Friday 30 November 2018


Update December 17:

Thanks to those of you who have responded to the year end survey.  Glad to hear you have had a good experience.  Having said that, I am concerned that I am not getting the negative feedback that I suspect is out there...I didn't consider this season to be THAT good. 

Still time to send your survey results in,, I am hoping to get some feedback from someone who has had a less than favorable season.  Constructive criticism is always welcome here.



The only other news is that we are grinding our way through the land purchase.  Still a couple of hoops to hop through after an early detour, it is still not a guaranteed close.


Update December 4th:

We are in the midst of a property offer...and all of the paper pushing, meetings, and coordinating that entails.

I have received four replies from the year end survey, thank-you for taking the time to fill these out.  There is no hurry.  I hope to have enough information by mid December to help make some decisions for next season's plans.


I won't have too much time in the coming weeks to work out any other possible plans for next season, other than what I have to post later today.

If you have any comments about the options thus far on the "Potential Plans for 2019" page, feel free to send them in.


Bob


Hello Everyone:

This is a post intended for mid October.  An abrupt change in the forecast changed all my priorities and  prevented it from being completed.

One of the strengths of the small scale farm model is how nimble they are - change can be prepared for on short notice.






How quickly the weather changes.  Looking at the forecast last night (Sunday), it seemed to me as if the next 5 days were not too cold and what appeared to be a slight warming trend toward the end of the week.


Now I see that the forecast is suggesting a minus seven later in the week.  That will be tough, but with a little extra effort, I should be able to protect the crops sufficiently.



Some crops can do without protection, such as these carrots.  The frost might kill off the greenery, but the roots will improve flavor after a frosting.

With time being so valuable, setting up row covers can be reserved for elsewhere.














Still plenty to do...and less time to do it.  Work for the past week has focused on getting beds cleaned up for next season.

Cultivating any weed growth that may have accumulated in the plants under story, aerating the soil with the broad fork - a full body workout that left me feeling slightly euphoric with runners high - amending the soil with compost and rock amendments of phosphorus and greensand, and another round of cultivating to work the compost in.











Calphos is a rock based amendment providing calcium and phosphorous to the soil, which in turn feeds the plants.

Greensand is another rock amendment derived from ancient seashore deposits, providing potassium and over seventy micro nutrients in a form that may be taken by the plant as needed.

Roots, fruits, and most brassica crops tend to perform better in soil that was amended the previous autumn.












There are other benefits to getting the beds prepared in the fall.

Everything is growing quickly in the spring - especially the weeds.  The more germinated weed seeds that are wiped out by surface cultivating in the fall, the fewer will sprout next season.

With the beds ready to go, a late can spring has less impact.  As I learned this year, a very late spring can nullify the head start.

Next years country is waiting...






I don't do very much production planning until after the ground has frozen.  When the freeze occurs, no more work on the beds is possible.

This gives me a limit from which I can plan my early spring work from.

Knowing that, I can calculate how many customers the field is ready for.






The garlic beds are now cleaned up and only need a bit of raking to smooth out the surface to prepare them for the fall planting of garlic bulbs.

This is a very time dependent task, it needs to be done before the ground freezes.  The freeze date in our area has 'never' been before November 15, but with the weather cooling considerably over the past two weeks, I suspect sooner is better with this task.








Here another amendment is added.  I collect damp fallen leaves in the autumn and store them for a season, creating a leaf mold amendment, which some garlic growers claim is beneficial to garlic.

In the fall of 2017, I also used leaf mold when preparing the next seasons beds for onion and leeks.  I made this assumption on the knowledge that these crops are closely related to garlic.

I credit this as one of the reasons my onions and leeks did so much better than in seasons past.

Look closely and you can see the leaves incorporated into the bed.







Days later...the frost has finished off the zinnias (foreground).  The russian kale (this side of the green watering can) has not been negatively effected by the hard frost.

The hard frost has frozen the row covers to the ground, so I can't look under them (without tearing the fabric) until the day has warmed up.

Lots of suspense until then.















The cold does effect kale.  The leaves darken in response to chemistry changes within, making them more pleasing to the eye for those who like purple leaves. 

Brassica crops taste better after frosting, the result of the chemistry adaptations the crop uses to protect itself from the cold.

Better eating through chemistry!












A few days later, another chilly night and some snow.  The kale is still going strong.

In the event I changed my mind about covering the kale, I had pre-positioned the row cover hoops.


















This worries me.  The cover has flattened under the weight of the snow, bringing the chard leaves into contact with the chill of the snow.

I had considered adding extra hoops to some of the cover should this occur, but there were other details to attend to the day before.
















The carrot tops are limp from the snow exposure.  48 hours later, they are upright again, indicating that there is still some growth occurring in the roots.

Leaving the carrots our through the first snow provided an extra ten days or so of growing time.  Slower at his time of year, with shorter days, but every bit counts with this crop seeded a little later than I prefer.













Finally, some covers can be removed to see how other crops fared.

The chard made it.  Some years I am not so lucky with this crop's cold resistance.


The red chard in particular responds to the cold by changing leaf color to darker red or even a bronze hue.

