Sprouting cauliflower, broccoli, mini cabbage, salad greens, beans, green onions, beets, sweet peppers.
Extras – hot peppers, eggplant, zucchini.
Sprouting cauliflower is a new crop for us this year – and we really like it! Instead of a large dense head, sprouting cauliflower produces many small florets on long, delicate stems. Tender & sweet, it cooks more quickly than traditional cauliflower and is great raw, or steamed, roasted, stir fried or grilled.
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Around the farm this week …
Our 1st fall frost happened this past week. Fortunately only the basil was damaged.
With no more frosts in the forecast (fingers crossed) and plenty of beautiful crops growing, our remaining fall CSA baskets should be bounteous.
Removing tomato stakes and string. Posts are next, then we will mow down the plants.
Please allow me a few more dahlia pictures – aren’t they amazing!
We don’t often grow yellow beans. But you asked for them, so here they are. (We expected them to be ready for the final week of summer CSA but they didn’t quite make it.) This variety is called “Gold Rush”, a very fitting name – they are a bright & beautiful bean with a great flavour.
Check out this Chinese cabbage! “Green rocket”is a tall, cylindrical, crisp cabbage, with a delicous almost sweet taste, suitable for eating fresh in salads & slaws. They are also great in stir-fries or boiled, steamed, braised, grilled or fermented (especially for kimchi).
Choose another winter squash this week.
After dropping their blossoms and taking a break during the heat of the summer, some of our sweet pepper plants are blooming and producing fruit again. We’re happy about that! It remains to be seen if the temperatures will stay warm enough for them to continue ripening.
Beets, salad turnips, arugula, shishito peppers, and garlic complete this Thanksgiving CSA box.
Our hot pepper plants are finally ripening an abundance of spicy fruit. They are available on the extra table for those who would like some.
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Around the farm this week …
This is how Rosemary has been spending her days recently.
She sleeps all day because she’s out all night – hunting, or partying, or ?
We’re a little jealous.
We would also like to be sleeping our days away – but our tiredness is from working, not partying 🙂
Our 2025 season is winding down & coming to an end …
There are 4 weeks of fall CSA – but because we have many less members than our summer CSA, it feels much easier – and 2 farmers’ market days remaining.
We were fortunate to have 1 of our summer workers stay on throughout September. He picked the squash and did a lot of the fall clean-up work that we usually struggle with. That was great! We have more energy left now to finish up.
Our last vegetables were transplanted into the field today – a few rows of lettuce mix and some arugula. Will they mature in time? Maybe or maybe not, but if the warm fall temperatures continue then we will have fresh salad greens for a long time.
There are still plenty of vegetables growing including salad greens, beets, beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower …
Even eggplant!
The fall flowers are still beautiful!
The ducks (and chickens) love it when I refill their pool.
1st Fall CSA pick up this Thursday, Oct. 9 from 3-6pm.
Salad turnips, winter squash, zucchini, salad green, hot peppers, green onions, garlic.
Way back in spring we had salad turnips for a few weeks. Now they are back. Salad turnips are similar to a radish – but usually a bit milder.
Winter squash. As we mentioned in the newsletter last week, winter squash is in short supply for us this year. But we do have several varieties to choose from this week. We recommend eating them sooner rather than later as they do not seem to be storing well.
I’m not sure we have ever offered winter squash and summer squash (ie zucchini) at the same time. It just feels wrong! But our zucchini plants are still producing, so here we are!
A salad green, assorted hot peppers, green onions and a bulb of garlic complete this final CSA box for 2025.
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Around the farm this week …
I enjoy the changes in autumn weather. Here is the same field looking different on different days.
The cover crop has sprouted. It should reach a nice size before winter, covering the ground and protecting all the microscopic life in the soil during the cold months.
The broccoli is looking great – just not ready in time for our last CSA. But hopefully it will mature sometime during Fall CSA, along with the cauliflower, cabbage, yellow beans …
How’s this for a head of lettuce!
The pawpaws are ripening!
Here is our new caterpillar tunnel. It is a smaller, portable, more economical version of our hoophouse which sits beside it. We will put the plastic on in spring and plant early crops here. It will also extend our fall season.
The tunnel came in a kit with some basic instructions on how to build it. We’re proud to say that ours was built solely by one of our summer student workers, with minimal assistance from us. Way to go, Xavy!!
We are excited to use it next spring!
Rosemary has a new trick!
That’s it for CSA 2025!
Thank you for joining us this season.
