Hey Folks:

Welcome to those of you who are checking out this site for the first time – I hope you find the virtual side of the farm informative and entertaining.  If you have any questions about purchasing a share for the season, feel free to contact me at the number below.

Work at the barn reached a milestone this past week – the heat is now on and the readings for air and soil temperatures are being taken.  The air temperature has stabilized, oscillating between acceptable highs and lows.  The soil temperature is a bit warm, and so a few adjustments are being made to get some of the seed trays down to about 21 degrees.  I expect this to happen over the course of the next few days.  At that point, it will be time to plant our Leeks and Bulb onions.  If all goes well, the Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants will get the go ahead to start their work…spring is definitely on the way.

For those of you who are returning (and those of you considering signing up for the first time), I have decided to go with doorstep delivery.  Most of my customers are located in two small locations, which will allow me to deliver quite efficiently.  This will do for the next year, but as the farm continues to grow, the idea of delivery will have to be reconsidered in the future.

In the meantime, it’s back to the barn for more temperature readings, and back to plowing the desk for my 2013 organic certification renewal…so much to do!

Update Feb 25th, 2013:

The first succession of Bulb Onions and Leeks are sown in the nursery.

I have chosen to continue the same bulb onions as last season (one variety of Yellow and one variety of red) as I have an idea as to how well they will do in fair conditions.  

As last year, I am growing  long season Leeks that should be ready by early Fall - these are the cold tolerant type that can stay in the ground right up to just before the ground freezes.  As well, I have sown "Varna" Leeks for this season, which are much smaller but should be harvest ready in 60 to 80 days after transplant (about sometime in July).  

Dick just HAD to say that the barn was full of leaks...

These all have been planted in the nursery in the barn.  The nursery is an insulated cabinet with artificial sunlight, soil temperature control, and air circulation.  This allows long season plants to get a head start in our northern climate - otherwise our tomato season would be about 4 weeks long - way too short for my tastes.

One other note, especially for those of you considering a first time purchase of a share.

I have tried to provide a complete picture on the menu page and 2013 harvest page as to what to expect for your purchase.  The information is all there, but I still find it is not as clear as I would like it to be.  I'll try to come up with something else in the near future.  

In the meantime, if you are interested, feel free to contact me, and I can answer any questions that you may still have.

Talk to you soon, 

Bob

Update March 1st:

The Onions have started sprouting.  They should have started next Monday, but I suppose they are in a hurry to be eaten.  Now the trick is to keep them growing...

Here are a few notes about our shares:

All of our produce is certified organic, and grown using an array of techniques ranging from traditional to modern, with a few adaptations I have learned along the way.

Produce is cleaned on the farm prior to delivery, using our biennially tested well water.  Leaves are rinsed twice. 

All shares receive harvests from the first week of June through the last weeks of October, with a couple of harvests  in November.

In total, there are 21 out of 23 weeks that I bill for (I assume 2 weeks absence on your part).  Full shares receive an additional harvest in May.

 For a $450.00 half share, you can expect about $20.00 worth of fresh food per week.

The $800.00 full shares receive about $40.00 per week.  

In addition, extra storage crops at the end of the year round out the value of your harvest.

These late season harvests include dry beans, storage potatoes, carrots, onions, winter squash and cold tolerant greens (green onions, kale, winter lettuce, spinach, etc).

To ensure I meet my commitment, I plant a little more than is needed to cover for the occasional setback in the season.  Last year, despite having a poor year for broccoli, missing a couple of weeks of lettuce, and having a poor turnout from the leeks, I was still able to generate more food than the value of the shares – half shares received almost $500.00 worth of food.

A few days before the weekly harvest, I will post an estimate of what you will receive on the website (On the page “This Weeks Harvest”).  This will allow you to plan.

I have to emphasize that if there are crops you want more of less of, please let me know as soon as possible, so that I can plant less or more of a certain crop.

