Happy Victoria Day Long Weekend! The weather looks like it might be a little stormy but hopefully everyone can enjoy some relaxation time. This week's delivery will be the last chance to purchase most seedlings. Some perennial herbs may still be available afterwards but now is the time to get your tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and more!
Reminder that after this week we will be moving to bi-weekly deliveries for a while, so the next delivery will be the week of June 6th.
Our popular salad mix is now available (and should be for most of the remaining weeks of the year) plus we have the first sweet spring turnips (in addition to arugula, radishes, bok choy, and various microgreens). These turnips are best enjoyed lightly cooked in a stirfry or on the BBQ. Back by popular demand we have asparagus and rhubarb from Fair Fields Farm. We sampled the asparagus and it is tender and delicious. I know many people are hoping for spring spinach and it is coming soon. But some evil sow bugs ate our first planting in the greenhouse so we are waiting for the field planting to mature. Hopefully next delivery!
The peas, beets, onions, carrots, kale, chard, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and more are all planted and looking great. Now, we just wait for the weather to settle a little to get the warm season crops in the ground. Since the weather this weekend doesn't look conducive to field work, I'm going to spend my time planting the tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse. We are trialing some English-style greenhouse cucumbers this year and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they work out! The same sow bugs that ate the spinach particularly love cucumber stems so I have my work cut out to keep them protected.
While I'm the face you see at each pickup and the person 'running the show' in the market garden, Rob, Terran, and Rowan all play important roles here on the farm. Rob takes the lead on all the animal chores and meat production, runs the BCS (our walk behind tractor that works the market garden beds and more), maintains our beehives, and best of all, plants and maintains thousands of trees on the farm. He has a particular interest in fruit and nut trees and shrubs, many of which are 'superfood' varieties that people have never heard of like haskaps, aronia, and seabuckthorn. Terran (our 16 year old son) is my official employee and focuses on tasks that need lots of muscle like t-bar pounding, caterpillar tunnel construction, hauling loads of manure around, and moving silage tarps. As long as there are no snakes to be seen, he is a happy employee. He will also occasionally be helping out at the Guelph share deliveries this summer so that he can gain some customer service skills. Rowan (our 13 year old son), feeds and collects eggs from the chickens. He also helps opening and closing the greenhouse each day and is the resident baby pig snuggler and cherry tomato stealer. Both Terran and Rowan help me pack shares in the summer months. Living on a farm is a real family affair!
