Heading out behind the barn to feed the chickens this morning, I caught a whiff of another autumn aroma – pawpaws!

Altogether more pleasant than the manure smells I mentioned last week, pawpaws smell of ripe bananas, pineapples and mangos – a thoroughly delightful & delicious scent!

Today was the 1st time I could smell them. That means some are ready!

I have been anxiously waiting for them to ripen, checking the pawpaw patch every few days for the past couple of weeks, hoping they would be ready before Georgetown market ended on Oct.14. Our customers have been even more anxious, asking about pawpaws every week too.

So it is very good news that we should have some – probably only a very few – pawpaws this Saturday at market!

For more info on pawpaws, check out our blog post from a few years ago …

Haha Pawpaw!

What’s in the box?

Cabbage, sweet peppers, radishes, squash, green onions, green beans, lettuce mix, spinach.

Extras – hot peppers, kohlrabi …

• We have some lovely cabbages growing in the field – green, red & the curly leafed savoy. (And some beautiful Chinese cabbage too – for next week.)
• Sweet peppers have been frustrating & disappointing this season. As they ripened and started to turn colour, they rotted – mostly due to the wet conditions earlier. That is why we have been picking them all green. There’s nothing wrong with green peppers – they just don’t have the sweet flavour of a red, yellow or orange pepper. Now that the rains have stopped, the quality of the peppers is improving, but the cooler nights have prevented them from ripening & colouring up. However this week we are back to very warm temperatures. Will we get some coloured peppers yet?
• Fall radishes have been in the box the last few weeks, but this week we will have spring radishes – in October!
• There will be another winter squash in the box this week. Squash stores well – keep them dry & at room temperature. But watch them carefully. If any soft spots appear, eat them quickly.
• Green beans, green onions, lettuce mix and spinach are also in the box this week.

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Around the farm this week …

Lots of vegetables. Lots of weeds!

There’s a new pup in the neighbourhood – a Red Heeler named Tucci. Sage is not too sure about him, but the Flynns are quite certain they don’t like him, and hope he doesn’t come around the farm much.

Sage – passenger princess!

More autumn colours on the farm …

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is the season of colour …

… and of smells!

Today that smell was manure – dairy cow manure, guinea pig manure (from a neighbour who breeds guinea pigs), and mushroom compost. Manure is our farm’s main source of nutrients & fertility. I spread this mixture over the first of the empty vegetable fields, then seeded a cover crop (our other source of fertility) of oats, clovers, peas, vetch … We are hoping for a bit of rain to encourage these seeds to sprout and grow enough to cover the ground with a protective layer of green for the fall & winter.

I’ll continue to work my way through these manure piles in the coming weeks as time permits. While our summer CSA is finished, the fall CSA begins this week. Pick-up is only 1 day each week (Thursdays) instead of 3 which will give us more time for this and other work. And only 3 more Saturday markets to pick & prepare for.

This is also the last week for seeding. Amy has been seeding vegetables each week since late February – that’s over 6 months – so she is ready to pack the seeds away for awhile!

We still have lots to do, but we’ll take more time to enjoy the colours of fall, and to smell the roses … and the manure!

What’s in the box?

Bartlett pears, fall radishes, salad greens, winter squash, kohlrabi, green beans, sweet peppers, onions.

• This summers’ fruit share (from Pineview Orchards) was very well-received by so many of our CSA members, so when Amy saw pears at Pineview the other day she thought – why not! So there will be a basket of Bartlett pears in the box this week. They appear green but will ripen quickly so keep them refrigerated until you’re ready to eat them.
• How did you like the fall radish last week? They certainly can add a bite to a salad or sandwich! Also delicious roasted with other vegetables – roasting mellows the flavour.
• There will be 1 or 2 salad greens in your share this week – probably lettuce and maybe spinach too.
• As we said last week, winter squash is in short supply this year, but we have enough for this week (and maybe next?).
• Kohlrabi, green beans, sweet peppers & an onion complete the box this week.

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Around the farm this week …

The first leaves to show some colour on the farm.

The final pick-up for our summer CSA.

What is still growing in the fields?

Lots of salad greens, and cabbage, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower, baby broccoli, beets, green onions, salad turnips, green beans, edamame, peppers …

Fingers crossed that the beautiful weather continues and all these vegetables keep growing, mature and can be harvested and enjoyed.

Our animals enjoying their own down-time.

1st fall CSA pick-up Thursday from 3-6pm for those who signed up!

