Take A Stand For The Land

Take A Stand For The Land

Dance at Sod House NW of 36-27-10

Dance at Sod House NW of 36-27-10

It is really fortunate that we have such amazing records of familial history on both sides. This is a small story with huge heart of my husbands' people who came to Canada in 1903 with lots of hopes and dreams to build a good life on the wide and wild prairie.

 

They arrived from England in 1903. In April of 1905 they set off by ox team from Saskatoon to their newly claimed land section in the (then) N.W. Territories. The province of Saskatchewan did not get established till later that year. They lived in a tent until they could build their sod house. Although great grandfather was a very good carpenter he did not know that you built the sod house first and then could lumber line it from the inside. He built a frame first and then put sod around it. Well it worked but wasn't as efficient as the usual way.

 

These were amazingly efficient homes when you consider it. A floor was dug down below the frost line and filled with chips and then a thick layer of packed clay. The temperature of the earth stays fairly constant once you dig below the frost line. The best sods were cut from dried out slough areas as the roots were much thicker and therefore held the house together much better. The sods were usually about 100mm deep by 0.91m wide by 1.5m long. These were then layered to the height you wanted and a roof put on. It was solid sod on three sides with door and windows only on one side, away from the wind. The high density of the earth changes temperature very slowly and so provided a fairly consistent temperature even when the temperatures fluctuated between -40C in winter to +40 in summer.

 

Great grandparents' home became the centre of the social scene. A dance was held in their sod home every two weeks and a Club was formed. Music was supplied by several bachelors and Mr. Bert had a gramophone. Great grandmother would clear the room of beds and stuff and put them in the shed. Dances started at 8 pm and carried on until morning. Great grandmother and grandmother Flo served two lunches. One at midnight and the other before the dance ended in the mornings. The Club would all contribute to these goods. At the end of the season the Club presented the family with an armchair and a rocker to thank them for their hospitality and the express how much the community appreciated the fun.

 

It is easy to think that times were tough in those days and they were, but it is sure wonderful and inspiring to know that they took the time to enjoy friends and music and dance the night away on a regular basis. It must have been great fun.

 

Everyone had arrived in Canada with similar hopes, dreams and aspirations. Everyone was a stranger and yet they formed tight and solvent communities in a very short time. Everyone pitched in, helped each other out. They worked hard together and then they played and rejoiced in their accomplishments.

 

I had the pleasure of knowing Grandmother Flo for a short time. She was a woman ahead of her time. She was the forerunner of the woman's movement let me tell you. She was great. Still took the stairs instead of the elevator at 98, liked to beat men at cards and liked her finger of rye each night.

 

Don't make them like that anymore.

KNIT WIT

It is the time of year where the pressures of the farm are on low dial for now. It gives me the luxury of fiddling around and about the house. About a month ago I was looking for Christmas paper to wrap something and it started something really big. I got very upset and angry with myself as I began to realize how much stuff I had accumulated and saved for all the rainy days. I am one of those, " I might need this one day" kind of people. Well I just don't have room anymore for all the "one day" things.

 

It is now at least a month later and I am still sorting and organizing and ruthlessly throwing out those "one day I'll use it things."

 

My biggest load of stuff has turned out to be all the knitting and crochet paraphernalia I have accumulated over 30 + years. I have thrown very little out to be truthful but it was truly all over the place. It is now organized and all in one place. It is labelled and sorted and I certainly don't need to purchase yarn or patterns for, well, almost forever.

 

Of all the creative things I have learned to do and love to do in my life this has got to be the one I enjoy most. It gives me endless hours of quiet pleasure. All the studies that tell you to do crosswords and stuff have nothing on learning and creating a challenging pattern of stitches. Plus you get something lovely you have created and can give yourself or someone else.

 

So the clutter is down to a minimum. Its a good feeling. Probably the only one who needs to fear me once I am through with sorting my things is my husband. Workshop. Watch out !!!  "ha, ha. Only kidding honey."



A Story of Soup

Today I made soup. One of my favourite foods. I grew up on a lot of soup. The Germans have a word for creating soup. EINTOPF, it means one pot. At the end of the week everything leftover goes into one pot and it becomes soup. The origin of the word soup is suppa.  An old word, before Latin even. In German the word for soup is still suppe. It means "to sop".

 

Until bread was invented there was NO soup. Only a thick kind of gruel at best. Made from pounded grains or plants with maybe some meat cooked into it.( It doesn't sound good.) The "sop" part of soup is the thick slice of bread that was placed on the bottom of the bowl and then the soup ladled over it to sop it up.

 

Soups could be very, very nutritious when cooked over a length of time to extract the goodness of the marrow in the bones and stuff. The soup became a staple food in most medieval homes. They could afford to make soup from basically the scraps of leftover food, especially the bones which couldn't be eaten and were until then thrown to the dogs.

