Swamped!
Seedy Saturdays
It has been too long since my last blog post, but the seed season has really ramped up and we are a bit swamped. I’m not complaining, just saying… Yesterday we were at the Victoria Conference Center (at least Ila and Nisha were), and at the Gabriola Food Forum (Sal and Miko). Both events were big successes, we sold lots of seeds, and connected with lots of seedy people. We have a bit of a break now until February 29th, and then we will be at the Sooke Seedy Sunday. That will be fun!
Roadside Stand
We are still selling eggs, kale, and collards at the stand most days. If you want eggs come early as they go pretty fast. The hens aren’t laying too many yet so there isn’t usually more than a dozen out at any given time. The nettles are springing up fast and soon we should have bags out at the stand. Our farm has been blessed with nettles; we have thousands of them all around the farm.
Ila has restocked the stand with her soaps (right now there is Lemon-Lime, Orange Bergamot, and Rosemary-Lavender) and her Deodorant. Someone left a message the other day saying they were running out of deodorant and needed more or they were going to start to smell soon! True. Well, rest easy. They are back, and we will do our best to keep them stocked up.
The Farm
The ewes still haven’t started birthing yet and its hard to be patient, but I have to remember that they birth lambs when they are ready, not when I am. The rhubarb is is popping up, slowly but inevitably, like a high tide. I love when they are in full leaf in late spring. They look almost prehistoric with their huge leaves.
There are so many trays of seedlings started and hardening off outside or growing inside under light, waiting for a bit more warmth before we put them outside. If you are wondering about starting seeds, now is a good time to start spinach, lettuce, chard, onions, and leeks inside in pots before setting them outside. If you have indoor lights, you can start tomatoes and peppers too.
Until next time, farm on!
Snow. Again...
Its all about the weather So “they” say. And yes, it is. We have been getting more than our share of it— mostly rain, but snow too. January set records for amounts and number of days in the month where it rained. Our fields are pretty much flooded, but never mind any of that! Planting goes on. I have several flats of greens ready to be transplanted into the greenhouses (which are thankfully out of our flood zone).
In the picture you can see our first bed of transplanted spinach. They don’t mind the cold and have been growing in their trays, despite the cold nights. You can also see a tarp, which we are using to smother the weeds until we are ready to plant. We have been gradually moving towards a no-till— or at least a low-till type of farming. We have never been hard core rototillers anyway, so its a pretty easy transition.
Why? I guess its also all about the soil and soil health. It has been pretty well established that the less soil is disturbed (for example: tilled, turned over, or otherwise pummeled), the healthier it becomes. It has more healthy soil organisms, holds water better, and sequesters more carbon by building organic matter.
Seedy Saturday
We had our best day ever this past Saturday at Qualicum! Thank you to all of the people who showed up and supported the local growers of seeds, plants, and vegetables. This coming Saturday we will be on Salt Spring Island. It is always a fun time at this event.
Roadside Stand
The stand will be back up and running tomorrow. It has been closed for the last few days because we have been either away, unorganized, or snowed out again. We do what we can…
Mailing List
If you are on the mailing list, thank you for signing up! But I have realized that I have to start paying for you guys so this will be the end of that. However, I will be writing a weekly blog post that is free for you and me. Hopefully you will remember to check it out every week.
The Quickening
On the Farm:
The sheep have slowed down, their bellies are round and full as they come close to the end of their pregnancies. we should have some lambs in the next week or so (I hope). Our hens too, have started to lay more and are spending more time inside their laying boxes. Some are getting “broodyish”, wanting a clutch of chicks, I’m guessing. Rhubarb is starting to push up from its root crowns, the grass is starting to actually grow, and spring bulbs like crocus and daffodils are sending forth leaves.
