Update as of Mar 14:

We have now sold(or have spoken for) half of this season's shares.



Hello Everyone:

We have sold about one third of this season’s shares.  Contact me soon, as past experience suggests that sales come in waves and we can fill our quota quite abruptly.

I am now getting a lot of interest in the internship position.  I had a good interview last week and am in the process of arranging another in the next week or so.  I have also been fielding questions from a few potential candidates.

Internship opportunity

If I do not have an intern for this season, I have a plan B ready.

I'll reduce the amount of field at the new location to prepare for 2020, and use the old Stittsville location for potatoes, squash, and kidney beans in 2020 - three crops that require little supervision and take up a lot of field space.

Meanwhile the work is still on-going here...

With pigs out for the season, we are now starting to prepare for chickens.

We are making inquiries with chick suppliers about two breeds:  Dominique’s and Buckeye:

The Dominique is an American breed that was bred in the 1850’s.  By 1950 it was thought extinct, but a few flocks were discovered being preserved by some small farms and a breeding program to increase the strain started in the 1970’s. 

These are cold tolerant birds suited to free ranging.  The indistinct pattern of their feathers is thought to add camouflage protection from aerial predators.  They have a calm disposition.  They are most suitable for egg production but can serve as a meat bird as well.

Wikipedia Dominique page

The Buckeye is an American breed developed in the 1890’s by Nettie Metcalfe. 

These are very cold tolerant birds – even in winter - and suited to free ranging.  They have a calm disposition and some can become quite friendly.  They are most suitable - exceptional, according to some - for meat production, providing a very dark meat and especially full thighs.  They are also acceptable egg layers.

Wikipedia Buckeye page

(Source:  Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds – Storey Publishing 2007)

To prepare, we have been pricing fencing and chicken supplies to augment what is already here.  The hutches will need some slight improvement as we will be using them a bit differently than how the previous owners did.

The more that I learn about raising chickens (books, suppliers, neighbours and other farmers in our neighbourhood) the more I wish we could have pigs this season – one less learning curve and a lot less effort.  Pigs are very easy to care for; chickens require a little more effort.  Like so many other things in agriculture, choice is a privilege and not always available.

Another crop I am looking into are yard long beans. 

Johnny Seeds catalogue - Red Noodle Beans

These are also known as asparagus beans and Chinese long beans – I have found a few other names as well that seem to relate to the same subspecies. 

Despite the name, they are usually about a foot and a half in length.  I had a request a few years ago for them – with a little more growing space now, we can start growing a small quantity on a request basis.  Let me know if you are interested.

The next post will be about all of the investments we have to make in 2019 that won't start to show a decent return until 2020...one of the risks any farmer (or entrepreneur) has to make in order to grow.

Talk to you later,

Bob

Hello Everyone:

Another week and with it some good news and some bad.

The good news is that the onions are sprouting very well.  Parsley, green onions and celery are now sown.  Sweet and hot pepper seeds are next on the list of spring nursery planting.

The bad news is that there will be no piglets this season.  The supplier I had selected (another small scale farm here in Lanark) had two litters this winter and only one piglet survived.  This is a disappointment for us, but much harder for our supplier.  I assume they were probably depending on several piglets for themselves this season.   

Determined to have animals of some kind here, we are now looking into either chickens or ducks.  Long term I want to raise ducks but for this season perhaps it might be easier as the place is already set up for chickens.  Not that there is much difference, but with a lot of goals for this season, the path of least resistance might be wiser.  

One of the hutches has nesting boxes for for up to eight hens, with a door at he back of each box to make retrieving the eggs fairly easy (hens have sharp beaks).

I am getting some more interest in the internship for this season – including two calls today.  If you are interested, check out my Farmlink posting.

Certified Organic Starter Farm Opportunity

Thank-you to the customers who are returning for another season.  I have considerably decreased the customer base this season, so if you are interested, please contact me soon.

OK, now that this place is cleaned up a bit, time to start planning...

One of the practices that my mentor Tom instilled in us was how look at the entire farm when organising the layout and use of buildings and infrastructure.  In particular, setting up the farm around how the work flows from seed to sale.

I started by looking at what the farm has already, using the DIY ethic (learned in my RnR career) of using what you have.

