Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot

Following a week marked by the harsh reality of farming – for those of you who thought plagues, drought and pestilence were only biblical – there is great solace to be found in this week’s bountiful harvests, namely a bumper crop of garlic which we have been harvesting over the past 10 days, and a…

Mother Nature — A Harsh Mistress

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there is no denying it : we are unlikely to have blueberries this year, barring an unforeseen miracle. The last month of drought-like conditions has decimated our berries as they ripened – then dried – on the plants, falling to the ground before they could…

Irrigation Crossroads

We’re at a crossroads at the farm. The prolonged dry spell this month has just about run our main irrigation pond dry, and as it will only fill up again with fall rains and winter snows, we’re having to think long and hard about our irrigation options for the balance of the season. That said,…

Dog days of…July

The dog days of August have arrived in … July. Heavy, hot and phagocytic (sic), the likes of which we have not seen in a very long time – it is difficult to walk, let alone work, the fields when everything and everyone is weighed down by such an oppressive, heat-filled shroud. But the fields…

Sundays at the Farm

Sunday is my favourite day of the week, rain or shine. It’s a slower day, made for catching up on everything back-burnered during our busy weeks and for spending quality time with our plants, giving them the attention they lack while we are focused on basket prep and delivery. Better still are rainy Sundays, when…

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

As I write these lines, a late rain is beating down on the farmhouse tin roof, another one of the scattered downpours that interrupted our harvesting all day long today. Harvesting lettuce or radishes under stormy skies is not much fun, but when the time comes to harvest, there’s no turning back. That said, we…

Spring Rains

I write these lines wondering how spring will unfold – to date, the recent rainy weather, with more to come according to the latest forecasts, does not augur particularly well. Aligned in quasi-Roman infantry formation, tens of seedling trays are already set out on our outdoor hardening table, restlessly awaiting orders to deploy to the…

Waiting

Winter has given way to spring with an icy gasp, blanketing the fields with a late snow cover and taunting us with one last blast of blustery cold weather. In the face of this affront, we have decided to remain zen, cooling our jets as we postpone the start of our first seedlings by a…

2018 Season Launch

We have updated our website and are finalizing our field production, crop rotation and green manure plans – the season’s seed packs are sitting on our desk, waiting. AND SO IT IS THAT WE ARE HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THE START OF OUR 2018 CSA BASKET SEASON! In a previous note, we mentioned that we were…

Winter yo-yo

For now, anyway, winter is back. After a month of yo-yoing hot and cold, the first half of February has seemed almost normal, with a cold snap followed by abundant snowfall – much to the delight of our kids who were finding winter particularly dull this year. The snow was so abundant, in fact, that…