This is called the Quickening, a term widely used as far back as the Middle Ages, but mostly forgotten now. I like the term, as it makes me think that we are a part of something greater, that we are a part of a cycle of life, death, and renewal. On the farm it is all around us, and hard to forget. The mice too, have started to wake up and have babies. I haven’t yet gone out to the greenhouse this morning to see if they have gotten into my flats of spinach, kale, and lettuces that I set out yesterday. I’ve surrounded the trays with mousetraps, but this time of year can be difficult for little succulent greens. The mice reproduce like mad! Our cat however, is still mostly asleep…
Roadside Stand
We still have eggs every day and two types of kale greens, but the carrots are finally finished as well as the squash. I have put out collard greens a couple of times and they have disappeared, so I will continue to put them out. Fresh local greens are hard to come by right now. The Purple sprouting broccoli is waking up and starting to grow, but it will be a few weeks before I have it out. They are one of my favourite springtime treats, so sweet, so abundant and delicious. I’m hoping to do a seed crop this year, so I can offer them next year. Everyone who gardens should grow this “hunger gap” food. I’ll talk about that another time.
Seeds
The seed season is in full swing and we had a successful day at the Denman Island seedy Saturday. Next up is Qualicum, this coming Saturday. We should have our seed rack up at Wild Rose Nursery in the next week or so, for those of you on Gabriola who are eager to get planting.
We feed the ewes high protein hay when they are pregnant to make sure they are getting enough nutrients as the grass isn’t growing that much yet.
January 16, 2020
Whew!
It has been a tumultuous week on the farm with windstorms and snowstorms, resulting in power outages. It makes for a lot of extra work here. For example, when the temperatures are freezing, the water lines outside don’t run and we have to carry water from the house to the horses, sheep, and chickens by hand. And when the power goes out as well, we either have to scoop it from the pond or use our hand pump well if it hasn’t frozen. It has never seemed worthwhile to dig in water lines below the freezing level since it rarely goes below freezing here— maybe 1-2 weeks a year, at worst.
Mailing List
If you have signed up for our mailing list and haven’t received anything, please sign up again. I hadn’t set it up properly so nothing was going through. I’m still figuring out how to do all this. I promise not to share it or spam you with garbage. You will receive this weekly post on what is happening around our farm, our stand, and maybe a bit of what’s going on in our little part of the world.
Roadside stand
The roadside stand is closed right now. The kale is buried in snow and the chickens aren’t laying so much. In fact, our road has not even been plowed and most cars would have trouble even getting up here. I’m not laying blame on the road guys— one of them is my neighbour. But there are a lot of roads and only a couple of plows to serve them so it can take a few days to clear them all of snow.
Seedy Saturdays
We had our first Seedy Saturday of the year last weekend in Saanich and it was great! Almost every weekend until April is going to be busy with these events, so we are busy packing seeds. Our next event is the Denman Island Seedy Saturday on January 25th. If you have never been to a “Seedy” event, check them out. They are a good way to connect with local seed growers (like myself) and get your garden seeds for the year. An added bonus is that we can give you some growing tips and tricks, or advice on how to grow something that is totally new to you.
Kind of a crummy pic, but you get the idea.
January 5, 2020
Welcome!
Greetings and welcome to our new website! It has been a longtime in coming, and thanks to all of our friends who have been so patient with us, but here we are. There are some tweaks that need to happen, but they will get sorted in time.
Seed Catalogue
Our seed catalogue is up and running. More varieties will be added as we finish germination testing, and we will have many more varieties this fall. I haven’t figured out how to do bulk sales as yet, so if you are interested in buying a certain variety in bulk just email us and we will set you up if we can.
Roadside Stand
We are really excited about selling our goods through the roadside stand too. Here is how it will work: I will write a weekly blog post, either on a Sunday or Monday and send it out to our subscribers. (So sign up! Its easy.) I will be fairly brief about goings on around the farm, and I will say what is available at our stand. You can then purchase it online by clicking on “Roadside Stand” in the navigation bar by Wednesday evening at the latest, and we will bag it and have it ready for you by Thursday afternoon for you to pick up between 2 and 6pm. So easy for you, and good for us as well.
If you prefer, you can see what is available and just swing by at your leisure and pick up what you want when you want. The only downside to this is that we stock up the stand once in the morning, and if we run out of something, it is gone for the day. When you order online, you get it for sure.
The Farm
Things are quiet around here, as quiet as they get anyway. Our first plantings will be happening soon in the greenhouse, we have several ewes close to giving birth— they’re due at the end of the month. It has been quite warm and signs of Spring are here: The hazelnut trees are starting to shed pollen (crazy early for this!), our overwintered kale is starting to elongate and is getting ready to flower, in spirit if not quite in deed. I hope we don’t get a blast of winter, although it certainly is possible.