 

What is most interesting is that the invention of soup also beget the first restaurant. The word comes from the root "to restore". A Frenchman had the brilliant idea to make a nutritious soup and sell it to the weary travellers who needed something with sustenance to restore their energy.

 

Now you understand my little drawing. No criticism please. Drawing on the tablet isn't the easiest thing to do but I am trying. As good as it gets folks.

 

A little bit of fun - "oui?"

 

Types of Soup

Bouillon -concentrated

brown stock

Consomme -clarified

brown stock

Broths -clear

Jellied -made from

bones and clarified

Vegetable -prepared

with or without meat

Puree -with/without

cream

Bisques -shellfish based

cream soup (my fave)

Chowders -thick, fish

meat and vegie base

Fruit soups - huh???

what ?? (if you are

European you know.

I grew up on this.

Delicious !!! )

Ground Beetles

Harpalus pennsylvanicus 

aka BIG DINGY GROUND BEETLE

Today I got reacquainted with one of our gardens beneficial predators. 

I was out pruning a rose bush and disturbed his habitat. I was lucky enough to get these great photos of him. 

This is a regular ground beetle. It is one of our most common beetles. 

Quick to scurry when disturbed.  Usually found under rocks, plant litter, old pots or just below the soil surface. 

Never harm them as they are ferocious eaters of many of our pest insects.  I love the way the light shows off his iridescent shell. Beautiful.

Breaking the blog Fast with Bread

Its been awhile since I last posted. Winter is our down time. There are always things to tend to on a farm but for the most part it is quieter and easier to convince yourself to take a load off and read a book, visit a friend, take a walk, linger over morning coffee. We spend much of our time conversing on the past season and the season coming up. There are the usual seed catalogues to look through and plans to make for the coming year. Already the requests for farm stays and apprentices are being interviewed and booked. This winter has been somewhat different in that we have had a new "toy" to play with and figure out. This past summer we built a french Canadian style bread oven. It was curing until November and in the meantime I was practicing with bread recipes and culturing a good sour dough starter. Our first bake was in late November and we have been baking weekly since then. We have had a few failures but surprisingly few. Even the burnt bread was great inside ! We have made pizzas and cakes and use the residual fire to bake one of our organic chickens slowly in a cast iron pot that roasts and browns the chicken to perfection ! It is a real learning curve figuring out how long the fire has to burn to get the interior hot enough long enough. Then the fire comes out and the oven has to "soak". The timing is everything. Bryne is working the fire and I am working the doughs so that all is ready at the same time. Coordination and being organized is key . There is not much that can top the taste of bread baked on the hearth. The essence and energy of all the elements that come together to form this most ordinary of foods becomes extraordinary !

A Two Day Montage of Activity at the Farm

Not going to write too much to go with this video montage. I think the photos will speak for themselves. I will say that fall has always been my favorite time of year. As much as it is a time for slowing down the pace it is the best time of the year for me to be inspired and creative. Maybe its the cooler weather but my head always feels clearer and brighter as fall approaches. As much as I love the warmth that summer days bring I really love the shorter day lengths as it means we don't have to be out working so early and so late. Farming is really ruled by the rhythm of the days and nights and the weather. As long as there is daylight there is always something you could and probably should be tending to. I appreciate the changing seasons and the different day and night lengths.  From the photos I think you will see that there is lots to see and do and observe at this special time of year. Enjoy and be kind to each other.

Making Pies for Thanksgiving

I "LOVE" making pies. Wasn't something I grew up with and didn't know how to do until I became an adult. I love making pies and I love eating pies ! Sweet, savory, doesn't matter.
A lot of people are hesitant to make pies saying they are too difficult and the pastry doesn't turn out very well. There are countless ways to make the pastry and countless ways to create a pie. I have different recipes and techniques depending on my mood, the amount of time I have, ingredients on hand and what kind of pie I am making.
My mother in law, who I had the privilege of knowing only a short time, taught me a lot about making pies. She made pies for the families' small restaurant in northern Saskatchewan from 1952 until about 1968. This woman made A LOT OF PIES !!! My husbands' personal favorite is raisin. For some reason I don't make this kind too often but many, including husband, say I make the BEST butter-raisin tarts in the world. They are better than raisin pie I think.
Pies like so many things that are worked and created by hand take practice. They take practice and more practice. You do it until you become familiar with it and comfortable with it and eventually you can't help but be proud of your handiwork. I think pies are an incredibly artistic type of food. There is a lot you can do with the pastry to make the pie look appetizing and beautiful.
I have my tried and true recipes for pastry and fillings but I also like to attempt new recipes that intrigue me to see what comes out of it.
In Canada we have spent the last two days celebrating Thanksgiving. It is time of celebrating the harvest and abundance of food from the season. It is a time of family and friends coming together to share and celebrate over a feast of roast turkey and all the wonderful foods that go with it. Our traditional meal is usually turkey, potatoes, squash, brussel sprouts, red cabbage. Lots of gravy and turkey stuffing and of course cranberry sauce to go with the turkey. For dessert OF COURSE there is PIE, pumpkin pie and apple pie are probably the favorites.
Next day is the best. We get to eat left over turkey made into.......TURKEY PIE !!!
When my daughter was in school we used to go every year for spring break to Victoria for the day. One of our indulgences was to go to the Dutch Bakery on Quadra Street and eat CHERRY PIE with ice cream. It was something we really looked forward to and became a special memory for my daughter and me. Then we would go to the best used book store ever, next door. Wow, that was a great time.
Special holidays and occasions and good food go hand in hand and create some of the most precious memories of our lives. I LOVE to create wonderful foods for my family and friends. This is a gift my mother handed down to me as well as a number of other special elders throughout my life. These women showered their families with a most amazing talent for LOVING to cook for and feed their families and friends. It is truly a fine and generous way of displaying your love and affection. It satisfies both the cook and the eater(s).
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.

