Variable Weather

Go-with-the-flow is the watchwordwhich best captures the farmer’s stoic acceptance that it is Mother Nature who decides how one’s days are spent. This week is a case in point, as we compulsively await every Environment Canada weather update to plan our day, our week and our day of rest. The upcoming week is looking to be…

We’re off!

This entry marks the launch of our 2023 CSA basket deliveries!We’ve been busy over the last month, and what a month it has been! Four real frosts, some pretty chilly weather AND our first heat wave of the season…We did what we had to do, but it demanded an extraordinary expenditure of energy installing protective…

Going Full Tilt

One month since our last newsletter and the pace is really picking up. Seedling production is going full tilt, so much so that our seedling greenhouse extension is bursting at the seams. One of our big cold greenhouses is already full (with spinach, lettuce, beets and coriander…), the other two will be filled this week.…

Greenhouse Rituals

The opening of our seedling greenhouse is something of a ritual,a familiar routine that one cannot circumvent, a to-do list that one repeats year after year, albeit always with some apprehension: will the furnace fire up as it should – or not? Will there water flow – or not? Fortunately, the furnace started; but sure…

Another Year, Another Season

Although another winter chill is in the offing this weekend, it is high time for us to shift gears, to imagine for a moment that Spring is upon us, and to launch the 14th growing season at Arlington Gardens with great fanfare. We have already received most of our seeds (a source of endless delight),…

End-of-Season Vibe

There is a palpable end-of-season vibe at the farmwhich is manifest in our collective nostalgia for a summer that has truly ended, leaving way to an autumn that is now firmly ensconced. We smell it in the air we breathe in as we traipse through our empty fields and walk along the few remaining scattered…

Potluck!

We could not have asked for a more magnificent day for our 2022 Potluck.A good numer of you came for a farm visit cum harvest celebration, sharing a medley of salads, side dishes, main courses and desserts, all tantalizing and delicious. That said, the jury is still out on whether mid-October is the best time to host…

Fresh & Organic

A market customer asked me yesterday if market farmers eat betterthan most during the long winter months.Unfortunately, I had to admit that we too despair in winter, particularly when our supplies run out and even we have to trudge off to the grocery store for our weekly provisions. I exaggerate, but only a bit. Most…

Mid-Season

Week 12 of 23, almost mid-season already,so I must seize this opportunity to mention a couple of things that will soon be upon us. First, our potluck dinner.It will be on October 10, Thanksgiving Monday. The concept is simple : you will be asked to confirm your participation by email; to bring a dish of your…

Alea jacta est

The weather forecast is looking a bit iffy, but no matter, alea jacta est –in other words, come what may, our CSA basket deliveries begin this week on June 8-9 and 10, the first of 22 weeks for our neighbourhood drop-off locations and at the farm. Deliveries at our market farm stands will run 19 weeks beginning…