Your organic farm in the Eastern Townships
Had someone told me that I would be able to serve up tomatoes in the third week of October, I would have smirked, guffawed, or perhaps both,in a manifestation of total disbelief.In truth, no tomato plant can go unprotected this long in the fields, particularly if it has been subjected to three hard frosts and…
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…
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…
Have you noticed them lately?The first cool nights of August,an infallible sign that summer has reached its point of inflection, an impossible-to-ignore indication that – despite the many beautiful days still to come – we are slowly but surely entering into autumn. For all the plants in our fields, the cool nights are an open…
Following a few false starts, summer has finally arrived –its presence was timid at first, but has become brash and unapologetic over the past weekend. It was about time : solanaceas and cucurbits are not philosolic for philosolia’s sake. Indeed there exists a long list of vegetables that need a double dose of heat – tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and…
From the long list of tasks performed over the past week,I would like to highlight the mowing of two fields of rye.Rye is my go-to last-recourse cover crop, i.e. what I use when nothing else can/will do. The toughest of the tough, rye keeps on growing when all other green manures stop. That’s why I…
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…
May has made us forget one of the coolest and rainiest Aprilswe have experienced since we started the farm.Creatures of habit, we have become accustomed to the milder winters, and drier and warmer springs, that have become the norm. This year has proven such an exception to the new rule that it was only at…
It’s mid-April already, and we’re dealing with the fall-out of a wet spring. Soaked fields, muddy roads and overcast skies. It seems that’s what it is for now, we’re still searching for a certain Justin’s ’sunnier ways’…Not that all this matters much, as our season prep continues, and the arrival of the first members of…
Just as Spring was springing, I opened our seedling greenhouse. It is always with the same excitement, the same sequence of events, that I reconnect the pump of our artesian well, fire up the furnaces, and check that everything is in working order…It is only once the water is running and the heat is flowing…