Fertile Ground

Bee Friendly Farming

2012-02-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

Fertile Ground is the 1st in Canada to certify as a Bee Friendly Farm! Pollination Canada (a branch of Seeds of Diversity) has recently partnered with Partners for Sustainable Population to bring the program north.

The widely-reported disappearance ofhoneybees (called Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD) brought public attention tothe issues facing both honeybee populations and native pollinators. Some common factors that affect CDD are nutritional stress (due to a lack ofaccess to a wide variety of forage plants), and exposure to pesticides which weaken & confuse the bees, leaving them susceptible to a variety of parasite and disease pressures. Native bee populations also suffer due to lack of appropriate habitat forthem to build nests. Pollinator health is a key food security issue, as since bees (as the insect group which does the majority of pollination work) are responsible for 30% of the crops produced in the world.

Bee Friendly Farming (BFF) is an initiativethat encourages growers to improve pollinator healthy by increasing awareness of thebest management practices for bees. Applicants self-certify by answering 10 questions about practices such asgrowing native plants and appropriate forage, minimizing pesticide exposure,providing water access, and protecting nesting habitats. I'm really excited to learn more, and to host a Pollinator Party/Work Bee at the farm - likely the 1st Saturday of June - where we'll plant some native pollinator-friendly flowers, learn to identify some native bees and learn more about our honeybee hives from our farm beekeeper.

Here are some pics of some of our "bee pasture"...

This one has a bumblebee in the foreground, and some other kind of bee in the background I don't (yet) know how to identify:

Honeybee:

Zucchini blossoms which are often home to sleeping native Squash Bees:

If you're intrigued, you can follow Friendly Farming on their facebook page.

Organic Council of Ontario Award Nomination!

2012-01-27T16:03:00.002-05:00

Hey! Fertile Ground has been nominated for the Outstanding Horticultural Producer/CSA category at the 2012 Organic Council of Ontario Awards!

Some other local businesses are also up for nomination:
The Kitchener Farmers Market for Outstanding Direct Farm Marketing
Cafe Pyrus, Vincenzo's & Indulge Kitchen for Outstanding Retailer
Pfennings Organics for both the Outstanding Supplier and the Innovation categories

Click here for a full list of awards & nominees.

Go Waterloo Region - way to represent! So glad to be part of an awesome, growing, local, organic food system here.

The value of a share

2011-12-11T10:46:00.001-05:00

I've been entering data bit by bit over the past few weeks, calculating the $ value of what went into each share over the past season. I estimate values every week, but like to crunch the numbers a little more carefully at the end of the year to see more precisely what the shares were worth, from a purely monetary perspective.

As weekly targets, I'm aiming for:
Small share - $375/season = avg of $19.74/wk of produce
Regulare share - $650/season = $34.21/wk

Turns out this was a great year to be a CSA member!

Small shareholders received an average of $21.38/wk of produce - an 8% bonus.
Regular shareholders received $39.08/wk of produce - a whopping 14% bonus!

This of course doesn't take into consideration any of the intangible benefits of CSA membership - the interactions with other community members, having a direct connection with your grower, opportunities for pick-your-own, wholesale pricing on bulk veggies for your freezer, building a vibrant & secure local food system, and access to the best quality veggies the farm is able to produce.

The beauty of CSAs is the way risk & bounty are shared so farmers don't carry such a heavy burden of risk alone. It's a pleasure to be able to share the bounty, knowing that in other years I may have to ask members to take smaller shares if factors beyond my control decrease yields significantly. Thanks so much to my incredible members for your faith, trust and support.

A sampling of some of the CSA beauty from 2011:

2011-11-06T12:35:00.002-05:00

"Organic farming is far superior to conventional systems when it comes to building, maintaining and replenishing the health of the soil. For soil health alone, organic agriculture is more sustainable than conventional. When one also considers yields, economic viability, energy usage, and human health, it’s clear that organic farming is sustainable, while current conventional practices are not."

Results from a 30 year side-by-side comparative study of organic vs conventional farming trials.

More productive. More profitable. More sustainable. Looks like organic IS the way to feed the world.

Garlic

2011-10-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

It's garlic-planting time. Actually, it's getting on the late side to plant garlic already...but it's been awfully wet the past couple of weeks so we're a bit behind schedule. This year we're excited to trial a few types of heirloom garlic from Seeds of Diversity's Great Canadian Garlic Collection. Not sure yet which varieties we're going to get, but they're bound to be an interesting diversion from the standard 'Music' grown almost solely by most Canadian garlic producers.

You may have noticed that Ontario garlic is particularly expensive this year. The wet/drought combination were hard on the crop, and nematode damage was pervasive. (As point of reference, this fall organic seed garlic is priced at $9/lb!! Steep!) It's the nematode damage that's most concerning though - these little microscopic worm-like parasites overwinter on affected cloves & start back in with their eating come spring. We only experienced some mild nematode damage this year, but the problem can compound from year to year & become quite devasting.

There's a tricky heat treatment that's supposed to help, recommended by the Garlic Grower's Association of Ontario... but it involves treating the bulbs in a hot water bath at exactly 120F for 20 minutes - something I'm pretty skeptical of my ability to accomplish with a mere pot & stove element. The window between killing the nematode and killing the garlic cloves is awfully narrow!! Which is the worse risk...losing my 2012 crop to nematode damage, or losing it to death by cooking? Need to answer this internal debate soon or it'll be too late to plant.

In better news, other than nematode treatment, the garlic is cracked & ready to put in the ground, thanks to the help of our awesome members who tackled breaking apart most of 70lb of cloves at CSA pick-ups a couple of weeks ago!

Challenge & Gratitude

2011-10-05T08:29:00.000-04:00

So far, every season has been quite different from the ones before: weather, staffing, CSA size and the particular challenges of growing have changed from year to year. It’s been quite the learning curve. This past year started with the familiar (but particularly extreme) cool/wet challenge, but then hit us hard with hot drought. I feel like all we did in July was harvest and wrestle with drip tape. We also struggled with operating short-handed for much of June & July after Sarah left her internship, and until Carrie came aboard to help us out.

Cool, wet weather tends to contribute to disease issues; whereas hot, dry conditions favour pests. This year was definitely the year of the worm. We had tomato hornworms, cabbage loopers and woolly bear caterpillars in quantities I’ve never seen before. The flea beetle was particularly aggressive as well. All the critters got under the row cover and in some cases (broccoli) ate so much greenery there were only leaf spines left! Distressing, to say the least. But not as distressing as our biggest problem this season: a chronic boron deficiency which has been liquefying many of our cabbage crops, reducing them to putrid goo. I’m still worried about the quality & quantity of our fall vegetables. The late season kale, cabbage, turnips, rutabaga, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, kohlrabi and asian greens have all been significantly affected by worm and boron damage.

(An example of the boron damage goo-ifying the core of a turnip root.)

So yes. Challenges aplenty. But it makes me reflect again on how fortunate I am to be growing in the context of supportive community. We couldn’t have survived this season otherwise. We had an incredible squadron of committed volunteers show up to help through the really intense months of June & July, CSA members who stoically (even jovially!) spent hours removing rotting cabbages & squishing looper worms at our September work bee. People have dropped off meals on my doorstep and sent encouraging notes. And you – along with the fantastic market & Bailey’s customers – have continued to feed ME by providing our best year of sales yet.

Together, we’re doing something pretty incredible here. We’re creating a food system buffered from the vagaries of the world market. I ache for my neighbouring farmers whose stunted corn will have low yields, sold too cheaply at world commodity prices; whose poor hay crops will likely lead to smaller livestock sold too cheaply at the stockyards; and who will likely have to work more hours off-farm to inject income back into their farms this winter.

We are, instead, contributing to a healthy local food system. We’re building true food security by buffering risk and sharing labour over a broader base. You’re supporting me with a reasonable wage so I can continue to grow your food into the future. We’re building our community’s food-growing skills. We’re strengthening our resilience. A year like this one could have been a disaster, but instead it’s been our most profitable. I am encouraged and deeply grateful.
(From the October CSA newsletter)

Volunteers from our Labour Day Work Bee - squishing cabbage loopers & culling the rotty cabbage heads...

