We are down to 9 shares remaining for our capacity. If you are interested in having your certified organic produce delivered to your door this summer, contact me soon...
Hello Everyone:We are back from another farm and dog sitting assignment. We may be reached at our usual phone number, (613) 831-8218; or by email.
Beau just refuses to give up - I suppose after fifteen years, it's difficult to change change careers but I suspect Beau prefers being a Labrador Retriever more than anything else.
As for Whitsend, there has been a lot of activity the past week.The growing field is 90 per cent clear of snow, though still a lot of draining to take place.
The ground is still much to wet to walk onto, without tearing up the permanent paths.
A few of last years beds still require cleaning up (late season crops such as the remnants of the brussels sprouts in the foreground).
One of our new customers requested Kohlrabi. This is our third request for this crop, so I have finally opted to give it a trial this season.This is a curious looking crop, another member of the cabbage (Brassica) family. With so many Brassica's in the field already, finding space for another is difficult.
This season, I have planned to concentrate on small turnips. Harvesting them young means they are less fibrous, have a milder flavour, and do not require peeling.
By harvesting turnips smaller, I can seed them a little more thickly - they'll take up less space, which leaves room for planting a few Kohlrabi plants.
There will be a limited amount of Kohlrabi this season for those of you who are interested. If the crop works out well, we'll try more for next season.
It is an heirloom variety of Kohlrabi called 'Azure Star'. Kohlrabi is unusal in appearance, I liken it to something off a B-movie set about carnivorous vegetables. The heirloom variety goes one step further visually from what you have probably encountered...
In other "new crop" news, I am currently corresponding with some other producers on how best to grow miniature pak choi, so as to honor another request from last season. I have the seed, but I want to ensure I can get the choi at the right size while still tender and crisp.
There is no end of things to learn!
In the nursery, a few more light banks are switching on as the crops there increase in number.The first planting of celeriac didn't germinate too well, but it was started early enough to allow for a supplemental planting - these are now just starting to sprout.
The bulb onions, parsley, eggplant are coming along well.
Eggplant is one of the most challenging crops I have ever tried. The difficulty starts right from when the seeds germinate. Eggplant requires about twelve weeks of growing before it can withstand transplanting.
Unlike the onions or celery, it has no tolerance for cool temperatures. This makes working in the nursery in March a challenge, getting seedling trays out for work and the doors closed back up as quick as possible to prevent the eggplant from getting a draft.
The first two rounds of celery are up, and the second round of green onions is emerging as well.
Tis is a tray with celery, celeriac, and parsely. At thsi stage of growth, they all look the same, so every cell pack is tagged.
Even at tranplant time in another , it is impossible (for me) to tell the difference.
Most of the action has been outside, on the gravel pad next to the barn. The photograph at the very bottom of the page, you can see how the front of the barn appeared in my first season. Since then, I have laid down a ten inch layer of stones (removed from the growing field as it wasprepared) around the front of the barn, bordered it with some old barn logs, and covered it over with gravel. This has made a useful workspace.
Since the first season, I have added a tool shed (left) and the outdoor nursery (not visible).
The new structure I have been working on is a three sided shed constructed to shade our newly constructed ice fridge.
This project has gone a lot slower than I had hoped - after all, I'm a farmer, not a carpenter.
Most of my work has to be done piecemeal inside the barn during the winter and then dragged out when the snow cleared off the pad.
I designed the ice fridge after consulting old handbooks on how to build ice houses. It is a cedar wood structure for storing produce on harvest day.
Sawdust is the traditional insulator for ice houses. Unlike most materilas, sawdust insulates well even when wet.
As the first layers of ice are applied, several insualted panels are inserted into the "doorway" to close the compartment. When it is full, anotehr four inches of sawdust are poured on top.
The final task then is to place screen over the sawdust, to prevent rodents from getting in to cool off.
Ideally, the ice compartment should be on top of the fridge, but this would make the structure much too top heavy. Instead, I place an uninsulated wall between the ice compartment and the produce compartment, and then insulate the produce compartment.
The produce compartment. I'm not too good at building doors, and the four inch thick doors posed considerable challenge. At one point I was so irritated by door building that I altered the design and put in a pair of sliding shelves.
It's very rustic looking, but shoudl do the job.
By the way, I should thank Jack and his brother down the road for coming over to help - the outdoor nursery weighs well over 200 pounds and it was in the spot where the fridge was to go. Thanks for the lift!
Talk to you soon....