Your organic farm in the Eastern Townships
Everything has been stored away – tractors, farm implements, geotextile tarps. What really needs protecting from winter’s rigours has found a spot in a barn or a greenhouse. Otherwise, it will have to weather winter, as we do not yet have enough space for all the farm equipment we have accumulated over the years. While…
There’s nothing quite like an inch of freshly fallen snow to signal to this vegetable farmer that the time has come to end the grand ball of 2016. A harbinger of a possibly colder, snowier winter than recent ones, it was a mere dusting, really, but one that fell/felt like a cold shower, as we…
This week’s post is strictly informational, to let you know how we plan to end basket deliveries as we head towards late October and the season’s end. As per the original 2016 schedule, we have two weeks of ‘official’ deliveries left – i.e. this week and the next. As you may recall, however, given a smaller-than-usual…
The nights have been crisp – actually, downright frigid – these past few days, and to this farmer, at least, the end is apparent. There is something in the cool October air that announces a season’s dusk. Maybe it’s the pale green of the field beans, or the light brown of the dying galinsoga –…
Already October, so it’s into the final stretch. Weather conditions are definitely not as expected this time of year – Wednesday’s forecast is for 23 degrees Celsius under sunny skies – but the telltale signs of a waning growing season are nevertheless evident. For starters, harvesting at 6 in the morning (the usual start time…
The bell tolled this weekend for some of our solanaceas. Two nights at zero degrees was all it took to fell our eggplants, peppers and nearly all our unprotected tomatoes. The same goes for our beans and summer squash. Our covered solanaceas – the lucky ones protected by our tunnels and in our unheated field…
If we had to wait for the first frost this year before harvesting our winter squash, chances are the wait would have been a long one. During one brief staff meeting it was decided that we would not test our patience given the multitude of other farm chores that await us in coming weeks. It…
The farmer’s dilemma at Arlington Gardens this week : with how many varieties of lettuce can we ply our customers over a given time period? An existential question which returns to haunt us every season. Our field plan calls for staggered harvest dates for successive varieties of lettuce, but — surprise, surprise – 3 varieties with…
It’s hard to believe, but we’re already at week 12 of the season! The month of September signals yet another transition, this time towards fall vegetables – beginning with the spaghetti squash you’ll find in your baskets this week. Exceptionally, we feel like we are harvesting them against their will – a reluctance to be…
Following on last year’s epic fail, tomato-wise, I had promised some of you that 2016 would be ‘The Year of the Tomato’ at the farm. Indeed, after a disastrous season for Solanum Lycopersicum last summer, I resolved to take all necessary measures, and then some, to guarantee this year’s production, in terms of both quantity…