We appreciate your support of our small family farm, the confidence you place in us to supply your fresh produce, and your commitment to drive out to the farm (or the market) each week to pick up your box.
For those who joined our Fall CSA – 1st pick-up is next Thursday, October 9 from 3-6pm. See you then!
Beets, salad greens, choice of green onions or radishes, hot peppers, zucchini, fresh herbs.
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What isn’t in the box?
Tomatoes are about finished – we might attempt to pick a few for market on Saturday, but the quantity and quality are both dropping fast! The plants are weary, the fruit cracked in the rain last night, and the flavor is diminishing.
We have harvested our winter squash but the yield is low! Especially disappointing is that we harvested none of the large heirloom squashes that are so much fun – and very popular at the farmers’ market. Amy was able to buy some squash from Pineview Orchards (who supplied the fruit for our CSA), but their crop is also small. Talking with other growers, it seems this is a bad squash year all around. We hope to have enough for the CSA box next week (and perhaps for Fall CSA once or twice?).
Picking squash.
Eggplant blossoms.
Growing eggplant was interesting this year. Eggplant prefers hot weather, but the intense heat this summer was too much for them. The plants dropped all their blossoms, and after we picked the early fruit, they were bare. We started harvesting in early July and finished about a month later. Now, the plants are finally blooming again with lovely purple flowers! We probably won’t harvest much more fruit since the temperatures aren’t warm enough, but it’s fascinating to see how the plants responded to the weather.
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Around the farm this week …
Here is the field that rested this summer. Instead of vegetables it grew a cover crop of oats, peas, radishes, clover … We mowed it several times and allowed it to regrow. This adds organic matter to the soil. This past week we mowed it one last time and then disced it down. After spreading manure & compost over the field it was seeded again to a similar cover crop mixture which will grow and protect the soil over the winter months. Next spring we will work it in again and then grow our vegetables here. The half inch of rain we received last night will help these seeds germinate and give them a good start!
The dahlia patch is finally blooming in abundance!
Another week – another fluid list of vegetables. Here’s what we think will be in the box – but it may change!
Radishes, Jalapeno peppers, salad greens, fresh herbs, green onions, choice of zucchini, kohlrabi or fennel, green beans?? tomatoes??
Spring radishes in the fall – beautiful, red, tender, spicy radishes.
Our jalapeno pepper plants are finally producing more fruit. WARNING – they are super hot this season due to the hot, dry summer.
All of the salad greens are thriving now in the more seasonal fall temperatures. Your box may include any of these greens – lettuce, spinach, bok choy, arugula or salad mix.
Choose a bundle of fresh herbs – basil, dill or cilantro.
Another choice – zucchini, kohlrabi or fennel bulb.
Green beans & tomatoes are both a maybe …
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Around the farm this week …
I think autumn is one of the prettiest seasons here on the farm.
2 trailers of vegetable seedlings to be planted this week …
After this week there are only 2 weeks remaining in our CSA!
Green onions, head lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, kohlrabi, green beans (Tuesday) and beets (Thursday & Saturday).
This week, head lettuce returns to the box after being absent for 5 weeks.
CSA members who pick up on Tuesday will get green beans while beets will be in the box on Thursday & Saturday. Last week it was the opposite. (By the way, we planted beets 16 times this season beginning in early May. They have been in the CSA box – or available as a choice – 7 times, approximately every other week. They are easily one of the most popular vegetables we grow.)
What is not in the box is blackberries. The harvest is finished. It lasted 5 weeks this year (6 weeks in 2024).
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We are well into September now, and the cooler temperatures are a welcome relief after our hot summer months – for humans & vegetables alike! Plus we received 1 inch of much needed rain last week, our biggest rainfall in several months.
But the effects of the hot, dry summer are still being felt …
Eggplant needs warm conditions to grow, but it was too hot in July and August, causing the blossoms to drop off instead of producing fruit. That’s why we haven’t had eggplant for two weeks. Once the earlier fruit was harvested, the plants were empty. There are some blossoms now, but we’re unsure if they will produce fruit in these cooler temperatures. The plants look great though!
Similarly, sweet peppers dropped many of their flowers, reducing the crop. Hot peppers fared better – they are just maturing later than expected.
Our tomato plants however are much healthier than usual for this time of year and most (not all) varieties continue to produce quality fruit.
Zucchini season is also longer this season with the final patch still thriving & disease free and turning out lovely zucchini.
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Around the farm this week …
CSA pick up on Thursday.
Georgetown Farmers’ Market on Saturday.
A huge load of mushroom compost was delivered – much to Sage’s delight!