We have the following buildings:

The Wood Shed:  This building is closest to the house, within reach of the electrical outlets.  It’s south facing door provides a lot of light, it has a good work surface, and it’s mostly protected from snow entering.

Aside from storing our source of heat (firewood) it has plenty of shelving for temporarily storing everything we have found here at the farm – garden tools, fencing and lumber.  Now that one table is clear for work space, I can use this for messy work such as repairing a grow light and cutting lumber for building projects.

One of the reasons why I chose this spot to use as a temporary work station is it is close to most points on the farm I’ll be in the next couple of weeks.

The Drive Shed:  Much larger, a good place to store machinery such as the tractor and riding mower.  It has three bays without doors, and one bay completely enclosed.

The bay with doors has a table that is suitable for working with machinery, such as the tractor carburetor that I cleaned last week.  Given that this is where most of the machinery tools, gas cans, etc were kept by the sellers, seems to me the best place for this sort of work.

The bay adjacent to the “machine shop” would then be the ideal place to park the tractor and mower. 

The bay at the opposite end of the Drive shed is where much of the lumber is stored.  With that in mind, the remaining bay would be ideal for wood working. 

The Hexagon:  Until we build a permanent nursery for the farm (I am exploring the possibility of starting work on an in ground nursery in the next couple of years), I will be using the first floor of this building as our nursery.  It is insulated and has ample power, lot’s of light from south and east facing windows, and with the root cellar below, some temperature moderation for the winter (keeping heating costs lower) and summer (allowing cool air from below to keep the room cool enough to germinate lettuces in).

The cellar will store a lot of our produce, but it will also provide an ideal space for a few other tasks.  It’s concrete foundation will keep out most mice (and all larger critters) and being dark and having a stable climate, is ideal for storing seeds. 

The cellar still needs some work.  An electrical outlet is required down here for a fan to circulate air (to prevent mold growth) and a small heater to keep stored food from freezing during the coldest part of winter.  A light fixture or two would also be helpful.

The top floor of the Hexagon  is currently storing everything that is in the way for the time being.  As the year progresses, I anticipate that this will become the production office of the farm – where all of the seeding schedules, bed maps, journals etc are displayed and stored. 

The stair to this floor is quite narrow, so I will have to build a desk up here. 

This floor also needs an outlet (for a heater and probably a power source for the computer) and a pair of light fixtures.

The A-Frame:  Being close to the growing fields, I originally wondered if this was a good spot for the nursery, but have since decided that it is ideal for livestock (in the bermed cellar) and all of the equipment they require (on the main floor). 

This building is a bit far from the rest of the farm buildings.  I hope to get some independent power out here, the A-frame roof is south facing so therefore ideal for a solar panel. 

There is a fenced area here to prevent animals from getting at the bee boxes.  The fence needs a lot of work, so this will be a priority for this season.   

Also worth noting, the seller said that the original dug well for this farm was just below the A-Frame.  If we are able to rehabilitate it, having a solar panel out here would allow us to install a pump, thus providing an efficient source of water for the animals.

Two other items that come with the farm, a pair of portable chicken coops.  These can be transported (albeit, one with a bit of difficulty) to any spot on the farm.  

This is helpful as both livestock and the land benefit from having the animals rotate across different areas from week to week. 

Where these will go is still a debate, but probably in the vicinity of the A-frame.

There are a few structures at the old farm that will eventually be dismantled and moved here over the course of the year.  I anticipate that the prep station and hut for the ice fridge will wind up rebuilt as an improved prep station and a farm gate store.

With a spot for guest parking just inside the driveway, proximity to the growing field and shade from the willow tree, this site seems to be the best spot for both structures.

The drawback is that the willow and the neighboring tree make a nice gateway into the growing field.  This is a less practical consideration, but aesthetics need to be taken into account as well, if I am to learn anything from my mentors Tom and Allaine.

They put much effort into building a high tunnel behind their house.  Despite the fact that the house was situated on higher ground than the tunnel, they found that it interfered with the dining room view, so they took it down and placed it elsewhere.

Some of this work will have to want until the snow is gone, so I can better see what my options are...raw material for yet another post!