MarketPlates at KKFM today

Kemptville Kinsmen Farmers' Market is very excited to present MARKETPLATES today 12-4 at Riverside Park. See details on my KKFM link.  I'm paired with The Crusty Baker, very exciting - see you there!

Hi, it's been a while.

Been busy, really really busy.  The last time I was blogging the potatoes were doing okay after all.  Well, herbs love the dry weather as much as the bugs and weeds do.  Have you noticed the amount of beautiful butterflies on the flowers?  The Wednesday weekly basket deliveries are going very well, it's a thrill to have others enjoying the food from our Farm.  The Kemptville Kinsmen Farmers' Market is proving to be a great source of customers and visits each Sunday.  The Market is such a great social scene too.  Otherwise my head would be buried in office files 100% of the time rather than just 70%.  Days start early, usually digging potatoes or plucking tomatoes and peppers at 7 a.m., in the office from 10 ish to 6:30somethingish.  We actually began planning for the winter plant in the Greenhouse and are excited to be plotting out the garden themes for next spring - wow.  Time is passing so quickly, I'd just like to yell "Stop!" just for a little bit.  Am off to meet Julie in Picton for a few days, we both need the rest.  Won't be at the Farmers' Market this Sunday the 2nd but will be back September 9, ready for MarketPlates (see the Kemptville Kinsmen Farmers' Market site for details).
Remember you can call me or email me for your supply of tomatoes and herbs for sauces and salsas.  The cilantro is coming along quite nicely, expect it to be ready in a week or so.
The last beans and snow peas we planted a few weeks ago should be ready next weekend.  Celery is wonderful, must grow more of that next year.  We're still harvesting broccoli.  The new salad greens should be ready mid to late September for fall munchin'.
Have a wonderful long end of summer weekend everyone!

Some Pics after the lovely rain

Great News! We checked the potatoes to see how bad things were AND they are fine!  Yield is not as high as we would have liked, but despite the awful looking tops, the potatoes under the soil are wonderful.  Let's hear it for potatoes - hip hip hooray!

Alma Paprika Peppers

Reach for the Sky- tomatoes

Marconi Sweet Peppers, almost ready

The Greenhouse is looking very different than
when we first began, as I look back at the pictures.

Butterhead Lettuce

This is not a cucumber

Lettuce, looking like a poster

Celery, not ready yet, but looking
and smelling pretty good

Happy it's not too hot out now

Hail to the Hardy

Peaking around at the camera

           Look who's minding the store, I saw her Saturday, she was so tiny, all legs and a little body.
                                       Sunday she was 5 times larger, this morning she's stunning!

Isn't she a beauty!

Weekly baskets to begin NOW - yahoo

So, I've emailed all who have shown a definite interest in weekly delivery.  I really hope I didn't miss anyone.  If you don't receive an email from me today and you are interested, I apologize, just drop me a note or call me and I'll make sure you're set up.  Thanks and have a Wonderful Long Weekend.  Hope for rain, not too much, just enough to make our green ones happy and not to ruin your plans. :)
See you at the Kemptville Kinsmen Farmers' Market Sunday 2-4 p.m.

My Pick - true farmers

Exciting news!  The rep. from My Pick was here yesterday to interview us and to tour our small Farm.  My Pick's mission is to verify the farmers' market vendors across Ontario and to make us recognizable to purchasers who want to be sure we are not reselling another's produce and we are, in fact, selling what we grow and growing what we sell.
This is good for you.  You'll be able to see the My Pick poster at our stall soon.

Let the colours begin

FINALLY! The tomatoes are starting to redden up, the cukes are looking more cukey, the peppers are changing from green to whatever colour they're intended to be in the end, some seeds I planted which were marked "Cukes" are turning into something large and gnarley.  I do believe there was some mislabeling on my part.  The potatoes . . . well let's not go there, I do have hope, I do, I really do.  This is certainly the year of the weeds, oh and the year of the bugs, especially tomato horn worms.  Tom and I have contests to see who can find one first or find the biggest one.  We love watching the wild turkeys and their little ones early in the morning walking up and down the rows in the field gardens picking things out that I don't want to deal with.  Good for them, good for us.  The flower gardens are pretty much dying, other than the established perennials, any water we use is designated for food only.  I've been watering flowerpots with water left over from boiling corn or potatoes, which is probably better for them anyway.  The rain barrels have proven an excellent source for us to get Some water out to the beans and carrots in the field where the potatoes (oh the poor poor potatoes) are.  So we planted more carrots, sorrel and beets closer to the water source so they'll be fine.  The greens garden is absolutely wonderful as it's in the shade most of the morning, although some of the heirloom romaine went to seed when I was looking, like in A DAY!.  So we planted more.  I can always use more seeds later this summer anyway, it's all good.  I have to say the broccoli has been outstanding.  Who would have thunk?  I never grew broccoli before, it's been fantastic!  When the first batch is done, which is almost now, the next ones will kick in, then the next ones . . . you get it.  We've bought some beautiful baskets for weekly deliveries and will start next week.  Again I say FINALLY!   Yahoo! Yipee! Oh yeah.