Here is a glance at some of the differences between Full and Half Shares:

Full Share	Half Share
2 Heads of Lettuce per week	1 Head of Lettuce per week
2-3 Types of greens per week	1-2 Types of greens per week
Garlic – minimum 16 bulbs	Garlic – minimum 8 bulbs
2-4 Lb Tomatoes each week	1-2 Lb Tomatoes each week
1-2 other Fruit (2-3 peppers, 1-2 cucumber, 1-2 squash, etc.)	1 other Fruit (2-3 peppers, 1-2 cucumber, 1-2 squash, etc.)
1 Lb Carrots each week	1 Lb Carrots every two weeks
1 other root (turnips, beets, celeriac, radish, etc).	1 other root (turnips, beets, celeriac, radish, etc).
1 Lb Beans or Peas each week	1 Lb Beans or Peas every two weeks
1 Lb Potatoes each week	1 Lb Potatoes every two weeks

Quantity per share can be adjusted slightly, provided no-one else is short changed.  However, making adjustments is much easier if I know before I start planting.

The quantities for Beans, Peas, Potatoes, Carrots, etc are usually the minimum amount – if there is extra, all shares are topped up.

In the hottest part of the summer, I usually give two or three small  heads of lettuce per share instead of 1 or 2 large heads (they are harvested early to prevent the plants from going to seed as sometimes happens in hot weather).

Sometimes there is a lot of extra produce (such as Carrots or Tomatoes).  On these weeks, I notify all customers that extra food is available.  Those who want to preserve food have the opportunity to take extra.  First come, first serve.

There are two goals we hope to achieve within the next two years:

1- Find a way to offer more customer choice in basket contents - this has proven to be a much bigger challenge than I realised when I was an intern.  The production logistics (and risks) pose a considerable challenge.

2- Extend our season of winter greens, storage crops, and root vegetables up to the  feasting holidays of Christmas and New Years.  

With your support this year, we should achieve this bar by 2014 or 2015.  

In the meantime, our goal is to continue to provide ourselves and our customers with top quality produce.

Bob

Hey Folks:

A couple of updates.

I have located a source of organic Parsnip seed here in Canada.  I have to confirm a couple of details but anticipate getting some seed for this year.  This may be the culmination of a long search.  

The same farm produces seed for another crop I have been looking for sometime – New Zealand Spinach.

New Zealand Spinach (not really a spinach but tastes like it) grows on a trellised vine.  It is notoriously difficult to get started, as it naturally have a low germination rate – typically, about 65 % of the seed is viable when planted.  However, once established, it grows prolifically and continues to provide a harvest of leaves until the first frost.

I have looked for it in particular as it satisfies three criteria I have been searching for.

As a trellis plant, it will compliment my trellis crop rotation (Vine Beans, followed by “a leaf crop”, followed by a Fruit crop (tomatoes, cucumber, etc).

Another reason I have chosen NZ Spinach is that it is very heat tolerant.  It can provide an additional leafy green to the mid-summer menu, providing a substitute for Spinach should there be difficulties germinating the real Spinach in the hottest part of the season.

The final reason is that, from what I have heard, it is a very tasty.

I have come up with a means of responding to menu requests for the season.  I must emphasize that it is not a foolproof system – field and weather conditions will dictate what I can provide on a weekly basis.  However, I recognize that some way to tailor the menu to each customer should be found (This has been discussed at length in other posts).

When you sign on for a seasons share (or shortly after), I will ask you to fill out a form that grades your preferences for some produce.  I will use this as a guide when filling your weekly baskets.

There will be a few other questions, such as if you prefer your carrot or beet greens left on (some folks like these – I tend to keep some carrot greens for stews), and your approximate quantity for some crops such as carrots and beans (ie 1 Lb / basket, 1.5 Lb / basket, etc.).

For those of you who have already signed on, I will follow up with this in the next week or so.

That’s all for now, I’m off to the farm now to do some more temperature readings, wood working, and another round of flyer drop-offs.  Talk to you soon…

Bob

Hello Folks:

Thanks to those of you who are visiting for the first time.  I hope you find our site informative and entertaining.

If you have any further questions about Whitsend Market Garden, feel free to call.  I will be glad to answer any questions you have about our harvest subscription.

What a big change a week of effort can bring.

After some good luck and a bit of help from some of my seed sources, I have been able to track down the last of the seeds I was looking for since the change in organic regulation (see post of a couple of weeks ago).