... picking beans...

..trimming garlic...

...and rolling up the used drip tape.

A huge thank-you to all who have supported Fertile Ground by volunteering, purchasing shares, buying from us at market or Bailey's, sharing my excitement, or offering words of support, encouragement or advice.

Pretty Food

2011-09-18T18:49:00.001-04:00

Sometimes the food is just so pretty! Thought I'd post a few pics for you to enjoy.

This afternoon was the Foodlink Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event - we were paired with 7 Shores Cafe and they made some spectacularly pretty spring rolls with our beets, carrots, arugula, tatsoi, tomatillos & hot peppers.

Here's some of the gorgeous, big sweet peppers from our last CSA pick-up:

And the super-pretty Chinese 5 Colour hot peppers in the greenhouse - they look like multi-coloured Christmas lights growing right on the plants!

Oh - and this isn't food (for me at least) but I have to post a pic of this little guy I found hiding in a stack of greenhouse trays just outside the wash station. Maybe not exactly pretty, but awfully cute.

Tomato Victory

2011-08-31T09:56:00.000-04:00

As a follow-up to my previous post, thought I'd share a few pics of the luscious victory in the tomato patch this year. There's some blight out there, but so far it's under control & the fruits of this year's labour are absolutely spectacular!

And the biggest prize yet? Striped German weighing in at 2lb 9oz (yes, my friends, that is >2 1/2 lbs!)

I have been absolutely gorging myself on tasty heirlooms this year. Flavour winners in my books? Striped German (above), Brandywine, Oxheart, Black Krim, Persimmon.

Come find some at market while they last...

Taste Local! Taste Fresh!

2011-08-21T12:04:00.001-04:00

Foodlink's 8th Annual Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event will be taking place Sunday, September 18, 2-5 pm in St. Jacobs on the banks of the Conestoga River.

This event features a sampling of the region's best from local farmers and chefs.

Local farms are paired with chefs from local restaurants & each team prepares a tasty food item for you to enjoy as you stroll the picturesque grounds while listening to the Tim Louis Jazz Trio and sampling some local wine & beer as well. Guests will be able to meet and chat with chefs about the art of cooking and farmers about the food they grow.

Fertile Ground has been paired with Seven Shores in Waterloo, and Sidney & I will be there to greet you as you sample the fare.

The early-bird price is $65 (includes all tastings and pottery dish) until September 1. Last year they sold out in August!

To purchase tickets online, click here

For details, check out the Foodlink event page, call 519-513-8998, or email info@foodlink.ca

Swarm

2011-08-14T16:24:00.000-04:00

On Friday we lost 1/2 a hive at the farm. Sad day. That said, watching the swarm was one of the coolest things I've done in a long time. I was at the wash station when I heard a strange humming sound & thought maybe one of the volunteers had left their car running. Upon investigation, I discovered it was coming from the crazy swarm of bees leaving one of the hives. It looked like this when I stood in the middle of it:

(The blurry dots around the little walnut tree aren't pixels..they're swarming honeybees!)

Here's a bunch of them sitting on the tree leaves:

And here's what I saw forming when I looked up:

Called Sarah Hemingway to see about catching the swarm (since beekeeper Trina was on vacation) & she brought out an empty super to try to entice them, but sadly they had other ideas & got away while we were in the field weeding.

The other 1/2 of the colony will have remained in their hive with the original queen. They were likely overcrowded & decided to let a new queen hatch - a new queen which 1/2 the bees will have taken to a new home in the wild. As I understand it, this is sad for honey production on a number of levels:
1. 1/2 the population of the hive has been lost, depleting productive potential for the rest of the season.
2. The 1/2 that left will have gorged themselves on honey in preparation for their departure, depleting existing supplies as well.

Wish I could've caught them leaving & followed them to their new home - though I'm not sure anything could have beeen done to recapture them once they'd settled. Sad day for honey at Fertile Ground, but it was a pretty spectacular thing to witness.

Tomatoes: that ubiquitous yet elusive fruit

2011-08-10T22:18:00.000-04:00

As August unfolds, I am delighting in my first taste of summer's most luscious yet frustratingly short-lived fruit. For how ubiquitous they are, their harvest window is awfully short in this part of the world - 2 months of fresh tomatoes is a really exceptional season. Sometimes we just get 1. Amazing. I am going to enjoy every mouthful of this month.

They begin here, in April:

6-8 weeks later, depending on last frost, we plant them out:

We've had lots of trouble with blight in past years, so this year I decided to try a new approach. Fewer tomatoes & more infrastructure. We mulched them to keep the soil from being splashed up on their leaves.
(Johnny was carrying the last bale out just before this picture was taken..I swear!)

Then we set up some high-tensile trellising to support them up off the ground, and have been pruning them weekly to encourage lots of air flow and allow the leaves to dry out. Blight loves hot, damp conditions, so we're out to foil it. I bought high-tensile electrical wire, tensioners, and lots of T-bars. It started out well, with volunteer Thomas taking the lead on stake pounding:

However, the wire, which was only available in a 2500' roll, quickly sprang to disaster when unclipped. Imagine 2500' of stiff wire crossed and tangled like a 100lb ball of yarn. I swore a lot. Occasionally, Thomas & I found some good humour. I only took phots of the good-humoured moments. Don't be deceived...

We did finally get the wire strung and pulled taught with the high tensile reels.

The next task was to prune the tomatoes down to 2-4 main stems & clip them to the wires. Nobody tell me I don't have a green thumb.

We've been pruning them & clipping them to higher wires weekly ever since - here they are recently with their 1st fruits ripening!

And finally...their 1st CSA appearance last Friday!

Now...lest you mistakenly think we have won the battle this year, I need to point out that I'm pretty sure I've seen early signs of blight in the crop. We're diligently pruning out any affected leaves to try to stave it off. So far so good but Tuesday's rain may have worked against us. Also, we've had a brand new alien appear at the farm this year: Hornworms! These disgustingly large beasts are a nasty brute to squish and many of us have been seriously gooed in the process already.

Yes..that is a bucket of its companions in the background... here's a close-up. My intern Carrie & I had a squish-fest with these guys after an understandably queasy-stomached volunteer collected them while pruning...

Here's to plenty of blts, pastas, salads, salted slices, quiches, wraps, sauces, salsa and other tomato-y goodness. I'm just saying, these fruits are elusive at a farm scale...they better be GOOD.

CSA member Claire gets Record coverage

2011-07-24T00:22:00.000-04:00

Thought some of you might be interested in reading this article about Claire - one of of our CSA members who volunteers regularly at market and sometimes in the fields. She's 17, a gourmet cook, and on an 18 month 100 Mile Challenge. Pretty exceptional!

Here's the article: Everything Just Tastes Better

In other news, the best market exchange of the day (which made Claire & I almost choke from laughing) went as follows:

Man, holding out a bunch of our radishes in front of the till: "How much for these?"
Us: $1.50
*man reaches in pocket*
Woman: "Those are organic"
*man pauses, glancing curiously at her*
Woman, forcefully and with a pointed stare: "I never eat organic."
*man, confused-looking but dutiful, slowly returns the radishes & walks away*

Yup. Watch out. Those organic radishes might just kill you.

Article in The Record

2011-06-27T19:12:00.001-04:00

Well looks like I got some nice newspaper coverage in The Record today. The reporter did a pretty good job of capturing my emphasis on community-building as well as food production.

Little helpers with big hats

2011-06-16T18:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I had 5 little ones & 3 moms out at the farm in the morning. They "helped" by washing out the harvest crates in preparation for our 1st CSA pick-up tomorrow (wheee!!!), but mostly they put on fancy sunhats & ran through the hayfield. Adorable.

