Your organic farm in the Eastern Townships
There were about ten of them visiting us at the farm this afternoon.A mix of agrologists and market farmers, all interested in some of our agricultural practices, particularly with respect to the fertilization of vegetables in our cold greenhouses. You see, it is difficult to do green manures in greenhouses:greenhouse space is not at all…
Environment Canada is calling for blue skies and warm weather.That’s great news.It means we can confirm that we will be delivering garlic orders to drop-off points on Wednesday and Thursday, and we invite market subscribers to come pick up theirs this weekend as well. We will explain how best to store it at home, and…
If ever there were a sign that autumn is truly upon us,I witnessed it this morning while walking the fields of the farm.We’re still a far cry from end-of-season desolation, but the changing hues of our pastures and our perennial plants are an indication that we are surreptitiously slipping into the final stages of the…
I do not know what to make of these summer temperaturesexcept that we decided to set up our sprinklers today, which we had stored in our red barn a while ago. It was necessary, given that we are experiencing the most intense and prolonged dry spell so far of this erratic summer. I’m not complaining…
Do not go thinking that I actually have timeto read during the summer,but I do sometimes come across a text, a fragment of literature, courtesy of the internet, that piques my curiosity or tickles my fancy. This time, it’s the discovery of a short story by Dostoevsky that I had not heard of before, but…
The week has begun with a chill and our activities have followed suit.We are cleaning up fields that have already been harvested and doing an early harvest of winter squash, even though the full process will stretch until mid-September. Most importantly, though, we are focusing on planting another large batch of leafy vegetables, which has…
The week has begun with some particularly fall-like activities,like the harvesting of our first winter squash, the spaghettini, which should find its way into this week’s baskets. The plants were starting to turn yellow, which is a clear sign that it’s time to remove the fruits from the fields. We also thought you’d enjoy our small summer…
The week has begun under grey and rainy skies,and the recent humidity is beginning to affect the condition of some vegetables in the fields. You may have noticed that there are no more cucumbers in your baskets, as the plants have suffered from the excess moisture, which has led to the spread of various kinds…
It is sad to see an old barn go up in smoke…yet this is exactly what happened to a farmer friend who has just lost a chunk of family heritage, vestige of a bygone agricultural world. His barn, a structure of blissful simplicity which I used to glance at every time I passed by on…
“Where the forest is, Chateaubriand is believed to have said, there is the homeland: forests precede civilizations and deserts follow them.“ This quotation attributed to Chateaubriand,though no one seems to be able to find it in his writings or correspondence, has haunted me ever since I discovered it while browsing a web page. What did…