Update and Map of the Farm

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WOW ! its been awhile since I looked at the blog or had enough time to write anything. We are over the seasonal hump. Still lots and lots to do but the worst of it has been done. The last few weeks have been some of the most demanding ever !

Decided to open the farm to the public for a first annual cycling event on August 6. Along with all the daily jobs of running and operating the farm we needed to tackle a major clean up of the farm. We moved, discarded, bush whacked, weed whacked, mowed, trimmed, weeded, poured cement and more during the last few weeks. I was often out at 6 a.m. and still on my hands and knees at dark trying to get certain tasks accomplished. There were things we did that we haven't done since we came here in 1996. Nothing like an event to get you motivated to do stuff you can't otherwise justify doing.

The cycle event turnout for our route was very disappointing. I was SO ready and proud to show off the farm and only 9 cyclists showed up. They were all great and I SO thank them for coming. There were three routes to choose from and we were on the longest route.

The positive outcome is that we did get a lot accomplished and that makes me happy :-D

We have started operating a farm stand at the front road to the farm. It is going very well. My mom, who just turned 88 years old, is tending the stand most days. She really, really enjoys running the stand and talking to people who stop by. She always has her knitting with her and has even sold some of her wonderful socks and shawls.

Whats ready to harvest at this time ? Picked the first beans today, tomatoes are beginning to ripen, second wave of strawberries are ripe for the picking. What I am really excited about is the corn. We planted out about 2000 plants. Its the most we ever done and they are about 10 days away from being ready. Certified Organic corn, YUM, YUM !

To give you some more detail of the little map I drew. The rows at the very top of the page are about 80+ metres in length. The rows below it running north and south are about 70 metres in length. The tomato hoop house is 30 metres and houses about 300 tomato plants, the timber frame hot house is about the same size and is housing tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers. The hot house with basil is about 15 metres in length and there are at least 300+ basil plants in it. There are about 50 dahlias planted alongside the basil hot house. The strawberry field contains about 1000+ strawberry plants. They are ever bearing and are just starting to fruit again. The berries are huge and sweet ! We are in the process of taking off the runners and starting new plants for next year and extend the amount of berries.

The chicks we hatched earlier this year are well on their way and looking almost like full grown laying hens. Bryne extended the yards for the birds and they will start laying late this fall. We now have a concrete pad for our produce washing station and it certainly keeps things a lot cleaner underfoot. Soon we will build the roof over it.

That is about all I can say for this time. Hope all your gardens are growing well and that you are enjoying the outdoors in whichever way you can. The weather has been glorious and Bryne just informed me that the weather network is showing rain ALL next week. If it so then I want to enjoy the sunshine and warmth for the next few days. 

Good night and sweet dreams to you all. ;-)

Fence Posts 101

One of the great things about life at the farm is our young, farm stay participants. We have hosted so many, mostly young, guests here at Ironwood. They learn a lot of skills they will never be exposed to anywhere but at a place like this.

Farming is definitely one of the last hold outs for skills from bygone eras. Learning to use and manipulate tools and bodies. It is SO rewarding to watch young people transform their bodies and themselves. They become stronger in body and in mind.

Bryne is incredibly skilled at making and creating useful, necessary items for the daily operations of the farm. You cannot be running to town every time something breaks down nor can you afford to. You often need to be able to take control of a situation in short order. Things are breaking down at the most inappropriate times, and need to be fixed "pronto". This takes skill and imagination.

In times gone by you learned at the knees of our Fathers and Mothers. This is very similar. Just by being part of the experience and being able to watch and learn connects you to a part of yourself that inspires you to be resourceful and thereby more confident in your abilities.

Bryne and I are bolstered in watching ALL the potential of these amazing young people who are just beginning the journey of their lives. We are SO privileged to be a part of it.