Please consider the list to be rather fluid this week. There could be other vegetables added to the box or perhaps different vegetables than what is listed. It’s Labour Day which means most of our workers have returned to school, leaving us shorthanded. We didn’t get to everything today – so there could be changes surprises.
Green onions – it’s been a while! While we have planted these weekly, many of them dried up during that intense heat and drought this summer or simply stopped growing. With conditions improving, we are seeing renewed growth.
If ever a vegetable deserves a pat on the back or a hearty handshake, it is this planting of edamame. Transplanted to the field back in mid-June, it grew vigorously. But being next to the train tracks and the overgrown edges where the rabbits live, it was a bunny buffet waiting to happen. They chewed off about 1/4 of the rows, right down to the ground. Then the Japanese beetles came and turned many of the leaves into lace. They needed moisture when the pods were forming – and received none. Still the plants persisted and we harvested some lovely edamame beans – just not as many as anticipated!
Nothing smells better than fennel bulbs when we are harvesting! They have a beautiful licorice scent – and flavour. The bulbs this week are small and tender – perfect for grating into a salad or slaw. The taste is so light and refreshing. Roasting or sautéing fennel results in a milder and very delicious flavor.
This could be the final week for blackberries. We are picking less & less berries and the quality is diminishing. They still taste great though! Enjoy them while they last.
Tomatoes, zucchini, a salad green & garlic finish the box.
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Around the farm this week …
Today’s planting included cabbage & Chinese cabbage, spinach, arugula, bok choy and romaine lettuces.
How about some colour to brighten your day! These are our vegetables at the Georgetown Farmers’ market on Saturday.
Check your email for details on our fall CSA. Sign up happens this week!
Fruit share – pears*this is the final week for fruit.
Blackberries are the big thing right now on the farm. Every Monday, Wednesday & Friday our 3 student workers pick blackberries. Sometimes Amy too. It usually takes 3 to 4 hours to harvest the patch. This is our 4th week of picking – hopefully there is another week or two remaining. The quality has been good and the taste amazing! The size of the berries is decreasing though due to the lack of rain. Enjoy them while they last!
Our last planting of zucchini is going strong! The expectation is that they will keep producing almost until the winter squash is ready – in another month or so.
The tomato patch is out of control! It’s a bit of a jungle out there. The plants are surprisingly healthy as of now, despite the lack of rain, and continue to grow vigorously – cherry tomatoes especially. The heavy, fruit-laden plants are sagging and leaning, stretching the string that holds them upright to the limit. And the tomatoes sure are good!
The remainder of the box this week includes kohlrabi, a sweet pepper (bell or shepherd), another round of shishito peppers, a bunch of fresh basil or cilantro and a bulb of garlic.
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Around the farm this week …
Recent plantings – lots of salad greens, beets & green onions, plus fall vegetables including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage …
We have been awed by the amazing skies these last few days.
Blackberries, tomatoes, green beans or edamame, carrots or beets, sweet peppers, something green, garlic.
Fruit share – mixed basket of peaches, nectarines & blue plums.
The blackberries are beautiful! We are harvesting large amounts of quality berries that taste amazing.
We took sooooo many to market on Saturday – and sold almost everything!
Some rain on the weekend was very beneficial for the blackberries but the dry weather has already taken it’s toll on them. The berries are ripening smaller & canes are drying up. I’m predicting they will last only a few weeks and then be finished – but hopefully I am wrong and they continue to produce well into September.
It is the peak of tomato season. This year we are growing more than 60 varieties of all sizes & colours. Here’s what some of them look like …
Edamame are fresh green soybeans with a history of 2000+ years, originally grown in China and then in Japan. There, it is a traditional bar snack eaten lightly steamed and sprinkled with salt. Edamame are full of protein, fibre and loaded with vitamins & minerals – a very healthy vegetable. And they are easy to prepare! Simply boil the pods in salted water for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the water & drain. Then squeeze the pods to pop out the beans and enjoy as a healthy snack. Delicious! We like them sprinkled with lime juice and salt. Or they can be added to soups, stews, salads, noodle dishe. We continue to deal with the affects of the hot & dry weather – our edamame crop is down considerably. So there will be a choice of edamame or green beans.
Another choice will be carrots or beets.
A sweet pepper, garlic bulb and a green complete the box this week.
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Around the farm this week …
We were so happy & thankful to receive 1 inch of rain this past weekend. It came down slowly and the thirsty ground soaked it all in. The whole farm looks refreshed this morning! And the cooler temperatures and lower humidity raised our spirits as well.