Almost ready to harvest

2011-06-11T14:04:00.000-04:00

The sun has been fantastic the past couple of weeks - I'm actually happy to get rain again today so we don't have to start irrigating the new seedlings we've been planting just yet. Thought I'd post a few pictures of how things are looking - we'll be starting harvest next week with a 1st CSA pick-up on June 17th and our 1st Saturday at Kitchener Market a week later on June 25th!

Here's a few of the greens, almost ready to go:

Fava beans flowering - so pretty!

Also pretty - some chive & sweet william flowers:

Still-green strawberries getting me excited for my first taste of fresh fruit in months:

Sweet little kohlrabies balling up nicely:

And a couple shots of the nightshade seedlings we were finally able to get in the ground:

Oh! And check out the size of the zucchini plants just transplanted at our Work Bee less than 2 weeks ago:

Can't wait to start feeding people again...

Work Bee

2011-05-24T23:34:00.001-04:00

I love our holiday Monday work parties. I spent much of last week obsessively checking the weather, worried that this one would be thunderstormed out. But the rain gods were smiling down on us (or maybe just momentarily distracted) and we managed to escape the entire work day entire dry (we won't talk about the deluge in the evening that left big puddles in the newly-planted shallots and pounded the bejeebers out of the wee carrots...).

We are for a brief moment entirely caught up with our planting! This feels awesome after weeks of being held up due to too much wet weather. Here's what we did.

Planted all the zukes & cukes & tucked them under row cover, safe from the nasty striped cucumber beetle:

Trellised the peas:

Planted flowers, shallots & celeriac:

Seeded tatsoi, chinese broccoli and radishes:

Spread compost on many beds planted prior to my neighbour being free to broadcast it with his manure spreader:

And hoed the swiss chard:

What an awesome day. Huge thanks to the stoic volunteers who braved the predicted storms to spend a day in the fields. You're all superstars. I wouldn't have handled the evening's downpour nearly so graciously without you!

Seedling Sale Madness

2011-05-22T16:13:00.000-04:00

It really was a crazy morning - HUGE thanks to all those who came out in support of local seedling vendors and gardening! Cheers to a great season of eating. I'll let the pictures more or less speak for themselves... what a fantastic day.

Taa, Sidney & Sarah setting up.

Little City Farm set-up.

Baking tent.

The line-up at 8:45.

The madness.

Slowing down a little.

And finally...a few of last year's seedlings late summer. Let this be an inspiration to you!! Dan measured them at 14'!! (Note the "little" eggplant still crowning Charlotte's head in the understory...)

We still have a few tomato seedlings left - be in touch if you're interested!

9th Annual Seedling Sale!

2011-05-15T12:40:00.000-04:00

Don't miss our 9th annual seedling sale on the Saturday of the Victoria Day Weekend: May 21st, 9-12:00.

Lots of organically-grown seedlings for your garden, including:
heirloom tomatoes
peppers
eggplant
kale
cucumbers
lettuce
tomatillos & ground cherries
broccoli
raspberry canes

Lots of herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, sage, mint & others)
Some perennials, annual flowers and more!

This year we will have 4 vendors: Fertile Ground CSA, Little City Farm, Sarah's Kitchen Gardens, and Tracie Seedhouse. More vendors means more seedlings - we should be almost doubling our supply this year so hopefully we won't sell out by 10am!

Karin will be baking delicious organic pies, wholegrain breads and other treats. There will also be a willow furniture making demonstration.

Payment by cash only.
Please bring your own box/tray to take seedlings home.
For more info, email info@littlecityfarm.ca or info@fertilegroundcsa.com

Welcome Interns!

2011-05-07T17:45:00.000-04:00

This was the 1st full field week of the year - inspired in equal parts by the arrival of the sun, and the arrival of interns Sarah and Sidney! I've been getting increasingly antsy to get things in the ground, but the rain has just kept coming. Finally got a couple days for things to dry out last week & started planting. We're still behind...but well on our way at least.

Sarah & Sidney planting the chard - 1st transplants of the season!

Sidney sowing the spring turnips.

Field full of brassicas - Sarah & Kata adding more.

And now...back to napping for me... I can hardly believe how much this 1st week wiped me out!

Field Sproutage

2011-04-30T17:50:00.000-04:00

Did a field walk today & guess what I found?

That is one of the 1st wee beet babies to have popped up!

Peas are sprouting too, but I forgot to take a picture of those.

Also - garlic is looking awesome & sturdy:

And speaking of garlic, Johnny took me on a walk through Victoria Park today where he showed me some patches of wild garlic and nettle! They're going in the soup pot tonight with some re-sprouted green onions from last fall, a handful of sorrel and a wrinkled potato or 2 from the dregs of the storage bins. CAN'T WAIT!

"Real Farmers, Real Local"

2011-04-23T21:59:00.001-04:00

So the Kitchener Farmers Market is adopting the Farmers Markets Ontario VERIFIED Farmers' Market Vendor system. Under this process, truly local producers selling only their own products can become "Verified Local" vendors & be identified as such so it is clearer to customers what they are buying.

According to the program backgrounder, "Farmers were being literally squeezed out of existing markets by resellers who continued to glut the market with food terminal sell-offs and, in some cases, told there was no room for them to sell at market.... FMO [Farmers Markets Ontario] is hopeful that we will start a trend where only real farmers with their own products will be found at markets across Ontario."

Awesome!

There will be annual inspections of "Verified Local" farms to make sure no one's cheating (the application form was quite involved!), and best of all the Kitchener Market & FMO are paying for the process so it's no extra cost to farmers. Watch for this designation when you're shopping this summer!!

Only 2 months until we start showing up for market again - hooray!

Ruby's Out!

2011-04-13T20:01:00.000-04:00

After a field walk last night, I decided I could try a little ground prep today - got on the tractor for the 1st time this spring! Had to boost her off the car (with a CD case jammed onto the car's gas pedal to give a little extra juice while I tried to get Ruby's engine to turn over) but the whole ordeal was pretty quick & painless hooray!

Hooked up the discs & took her for a spin.

Hoping to plant the peas and carrots in the freshly prepped area by the end of the week! Here's how it looks:

Pretty exciting....

Oh - and speaking of exciting - here's how the garlic is looking now:

And the greenhouse:

Feeling pretty high on sunshine & veggie potential right now. Bring on the season!!

Garlic is up!

2011-04-04T20:32:00.000-04:00

Walked the fields today, and discovered that the garlic we planted last fall has popped up & is looking BEAUTIFUL! So exciting to see something actually growing in the newly-melted fields.

Here's a few more pics of the fields today. 1st the dead oat cover crop (as it should be!)

Dead kale is oddly pretty.

And a few signs of recent critter visitors. Hopefully they'll find a food source elsewhere before the greens & peas start growing...

The goal for today?

2011-03-28T09:36:00.001-04:00

The goal for today is to start 50 flats of seedlings at reroot organic farm, and NOT to spend 4 hrs digging myself out of a mid-laneway snowbank with spade, hoe & (seriously) trowel.

Thank goodness for sunshine, defrosted soil in the greenhouse and the mad skills of Jesse with my car jack.

Of worm castings, puddles and tow trucks

2011-03-22T10:16:00.001-04:00

So a couple months ago, at the Guelph Organic Conference, I was feeling all smug. Why? Because I got one of the vermicompost vendors to offer me a tote of organic worm castings in which to grow my seedlings this year - FOR FREE! All I agreed to do was run some trials to see whether they grow better than the ones in my other compost. No prob - I'd do that anyways.

OK. So a couple of days ago I talk to a rep from the company & they agree to send me my tote this week. Know what a "tote" is? It's 1 cubic yard of gorgeous black worm manure. Weighs 1/2 a tonne. Sweet!! Thing is - 1/2 tonne is heavy. And my tractor doesn't have a loader. I asked the rep to give me a day's notice before delivery so I could make arrangements.

Now it's Friday morning & the phone is ringing. It's a truck driver. He's at the farm. He has a tote of compost for me. He wants to know where to put it, and how to get it off the truck. I am at home in my pajamas.