Video and Farm Update

It is the time of year when everything needs attention and doing. You hardly know where to begin first. The video is of our upper field and gives a concept of the scale of Ironwood Farm's operation. There are two other fields down below closer to the house. This is also where the hoop houses and chicken yards are. Hope to get a video of these areas done soon.

The first of the chickens went to the processor last week and Bryne is on the road as I write taking the last of the birds in. One job that is finished for the time being.

The weather is simply not its' usual self this year. We have had some very hot and sunny days but they are few and far between. The video happened to be one of those few days. In between we have experienced some incredibly windy days and nights. These winds which we call the "Qualicums" occur throughout the summer during our hotter weather. They usually start in the afternoon for a few hours but this year have been relentless and long. We even had some power outages due to their strength. They dry out the fields in very quick order, thus the need for irrigation.  Thought summer was finally coming and now we are looking at another week of cool, damp, cloudy weather. Its not cold though.

This is what I mean when I talk about one of the advantages of being a diverse, multi crop farming operation. There is always something that will do well in every kind of weather. The swiss chard, spinach, spring onions, brassicas,radishes, lettuces, parsley, cilantro and even potatoes are doing well. The few hot days got the zucchini and patty pans off to a good start and there are already lots. We had a good first flush of strawberries but it has all but stopped now. Too bad. The snow peas have been outstanding !

My dahlias are blooming and present some spectacular colour in the garden which makes me feel bright and happy ! Flowers are great for raising the spirits. Nasturtiums in the salad mix really perk thing up too.

Well the rain is really coming down now. There is still nothing like a good rain to keep things hydrated and growing. Saves a lot of physical and manual effort on our behalf to move irrigation pipes and sprinklers around. Going to do some work in the hoop houses today and stay dry.

Stringing the Tomatoes and Setting Up the Hoop House

Want to show you all some of what we have been doing. Yesterday it rained enough to call for a job that kept us out of the wet weather. Tomatoes needed pruning and stringing so that is what we did. I went ahead of the others and pruned each plant, Bryne tied the strings from the wires and the gang attached the clips and carefully wound each stem around the string.  After it was all done each plant was watered. Its always a tedious job but so important to get done. Every week we will prune and wind the growing point of each plant around the string. You want the energy of the plant to go into developing fruit and not growing more stems.

There are about 300 plants in this hoop house and about 12 varieties. Black Krim, Black from Tula, Black Prince, Black Cherry just to name a few. Looking forward to a good tomato harvest.

Early last week we reassembled our original hoop house into another field. We have planted it full of basil. The location gets the very last rays of sun for the day. Good for basil. Those are my dahlias on the right side of the hoop house and snow peas on the left.

Bryne putting the finishing touches on the hoop house before the planting begins. We planted first, watered the transplants in with the sprinklers on and then put the plastic on the next day. I will post some photos of the basil soon. Here on the west coast you really can't grow large amounts of basil successfully without cover. Made some pesto for supper last night. What a great smell and flavour.

Principles of Plant Health

The past few days have been full of questions and discussions about health and herbs. I love it when I get to talk about plants and their uses in our lives. I studied herbal medicine and nutrition and believe that food should be a substantial portion of our daily medicine. Plant foods that are grown conscientiously and with good, sustainable practices are some of our most powerful allies in maintaining good health. I remember my naturopath doctor telling me long ago that "ideally" his job was to help me maintain my good health and not to wait till I got sick before seeking guidance and assistance. I should prevent disease not wait till I was diseased. So much about health and growing plants go hand in hand. Organic growing follows the same principles, prevent disease, not create conditions for disease.

With 16 years of certified organic growing and countless programs and courses under my belt I have learned a thing or two about maintaining my health, my families' health and the health of the plants and the farm. The number one question people ask is "What do you do about pests and disease ?"

I say you have to first ask what you consider a pest ? a disease ? Everything alive on this planet is food for something else. If you keep taking the so-called pest away you are taking away food from another living thing. Even diseases are alive and have to eat. Take away what they normally feast on and the system becomes unbalanced and open to attack. Its all about balance.

That is the beauty of bio-diversity. In nature you never see anything living in isolation, on its' own. It is a great community that operates on co-operation and balance. No one, nothing is an island.

Plants and foods grown using the "industrial model" have been manipulated to the point of having no natural defenses of their own anymore. We have taken their ability to look after themselves away. Many crops are grown in enormous quantities, essentially in isolation, and do not have the benefit of their plant communities to help them out. They have been altered and hybridized to grow in a specific way with predictable results and rely on chemical applications to feed them, force their growth and protect them. If "anything goes wrong" in this model the results are often disasterous !

Science is beginning to show and understand that plants "think" and "communicate" with each other and their surroundings through chemical interactions. Stands to reason that they adapted this ability. I have often thought about this. A plant,a tree, cannot move to get away from something the way we can. They are forced to stay in one spot for the duration of their lives. They are at the mercy of the wind, weather, insects, animals, whatever comes their way and they have shown the many ways they have made brilliant adaptations to their environment. They have had millions of years to figure things out. A lot longer than we have.