Thinking Inside the Box (or basket) - It's Thyme . . . and other herbs, etc.

It is indeed time to start our box/basket  delivery/pick up program.  We have beans, broccoli, chard, garlic, herbs, peppers, salad greens, tomatoes (cherry and gardener's delight) and zucchini.  Cucumbers,  potatoes, more peppers (hot and mild) and hundreds of tomatoes are preparing themselves to be ready in a week or so.  

And we should give mention to the beets, carrots, spinach and squashes giving their best efforts to grow in all of this rainlackingness.  We've put in four soaker systems and are so very thankful when we can give some of them a break once in a while like the other day.  Sure we wanted rain, but I don't quite remember asking for high winds and possible tornadoes.  Just a simple rain would do maybe once or twice a week, if anyone is listening.     

The lettuce has really taken off.
 It's so lovely, green and delicious.  It's been selling well
at the Farmers' Market and we just can't stop eating it.

The heirloom romaine has astonishing colour ,
looks and tastes wonderful in your salad.
Kale is loaded with goodness.

Lettuce varieties-crunchy, leafy, curly, spicy.

This rainbow chard loves to grow,
white, yellow, pink and ruby red-a wonderful source
of everything your body needs.

I'll be contacting you any day now if you've let me know you're interested in a weekly delivery.  If you're not on our list and would like to be, please email me or call.  You can also drop by (phone first) to see what's growing.  Wednesday will be delivery day AND/OR you can pick up your order at the Kemptville Kinsmen Farmers' Market Sundays from 2:00 to 4:00 (see link).
We are so very excited about all of this growing and eating of such wonderful goodness.

where DOES the time go?

Every waking hour has been spent trying to get all the little plants into the ground or flowers to a potted place on the deck, oh ya and the office job which only consumes about 10 hours of each weekday - ah how boring it would be to have nothing to do eh?  Everyone keeps saying broccoli doesn't grow this early, I'll have to point that out to the broccoli every day while it keeps growing, we keep selling it and eating it - yum.

dinner tomorrorw, the next day . . .

dinner tonight

 The Farmers' Market has been extremely good for us this year, located on a corner lot, prime real estate, lovin' it.  It's such a social scene, we really enjoy watching the regular shoppers (we used to be) arrive and get their baked goods first, spring rolls to munch on, iced tea or lemonade and then visit each vendor, chat and leave with fresh locally grown colourful food for the week.  How much better can it get than that?  

Cars slow down at the roadside Stand but not too many shop just yet.  We're busy working the potatoes, stringing up the beans, planting more radishes, beets, leeks, snow peas and peas and we wave at them - the people, not the plants.
I've been getting calls from customers regularly who'd just like to stop by and get a bag of greens or a bit of this or that - that's the part I like, I get to visit with each customer.  If you phone ahead, I can have what you need ready for you, then when you arrive and see the food actually growing, how can you resist getting just a little more?
Tom takes food to his Cornwall office each week, which is an hour away, so are we still local?  We are, Cornwall isn't, ya that's it.

eager tomatoes

The tomatoes, peppers and cukes in the Greenhouse are growing like there's no tomorrow, they are indeed in some kind of race. I hope to be selling tomatoes in a couple of weeks.  Some peppers have formed too.

peppers starting

cherry toms - soon, soon

more eager tomatoes

spinach & chard

And just for the simple pleasure of growing flowers, doesn't yellow make you smile the most?  

a sea of sundrops 

Call me or drop in if you're looking for a plate of  local organic produce

 and maybe some flowers on the side. 

The Potatoes are all in.