I call my neighbour Rob (who has a loader tractor) but he is of course in the barn choring. I call the company rep in Toronto. He suggests I get the driver to tie one end of a rope to the tote and the other to something sturdy in the barn, then drive away. That makes me chuckle. I like it. At this point I think we're both imagining a pick-up truck. Worse case scenario I can always shovel, right?

I call the driver back, but he is rather uncertain of the rope method. In 10 minutes when I arrive at the farm I can see why. The tote is at the nose end of a 30' enclosed truck, on top of a wooden skid. Hm. Fortunately, my neighbour comes in from the barn & calls me back. Unfortunately, his tractor needs 1-1.5hrs to warm up. He says he'll go plug it in, but this doesn't feel particularly useful, given that the driver is here NOW and rather frustrated by the amount of time being wasted. He & I continue to scratch our heads. (Side note: turns out the driver serendipitously had a test plot at the FarmStart McVean Incubator Farm last season - this is the organization I work for in the winters! He has lots of small-farm questions for me. This eases the frustration.) He eventually calls dispatch & gets clearance to go off on another delivery & come back once the loader is working. Seems like the best option. I decide to go check on the garlic (not up yet) and do some cleaning in the greenhouse. I'm hungry & really wish I had some food along.

1.5 hrs later I get a call from the driver who's now 20 mins away. I hop in the car & head out to fetch the neighbour. My laneway is a rutty, muddy disaster. I'm gunning it to plow through the muckiest stretches, skidding all over in my attempts to avoid getting sucked in. Great - wouldn't it be fantastic if the delivery truck got stuck... In opening my window to get a better look at the fields I get a face-full of mud as I drive through a big puddle.

Well, to finish things off, here's how the story ends:

Actually, I wish this gorgeous, rich, black stuff was the end of the story. The story really ends with a tow truck dragging my overheated, coolant-leaking car off to the shop after a long drive home coasting down hills and pulling over to cool down every 2 blocks. And also with the explosion of my coffee as I plunged the bodum, spraying my fridge and floor with the liquid consolation I would not get to consume.

I remember this.... the birds & flowers & sprouting things are truly exciting, but this too is a sign of spring. Cheers to the bumpy start of another season.

Babies Comin' Up

2011-03-16T17:03:00.001-04:00

The very first seedlings have emerged!! Here's the tiny first loops of green onions poking through the starter mix:

(I did the first happy dance of the year when I spotted them.)

Just seeded the leeks and bulb onions on the weekend up at Caitlin's greenhouse. The leeks are quite the investment. It's amazing to think that something I started on a snowy March day won't be filling our bellies until October when the snow may just be flying again.

PS Just this afternoon I pulled an installment of 2010 leeks out of storage & they're still looking good.

Gardening Workshops this Spring

2011-03-11T12:59:00.002-05:00

This feels a bit funny to be posting this morning, given the freshly accumulated snow outside, but I wanted to let you know that I'm running a few gardening workshops this spring - 1 at little city farm, and 2 in response to the requests of neighours and CSA members. Here's the 'deets:

Seedling Starting
Saturday March 19th 1-3:00
Little City Farm (508 Duke St.)
Learn the details of starting successful seedlings at home, including best starter soils, lights, watering, trouble-shooting, transplanting, and where to source organic seeds.
Cost: $15. Sign up through Little City Farm

Vegetable Garden Planning
Saturday April 16th, 2-4:30, Willow St. Waterloo
Ever wondered how often you should sow salad mix or transplant lettuce? When you should seed beets and carrots for a fall crop? Which crops you should just plant once vs multiple times each season? This int/adv workshop will focusing on aspects of vegetable succession planning and cover some questions of companion planting and appropriate yard-scale cover crops as well. Lots of time for Q&A. Take your gardening to a new level!
Cost: $15. Sign up at info@fertilegroundcsa.com

Intro to Organic Vegetable Gardening
Sunday May 1, 2-4:30, Dekay St. Kitchener
A this beginner-level workshop we'll be building a double-dug bed from scratch in Lisa & Jay's backyard! This workshop is all about bed preparation, intensive planting techniques and basic organic growing/maintenance methods.
Cost $15. Sign up at info@fertilegroundcsa.com

Seedling Sale
Saturday May 21, 9-12, Little City Farm
This isn't a workshop but it's a great place to get your garden seedlings! All organically-grown.

Also - here's a publication put out by Canadian Organic Growers that you might find helpful: The Organic Backyard: A guide to applying organic farming practices to your home or community garden.

And the Season Has Begun

2011-03-06T20:32:00.000-05:00

I suppose yesterday was my official end to winter - the very 1st seeds of the season have now been planted! We headed out to the greenhouse in the afternoon's grey drizzle to find (as feared) a pile of still-frozen bags of potting mix that my fall self was convinced would be melted by this point from the late winter sunshine. No such luck:

Johnny was a trooper and - between the shovel, sledgehammer and hot water brought from home - managed to break it all up.

I mixed it with the compost (thankfully the bin of it in the greenhouse it had melted in last week's sunshine)...

...and we filled the trays. I'm trying out some new winstrip trays this year - they're sturdier & should last for many many years, instead of migrating to the landfill every few seasons.

On the seeding list were the perennial herbs, and round 1 of green onions.

Some very frozen fingers later, we had the herbs finished. Sadly, it seems that the structural soundness of the mesh on the greenhouse tables became compromised over the winter....

"Ugh" does not begin to capture my frustration. I'll have to wait for new herb seeds to arrive in the mail - we'd used them all up. Depending on how long it takes, this might mean no perennial herb seedlings from me at the Seedling Sale May 21st. Fortunately the green onions at least survived!

Score 1 for entropy 2011.

Call for a Moratorium on GM Alfalfa!!

2011-03-04T17:19:00.005-05:00

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO):
What is the Debate About?
Thursday, March 10, 2011,
7:00 p.m.
Italian Canadian Club
135 Ferguson Street, Guelph

Presentations will be made by a variety of proferssors, the Organic Council of Ontario, and the president of Croplife Canada, and will be followed by question and answer period from the audience.

**********************
I've been writing a lot of letters on this subject recently. First, in support of Bill C-474 (a Private Members Bill which would have required that “an analysis of potential harm to export markets be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.”), which was unfortunately voted down; and now in favour of a moratorium on GM alfalfa.

GM alfalfa is a particularly threatening application of bio-technology. So far, the GM crops that have been approved for use in Canada are all annuals: corn, soybeans, canola, and sugar beet. Alfalfa, however, is a perennial crop & is pollinated by bees which travel and spread pollen over many kilometres. If GM alfalfa is released for sale in Canada, the eventual contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable. Alfalfa is used as pasture and feed by livestock farmers, and as a soil-building green manure by many organic farmers. Since alfalfa (and alfalfa-fed meat) is a key export crop, both organic and conventional farmers are concerned about losing their best export markets as a result of the inevitable contamination.

Organic livestock & dairy farmers in particular stand to lose everything, since there is no substitute for alfalfa as feed, and cross-contamination of organic pastures could result in a loss of certification for organic livestock producers.

The crazy thing is, even conventional farmers don't NEED herbicides for alfalfa crops, since it is quite capable of out-competing weeds. Therefore, the "need" for GM alfalfa (modified for herbicide resistance) is clearly for the benefit of multinational seed companies, not farmers - conventional and organic alike.

OK. So here's the GOOD news:
On March 3, Liberal members of the House of Commons Agriculture Committee tabled a motion calling for a moratorium on the approval of genetically modified (GM) alfalfa in Canada!

What can you do?
1. Write the Agriculture Committee members and your local MP asking them to support a moratorium. You can do this easily (and learn a lot more about GE Alfalfa) at the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network website.