This is the final week of our summer CSA for 2023.

The 17 weeks have gone by quickly. We have enjoyed meeting and getting to know everyone.

Thank you for joining us this season. We appreciate your support of our farm, the confidence you have in us to supply your fresh produce, and your commitment to coming out to the farm (or the market) each week to pick up your box.

What’s in the box?

Winter squash, fall radish, salad greens, green beans, kohlrabi, sweet peppers,

edamame, onions, garlic.

Extras – beets, hot peppers …

• It is not a good year for squash on our farm. We decided to grow only the large heirloom squash and a few other unusual kinds – the ones other farms don’t grow. They turned out mostly ok. We had a neighbour grow the common squash varieties for us – but he had a crop failure. The weather this summer wasn’t great for squash – it prefers hot & dry conditions, which we did not have. But we were able to buy some, and together with the few we grew there will be a squash in the box this week.
• Fall radishes are large, beautiful and delicious. They have the same flavour as spring radishes – but slightly stronger & sharper. Slice them thinly into salads or slaw, or roast them along with other vegetables. Check for recipes at http://www.cookwithwhatyouhave.com. (Look under daikon or watermelon radishes.) Choose from 3 colours – pink, white or purple. Wrapped in a plastic bag in the fridge they can keep for a month or more.

• Salad greens – probably lettuce, beans, kohlrabi, sweet peppers, edamame, onions & garlic complete this final box of the season.

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Around the farm this week …

Still lots of vegetables to pick for fall CSA and the farmers’ market …

… but more empty fields on the farm,

and yet more seedlings to be planted.

At Georgetown Farmers’ Market on Saturday.

Cutting down the last row of fruit trees remaining on the farm – sweet cherries that we left only as a windbreak. (Anybody need some good firewood?)

Sage enjoying the fresh, just-delivered manure pile.

Looking for treasure on the train tracks!

• Please recycle your CSA box (or drop it off at the farm if you’re passing by).

• Details for CSA 2024 will be emailed to you in late January.

• For those who joined our Fall CSA, it begins next Thursday. (sign up for fall CSA is now closed)

We disappointed a lot of our customers at market on Saturday. (Never a good idea!)

The cause of their disappointment was our tomato display – or lack thereof.

Instead of our usual display …

… we had only a few pints of cherry tomatoes. And these sold out quickly.

This week, we will disappoint our CSA members. No tomatoes in the box!

We have about reached the end of our tomato season. For tomato lovers this is a sad time. For us it is bittersweet.

Tomatoes are one of our biggest crops – both in terms of income, and also time invested.

Amy seeded the first tomatoes more than 6 months ago. Since then she has transplanted them into pots, and then planted them into the field. They have been mulched, posted, tied & pruned (several times), and then harvested – usually 3 times each week – for more than 10 weeks. We sort them, pack them, display them and then finally sell them.

It has been a good tomato season. We picked an abundance of delicious & beautiful fruit. But now the plants are tired and diseased and the tomatoes lack flavour. We might scour the patch again this week to try and find those last few tomatoes worth picking & eating. Or, we might not.

We enjoy everything about growing tomatoes – including the end of the season!

What’s in the box?

Edamame, kohlrabi, lettuce, carrots, green onions, shishito peppers, sweet peppers, garlic.

Extras – hot peppers, eggplant, beets.

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Around the farm this week …

Today’s planting – lettuce, spinach, arugula, baby kale …

Under the white insect cover are radishes & salad turnips for our fall CSA.

Mini romaine lettuce, more salad greens and cauliflower & cabbage.

We hope to have some winter squash in the box next week (our last week). Weather conditions were not favourable for squash this summer so the crop is smaller & later.

But our nut crop is great! Walnuts, hazelnuts and heartnuts – usually the squirrels harvest them all, but there appears to be lots for us this year. So far …

Someone loves blackberries!

Only 1 more week left in our summer CSA.

One thing I really love about our kind of small scale, market farming is how the farm changes – seasonally for sure, but also monthly and even weekly.

Crops are planted, they grow, are harvested and often something else takes their place. Things are never static. It makes it very interesting!

Here’s an example – zucchini, cabbages & sunflowers – in June, August and today. Only the cabbages remain.

Or this vegetable patch – 1st planting in early June and ready for harvest at the end of that month.

Here are the same beds, replanted in early August, and today, ready for picking.

Now it is early September and more & more beds and whole fields are harvested and empty.