Some of the most important practices we use at Ironwood Farm are crop rotation, green manures (cover cropping)and companion planting. By NOT using any types of chemical controls the farm attracts and thereby hosts all manner of insects, birds, wild life and most important, beneficial bacteria and micro-organisms. Together this bio-diversity creates a balance and feeds everyone.

We need to get back on track and let nature take the lead. By using and implementing practices that ensure soil health and vitality, bio diversity and mindful handling and care we not only help the planet but we help ourselves too.

The Home Stretch

We're coming into the home stretch of the planting season. Another week or so and we will have the main season crops into the ground. The last of the tomatoes are going in. Yesterday climbing cucumbers were added to the greenhouse mix. Still have to put in a row of field cucumbers and basil. Now we are going to seed carrots and beets one last time for this year. Radishes, lettuces and spinach are ongoing. 

Big job is getting the irrigation set up. There are always pipes to mend and seal. Bryne has his work cut out for him in this department. In spite of us living on the "wild, wet coast" we do need to irrigate. Yesterday was a prime example of why. We had a crazy "sou'wester" blow through here all afternoon well into the night. It took down trees, branches and the power ! These summer winds dry everything out ! Especially young plants that are still establishing their roots. Have to keep things irrigated so that they get their feet and grow properly.

Today I will walk the fields and make sure everything is accounted for and recorded on my charts. It is another part of farming that needs to be done. Recording and staying on top of what you do, have done and did do. Not just for the organic certification but for our own information and knowledge. Keeping records really helps. We can look back on any given year and see what we have done, where, how much, what the weather was etc. Our harvest records will indicate what did well and what didn't by how much we picked, bunched and bagged off to market.

We harvested spinach this past Friday for market. Harvested 150 pounds of rhubarb. Strawberries are beginning to form, the first potatoes are flowering(the photos show the plants and the size of a few potatoes I dared to dig gently with my hand) spring onions are almost ready to bunch. I ate the first snow pea, couldn't resist !

Its an exciting time to be on the farm. So much is happening and the growth is spectacular from just a week or so ago as the days get their longest and the heat units take off !

Gotta go, the day won't wait for me. The hummers (hummingbirds) are out doing battle on the feeders already!

Well the day is done, just had a hot bath and want to finish off this blog. Had a great day. Got the worst of the weeds out of fields A and B. Weeded the spring onions, rhubarb, snow peas and beets. Got the tallest of the grass weed whacked to a tolerable height. The crew was great today, everyone working together.

Those winds picked up again late afternoon but guess what ? As I sit here it is raining outside, pouring rain, a rain that will do the plants a lot of good and go deep. Lucky Bryne, he is SO happy when he doesn't have to irrigate. It doesn't get much better than that !

Good night, sweet dreams. ;-

)

What's For Supper ?

One of the main features of participating at Ironwood Farm is the food. The guest books are full of "adulation" about the food. We have a lot of mouths to feed at any given time and everyone is hungry after a day of physical labour. You have to consider that most of them are 19 to 25 years of age, many are still growing into their bodies and they need sustenance.  At the moment we have seven farm stays as well as ourselves. Three to four farm stay participants is normal but we have a cross over of comings and goings at the moment. What to feed a hungry crowd ?

Over the years, like anything, you acquire a feel for quantity and what you can reasonably prepare for a hungry gang. There is a budget to consider as well. Cooking for 10 is not unreasonable in a household kitchen. An ordinary kitchen stove with regular sized pots can accommodate most quantities to feed up to ten people. One thing we did purchase a number of years ago is a substantially sized wok.

Our kitchen is never without certain staples. Brown rice, potatoes, pasta , bread, onions, celery, carrots, frozen peas and various cuts of meat. When cooking and preparing the evening meal we always try to cook enough rice, potato or pasta to have leftover for the next day. This way we can quickly prepare a stir-fry of some kind for lunch or supper.

Of course having our own supply of seasonal vegetables and produce is one of the highlights to any meal. Early in the season we rely on items we have frozen or canned during the previous season. I freeze lots of rhubarb, kale, corn, squash, tomatoes, basil, apples, blackberries etc. to have through the winter and spring. Freezing is the easiest way for me to make use of abundant produce during the growing season. I simply don't have time during the busy farming season to can a lot.

An interesting aside story. We have had a young Japanese man with us for a number of months. He is an Italian chef by trade. That in itself is interesting. He has prepared a number of outstanding meals for us. I remember when I asked him which colour of tomatoes he would like to use out of the freezer. He was amazed at the selection and even more astounded at the taste ! Even the frozen tomatoes from last season had more flavour than anything he had ever experienced. He had NO idea tomatoes could have so many different colours and flavours. He was in heaven ! He is SOLD on organic food.