2. Come to a public forum on the issue Thursday, March 10th in Guelph (see above) which is being organized by Frank Valeriot, Liberal MP for Guelph and member of the Agriculture and Agri-Foods Committee. There is a bus being organized from KW which you can reserve a spot on by emailing Jacob[at]organiccouncil.ca. This is a really key opportunity to communicate to federal politicians that Canadians care about the GM issue!! The Committee wants to see if there is as much support as they are beginning to suspect there may be... Please come. (There is an event invitation on facebook, so please invite your friends)

OH WINTER VEGETABLES!!

2011-02-02T14:05:00.000-05:00

I'm singing to myself in the kitchen...fying garlic & onions & cayennes, parboiling potatoes, pureeing spinach & tomato, defrosting eggplant, chopping carrots.....EVERYTHING from the farm!! I'm working at a north Indian feast for dinner tonight: baingan bharta (eggplant mash), sookha gaajar (fried carrots with lots of cumin seed), palak aloo paneer (spinach & potato - with a bit of paneer left from a previous Bailey's order, and probably a good heap of goat's yoghurt stirred in because I love it so much). On the side, chili pickle that Taa made with a variety of hot peppers from the farm. And maybe some of Karin's chutney too!

Cooking up so many different vegetables in February is making me rather blissfully happy - there is nothing in this that feels like sacrifice for eating locally. Nothing at all.

Here's a few pics of some of the dinner veg in their raw form, to inspire you for your own summer garden planning:

Member-Supported Community Shares Available

2011-01-27T11:37:00.002-05:00

I'm bowled over by the generosity of my returning CSA members!! So far, ~~$650~~ $900! has been donated to create a pool to fund sliding-scale subsidized shares for the coming season.

If you know of anyone (ideally in the Mount Hope/Mary Allen neighbourhood) who might be interested in a flexibly-priced share, please ask them to be in touch. I'm really excited to be able to offer a portion of the shares at a more accessible price point this season.

Thanks so much to all who have contributed so far!

Some upcoming workshops

2011-01-17T19:16:00.000-05:00

There are some GREAT workshops coming up in the KW area, for those interested in food & farming-related issues. Thought I'd post a few here:

Little City Farm ALWAYS has fabulous workshops on their roster!
A few coming up include:
Intro to Soap Making, Sat Jan 22
Intro to Cheese Making, Sat Feb 19
4 Season Harvest: Extending the Growing Season, Sat Mar 5
Starting Seedlings at Home, Sat Mar 19 (with me!)

Farming for Foodies: The realities of farming sustainably in Ontario
Sat, Feb 5, Fiddleheads
Ever wanted to know just a little bit more about farming and the way your food is grown? Farming for Foodies is a venue for food lovers and the farm curious. Facilitated by my much-respected farmer friend Tarrah Young of Green Being Farm, this workshop is designed to give you the nitty gritty on how your food is grown. Learn more about the basics of organic agriculture, how to apply these fundamentals to your own backyard garden, how to find 'real' organic food, and get your questions answered about the barriers preventing farmers from getting good food into your hands. Cost: $75. More details at http://farmingforfoodies.blogspot.com/. To register, contact Margo McIntosh margo@balanceyourapple.com, or (519) 894-0002.

Finally, the Waterloo Region Food Systems Roundtable posts events here. Lots of workshops, conferences & other events coming up, including a few in particular that caught my interest:

Deconstructing Dinner for Resilient Food Secure Communities
Tuesday, January 25, 6:30-8:30pm, KPL Forest Heights Branch
Where Does Your Meat Come From?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011, 6:30-8:30pm, KPL Forest Heights Branch
FOOD JUSTICE: Our food, Our bodies
March 18-20, 2011, Waterloo (conference coordinated by WPIRG)

Geeking Out

2011-01-12T10:38:00.000-05:00

I've been playing with a lot of numbers recently. I do love winter for all the time it allows me to spend cozied up with a mug of hot coffee and pages & pages of Excel data... (I'm serious)

The most fascinating has been the crop profitability data I've been crunching. I've been trying to figure out which crops are most profitable to grow based on the amount of space they take up in the garden. If I set the target of grossing $25,000/acre, then crops need to average $3.44/bed foot. $30,000/acre requires $4.13/bed foot. The calculations are based on yield/bed foot * price/unit of yield. Here's a few outstanding examples at both extremes:

Swiss Chard: $8.13
Cucumber: $1.54
Arugula: $10.97 (!!!)
Broccoli: $1.88
Eggplant: $10.61
Spinach: $2.27

This is based on just 1 year's worth of data, so the numbers will become more meaningful over time. And, more importantly, none of this takes into consideration the amount of work different crops are to grow and harvest (this is really quite variable), nor the expense of inputs required (row cover, extra compost etc), but I have a pretty good sense of how that layers in without trying to put hard numbers on it.

What does all this mean? Well... not much for my CSA members, who will continue to get essentially the same array of vegetables as they have in the past. It may, however, affect how hard I work to market particular crops, push me to figure out how to improve the yields of some lower profitability crops, make me increase some individual crop prices, or change the balance of what I bring to market on Saturdays.

Next up....seed orders!!

That's it that's all for fieldwork 2010

2010-12-17T17:58:00.000-05:00

It being a warm day & all, I decided to give starting Ruby 1 more try this afternoon. Brought out battery charger, hauled a long extension cable down from the barn & hooked it up, but the charger just clicked & whirred & told me the battery was already charged (lies!!). So I called my awesome brother Jamie for advice, and he kindly swung by in his 4-wheel drive Subaru which he drove right through the snow to where Ruby sat. We hooked them up for 15 mins or so, he revved the engine a bunch, and after a few deadly-sounding clicks, Ruby's engine started to cough. A few more tries & she was running smooth!!

So now Ruby & the bush hog (which would not detach from the PTO) are tucked into the barn for winter. A few last outstanding tasks are taken care of too: I finally scraped all the hornets' nests down in the greenhouse, made sure the roof is sufficiently shedding snow, grabbed the last few wayward bins & tools still kicking around, and am ready to call it a year.

Well, other than the never-ending spreadsheets of course...

I need to remember this

2010-12-14T22:44:00.000-05:00

I just got pretty much my all-time favourite CSA feedback from a member today. It's had me grinning for hours. Emily is a wonderful childcare provider to 5 or 6 little ones, one of whom ("Mr. O") came with her on a farm visit back in August or early September. I remember him carefully helping us shuck edamame beans - with surprising patience! Now, more than 3 months later, this story from Emily:

Angie .. You and Fertile Ground have had a major positive impact on half a dozen little kids, thanks to your warm welcome to little Mr O that day we visited. He has shown an interest, hesitant at first, but now much more enthusiastic, in eating vegetables. First carrots. When I told him they're "from Angie's farm" he ate them. Of course, the younger ones had to have some too. Then it was kale. Then squash. Today at lunch I served lentils and rice and squash. "But Emily, we need kale from Angie's farm"!!!! (and Mr. O isn't even here today). Their reward for eating the rest of their food was kale from Angie's farm. GOTTA LOVE IT."

I need to remember what an incredible impact 2 hours can have on a child's life. And just what it means for kids to experience a sense of real connection with the source of their food - in person but, apparently, even just in story!

Stuck

2010-12-13T17:34:00.000-05:00

Poor Ruby. Can't get her battery to fire up (despite hooking it to the car battery for at least 10 minutes last week) so she's stuck in the snowstorm instead of tucked into the barn for winter shelter where she belongs.

Need to decide if I'm going to give starting her up 1 more try (maybe with a battery charger instead of the car?) or just tarp her & leave her in the snow. For the moment I have little choice, given that she's probably been drifted in by the recent snowfall & I doubt her engine would turn over in this cold anyways.

I don't really know how much worse it would be for her to spend the winter fully outdoors rather than in an unheated barn, but it somehow feels wrong & neglectful.

Oh summer....

What I'm Excited About These Days

2010-11-28T19:54:00.000-05:00

It has the potential to be quiet this time of year. The days are short. The fields are sleeping. Usually I spend a lot of time sleeping - recovering from the stress & exhaustion of a really full and demanding season. I'll admit I've done my fair share of sleeping over the past month, but for some reason I'm not actually feeling all that exhausted.