Some will continue to be replanted for our fall CSA crops.

Others will not be replanted again this season (except to a fall cover crop which will “cover” the soil and protect it over the winter from erosion).

Fall brings a whole new look to the farm – again!

I love it!

What’s in the box?

Cabbage, carrots, fresh herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet peppers, green onions, blackberries.

Extras – beets.

• The first of the fall cabbages are ready – mostly green, but also a few red heads are available. (Our fall CSA will include more red & green cabbage.)

• There will be another bunch of carrots in the box this week.

• The choices for fresh herbs will include basil, cilantro, dill …
• We are picking 3 kinds of lettuce this week – our salad mix, mini romaine and some beautiful summer crisp heads. Lettuce does not do well in the extreme heat we are experiencing these days so we are not sure which kind will make it into the box this week.
• The tomato patch is looking poor. We have been harvesting tomatoes for 2 months now, and the plants are weary & showing disease. The good news is that there are still some good plants producing good fruit. Enjoy them while they last!

• Sweet peppers, green onions and blackberries complete the share.
• Extras this week – beets.

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Around the farm this week…

Another planting of mini-romaine lettuce.

Labor Day Monday – an extremely hot & humid day – was celebrated in various ways around the farm …

The countdown has begun!

Only 3 weeks of summer CSA remaining after this week (followed by our fall CSA for another 5 weeks).

And just 7 more Saturdays at the Georgetown Farmers’ Market.

It’s not that we are anxious to be finished.

This countdown is necessary for our seeding and planting schedules.

What vegetables can we still plant that will mature in time?

It is too late for beans and sunflowers – we seeded the last of those already the other week. We might try one more round of beets, kohlrabi and even Chinese cabbage. We continue to plant greens – lettuce, spinach, arugula, baby kale, bok choy – every week, and we will for several more weeks yet. Spring radishes & salad turnips are possible too. Even baby carrots!

We are limited not only by the calendar, but also by our ambition or lack thereof!

But we finally nailed down the details of our fall CSA and sent out the email earlier this afternoon. The response was immediate! People are signing up. That is so encouraging and gives us the energy we need to keep going. Thank you!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some seeding to do.

What’s in the box?

Carrots, eggplant, garlic, fennel, blackberries, tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, green beans.

Extras – beets, hot peppers.

• Another planting of carrots is ready. They are the perfect size – not too big & not too small!

• We have a bumper crop of eggplant this season – it really likes all the rain we’ve been having! Eggplant can be used in so many ways – http://www.cookwithwhatyouhave.com has lots of useful information about eggplant & at least 25 recipes to start you off.
• The garlic has been dry and ready for a few weeks now, but we have not had the time to clean & trim it … till now. Enjoy a bulb in your box this week and every week until the end of CSA.
• Fennel is another vegetable that is amazing us this season. Even if you are not familiar with it, please give it a try. The bulbs this week are small and tender – perfect for grating into a salad or slaw. The flavour is so light & refreshing. It is also great in a stir-fry or roasted with other vegetables.
• Blackberries – not too sweet, not too tart, but so delicious! Want to enjoy some in the winter too? Blackberries freeze very well. Gently wash the berries, spread them on a baking sheet and freeze overnight. Then bag them up and enjoy all winter – on ice cream, with your morning cereal, in a smoothie, baked in muffins …

• The tomato plants are struggling. Blight & other diseases are taking their toll on the plants and reducing the crop – the bigger tomatoes especially! But the cherry & grape tomatoes should hopefully be around for a few more weeks.
• Onions, sweet peppers & green beans complete the box this week.
• Extras – hot peppers and beets. As many of you have been beat by the beets we are not including them in the box but they are available as an extra again for those who might still want them.

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Around the farm this week …

Lots of vegetables still growing.

Checking out tractors!

May I talk about the weather yet again?

Or rather, let the pictures do the talking, and show how much the vegetables have loved the rain and the heat and have responded with abundance – an abundance we have not seen in some years!

Our CSA boxes have been full – even overwhelming to some.

Our tables can hardly contain all that we bring to market.

And we have been able to donate to the food bank.

What’s in the box?

Edamame, kohlrabi, shishitos, blackberries, tomatoes, sweet peppers, salad greens, zucchini

Extras – hot peppers, beets.