I must have instinctively  learned through observing my Mother how to manage and manipulate ingredients that are on hand. I usually finish my part of the farm work at 3 p.m. I indulge myself with a fresh cup of coffee and try to take an hour for myself to relax. In the back of my mind I am starting to think about supper and what I might prepare. By 4 p.m. I get at it. By 6 p.m.. supper is on the table. I know lots of you out there don't or won't use microwave ovens but it is a very useful appliance in our household at times for defrosting something if I haven't thought about taking it out the night before.

I REALLY enjoy baking bread for us and have incorporated it into the work flow of the day. Usually on Monday mornings I get the dough prepared and go out into the fields while it is rising. Come into the house and punch it down once and go out again. While I am preparing lunch I shape the bread and/ or buns and let them rise while we are eating. By the time we are doing the lunch dishes the bread can go into the oven I have remembered to preheat. NOT ALWAYS (lol)

We have some kind of dessert almost every day. Fortunately my Mother (who is soon 88) still can and loves to bake. She surprises us many times a week with some German style confection. I have a number of favorite recipes that are quick and easy to prepare for dessert. The top favorite for votes over the years is definitely any kind of "CRISP especially rhubarb and apple topping the list. CRISP with blackberries is a close second. Over the years my dear friend and neighbour Kate, who has since passed away at age 92, shared many wonderful recipes with me. She loved to bake as well and I remember many happy hours drinking tea and writing down her time honoured recipes.

Tonight Bryne prepared the main meal which was a wonderful stir fry with lots and lots of vegetables. A big pot of brown rice. Breaded, baked halibut. A banana bundt cake with peanut butter, cream cheese frosting. This was for the birthday of one of our farm apprentices who turned 20 today.

I have always enjoyed cooking and baking for my family and friends. I read once in an Ayurveda cook book that in India there are songs that women sing for preparing food. These songs infuse the food with love and good thoughts. This is how all food should be prepared. Much like the food we grow here on the farm our energy and thought patterns are transferred to the plants and into the crops we lovingly care for. The same thing applies to the food we are handling and preparing for a meal.

Everything we eat was once alive in some original form. It makes me wonder sometimes at the alarming statistics in rise of chronic illnesses if there is not some correlation between how industrial complex food is grown versus food that is grown with thought and care and hand held. I know from my experiences here on the farm that the difference is significant. The produce is positively brimming with vitality and energy.

Good people, good energy, GOOD FOOD !

Growing Tomatoes

The push is on. We're into the last week of May. These next two weeks we have to get all the long season, heat loving plants into their annual summer positions. Here on the west coast we have determined that if the squash and nightshade (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tobacco ) don't get into the ground by the end of the first week of June they simply won't have a long enough growing season for their fruits to mature. Last year we had the squash in on time and still much of the squash didn't mature properly on the vines before the rainy season was upon us in September. We had a slow start to summer last year and then some cool, rainy weather in August. Squash and tomatoes, peppers need those heat units to give them the sugar content they need to come to full maturity. Fortunately for tomatoes there are more and more varieties available for our cool, damp, often low-light summers.

 Some of our most successful tomatoes are Super Fantastic and Celebrity. Both these can be counted on to provide abundant fruit over a long period of time. Cherry tomatoes do well here too. Red Cherry, Gold Nugget, Yellow Pear, Snow White, Black Cherry are some of the best. They produce until frost in most cases. Many of the older heritage breeds do really well in our climate especially any of the dark brown/black varieties. We try a few new ones every year. This year we are trying Defiant, bred for our climate and resistant to early and late blight. We will see !

We grow our tomatoes in covered, but open-sided greenhouses. The blight is a given and we have learned to live with it. We still produce massive quantities of amazing tasty tomatoes. We try to save seed from some of our favourites  and it is noticeable the strength and stamina of our own seed produced plants. Eventually you get a plant that is aclimatized to it's surrounding soil and weather conditions.

We plant each tomato into a well-dug hole with a level shovel full of aged compost and a small amount of rock phosphate which is the middle number in the NPK formula. We use rock phosphate in place of bone meal. This promotes good fruiting, strong roots and greater resistance to disease. We also feed them with a foliar spray of weak, fish fertilizer solution a few times during the course of the growing season. The tomato can be planted to a depth up to and including it's first leaves. This ensures a good, solid stem and the stem underground will form roots to anchor it in. Once the plants are firmly planted in we string them up to support the plants as they grow and bear fruit. The plants get incredibly heavy once they form fruit and will topple and break without support. One thing we are fussy about is that we don't allow anyone who smokes tobacco to handle and work with the tomato ( nightshade) plants. The hands of smokers can harbour and transfer disease to the tomatoes from the tobacco.

Once the plants are in and actively growing your job is to keep the plants pruned to one stem and assist them by winding them gently along the length of the string. Pinching out secondary growth is crucial to getting good, abundant fruit that will ripen in time. I can recall on more than one occasion going into the tomato house after a week or so and being overwhelmed at the amount of growth in such a short time ! Tackling these plants if they get away from you can be daunting and potentially does a lot of damage to the plants. When you have 500 or more plants to deal with it pays to be on top of the job.

