Your organic farm in the Eastern Townships
We’ve taken advantage of the recent dry spell to work on our drains. Well-drained fields are critical, as water can accumulate in undrained patches, a real headache when planting time rolls along. Some fields, given their soil composition and texture, drain naturally. Others need a little help. Not so long ago (in the 70s and…
Too much change in just a week. While winter never really settled in this year, at least the chill was sufficient to remind us that we do live in Canada, after all. But over the past few days, ‘place your bets, all bets are off!’ a climate croupier might say. We’ve gone from winter woollens…
Photo is of June Afternoon, by Konstantine Rodko, from the cover of the 1991 edition of Trente arpents by Flammarion. Trente arpents ( translated into English as « Thirty Acres, » but « Twenty-Five » would have been more accurate) is the tragic story of the rise and fall of turn-of-the-last-century farmer Euchariste Moisan, as told by québécois novelist…
We should have known this before embarking on our agricultural adventure, but it is only recently that we learned that the patron saint of gardeners is Saint Fiacre (Fiachra is an ancient pre-Christian name from Ireland). Apparently he was as effective at healing haemorrhoids as he was at growing turnips. Saint Fiacre, represented more often…
With the mercury dipping below 20 degrees Celsius in these parts, we can speak in earnest of winter delights (albeit sans snow). Our cold room is empty, the farm implements are stored and the few chores remaining to be completed without getting frostbitten have been ticked off our list. And so we resume writing, after…
The first fall frost welcomed us in the fields this morning. You know there is no turning back to summer once frost has hit, even if, as they are forecasting this Thanksgiving weekend, it is followed by a balmy Indian summer spell. While some vegetables resist, and even relish, frost (brocoli, jerusalem artichokes and lettuce,…
A week ago we held our first formal farm event for our CSA members, a méchoui . The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, after a couple of weeks of on-again, off-again rain – a balmy, sun-filled afternoon with nary a cloud in sight. We hadn’t really planned it when we chose the date, but…
But half the basket season still to go! Indeed, this week — Week 8 — marks the midpoint of the official 2011 growing season, even though the end of summer is just around the corner. The annual Perseid meteor shower peaked last week, our late season tomatoes are ripening on the vine, we’ve picked our…
The month of July was exhausting, with yo-yoing temperatures and countless fires to put out. August looks promising in comparison. We have begun harvesting the season’s first melons – they are truly delicious – as well as those summer stalwarts: eggplants, peppers and the quintessential tomato, which weighs heavy on the vine in great abundance…
Not much time to write, as we prepare for the deliveries of our first baskets before the Saint-Jean weekend…A few pictures are more telling than words : while we will continue to start plants from seed in the greenhouse through July, our recent focus has been on planting and transplanting in the field. Many mid- to…