• Edamame which are fresh, green soybeans have been around for 2000 years or more, first 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 dishes …
• Kohlrabi is back! After losing several plantings (they split & rotted from all the rain) we have some nice ones again. They are large, tender, juicy, and delicious.
• We received many positive comments on the shishito peppers. Enjoy them again this week. Here’s the recap … Shishitos are a small, bright green pepper with a sweet, fruity flavour and thin, tender, wrinkled skin. What makes them exciting is that 1 in 10 peppers will be slightly hot! They are simple to prepare and delicious to eat! While you can use them as you would any other sweet pepper, they are at their best when charred in oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Cook the peppers whole, turning occasionally, until they begin to blister on all sides – just a few minutes. Sprinkle with salt & pepper and a splash of lime juice and some parmesan cheese, and serve immediately. Eat the whole pepper – except the stem.

• Picking blackberries takes up a lot of our time these days. We pick them 3 times each week – and the picks are enormous! What a crop! They have certainly loved all the rain.
• The rest of this week’s box includes the staples – tomatoes, sweet peppers, salad greens and zucchini.
• Beets and hot peppers are available as an extra – for those who want them.

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Around the farm this week …

Looks like zucchini season is coming to an abrupt end.

I mowed down the buckwheat fields today. They were filled with so many bees, insects, birds and even monarch butterflies. So I left some areas uncut for them.

We have harvested all the quality artichokes – leaving the rest to flower. So beautiful!

Hard at work …

… and hardly working! (or not working at all!)

A few pictures and even fewer words – the result of a long and busy Monday of harvesting and planting.

What’s in the box?

Blackberries, tomatoes, green beans, green peppers, garlic, onions, zucchini, spinach, arugula.

Fruit – FINAL WEEK – peaches, nectarines & blue plums.

*** (for those who signed up for fruit)

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Around the farm this week …

Many of our fields have been harvested – some are replanted to vegetables, others are planted to cover crops.

CSA pick-up last week.

Our market stall Saturday at Georgetown farmers’ market.

The question we are most frequently asked this season is “How is all the rain affecting the farm?”

The short answer is that things are really growing. Really. Really. Growing!

Everywhere. Even where you wouldn’t expect it!

But not just the weeds.

Crops we direct seed in the field (eg. beans, sunflowers) are germinating quickly – several days earlier than normal – and without me watering them. The salad greens are lush & green, and mature faster. The tomatoes, peppers, eggplant … are hanging extra heavy with fruit. The fennel are fatter. The edamame taller. The onions bigger. I could go on …

That’s the good news.

The rain can cause problems too. Several weeks ago I shared how our broccoli rotted from all the moisture. Kohlrabi also. We have lost most of 3 plantings now – a lot of kohlrabi!

The 1st planting of zucchini succumbed to disease as well. And cucumbers. But tomatoes are the biggest concern – blight & other diseases are showing up already. In fact we decided to apply a fungicide on the weekend, the 1st chemical spray we have used on the tomatoes in 6 years! We are hoping it prolongs their production as tomatoes are our biggest crop.

I guess that is why we grow so many different vegetables. Whatever weather we get, some will do well and others may suffer.

Rain is a good thing. And so is sunshine.

Today’s forecast called for showers – again – but we received nary a drop. We planned to work inside the barn, cleaning garlic and staying dry. Instead we were able to work outside all day, harvesting, weeding and planting – working ahead because tomorrow’s forecast calls for … rain!

What’s in the box?

Blackberries, shishito peppers, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, fennel, salad greens, beets, zucchini, green onions.

