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Crops

Week 17

Another full offering. Our beans – all sorts – are now coming on strong, requiring us to pick every other day. The tomatoes continue to steadily ripen…

Next week is our annual fall fair. We are going to  be selling produce the morning of the fair from the greenhouses across the street from the fair grounds – kind of an open (green)house as it were. Drop by and see what we’ve been up to and where many of your tomatoes, cucumbers, and basil has been grown.

Farmer D

**NOTE: Due to the Fall Fair next week’s boxes will be ready for pickup on Monday**

Full Share: 1 lb. German butterball potatoes; white currants; 1 lb. filet beans; Italian parsley; basil; scallions; tomatoes; and 3 mini cucumbers.

Partial Share: 1 lb. green beans; radishes; basil; scallions; tomatoes; and a mini cucumbers.

Week 16

Full Share: Salad mix; 1 lb. dragon-tongue beans; multi-coloured beets; radishes; scallions; tomatoes; and 2 mini cucumbers.

Full Share: Salad mix; 1/2 lb. dragon-tongue beans; scallions; cherry tomatoes; and a mini cucumber.

Week 15

Hello folks! Summer appears to have finally arrived with temperatures approaching the mid 20s. With the warmth we now have tomatoes, beans and squash coming on.

This week’s boxes have some fruit – white currants from our berry patch and transparent apples from our neighbours – Welcome Bay Farm.

I expect that the currants will provide a bit of a culinary challenge. We encourage you to use the farm website/blog to share your creations/ideas/recipes with your fellow ‘share-holders.’ We’ve been a bit remiss in our use of the website to share recipes and idea. The truth is that we’re just too busy. We’ve also been too busy to organize work bees and the like here on the farm – supportive activities that are part of most CSA/box programs.

We’d still love for this to happen. As a start, let us know if you would be interested/able to help out. We always could use some help weeding and cleaning up on the farm. Weekday mornings are best – Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays – but we’re open to other times as well.

It’s been a pretty challenging year for us – what with the weather and all. Farming – while one of the greatest jobs – is also one of the most challenging. One of the biggest challenges that we face – particularly around this time of year – is burnout. Working long hours – often alone – can get to you after awhile, especially if make the mistake of figuring out how much you are making per hour. For a small operation like ours, we just don’t produce enough to be able to take on additional staff.

Which is a long-winded way of saying we would welcome any additional help :).

Enjoy the fruits and veg of our labours!

Farmer D

Full Share Box: Salad mix; braising greens; white currants; transparent apples (from Welcome Bay Farm); 3 mini cucumbers; dragon-tongue beans; kincho scallions; zucchini; and carrots.

Full Share Box: Salad mix; braising greens; white currants; transparent apples (from Welcome Bay Farm); and a long-English cucumber.

Week 14

Having the boxes ready for Sunday pickup worked well for us last week. We’re hoping that it worked for you as we continue it this week and for the remaining weeks.

One of the major challenges that we are dealing with this summer (besides the weather, weeds, and limited growing area) is labour – actually or our inability to support very much of it. At this time we are unable to grow enough to support the staffing compliment we need. So to deal with this, we are trying to become more efficient. One area that sucks quite a bit of our time is harvesting. By pairing our box harvest with the market harvest we basically eliminate a an extra harvest period and now can apply that saved time to other important tasks.

This week’s offerings feature tomatoes (they’re here!) and the first of our summer potatoes – the Lindzer an early-maturing, waxy potato most popular for boiling or making salads.

Full Share Box: Salad greens; Hakurei turnips; Lindzer deleketess potatoes; cherry tomatoes; 'eatible' flowers; carrots; and a long-English cucumber.

Partial Share Box: Carrots; Lindzer deleketess potatoes; tomatoes; and 2 mini cucumbers.

Week 12

Another busy week filled with haying, harvest, weeding, delivering, fixing… The list of things that need immediate attention never seems to end.

Another full box this week. We’ve been absent from the weekend market for the past two weeks to ensure we have enough goodies for your boxes. We can’t seem to grow enough to satisfy the local market. A good problem to have!

More about how this challenge might be tackled in future posts…

Farmer D

Full Share: Salad mix; scallions; French breakfast radishes; carrots; small bunch Hakurei turnips; big bunch of basil; 2 mini cucumbers; and 1 long English cucumber.

Partial Share: Salad mix; carrots; small bunch Hakurei turnips; small bunch of basil; and 1 mini cucumber.

First Tomatoes of the Season!

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They’re (finally!) happening.

Week 11

Hi folks! In order to get a basket of berries into your box this week we’re asking that you pick up your boxes a few days earlier (tomorrow – Saturday). The berries just won’t hold until Monday. Please let me know ASAP if this presents a problem. We’ve just picked the berries and they will last in the cellar likely until Sunday but after that there’s no guarantees.

Farmer D

Full Share Box: Strawberries; small bunch of carrots; salad mix; 2 small bunches of Hakurei turnips; rainbow chard; and a long English cucumber.

Partial Share Box: Strawberries; small bunch of carrots; small bag of salad mix; 1 small bunch of Hakurei turnips; and 2 mini cucumbers.

Week 10

Posted 2 weeks late – but better late than never!

Full Share Box: Salad mix; French breakfast radishes; large bunch of Hakurei turnips; lacinato kale; garlic scapes; new potatoes; and two long English cucumbers.

Partial Share Box: New potatoes, French breakfast radishes; rainbow chard; small bundle of garlic scapes; and a long English cucumber.

Week 8

Another week has come and gone. So much to do and so little time! The weather seems to be improving. It’s still unseasonably cool but at least it is dry. We keep reminding ourselves that it could be much, much worse. Our hearts go out to those farmers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba whose season has but all been lost due to flooding. It’s a tough business. Not for the faint of heart. And one that requires a strong community of support. We’re so grateful for your support…

One thing about the cool weather is that it is good for greens. So there’s lots of healthy green stuff in the box this week. We just pulled the potatoes out of the polyhouse late last week so that we could (finally!) plant the tomatoes. So there will be new potatoes for the next few weeks – oh, so good lightly cooked and served with butter and a sprinkle of sea salt!

Enjoy!

Farmer D

Full Share: Salad greens; new potatoes; Hakurei turnips; rainbow chard; lacinato kale; and French breakfast radishes.

Partial Share: Salad greens; new potatoes; Hakurei turnips; and rainbow chard.

Week 7

The boxes are packed and ready to be picked up. The week we have new potatoes for everyone, as well as carrots, radishes and salad mix. The weather seems to be improving. It’s definitely drier but still not very warm. No worries. We continue to pray fro better weather but feel fortunate to have the new greenhouse as a backup.

Full Share Box: Salad mix; Hakurei turnips; carrots; French breakfast radishes; new red chieftain potatoes; rainbow chard medley.

Partial Share Box: Salad mix; French breakfast radishes; carrots; and new red chieftain potatoes.