the fields and the garden beds are drying out nicely in the current warm and sunny spell. Now, the season's weather monitoring really begins. In market gardening, watching the weather is more exciting than stressful. With a great variety of crops and many successive plantings during the year, the vagaries of the weather (even extreme changes) can be accommodated with many small adjustments to planting times, cold protection and so forth. Being small enough and sufficiently diversified to make adjustments quite easily is an excellent farming advantage. In the end, with a well-planned crop and variety selection, the season's harvest tends to average out: conditions that may not be ideal for one thing, are almost surely great for another!
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Thu, 23 Mar 2006 |
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Over the last few days, the main and final sart-of-season seedling production began, with hundreds of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant seeds set out in their plug trays and cellpaks. This year, a slightly different approach to seedlings means starting later, and potting up and moving out from artificial light to the unheated greenhouse much earlier. Experimenting and and staying flexible is what small-scale farming is all about! |
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Thu, 16 Feb 2006 |
 First up for the new season, a variety of very early lettuces, destined for transplanting to the unheated greenhouse in March... Also already underway, various herbs, including varieties of curly and flat-leaf parsley! And the seed inventory is done, with the new seed order ready to go. The weather has been odd all winter, and there's no reason to expect other than more surprises to come. It will be an exciting farm year! :-)
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Sun, 01 Jan 2006 |
 Around here, the days apparently started getting longer at 1:35pm on Dec. 21, so that seemed like a good official start for our new farming year. Still, the holidays were coming up - one way or another, a traditionally blurry time separating one year from the next. Or maybe it started back in October, when next year's garlic went into the ground, but that would've been confusing, with the old season not yet done. So now, there's New Year's, which seems all in all a fine time to begin our early season coverage of the 2006 farming season. Here we go...!
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Thu, 03 Nov 2005 |
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The "bigger" organic food gets (it continues to expand annually by at least 10 times the rate of the overall food industry, as it has done for the past 15 years), the faster and more radically it changes. Three things are happening, none of them surprising. First, organic food is getting less fresh: processed food is the dominant organic category (your organic pasta with your bottle of organic tomato sauce), and fresh fruits and vegetables are coming from a long way, often the same thousands of miles regular supermarket food travels, especially during winter and off-season months. Second, organic food is getting increasingly regulated. In North America, the US made organic food a matter of law in 2002, and Canada is about to follow, maybe as early as next year. The ability to fill out paperwork and read fine print has become a required organic farming skill (and that stuff tends to trickle down to the consumer, as in, having to read the fine print in your food labels). Third, big corporate control is quickly and not so quietly becoming a major factor in what you have available as, and the messages you hear about, organic food. This extends not only to the more obvious prepared products, but also to mass-produced fresh produce. Check this chart, Corporate Ownership of Organic Food Companies, to get an idea of what's going on. Whether any of this is BAD, well, it's really up to each of us to decide. It probably boils down to a single question: Who do YOU trust about the quality of your food? |
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Fri, 21 Oct 2005 |
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A good month later than usual, the first killing frost of the fall finally hit last night. The peppers and eggplant, hanging on quite well till now, are gone! The basil is blackened. Lettuce, beets, carrots, and even green onions survive, but really, it's all over now. While a couple of extra frost-free weeks were a definite bonus, at this point, it really is time to get on with cleaning up the field and preparing for spring! |
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Thu, 13 Oct 2005 |
 Fall is construction time, which usually means a load or two of rough-cut cedar from one of the local sawmills, and plans for a new or improved structure. Last year, we built a greenhouse with a steel and cedar frame. This year, besides the tables and bins that need building, the major project is a new farm stand. It's all hammer and nails!
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August is the new Spring... |
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Wed, 31 Aug 2005 |
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To follow up a dismally dry and hot first half of the 2005 growing season, the last month has been, well, like the perfect spring! Sunny, 70s days (we seem to slip in and out of metric here) and regular rain coming in gentle and steady, had the fall plantings of lettuce, bok choi, spinach and the like popping up in no time and thriving! What interesting weather...! |
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CSA Update |
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It's 2008 and the new farming year is underway! Sign-ups for 2008 are way ahead of any previous year, with both renewals and new members already in. Share prices have been increased for this season (the first increase since we began four years ago). The season will once again be 18 weeks, beginning around mid-June. This year, you're also encourage to visit the farm at least once, and a new farmwork program is being considered, where you can do some veggie gardening here in the field, in 4-hour blocks, when it's convenient to you. If you're interested in CSA with us for 2008, here are the details for our farm, and the new 2008 printable sign-up form (or email or call for one to be mailed!). And there's more CSA info in the FAQs.
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Come grow with us! |
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If you're in the Lindsay area any time this Spring or Summer and are looking to volunteer or for some part-time work on a real, live organic microfarm, get in touch! You'll enjoy a little fresh air and exercise, probably learn some stuff, and definitely have a good time (as long as your heart's in it!). Come for a day, or set up a regular schedule. All ages welcome, no experience necessary, any sort of personal interest in small scale growing or gardening plus a cheerful disposition are required! Enquire here! |
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