Fruit – Nectarines & blue plums

*** (for those who signed up for fruit)

• It is blackberry season! And what a season it is. The berries are bountiful & beautiful and they taste great! 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. (Lorie has her homemade blackberry jam for sale in the barn.) Last year we harvested no blackberries, so we are extra excited for them this year. Enjoy your 1st taste this week – we expect to pick blackberries for all of August and even into September.
• *Please note that we do use pesticides on our blackberries. For many years we did not. That was one of the good things about growing blackberries – no spraying necessary! Then along came the spotted wing drosophila. Spotted wing drosophila is an invasive vinegar fly that has the potential to cause extensive damage to many fruit crops – especially soft and dark coloured fruit – like blackberries. In the last number of years it has been 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. Effective biological controls are not yet available. There are cultural practices that we use to help reduce the insect populations, but the only effective control right now is chemical. And so we spray regularly to try to kill the spotted wing drosophila and protect our blackberries. We would rather not! But then again, we would rather not have worms in our blackberries either!
• Shishito peppers are one of our favourite vegetables. They are a small, thin, bright green pepper, with a sweet, fruity flavour and thin, tender, wrinkled skin. What makes a shishito exciting is that 1 in 10 peppers could be slightly hot! They are simple to prepare and delicious to eat! While you can use them as you would any other sweet pepper, they are best eaten charred in olive oil in a cast-iron skillet or other heavy pan over medium-high heat. Cook the peppers whole, turning occasionally, until they begin to blister on all sides. This only takes a few minutes! Sprinkle with salt & pepper and a splash of lime juice and some parmesan cheese, and serve immediately. Eat the whole pepper – except the stem.
• The garlic is now dry and can be stored at room temperature in a dry area for many months. The bulb can be broken open and partially used without the remainder spoiling. Enjoy!
• The carrot patch should yield enough for another bunch this week – mixed colours of orange and purple. The next planting will be mature in a few weeks.
• Red, pink, orange, yellow, purple, brown, white, green and everything in between. Solid colours and stripes too. Round, and oval, and maybe even some pear shaped ones. Our cherry tomatoes are a delight to look at – but even better to eat! We are also picking the large, red beefsteak tomatoes now.
• Another fennel bulb, salad green (probably mini-romaine lettuce), beets, zucchini & green onions complete the box this week.

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Around the farm this week …

Beautiful weather Saturday at Georgetown Farmers’ market – finally!

The women in our neighbour’s orchard across the road claimed they were just taking pictures – but their shopping bag full of peaches indicated otherwise!

A few minutes earlier we had encountered a different group of people down the road, helping themselves to peaches at another farm. They were not at all concerned when confronted.

Just a typical Saturday afternoon in our neighbourhood!

Yesterday we were enjoying lunch on the deck when we saw a couple wandering through our vegetable patch. “We’re just looking” they said. Also, their hands were full of peaches – guess they had been “just looking” in the orchards too!

Produce theft is common on farms during the harvest season. It is very frustrating and maddening for the farmers.

Entitled customers are another annoyance.

Last Sunday our quiet afternoon was interrupted when a car drove onto our yard and honked their horn. They never bothered to get out of the car but sat there and continued honking. Then they drove all around the barns, looking for someone I guess. Eventually they phoned us, wanting to pick cherries – which we do not even grow.

A neighbour had her quiet Sunday disturbed by people in her front yard taking pictures of her flowers. They had walked through the farm, from the nearby winery and insisted they were allowed to be there and didn’t leave without an argument. Then she discovered another group of winery customers inside her chicken pen, looking for eggs!

Another farmer had some people come into their barn who admitted had seen the sign on the fruit stand that read “Closed. Sold out of peaches.” But they asked anyway, “Do you have any peaches?”

The many wineries, fruit stands, pick-your-own farms, and even the beautiful countryside … bring a lot of people – and money – into our area. But they bring challenges as well.

And now that I’ve had my rant …

What’s in the box?

Carrots, green peppers, eggplant, onions, green beans, tomatoes, mini-romaine lettuce,

Extras – beets

• We have carrots! Carrots are not difficult to grow but they do take some extra care – care that we often do not have the time to give them. This year our goal was to grow some great carrots. We watered the ground daily until the seeds germinated (it was very dry when we seeded them) and have been diligent in keeping them weeded. The result – some really nice, delicious carrots!
• Our pepper plants are loaded with fruit, so we’ll enjoy some green peppers now and then wait for the rest to turn colour later.
• We have a bumper crop of eggplant this season – it really likes all the rain we’ve been having! Eggplant is delicious and can be used in so many ways. http://www.cookwithwhatyouhave.com has lots of useful information about eggplant & at least 25 recipes to start you off!

• How about a large onion instead of green onions! We are picking our first ones this week – a mild & sweet, heirloom Spanish onion called Ailsa Craig.
• Green beans, tomatoes and mini-romaine lettuce complete the box this week.
• Extras – There will be beets available for those who would like some.

Fruit – peaches

*** (for those who signed up for fruit)

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Around the farm this week …

60 large round bales of wheat straw arrived, for mulching vegetables next year.

Proud of the beautiful artichokes we are growing this season!

Another day, another storm! Seems every cloud is full of rain this year.

Where are the customers? It was a very wet day at the Georgetown market on Saturday. But we had an amazing display of tomatoes! And overall, sales were ok.

Thank you for returning all baskets and containers. We can reuse them!