Farm Life Vegetables and Berries

Snowfall

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 still have a few unfinished field chores – including, notably, garlic planting, which needs to be completed before the cold weather settles in for good. This year, in response to popular demand, we will be planting 15,000 garlic cloves. And so it is that another season draws to a close, filled to the brim as usual with its lot  of memorable, and not-so-memorable, moments. If we had to pick a single word to describe 2016, however, it would have to be hot, declined in a multiplicity of forms – as in drought, dry well and low pond – but transposed (thank goodness) into a symphony of flavours and tastes. The theory is hardly scientific, but I am possessed of an iron conviction that vegetables only reach their fullest potential when confronted by a trinity of earth, water and (lots of) sun – and on this last front, we were very well served this year. We thank you for your support this season, for your kind words of encouragement and your constructive criticism….Meanwhile, we wish you the best of québécois winters and look forward to seeing you again in 2017.

Fenêtre embuée - Foggy Window

In this week’s basket, our ‘touski’ special – québécois for tout ce qui reste, i.e. farm produce for a hearty mulligan stew – or whatever else tickles your fancy. As indicated last week, we’ll be topping the basket up with extra vegetables to make up for the shortfall of our first basket of the season. Please note that we’ll be sending out a survey next week to garner your views on what we do well and … less well. We’d appreciate your taking the necessary time to fill it out, it will help us improve our offer going forward. We look forward to seeing you all again.