In part, this is due to the fact that it was a really good growing year. In part, because I had such good help in the fields. In part, it can be chalked up to the fact that it was my 3rd season and I benefitted from the increase in confidence and knowledge that experience brings.

However, in large part this is also because of a project I'm excited to throw myself into this winter. I wanted to write a bit about it, in the hopes that some of you who read this blog live in my neighbourhood - or that those of you who don't might be inspired enough by the concept that you consider a similar initiative in the neighbourhood where you live.

I've been reading a lot of non-fiction this fall - in particular about climate change, peak oil and global economics. Heavy, yes. It was overwhelming me for awhile, until I discovered the Transition Network. Transition Initiatives are community-led responses to the pressures of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and increasingly, economic contraction. Perfect! This is a way of mobilizing communities - neighbourhoods to entire cities - to acknowledge the threats posed by climate change and depleting oil resources then choose to respond in really positive, action-oriented ways by building local resilience through community-building events, projects to improve sustainability, and strengthening the local economy.

I started talking to people, and I've been absolutely overwhelmed by how 100% of the people I've talked to about this in my neighbourhood have said they'd like to become involved. 100%!!! To that end, we're holding a 1st official neighbourhood conversation about Transition next Friday, Dec 10th. I'm really excited about what could emerge here.

If you live in the Mount Hope neighbourhood and would like to come out please talk to me. If you don't, consider finding or starting a Transition Initiative in your own community. Those in KW should contact Transition KW as a resource group - they've already sponsored a number of events in the area.

Despite my heaviness and anxiety about the path our global community is on, I'm feeling really energized by the potential of the SMALL - by the capacity inherent in our local communities. One foot rooted firmly in cynicism, the other equally firmly in optimism. It'll be fascinating to see where this goes...

Mini-Market at Little City Farm

2010-11-05T14:58:00.003-04:00

Karin & I have been hosting a joint mini-market at Little City Farm Tuesdays from 4:30-6:00. Karin has fresh wholegrain bread made with local organic flour (it was still warm when I arrived last week!), yummy vegan pies, and preserves such as jam, pear butter & salsa. Also available for sale is her entire Homestead Herbals line of soaps & other herbal products. I've been bringing an assortment of fall veggies - some fresh from the field and some from cold storage - including carrots, beets, leeks, kale, tatsoi, broccoli, parsley, squash and garlic. There might be some fennel & kohlrabi next week too!

We'll be there again this coming Tuesday - let us know what you'd like & we'll set it aside for you, or just drop in & take your chances. This Tuesday I'll have uncleaned storage carrots and beets by pre-order for anyone interested in putting some into their cold cellar for the winter. Email orders@fertilegroundcsa.com if interested.

Wrapping up

2010-11-04T21:17:00.000-04:00

We're down to the very last field tasks for the season. The wash station, greenhouse & barn have been cleaned up. The trellissing is down. The cover crops are all growing nicely. The row cover and irrigation have been packed away.

Just the very last of the winter harvest is still happening, and as of yesterday the carrots have all been dug and only a couple hundred lbs of beets remain. It's been a long, warm fall so I've held off on harvesting the winter roots until the soil & the cold storage have chilled out a bit. Helps the roots keep longer.

Here are Thomas & Andrew pulling beets:

Although I've enjoyed a few lovely field days over the past couple of weeks I'm finding my body awfully ready for hibernation. Long nights of sleep & afternoon naps are increasingly where it's at. I could sleep & sleep & sleep & sleep.... Maybe I just will. For a few weeks anyways.

A moment of pride?

2010-10-25T12:20:00.001-04:00

OK. So I've tried for 3 years to grow broccoli. The first year all 1000 row feet bolted before they were big enough to harvest. Epic fail. Last year I scaled back & just did some small test crops. Some bolted again, but 1 of the fall test plots worked out great. Unfortunately, that only amounted to about 15 heads.

THIS year I decided to give it a full try again with a planned fall crop of broccoli for all CSA members (and a test of 50 cauliflower plants). The foliage came along beautifully, but I was nervous when, come October, there was still no sign of them heading up. Then this:

Because my biggest problem in the past has been bolting, I decided to err on the side of caution on the heat front & take the row cover off good & early. This, however, left the plants more susceptible to pest damage. Decided to just hope for a worm-free crop without the help of the physical barrier that row cover provides...

...AND the result??

OOOOEEEE!! I have rarely been such a proud mama!

As a bonus, we got almost 100% harvestability off the cauliflower test crop - might just try more of those next year....

Fertile Ground in Foodlink newsletter

2010-10-21T17:41:00.000-04:00

Fertile Ground is featured in Foodlink's October Newsletter. Thanks to Anna Contini for a great write-up.

Also featured - turnips! Funny, since they're one of my least favourite veggies... Although there's one recipe I do enjoy that I posted in the website recipe archives for Maple Sage Glazed Turnips. Maple syrup & fresh herbs can redeem just about anything!

A few snapshots of why I love CSA farming

2010-10-19T23:04:00.017-04:00

We had 50lb of garlic left to crack before the CSA pick-up started last week.

And then it was done.

THIS is the type of thing that makes CSA pick-ups feel so good. It's not just about a bunch of people grocery shopping during limited hours. The pick-ups are such a great gathering place - neighbours' kids run around playing together, recipes are swapped, weekly updates are exchanged, AND people are willing to hang around & crack my garlic for me. Special thanks to Sarah Hemmingway & her girls for doing so much of it!

Here's a few more picks of the weekly pick-up vibe:

Pretty good place to spend an afternoon.

Frost!

2010-10-13T19:24:00.001-04:00

It finally hit for real last night. We had a light frost a few weeks ago that settled in the lettuce bed but left everything else alone. Today though, I arrived to swaths of death in the frost tender areas. I mowed down the blackened zucchini, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos & ground cherries this afternoon. They've been producing so slowly in the cool fall weather that they were barely worth keeping around anyways, but it's so hard to mow down healthy (if slow) plants! Hoping the rain holds off long enough for the ground to dry so I can disc them in & get the last of the fall rye sown.

1 good reason to vote in the upcoming Municipal election

2010-09-18T15:59:00.002-04:00

I always vote in the municipal elections, but I'm aware I'm in the minorty. Really though, I'm amazed so few people make it out. Municipal elections are our chance to elect people who will shape local policy - the stuff that really affects our lives in day-to-day-ways. I know the rosters are usually a bit overwhelming with so many positions & so many people to become educated about. You don't have to vote for every position though if you don't feel well-enough informed. I'm going to give you 1 good reason to make it out on voting day (Oct 25): CSA member Jason Hammond is running for Regional Councillor. If you don't know Jason, know that he is an avid supporter of local food, public transportation, climate change activism, alternative energy & basically all things green. I've known Jason for years now & have always been impressed by just how active he is in the local community and national policy arena, advocating for and working towards environmentally pro-active policy. His blog is here: http://jasonhammond.ca/blog/ (Scroll down for a post about Fertile Ground & Jason's vision for a strong local food system). Even if you just put one X in one box, please make it out on the 25th & do our Regional community some serious good.

Summer Bounty

2010-09-03T15:55:00.001-04:00

I suppose this post is in the wrong order - I shouldn't really have been writing about clean-up before a note to celebrate the awesomeness of peak season harvest! Here's some pics that tell it all:

We've got pretty much everything coming out of the ground right now - roots, leafy greens, little pints of tasty fruits, voluptuous peppers & eggplants.... Eating is SUCH a pleasure this time of year!!

