Your organic farm in the Eastern Townships
March is a difficult month for vegetable farmers – a real no man’s land. It snows, it rains, it snows again, and daily temperatures go up and down like a yo-yo. It’s not as if we could begin fieldwork anyway – even without snow the soil will remain waterlogged well into April, and no self-respecting…
It is time to overcome our writer’s block. Two months have sped by, far from the computer, but never far from the farm and farmwork. We had left off at fieldwork to be completed…We never did get around to mulching the garlic with straw; it will have to wait until spring. To avert boredom during…
Our last basket delivery is already upon us…the season has flown by and the first frosts have arrived, a boon for fall vegetables that thrive in cooler weather (Brussels sprouts, for example). September was wet, cold and generally unkind to our last lettuces, though, so regretfully, we’ll have to wait until next year for another…
Agriculture in northern climes means rushing like crazy to get everything planted in the field before the summer heat. Quebec seasons being what they are, the planting window is narrow indeed. Consider this spring: after an unseasonably hot May, we are now facing an unusually rainy early June. Neither is optimal for farmers looking to…
It’s been more than two weeks since our last post, but many things had to get done to launch our field production…After a chilly start which may have cost us a few cauliflowers, we are now experiencing an early heat wave, and watering freshly planted vegetables and fragile root systems has been an absolute priority.…
We could have planned it better, but the need for a greenhouse of our own has become pressing, so we decided to build one in our “spare” time. Ideally, it would have been best to wait until the end of the summer when everything is planted and we only have a few weeks of basket…
You may be wondering what farmers do in April when they’re not in the greenhouse. While they may be doing seasonal maintenance on farm equipment in preparation for the summer, more likely they are starting work in their fields, provided said fields are dry enough for a tractor or a rotary tiller. Proper soil preparation…
We finally succumbed to the subtle pressure of friends and family for whom a farm without farm dogs is not a farm. Allow us therefore to introduce you to Maggy, a two-year-old black Labrador retriever, and her five pups, now four weeks old. We would have liked to know the father, but what matters most…
Weed control is an obsession for the organic farmer who is constantly seeking to minimize the time spent weeding (a thankless chore, according to most). Take fall garlic, for instance. Planted in October, it spends winter in a dormant state, but is quick to sprout as soon as spring temperatures beckon. Unfortunately, it does not…
As March ends, it is time for us to order our laying hens to ensure they arrive towards the middle of May. Hen selection seems easy enough, but it’s more complicated than it appears. Unlike broilers that arrive as one- or two-day old chicks, layers come aged 18 to 19 weeks. They usually start to…