I leave the cover off during the day to allow the soil to soak up heat from the sunshine.




Always a challenge balancing between leaving it in the ground and harvesting it.  Either way, the crop needs protection from the cold.  I have more control over harvested crops placed in the nursery, but space is limited. As well, I prefer to keep the leaves as fresh as possible




Inevitably, the season comes to an end.

By now, the row covers are dry and stored away from rodents - who love this for nesting material it seems - and the barn is weatherized for the winter.

Now I have time to get caught up on the writing!













Thursday 29 November 2018

Hey Everyone:

Not all cracked tomatoes go to waste - this one was a model for this season's jack-o-lantern.

Somehow we forgot to photograph the pumpkin this year, but the fruit was still intact enough to stand in.













Here we are:  Our annual camping trip to Frontenac Park.

This trip coincides with the 'start of the finish' of the growing season. 

A time to getaway from the field and the barn and the office and the email and consider the big picture - how has this season panned out and what directions might the farm take into the next season.










Most of the days are taken up with maintaining camp and hikes and picnics as we venture deeper into the trail network.  We usually aim for landmarks such as abandoned mica mines, decaying homesteads, or scenic lookouts.

Inevitably, there are surprises along the way.  Such as these mysterious white orbs we glimpsed through the trees.

We found a colony of puffballs bigger than basketballs.












There are many comparisons between our camping trip and the life of our farm.  The planning, starting out on the journey, overcoming the many challenges and the slow climb from an idea to the ever expanding sales base.

And  crossing the the many pitfalls along the way.













The scenery at the farm is not particularly remarkable. 

However, every morning I walk into the field, there are many new things to look at, things to look for, and in some cases, things I wish I wasn't seeing.

So I don't often notice the scenery anyway.














All too often the end of a day trip signals the beginning of another hikes starting point - another trail, another hill.

The next picnic, just like the next farm season, is just around the corner....

What new seeds will I trial next season?  What infrastructure needs to be added next - will it be a curing shed or a better nursery?  Or a shed for a permanent farm gate store?












A never ending set of twists and turns, intersecting with the twists and turns of the folks who purchase food from the farm.





















The source of our food, evening warmth, and inspiration.  After supper, the long dusk hours are whiled away staring into the embers as the fire is allowed to burn down to ash.

This is a most productive time for problem solving.  This years questions seem quite insoluble.

The "soft goal" of the season to close on a property by late summer has not come to pass.  Where do we go from here?










Unless some new properties enter the market between now and when the snow flies, we will have to continue the search next season.

As for next season, what?

There was not enough time to achieve many of my career development goals last year.

I had intended to take on a part-time employee, but sales fell just short of being able to afford the hiring costs.











And that was partly because I reduced the number of deliveries for the season.

Obviously I need to consult my customers more before any changes to the routine are set in stone.


















The morning is wiser than the evening, and more discoveries await us.

Including this one, right over our heads.

The mushroom in the tree will watch over camp  while we are away on our next trek...
















A new set of trails for us.  I haven't been this way since I was in my teens, on family day trips.

Trees are taller, the trail wider, and the water table has changed enough to require boardwalks where their used to be dry path.

Like our farm now, more than half an acre of produce grows in soil that was hay field eight years ago, a collection of sheds surround the hay barn, a new fence encloses the growing area.













Decisions decisions decisions...which way to go at a cross roads...try to find the next homestead?

It may be a log cabin, a pile of logs with metal roofing on top of it, or a depression in the ground hinting at someones home eighty years ago.

The days are shorter, so consulting the map and estimating our walking speed on this hilly terrain needs to be taken into account.

I mentally calculate, while drawing more parallels to my farming thoughts.









We press on and are rewarded with the remains of someones dream.

We scan the terrain for clues of their life...a pile of rocks capping a well, a flat area where the kale yard might have been, a stand of  trees betraying the outline of a barn, an ancient oak that might have supported a swing...

Having achieved our goal for today, we retrace our steps with dinner beckoning...












No getting away from the farm at supper time.  The pasta sauce contains tomatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, peppers, celery and basil...only the oregano, bay, and mushrooms are outsourced.

My farm building projects also contribute, with sawdust from power sanding augmenting the tinder in the campfire.

















Darkness falls for the second night.  No time for thinking of the farm now.  This activity is too serious for distraction.




















Despite one night of scattered showers, we have had a dry weekend (excluding loading and unloading the canoe).

Progress has been slow but inevitable.  Our camping skills allow us to set up camp very quickly in twilight (happened to us last year), and our camps have improved the level of comfort and convenience.

With progress comes new requirements - our new tent needs a slightly larger tarp to fully protect it from the rain.










Slow and inevitable progress.  During my second season, I commented to one of the gaffers on the precariousness of the farm.  His reply was that the only thing that would lead to failure now was giving up.  Everything has a solution.












One last look at the lake before we drive out of the par, canoe tied to the roof and the car loaded with camping gear and a camera full of memories.

Will we be back next season, or shall we use our week after Thanksgiving to to work on a new home?

Time will tell...