There are a lot of empty areas on the farm now – where vegetables have been grown & harvested. We will grow a second crop there if needed, but for now they are resting.
This will be one of the first weeks that the CSA box will not have lettuce. The heat finally caught up to this crop. Our lettuce mix or leaf lettuce has already been in short supply, but now all the romaine & summer crisp has been picked – or spoiled by the sun. The next harvest is a week or two away. But there are many trays of lettuce to plant this week, and with cooler temperatures forecast it has a much better chance of growing!
The weather cools and suddenly it’s soup time. Plus we had some blemished sweet peppers and tomatoes to use up. Lorie made roasted red pepper soup (left) and Chef Kyle prepared tomato & red pepper soup (right). Both delicious! Some we will eat now, some will be tucked away in the freezer for fall.
(Vampire plums are round, red plums with delicious blood red flesh – and the greatest name!)
The 1st taste of blackberries was a surprise in the box last week. But now you can expect blackberries for the next few weeks at least. For those not familiar with blackberries, they are a bit sweet & a bit tart. If they aren’t quite ripe they can be sour. Too ripe and they are soft & mushy – but incredibly sweet. We try to pick them as ripe as possible but still firm. Unlike raspberries, blackberries are not hollow but have a soft edible centre core. The only way to eat a blackberry is to pop the whole thing in your mouth. Try to take a small bite and you will be covered in dark, staining juice. While best eaten fresh, blackberries also make great jam, juice, sauce & ice cream. Please note that we do use pesticides on our blackberries, for the spotted wing drosophila. This invasive vinegar fly has the potential to cause extensive damage to many fruit crops, especially soft and dark coloured fruit – like blackberries. It is found throughout much of southern Ontario and most of the fruit-growing areas of North America, and has become a chronic pest in berry and tender fruit crops. There are cultural practices that we use to help reduce the insect populations, but the most effective control is chemical. So we spray regularly to protect our blackberries & keep them free of worms.
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Here are some questions we have been asked this week – and our answers.
Why aren’t there more beefsteak tomatoes, sweet peppers, and cucumbers … etc in the box?
The quick answer – too much heat and too little rain.
Vegetable plants are feeling the heat & humidity the same as us these days. They’re thirsty, tired & wilting. The entire ripening process slows down as they use their energy to survive rather than ripening the crop. Blossoms drop instead of pollinating and setting fruit. Diseases also show up when it’s so hot. When conditions improve – temperatures moderate & we receive some rain – the plants should perk up and vegetable quantities will increase.
But not the cucumbers! We have only been picking them 1 week and already they are succumbing to disease.
Tomato leaves curl when they are under stress.
2. What about spinach?
Spinach is a very popular crop! But we have only had limited amounts at market recently and it has not been in the CSA box since week 3. This is because spinach is a cool weather crop that grows best in spring & fall. We do attempt to grow it all summer with some success (call us optimistic, stubborn or maybe not too bright?). When this extreme heat eases there should be more spinach available again – and our lettuce mix too.
3. How do you irrigate & water your crops?
Only newly transplanted vegetables receive water. We water them using our old orchard sprayer with a hose & a water wand. They get water once or twice a day for about a week in this heat. By then their roots are established and they can hopefully survive on their own.
We collect rainwater from our barn roofs in 2 big cisterns which we use for this watering. When this is used up and it does not rain, we purchase water by the truckload, 3000 gallons at a time. It doesn’t last long!
In a season without rain we realize that our efforts to improve our soil are paying off. Our soil holds moisture longer because we have added organic matter with our cover cropping, and use manure & compost instead of chemical fertilizers. We have reduced our tillage, keep the ground covered with something growing most of the time, and use a lot of mulch. Without these measures I know our crops would not be growing as well as they are, and we would be purchasing even more water.
4. Did you pick everything this morning?
This is the classic question we get at the farmers’ market. The answer, of course, is a big no, which elicits surprise from the customer asking.
On market day (Saturday) I leave the house at 4:15am or earlier to load the truck. We’re on the road by 4:50 and arrive in Georgetown just around 6am. We unload, set up and are usually ready for customers by 7:30. It is a busy few hours! When could we pick?
Most of our harvesting for market happens on Friday (some vegetables might be picked earlier in the week as well) along with all the washing, packing and other prep. There are 6 of us working and it takes us all day to get ready. The notion of picking on market day is unrealistic.
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Around the farm this week …
The downside of watering is that the weeds grow too. So more weeding is necessary.
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