A lot of people ask about growing tomatoes in containers. There are more and more varieties available that are suitable for containers. I suggest you keep to the determinate varieties. This brings me to an explanation of determinate and indeterminate varieties. These words indicate the growth habit of the plant. Determinate means that the plant will grow to a predetermined height and the leader (stem) does not have to be pruned or pinched off. These are usually stocky, bushy plants by their nature. Often a tomato cage alone will support them. They are a better option for container growing due to this growth habit. Indeterminate varieties are the vining type of tomato. The main stem, leader, will grow and grow. We train them up along strings in the hoop houses. Again you want to train them to one stem and keep the branching off to a minimum. In our climate it is a good idea to pinch off the leader at a certain height so that fruit can set and mature. You can determine this once you are happy with the amount of flowering on the plant. We usually pinch them off at about 6 to 8 feet.

So, back to the containers. From what I have heard from people is that they think by growing the plants in containers they are less work. Not true. They are in fact more work. By confining the plant in a container you are taking away it's ability to seek out water and food. It is now dependent on you for those essentials. A tomato plant will totally fill a container with roots in a short time. They have big root systems with hungry appetites. We did this many years ago with about 200 plants in 5 gallon buckets. The watering became an endless task as the roots filled the buckets and any soil was basically eaten up. No soil, nothing for the water and nutrients to hold onto. It all just goes through the container. So my advice is to make sure you grow varieties that are suitable to containers and that the containers are large enough to support the needs of the plant. The plant will require you to water and feed it regularly.

There are places in Canada where tomatoes are planted in the fields with no support and lie on the ground. Ontario and certain areas of B.C. even, this is done. Field tomatoes require dry, dry, sunny conditions. It is really hit and mostly miss to attempt this here on the coast. The dampness and moisture will compromise the plants and the slugs will have a feast ! Slugs love hollowing out tomatoes. Peppers too by the way.

As to planting the tomatoes read and look at my blog on dahlias. The instructions apply to tomatoes, peppers and eggplant as well.  Good size hole, some good finished compost, a bit of rock phosphate or bone meal, a means of support and your good to go. Pruning and pinching them out is an ongoing task. I will take some photos as I do this throughout the season and will post an addendum to this blog when the time comes.

There is no taste comparison to a home grown tomato ! It is worth every bit of effort to grow these luscious, nutritious, tasty treats that you can do so much with. Hopefully I have covered most of the basics about getting them off to a good start.

Please, don't hesitate to comment and ask me any questions you may have about them. Sometimes it is difficult to know how much to say and write about a certain thing. Good luck and happy gardening.

Growing Dahlias For Market

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Today we planted out the dahlias. I love, adore, have to have, flowers. Flowers are truly the showpieces of Mother Nature. Dahlias are one of my most favorites and they are relatively easy to grow and will give you years if not decades of pleasure if you take proper care of them. Dahlias are also one of the easiest to grow for the cut flower market. Dahlia bouquets sell themselves for their colour and variety. We have always made flowers part of the diversity of product we bring to the farmer's markets. They make your stand, stand out !

Dahlias are native to the mountain areas of Mexico and Guatemala. They are the national flower of Mexico. They were originally a 20 foot or more tall plant and were used extensively by the Aztecs for food as well as practical purposes. The tubers are like a potato, starchy, and have a similar taste. The stems are hollow and were used as irrigation type pipes to transport water from a distance to the crops in the field. When growing they are also full of water and could be used as a source of water to drink.

Today dahlias come in an amazing array of blooms and spectacular colours. I have read that there are 50,000 or more types. WOW ! Once they start blooming they keep on flowering for about 3 months here on the west coast.  You get a LOT of SHOW for a small cost and the tubers if properly cared for will last decades.

We usually start them in gallon pots in late March, early April. Earwigs and slugs love to eat the first new growth that appears above ground so we have learned to start them in pots and avoid disappointment. We get them into their permanent summer spot by late May. By this time they are 2 feet or more in height.

We dig a good size hole, at least as deep as the size of the pot, add a shovel of compost and mix it with soil. Next I put a tomato cage into the hole. I tap the plant out of the pot and GENTLY remove it and lower it through the ring of the cage into the ground. Finally the soil from the dug hole is filled back in and the plants are watered.

Other than weeding around the plants during the season and watering them the main work is done. Once they start blooming it is important to keep the flowers cut off so they don't go to seed. You will want to keep them picked and enjoy them in your home and in bouquets to give.

I make sure to have a bucket of water with me when I am cutting them. The sooner any flower gets into water, the better. At the house I put them into a vase of relatively hot water. They take up the water much quicker if you use hot water. NOT boiling water, just hot tap water. To keep your vase water from getting "skunky" you can put a tiny bit of bleach in the water. It also keeps your vase cleaner. The flowers will last a good week or so this way.