Most of our seeds for Asian greens, eggplant, and winter-tolerant green onions have now been located.

I made some new contacts, including the folks at Hawthorn Seeds and West Coast Seeds.  Along the way, I located a new source of clover for the footpaths, and an interesting heirloom shell bean, to augment the Kidney Beans at the end of the season.

My success in overcoming this regulatory challenge is a good example of how small scale farms have an advantage over agro-industrial sites.

Like any small business, the small-scale farm is more agile, and can adapt quickly when required.  Pests and diseases are easier to detect, and allow for quicker containment and response.  A snap frost or heat wave is easier to prepare for.

For now, I guess it is back to the everyday work at the farm – until the next challenge comes along!

Thanks to those of you who have signed up this past week.  I look forward to sharing the harvest with you as soon as it is warm enough to grow some plants!

Bob

Here are a few notes about our shares

All shares receive harvests from the first week of June through the last weeks of October, with a couple of “harvests” in November.

In total, there are 20 weeks that I bill for (I assume 2 weeks absence on your part).

 For a $450.00 half share, you can expect about $20.00 worth of fresh food per week.

The $800.00 full shares receive about $40.00 per week.  Small quantities of greens are ready for harvest by the last week of May.  Full shares will receive this extra harvest.

In addition, extra storage crops at the end of the year round out the value of your harvest (there are usually a few weeks at the beginning and end of the season in which the weekly value is a bit lower than average).

These late season harvests include dry beans, storage potatoes, carrots, onions, winter squash and a small quantity of cold tolerant greens (green onions, kale, and winter lettuce).

To ensure I meet my commitment, I plant a little more than is needed to cover for the occasional setback in the season.  Last year, despite having a poor year for broccoli, missing a couple of weeks of lettuce, and having a poor turnout from the leeks, I was still able to generate more food than the value of the shares – half shares received almost $500.00 worth of food.

A few days before the weekly harvest, I will post an estimate of what you will receive on the website (On the page “This Weeks Harvest”).  This will allow you to plan.

I have to emphasize that if there are crops you want more of less of, please let me know as soon as possible, so that I can plant less or more of a certain crop.

Here is a glance at some of the differences between Full and Half Shares:

Full Share	Half Share
2 Heads of Lettuce per week	1 Head of Lettuce per week
2-3 Types of greens per week	1-2 Types of greens per week
Garlic – minimum 16 bulbs	Garlic – minimum 8 bulbs
2-4 Lb Tomatoes each week	1-2 Lb Tomatoes each week
1-2 other Fruit (3-4 peppers, 1-2 cucumber, 1-2 squash, etc.)	1 other Fruit (2-3 peppers, 1-2 cucumber, 1-2 squash, etc.)
1 Lb Carrots each week	1 Lb Carrots every two weeks, alternates with other roots.
1 other root (turnips, beets, celeriac, radish, etc).	1 other root (turnips, beets, celeriac, radish, etc).
1 Lb Beans or Peas each week	1 Lb Beans or Peas every two weeks
1 Lb Potatoes each week	1 Lb Potatoes every two weeks

Quantities are approximate.

I can usually adjust quantities slightly if needed. For example, if you know that 1 ½ Lbs of Potatoes are usually required for your household; I can adjust your average quantity upward.

The quantities for Beans, Peas, Potatoes, Carrots, etc are usually the minimum amount – if there is extra, all shares are topped up.

In the hottest part of the summer, I usually give two or three small  heads of lettuce per share instead of 1 or 2 large heads (they are harvested early to prevent the plants from going to seed as sometimes happens in hot weather).

Sometimes there is a lot of extra produce (such as Carrots or Tomatoes).  On these weeks, I notify all customers that extra food is available.  Those who want to preserve food have the opportunity to take extra.  First come, first serve.

More detailed information can be found on the pages "Harvest Schedule 2013", "On the Menu for 2013", and "Advantages of a Farm Subscription".

Bob

Hello Folks:

Thank you very much for taking the time to check out the Whitsend farm site.  It always pleases me to receive a positive response from my doorstep flyers.