Cleaning Up

2010-09-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

It being officially September, I'm finding myself thinking ahead more & more frequently to this season's wrap-up, and even to plans for next year. It's quite the juxtaposition - just as we're in the peak throes of harvest time, my mind is jumping ahead to thoughts of clean-up, sleep, and starting over. Maybe that's because I'm tired. Maybe it's because the fields, too, look tired by this time. All that gorgeous spring freshness has passed and the plants - even the ones in full production - are looking past their prime. It might also be because most of the thinking work is done for this year - we're just following through on plans now. The planting is done. The weeds are mostly taken care of. The plants tell us when it's time to pick them. Our bodies are working hard, but if I want to think, I have to think ahead to 2011.

I've been mowing crops down and sowing cover crops (just oats & clover so far - fall rye will go in soon). Here's a few pictures of the 2010 clean-up efforts:

Mowed chard.

Mowed zucchinis (they were ridiculously splattery flying out of the Bush Hog - very fun):

Oats & clover coming up where the spring lettuce & peas used to grow:

I'm feeling super-satisfied with how evenly the oats & clover distributed together through the broadcast seeder. Now to see if the clover gets established enough to survive the winter. If so, the oats will winterkill but the clover will provide nice, green, nitrogen-rich cover in the spring. Hooray for experimenting and having things to look forward to for next year.

On Being Organic

2010-08-23T21:27:00.000-04:00

We’ve been using the word “organic” to describe our growing practices for 3 years now because it’s been true. But I’m the 1^st to admit it’s a bit of a confusing term. Many growers claim to be “organic” simply because they don’t spray chemicals on their crops. A surprising number of consumers assume that local and organic mean the same thing. Both of these are actually limited (or even entirely misled) assumptions about what it means to be organic.

Growing organically involves not only what a grower cannot do (spray chemical pesticides or herbicides, use treated seeds, apply synthetic fertilizers), but also what they must do. Certified organic growers are expected to practice crop rotations, use cover crops to protect against erosion and build organic matter, test water quality, minimize soil disturbance, and keep a variety of records that allow for tracking of planting, harvesting and distribution of crops, as well as tillage and soil amendment application logs.

This year we applied – and just last week received approval! – for organic pre-certification with Ecocert (one of the independent companies approved for certifying to the Canadian Organic Standard). While our field practices were essentially already in line with standards, we’ve had to really tighten up our record keeping – something I actually really appreciate as it will allow me to compare field activities, crop yields and distribution patterns from year to year.

My initial motivation for pursuing certification was purely economic: I was afraid I’d be forced to drop my market prices if (when) it became illegal for me to use the word “organic” without certification. That said, I’ve come to appreciate the way that certification provides a definition for the term “organic,” pushing growers to build healthy systems and protecting consumers from any misleading claims of growers who use the term in inappropriate ways.

There are, of course, consequences to growing organically. For example, we have little way of protecting against blight in the tomatoes and downy mildew in the cucumbers – 2 diseases we’ve fallen prey to again this year. Although we’ve rotated crops and sprayed kelp and compost tea, these have not been enough to deter spread of the disease during hard rainfalls. While I believe that healthy soils produce healthy crops which are more disease & pest resistant, this type of system takes years to build. I do, however, believe it is worth it, and some resulting tomato and cucumber shortfalls are a fair price to pay for building a sustainable agricultural system that improves the land over time and produces truly healthy food to feed us well.

2010-08-13T16:32:00.005-04:00

Well, this morning my neighbour came by with his tractor & chains and we got everything all straightened out. His very gracious suggestion (after he offered to lengthen the cultivator posts for me after hay season)... next time maybe use chains instead of rope to secure the connection. I think I'll do that.

PS Taa got these pictures while hiding in the eggplant. When she wasn't popping up to take discreet photos, this is what her view looked like:

Ugh.

2010-08-12T19:03:00.001-04:00

Sooo..... this is apparently what can happen when one ties an implement on with ropes.

Thing is...I've been doing this for 2 seasons now. The posts on the cultivators are too short to attach to the 3 point hitch well, so I've been bolstering them with rope since the lynch pins won't fit on to secure the attachment. Guess that was stupider than I realized... Hoping a neighbour can come by with his tractor & chains to help untangle me. Yuck.

Salsa-Making Workshop (& lots more going on at Little City Farm)

2010-08-03T22:39:00.000-04:00

Friends of mine - Karin Kliewer and Greg Roberts - host a sweet little urban homestead just around the corner from my apartment in Kitchener. They offer all sorts of fabulous workshops, run a really cozy little b&b and sell a variety of Karin's homemade herbal body & health products. Karin is also a fantastic cook & baker - she bakes bread & pies for sale at my CSA pick-up every week.

Here's their daughter Maya cooling off at the CSA pick-up today in the wee wading pool her daddy made for her:

In case you're interested in learning about canning, I thought I'd mention that they're offering a salsa making workshop on Aug. 14. Check out their blog for lots of great stories, recipes, and photos of what's going on! (You can link from there to their website which has the workshop listings)

I think Andrew likes potatoes more than I do

2010-07-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

We just hilled the potatoes for the 2nd time. I'm pretty excited about the potatoes - I've never grown them before. 2 years ago my friend Jon grew potatoes for the CSA & I fell in love with the variety Onaway. Who knew potatoes could taste like more than starch?!? I've been craving them ever since and, because I was unable to find anyone else growing them, this year I bought 10 lb of seed potatoes so I could grow my own winter stash.

OK. So here's what my hilling job looked like. I thought it looked pretty good:

But then I got tired & passed the hoe off to my intern Andrew. Here's what HIS hilling job looked like - he almost BURIED the 1 1/2' plants!!!! Hysterical. (And impressive):

I think Andrew must like potatoes more than I do...

Washout

2010-07-29T19:28:00.000-04:00

We got a LOT of rain last Friday. It hasn't done good things for the crops. Quite a few of our fall carrots got buried in a bit of a landslide. Some green onions got buried too and others got washed away. The cucumbers, zucchini & tomatoes have all picked up diseases as a result of all the wet. I could do with a couple weeks of dry, that's for sure.

Washout in the carrots & green onions:

Some of the green onions washed away (you can see them laying on their sides, still in their little cell pack shape - they were just planted a couple of days before the storm):

Others requiring digging out:

And the diseased cukes which REALLY need a couple weeks of dry weather to recover:

Now, if every day was like TODAY (with 1 night of rain each week and 1-2 rain days/month) I'd be a seriously happy farmer... Too bad I can't custom order the weather.

Oh baby

2010-07-16T15:23:00.000-04:00

The thing about garlic is, you only get 1 chance each year to get it right. I'm definitely still learning about how to grow it. Garlic is a pretty low-maintenance crop when it's in the ground, but the timing for planting, de-scaping & harvesting are rather critical if one wants to get a good yield, and curing can be finicky too.

Last year we waited too long to bring it in so a lot of the bulbs rotted in the ground. THEN the weather was wet like crazy so more rotted while curing in the greenhouse. This year I'm hoping we hit the right window for harvesting. We took it all in yesterday in one fell swoop since most of the lower leaves had died back. It would've been better for the soil to have dried out for longer, but we didn't want to chance leaving it through last night's rainstorm.

We used a digging fork to loosen the bulbs, then pulled them up and shook off as much dirt as we could without peeling off the outer layer of paper. Here they are being hauled off the field towards the greenhouse.

And laid out on the greenhouse tables to cure:

They're pretty dirty, but I think they're gorgous!

Progression of the Season

2010-07-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

This past week the tomato plants absolutely exploded. Made me think back to when they were planted less than 2 months ago! Here's a brief progression in photo form...

Seedlings May 22:

Just planted May 28:

Staking July 1:

And now just this week, ready to be tied up again!

They've got some fruit now too.

Also, here's a kinda cool view of the 3 successions of cucumbers & zucchinis. The most recently planted are in the foreground, the ones just starting to produce are in the middle, and the ones that are overflowing with fruit are in the back!

Cooking with Claire

2010-07-04T14:50:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd link to this - Claire is a gr. 11 CSA member & volunteer who makes absolutely gorgeous meals with farm produce. Check it out! http://cooking-with-claire.blogspot.com/

Ruby gets a lung replacement

2010-06-25T18:59:00.000-04:00

Pulled out the tractor's air filter yesterday thinking it might be time to get a new one. The maintenance manual suggests replacing it every few hundred hours of use. Turns out it the replacement may have been just a weeee bit overdue...