At this point I will not discuss digging up and storing the tubers. This will be another blog in the fall once the tubers are dug up. I have had blooms till November some years here on the coast. Normally its till mid October or Thanksgiving here in Canada.

If you like having flowers and growing them then give dahlias a try. They give me enormous amounts of pleasure and beauty and really show off at our market stand.

Growing for Market

Things are finally beginning to heat up around here in more ways than one. The weather is co-operating although the nights are still pretty cool. Down to 2C and 3C the last two nights and up to 23C during the day. Pretty wide extremes. We are well into May and getting what seems like usual April weather. Everything is a month behind.

Was being interviewed for an upcoming magazine article yesterday and some of the questions got me thinking. She asked how we determine and decide what to grow any given season. Well after pondering I realized how interesting the answer to that question could be.

The answer is a combination of things. Trial and error being one of them and weather plays a role for sure. After years of crop rotations and trying many different things we have a pretty clear idea of what does well and what sells well and what gives you the most bang for the effort.

We have three main growing areas. Field A, field B and field C. Field A has become our perennial type area over the years. It has the best drainage. High water tables in the winters here on the coast are trouble for perennials. You do not want to have roots sitting in water all winter. A main reason people lose some of their perennials is that the roots have rotted from below the ground from sitting in water all winter. You need to put things like rhubarb, rosemary, strawberries, raspberries, overwintering vegetables of any kind in the area with your best drainage. Plants can handle quite a bit of cold and frost but not soaking, wet soils. These conditions suffocate and rot away the plants winter storage system, their precious root systems.

So Field A has become the location of our rhubarb bed and vegetables we want to get an early start on. Along with the rhubarb we have snow peas, sweet peas, brassicas(broccoli, cabbage etc) and early lettuces transplanted into this field within the last 2 months. We had a bit of warm weather during this time and the plants looked like they were doing well and THEN it got cold and wet again. Things didn't look so good for a time and we thought that we had jumped the gun and were paying for it BUT true to their resilient nature, the plants held on, went into limbo mode and waited. The last week or two they have transformed and are happily growing . The rhubarb is looking amazing and we are harvesting 100 lbs or more each week. Rhubarb thrives if it gets some consistent cold weather. Last year we didn't have that and our rhubarb harvest was pitiful last year compared to this year.

My point is that the beauty of being a market garden farm allows us the flexibility to be diverse and creative. We seed an enormous variety and amount of vegetables etc. One can never truly know how the weather will go during any given season. By covering all the bases and planting a diverse and varied amount of crops we are sure to have certain crops do very well. Something suffers but lots does great. In other words, ALL OUR EGGS ARE NOT IN ONE BASKET.

The other area that deserves attention is to what the market will bear and buy. One thing we have learned over the years is that the personal preferences for specialty vegetables are just that. People try to convince you that you MUST grow lemon cucumbers. "Everyone will buy them." So you do and the only one buying them is that person.  For sure you should try new things and each year we do but in small, small quantities. Consumers for the most part are very traditional and not easily convinced to try any new or different kind of vegetable even when it is similar to the original. A case in point is purple beans. We have grown purple beans for over 10 years now. Every season we have countless numbers of customers who exclaim " I have never seen purple beans," WOW ! Are they any good ? Will I like them? " Whats truly amusing about this is that I recognize some of these people and they tell me every year.  They see them every year but every year they claim they have never seen them. What we do now is GIVE customers who are truly curious a healthy sample to take home and try. Interesting how most won't try anything new if they have to pay for it but they will if you give it to them. Fine by me. I SO want people to eat more vegetables !

The variety and colour and shapes of vegetables is endless. We eat within such a narrow scope of what is possible and available out there. As market farmers we have the luxury of introducing the public to those varieties. We have the ability to guide and influence food trends.  Many of these vegetables are not new but old, heritage varieties that are sensitive and fragile to handling and keeping qualities and only a local farm can manage to harvest and get the product to market in a time sensitive manner and with hand managed care.

I can speak from personal experience that I would rather be here working the farm any day of the week. For all the work and effort it takes it still allows me a lot of flexibility in my life. Farming pretty well demands that you be flexible and adaptable to changing conditions whatever they are. You also need to be able to dig your heels in when the going gets tough and "git er done" when that is required of you. There are definite windows of opportunity for planting out certain crops and when that time presents itself that's what you are going to be doing until its done.

Today is a Friday. Time to get out there and harvest and get ready for market. I love market days. Market day is the day of appreciation and reaping the rewards for what you are bringing to the nations' tables. You are contributing to what is still fundamental to every life, FOOD, good, nutritious, ethically and sustainably grown food. Can food have a conscience ? You bet it does ! otherwise why would we care how anything is done.

Later  :-D