As of yesterday afternoon, thanks to Thomas and Ryan, the potatoes are now all in the ground, they are happy, we are happy, we'll all be happy in a couple of months - yeah.  So Ottawa and Brockville had rain last night, it has rained every day this week in Toronto.  Heckston had dew.  Just dew, no rain, dew.  The last bout of rain many many days ago filled the rain barrels so we're still watering with them.

So we're going to try the very first broccoli tonight with dinner, just testing for you.

Wandering around the gardens after doing some weeding amongst the greens, I was inspired by certain flowers that made me smile - please enjoy.

wigelia

iris

lady's mantle

siberian iris

peonies

peony - my favourite of all

 Put it together    
 and
 what do you get?

Very exciting - broccoli and garlic scapes

Well, this should make good eatin' for the weekend, broccoli and garlic scapes will be ready any day now - mmmmmmm.  The bags o' greens, tomato, pepper and herb plants are selling well at the Farmers' Market as well as the herb pots.  Heather and I had put together a few lettuce pots which are popular as well, we put in a few varieties so you can just pick from a nice cool spot on your deck.  I love to have an herb pot in a sunny spot by the door so I can snip whilst cooking, sometimes if the weather is bad I just don't feel like running out to the gardens.   The beans, snow peas and peas are getting taller, must get some trellis up there soon.  And of course, must get more potatoes in, we've planted about two-thirds so far.  Sunflowers, squashes, cukes and melons are coming up.  I feel like the plants and I are running a crazy race, where we all win in the end, but it's quite exhausting at times.  Camera's batteries are out so must buy new ones today, have had time to weed some of the flower gardens, no urgency there, it's really quite peaceful, the result is already complete, just need to cut and bring in to enjoy.

Pretty Busy - how is it that it's June already?

The first Kemptville Kinsmen Farmers' Market for 2012 was last weekend amid the hubbub of The Dandelion Fesitval.  Rydell (Thomas' band) played Friday night, terrific down east band Stanfield had everyone hopping Saturday night.  We opened the roadside Stand Saturday, small turnout of customers but the exposure is good, hoping to catch some of those garage sale shoppers on their way by.
Last Sunday at the KKFM was the BEST market we've EVER had!  It was so wonderful to see everyone, what a social scene too.  The weather was perfect, the farmers' (not a full house due to the longer hours last week) were happy to be back, seeing each other, greeting visitors - it felt really great to be part of it all.
But oh no - we were too busy to take pictures, the 11:00 to 4:00 long day seemed like just a couple of hours and it was all done for another week.
Tom left at 4:15 a.m. today to attend a funeral in Oakville, I picked up Thomas at 7:30 a.m. we planted more potatoes and sunflowers in the rain, now the sun is out, we've eaten a good lunch and out we go again to weed and plant more - cukes, herbs, peppers, I planted about 50 tomatoes during the week - and then the KKFM again tomorrow 2-4.  Today was the Giving Garden planting day as well - and it's only 1:00 now - plenty of day left.  We're missing Heather - she's in Alaska!
If you can't make it out to the Stand Saturday morning or the Market Sunday afternoon and you need:  plants or salad greens, just call me 613-258-7970, I can accommodate during the week.
And we're very excited to see the broccoli is coming along quite nicely along with the new greens planted.
Will try to take pics. bfn

What's growing at Day Brighteners right now?

Julie and I hiked over to the large area by the Stand and saw that coming up are: pole beans-green and scarlett; snow peas, peas, radishes-2 kinds and beets.  Last week Heather, Ryan and I planted out some pumpkins, watermelon seeds and lots of sunflower seeds.  The pumpkins are doing fine, sun and rain, what a perfect recipe for success.

daisies and chives living in harmony watching
over the peppers sprouting their first flowers.

Can't eat the cilantro fast enough, it's
gone to seed but the new batch is coming up in between,
I'll use the seeds again and again and again . . .

The boxed greens bed is now completely planted, finished that this morning.
It is astonishing how fast everything grows.  

Tom's getting a grass cut in before the sun sets, lookin' good Tom.

The lettuces in the Greenhouse are going to seed, but that's okay - I need the space to plant more cukes, tomatoes and peppers.  Cilantro seems to love the Greenhouse so it can live in there this summer.  We opened up the sides of the Greenhouse Monday, tonight we're taking the plunge and leaving the trays of plants outside to harden off and the sides and doors up (yikes).

I was out at 5:30 a.m. today (best to be up before the bugs find me) planting summer squashes, pattypans and zukes- more varieties this year and planting a lot earlier than last year - of course I think it rained until summertime last year, didn't it?

