Your organic farm in the Eastern Townships
The heatspell of the past two day has, as if by magic, erased all memories of the ridiculous weather we had been having up to now. We’ve turned the corner into full-on summer, and there will likely be no looking back until October, when we will have had our fill of languid summer temperatures. Meanwhile,…
We’ve had no choice but to weather the weather, so to speak – and to compensate for its vagaries, unpredictability and liquid excesses by throwing this year’s crop rotation out the window…Or so it seems, given the past few weeks at Arlington Gardens. We know a wet field when we see one, and a dry…
This month of April will clearly have been the wettest one in a very long while. The water levels in our irrigation pond are the highest we’ve ever seen, and our fields are sodden. Fortunately, we will be starting our earliest field plantings under the cover of our big greenhouse. I should no better than…
Spring is finally in the air, complete with rising temperatures and thawing soil. The fields are waterlogged and we’ve begun to spot the occasional intrepid cyclist, all telltale signs of the impending change of season. But none of that really matters, as we focus our undivided attention on the season’s prep: the greenhouse has been…
Confounding March…The last days’ rainfall has erased all traces of snow remaining in the fields. Everything is laid bare, exposed to nature’s vagaries and the bitter cold which continues, despite a fast-approaching spring (on our calendar page, if nowhere else). Temperatures dropped below -20⁰C last weekend and the forecast is for more of the same…
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…