Gratitude

2010-06-19T16:20:00.000-04:00

I have these moments - sometimes they are fleeting, but sometimes they stretch on for days. Moments when I am so intensely overwhelmed with gratitude and wonder. I could spend hours just watching the crops grow or wandering through the beds touching their leaves, grinning at their tenacity and rapid growth, appreciating the contrast of colours in the chard...the lettuce...doing a jig over just how well the onions are coming along..loving how beautiful and alive it all is.

Things are growing really well.

The pest situation in the brassicas has abated.
The weather has been reasonable.
We are (other than an unfortunate twitchy disaster in the cucumbers) winning the battle against the weeds.
I have really solid help, and plenty of it.
We had a good showing of produce for our first CSA pick-up this past week, which was received by wonderfully enthusiastic members.
I have supportive family and friends, knowedgeable mentors willing to make time to help me problem-solve, and a community of farming peers who bolster my confidence and identify with my stresses.
Best of all, for the first time since I began farming 3 years ago, I'm just not feeling anxious or overwhelmed.

I usually suffer from an obsessive - almost superstitious - need to balance the positive with the negative. It's growing well but... We're on top of the weeding except... This time, I don't think I'm going to. It's good. Really good. 'nuff said.

Life busting on through

2010-06-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

Just look at how they erupt from the ground!!

Even the wee beets are powerful enough to shove the earth out of their way as they bust out into the world. THIS is what makes farming so incredible - the raw wonder in these discoveries & feeling like I can see life happen in these awe-inspiring moments that leave me bowled over by how GOOD it all is. By how determined life is. By how unbelievably gorgeous it is. Damn.

Backyard Chicken Coop Tour!!

2010-06-09T12:37:00.000-04:00

The Waterloo Hen Association is organizing a tour of urban chicken coops on June 19. Meet a variety of chicken keepers and egg-laying breeds and check out some different coop styles. More info at waterloocooptour.com - sounds like an awesome way to spend a Saturday. Go go urban chickens!!

Tomatoes!!

2010-05-30T09:39:00.008-04:00

Yesterday was our annual tomato planting party. I'm always amazed by how many people show up to help on our monthly workbee days, and how QUICKLY things get done with so many hands. Rows of holes dug & hand-watered (yes, we used watering cans), hundreds & hundreds of seedlings planted and given a side dressing of compost, all in one afternoon! We even got the last row of pea stakes pounded in, some garlic weeded and irrigation tape patched. I'll add a few pics from the day - sadly I didn't capture all of the dozen-ish workers on film.

CSA members Laura & Kyle planting:

A bunch of people all appearing to be having a thinking moment at the same time...

A fascinating compost-spreading technique developed by Andrew & a few volunteers:

The Tomatoes:

There really are good people out there...

2010-05-24T20:10:00.001-04:00

So for a week now I've been calling all my neighbours asking if anyone has an appropriately sized plow I could borrow to turn under the rye, but everyone has plows too large for my 65hp tractor (or small but broken ones). I'd just resolved myself to calling an equipment dealer tomorrow to arrange for a rental, when an old black car with a flatbed trailer pulled up the laneway. Dean - a good friend of my neighbour Reuben Musselman's - whom I'd talked to earlier this week about fixing my discs, had loaded up his grandfather's 3-furrow plow & come by to do the job for me. He & his friend hooked Ruby up & started in on the job. They're still at it while I'm at home showered & fed. As a bonus, Dean is gonna take a look at Ruby to figure out why she coughs & splutters so much AND he's taken away my broken discs to fix up. I am SO pleased. There really are good people out there. Hallelujah for unexpected saviours.

Cover Crop Win!

2010-05-20T21:50:00.002-04:00

So in my previous post you'll see how unsuccessful my attempt at incorporating the rye cover was. Yesterday, however, was far more satisfying. I used the weighted discs on the clover & they worked in really nicely.

Here I am turning them in:
And up close:

And see here the disced clover on the left vs the rye on the right!

The zukes & cukes will be awfully happy to get all that nitrogen next week. Hooray!

The Day the Gong Show Came to the Farm

2010-05-18T17:29:00.010-04:00

So... I decided that starting a blog might just be the only way to redeem this day. It really was a Gong Show episode - a couple of them even...

Episode 1
I've been experimenting with cover crops. I don't like to leave the ground uncovered longer than necessary, and my sandy soil needs all the organic matter accumulation and water retention it can get. I've got 2 fallow blocks in my rotation, and last fall they were both seeded to fall rye. It came up BEAUTIFULLY this spring. Since I don't have a plow to turn it under, I've been waiting until it started forming seed heads to mow it down & turn it in. This is the point at which the energy of the plant is drawn out of the roots & put in the seed, making it much easier to kill. Yesterday I could feel it - it was the perfect day to mow it down. After hooking up the bush hog & hopping on Ruby, I drove her into the waist-high grass & started chopping. It was a bit sad to see the lush green growth hacked down & replaced with ankle-deep, yellowing stubble, but satisfying at the same time.

Step 2 involved incorporating all that grassy matter. That was today's work, and the 1st chime of the gong. I hooked up the discs & (thanks to a suggestion by Jeff Boesch) weighted them down with a heavy bar & some cinder blocks, hoping to improve their ability to cut through all the trash & root mass. Ha. Serious excercise in futility. Although I tenatiously disced the entire patch in both directions with the discs set as deep and stiff as possible, by the end I could hardly see to drive the tractor there were tears blurring my vision for laughing so hard at myself as I watched the discs bounce uselessly across the surface of the thatch & trash. I probably should've realized my wee set of discs would be no match for 4' of well-established rye. I feel like such a fraud calling myself a farmer sometimes... I didn't even try starting in on the other block.

The undisced rye:

The disced rye (the front bit is the tractor path & the middle brown bit is where the kale was, so those don't count!):

Sadly, other than the disced one being kinda flattened, they're not so different.

Step 3: borrow a neighbour's plow...

Episode 2
After the rye fiasco I called a lunch break - I needed time to puzzle through my options & make a few phonecalls. Just as we were about to head back to the fields Sarah Hemingway showed up, ready to take the hives apart for their spring cleaning. This is the 2nd year of bees at Fertile Ground. I LOVE watching them - especially when they come flying home with big fuzzy thighs packed full o' pollen like teddy bear body builders. (You can see 1 below)

Generally the bees are quite friendly & docile, though last year when Sarah was cleaning the hives she did get stung 9 times. Granted, she was wearing short sleeves & no gloves that the time. Anyways, this year she was taking no chances. I suppose it must be quite upsetting for them to have their entire home torn apart. I'd offered to help, along with my intern Andrew. They got geared up & started disassembling while I did 1 more job on the tractor. By the time I got back, they already had the hive taken apart. I figured I'd don some coveralls, gloves & a bee veil before joining them.

As I headed towards Sarah's van to pick up the veil I got dive-bombed by my first bee, which unfortunately got stuck in my hair. Ripping out my pigtail elastics & combing through with my fingers until it finally got free was not a great start. Nervous but still determined to get in on the action, I managed to get the veil on and started heading towards the hives. The bees were MAD today though. As soon as I got within 30' of the hive they started attacking, bouncing off my veil & crawling angrily all over my body. These were not happy bees. Eventually all of us were driven from the area of the hive, wandering all over the fields to try to lose them. No avail. They followed us everywhere. Even after Sarah packed up & headed home (bee veil still on - seriously), Andrew & I were driven to the far beds to weed carrots ensconced in our full bee gear, even though there was over an acre between us & the hives!! YOU try wheel hoeing in quilted coveralls & a bee veil on a warm, sunny day...

On the up side, I was saved from continuing with the futile tractor work since Ruby was parked far too close to the bee mob for me to dare starting her up again.