Am tired, getting up early tomorrow to start on herb pots for the Farmers' Market starting this Sunday (plug).    

Next week we'll get all the field tomatoes out ...in the field, some cukes, herbs, more squashes - and need to must have to definitely will get the rest of those potatoes in soon. Good night.

What a Fabulous Weekend.

So much done, so many visits, so much food, so much sun, so much of everything and then to top it all off: a soft steady gentle rain at the end the weekend to say "It's done, it was wonderful and thank you".

Look carefully- who is posing for this pic?

                                So everyone - everything was happy for the sun and the rain.

  

Opening Date and Hours

I thought I should mention that I was awake most of the other night filled with worry as to how I could possibly be ready to open the Roadside Stand on the long May weekend.  The answer eventually became quite clear.  I can't.
As this year May 24 is not really May 24, it's too early to transplant the little darlings I've been growing for you since March.  Executive decision - I am going to enjoy going to my son Thomas' band's show Friday night and relax with my daughter Julie and her Matt this weekend while they visit us from that City where they insist upon living.
The STAND will be OPEN SATURDAY MAY 26, 9 A.M. TO NOON.  We'll have plants for you to buy, greens for you to bring home.  I'll try my best to get a price list for you by then.  The office is very busy right now and there's still more planting to do this week.
So please drop in even just to say Hi.
And as always, I'm usually in the office so you can call me on my home phone and leave a message saying if you want to drop by another time that isn't Saturday morning.
For you I am open.
Thanks.  See you soon.

We've been making stuff happen - ahh Spring

Tom was taking a picture of a little red squirrel sleeping on a tree branch, but about 1' in front of the camera a woodpecker thought he'd steal the show.

Then the squirrel woke up, it's cute how cat-like he is, stretching his front, then his back.

Back inside, the houseplants are craving for attention, we almost missed FOUR consecutive passionflowers in bloom last week.  I'm out so early in the morning now and we have our coffee outside every chance we get.

As boring as this may be to someone else, this is quite exciting for us.   We now have plowed patches for pumpkins and sunflowers.  Aren't they beautiful? 

We got the call that our 155 pounds of seeds potatoes were in -Tim and I went to Berwick to collect them.  Heather, Tom and I planted about 300 seeds on a stinkin' hot afternoon in the sun digging a hole for each, bending, covering, marking rows (huff puff). Then Tim told us how to do it properly after that.  So with about 1500 more to plant we put the plow back on (we had exchanged it for the discs thinking we were done with plowing).  So we're getting quite proficient at interchanging tractor implements. 

Then last Monday I looked out at the field, the dandelions were a foot tall and they were going to seed in a day or two.  We HAD to cut the grass, how did they all grow so fast??? I told Tom this was an urgent situation and it had to be done right away, no options, work could wait, we can work in the office at night if we need to, but the grass had to be cut.  The mower took somewhere between 2-3 hours to put on, next time it won't take so long, but why on earth would Mr. Massey-Harris want to make our lives so difficult on a Tuesday morning while we could hear the dandelions laughing at us while they grew?  Oh my.

*********************

 Fast track to this weekend, the beds inside the Greenhouse are coming along nicely.  We're still eating lettuce from the December planting and the garlic runs down the middle of the center beds. I don't have it in me to pull them out so we're sort of transplanting around them and the toads are getting really annoyed every time we alter their living space.  Oh well, they always look grouchy anyway.  We also raised the "greens" bed with old boards Michelle had given to us a couple of years ago, some of which we used for the roadside stand.

There's so much beauty around us in the Spring, so many colours, so many smells - mmmmmmmmm.

Can you just smell the lilacs?  On Monday night, Katie and the boys noticed there was a butterfly on almost each and every blossom.  I've been here 20 years and never saw that before.

 
I couldn't resist going out this evening after closing up the Greenhouse, the sun was low, but quite intense, it was pretty steamy in there as you can see by the pictures.  This is truly my happy place.  Friends know where I am if they come by, except the one time when Heather knocked on the door at 7 a.m. and I had done too much the day before, too much sun, too many black fly bites, hurt all over. I usually start the morning in there around 6:30somethingish and then sigh at the end of the day when we close it up and say good night to all of our babies.
 

The raised beds are coming along quite nicely.

Garlic and trays of plants to be sold and put into gardens in and outside the Greenhouse.

Lettuce planted in December-doubles in size each day.

Evening sun - lovin' it