Taking Off Like Crazy

Things are taking off like crazy in the fields.There is nothing like above-normal temperatures to spark this kind of frenzy. Add to that substantial rainfall, and suddenly it’s a race to see what outgrows what. While an excess of growth is heartwarming for this market gardener,it might come at a high price because the weeds…

Of Heatwaves, Virgil & Vegetables

As I write these lines, we are experiencing the first heatwave of the season.I will refrain from being unduly alarmist; we will likely see two or three of them over the course of the summer, and typically—if the past is any indication of the future—they should not last long.I will not do a tour of…

Dry Spell

We had been eagerly awaiting this week, and it exceeded all expectations.Dry as a stray blade of hay adrift in a Manitoba heatwave, it allowed us to make up for lost time, moving and reinstalling the caterpillar tunnels which shelter our nightshade vegetables, planting our winter squash and many other vegetables, weeding the first carrots…

Rollercoaster

We had almost lost hope, as May had been so cool and rainy.Would we be able to get into the fields, plant in time; would the sun shine; would the air warm up? These were the questions we kept asking ourselves over the weeks, wondering what the first baskets of the season would look like.…

May, At Last

We were starting to worry.Early May already, and nary a break in the weather: rain, gray skies, and more rain. We were heading into the kind of spring that farmers dread – wet, muddy, troublesome. But the gods had other plans, blessing us here and there with brief respites – two or three days of…

April, Already

Our seedling greenhouse is two-thirds full, and already,the seeds planted recently are starting to sprout.Onions, leeks, peppers, eggplants, lettuces, herbs, cruciferous vegetables – each grows at its own pace. Some will not appear for another twenty days or so (such as parsley or lovage), while others, much more impatient, are already reaching for the light.…

Another Year, Another Season

 We hope you have had a lovely winter and that, like us, you are looking forward to the transition to milder weather, if not yet outright summer. We are pleased to announce the start of the growing season and the opening of registrations for our 2025 CSA baskets andmarket ‘loyalty’ cards.We took full advantage of…

Another Season Ends

And this is how the season ends, with a mix of light rain and sunny breaks.The week ahead is forecast to be rather cold, but it matters little, as everything has been packed away, hidden and put back in its place on the farm. In fact, this is what our cold greenhouses look like now,…

Seeking Cover Crops

C’est triste Orly, le dimanche, Brel said in one of his last songs,and I would say the same was true of the feeling I got as I trekked through my fields during this week’s Monday morning tour of the farm. A blue sky and bright sunshine might have been all that was needed to alter…

Sub Zero

They were predicting a chilly -10 degrees Celsius for last night,and although the mercury did not drop that low, the fields were covered in frost this morning and wonderfully crunchy. I was worried about my leafy vegetables, which we had protected with nets, but you can only mess with nature so much, as few plants…