Despite having delivered flyers for the past couple of years, I am always a bit uncomfortable with stepping onto another person’s doorstep, so I do not spend much time looking for the “no solicitation” signs.  My apologies if I missed such a request.  If I do see such requests, I will not leave any flyers at your house.

Flyers are the most feasible way for me to reach the specific neighbourhoods I have targeted as being in my catchment area.

There are several questions that I often receive when pitching my farm subscriptions.  I will try to answer them briefly over the next couple of weeks.  Here are a couple of them:

Why does Whitsend request payment for subscriptions in advance?

Most of the farms overhead for the season is spent before the season begins.  This includes the seeds, supplies, tiller fuel for preparing the beds before planting, and certification fees.

Why does Whitsend sell weekly harvest shares instead of operating a market stand?

- A most important factor to consider is the planning.  If I were to operate a stand during the harvest season, I would need to estimate what customers are going to want on a weekly basis.  For example, I might estimate that six heads of cabbage per week would satisfy the customers’ needs.   On the first day, should 12 customers request cabbage, I would have to turn away six customers.  Should they find their cabbage at another farm stand, they would be less likely to check my stall first on the following week. 

As cabbage requires 55-70 days to develop to maturity, it would be several weeks before being able to harvest the additional demand for cabbage.  This would assume that I would be able to find the extra seed mid-way through the season, and that I would have the extra growing space in the field suitably prepared.

- During a previous career in fundraising, I have found that my sales skills are better suited to developing a one-on-one relationship with a customer, and building it over a number of weeks or years.  I am less effective when trying to catch someone’s attention in a crowd.

Why do I have to take the weekly basket as is?  Why can I not select which items wind up in my share?

During my farm internship (which included workshops at several farms) I wondered why individualizing a customer’s share was not a common practice.  It seemed to me (and I still consider this point to be quite valid) that offering a weekly share tailored to the customer's taste was the ideal way to go.

During the research phase of starting my farm business, I quickly discovered why giving every customer a unique basket is so difficult. 

- Most customers have a basic list of what they want through the year – carrots, potatoes, beans, peas, onions, lettuce, etc.  I can produce these foods through most of the season.  This “basic” harvest share does not add up to a value that would allow me a profit, without greatly expanding my customer base.

- By concentrating so much of my production into just a few crops, I run the risk of losing a sizeable portion of the share should there be a failure of one crop or another, as sometimes happens in agriculture.  The safest way to set up a customer's share is to provide the greatest variety of crops possible.

- Many preferred crops have climatic challenges during parts of the season.  To insure your share against under performing crops, and to provide menu variety, I plant additional foods that thrive in the more extreme parts of the climate season.

- Most of my customers tend to sign up in early spring.  By this time, seed for some crops might be unavailable.  As well, leaving my production plan to the last minute creates a time crunch when I need to focus on other details for a successful season.

Leafy greens provide a good example.  Spinach, Lettuce, and Kale are examples of crops that I can grow for most of the season, though their performance is variable during some parts of the year.  I grow additional leafy greens to augment my regular crops.

During the early part of the year, I grow crops tolerant to cool weather and occasional early frosts, like Arugula and Mache.  As the midsummer period warms up, I switch to heat tolerant greens such as Orach, Amaranth, and Purslane.  I return to the cool weather crops for the late summer and autumn period.

This does leave us with some options.  If I know that ¾ of my customers prefer Purslane to Orach, I can adjust my production plan to suit this particular need.  However, I need to know this at seed purchasing time (November to January).

I am willing to take requests that I can commit to, such as “no hot peppers but extra radishes, please”.

If there is something you absolutely do not want to have, I can remove it from your share.  As long as another share does not go short of a particular crop, I can provide a substitute.  This is usually the case, but I am reluctant to make promises that I am unsure that I can keep.  I know I can supply you with a weekly basket containing a wide variety of high quality produce.

We can provide cooking and preserving tips for everything we plant.  Keep in mind that many of the less well known crops can substitute for common crops in many recipes.

If you would like to sign up for the 2013 season, or still have a few questions, feel free to contact me.  I would be happy to hear from you.

Until then, I have to bundle up and head out to the barn to get some of the building for the season complete - and to drop off a few more flyers.

Talk to you soon!