Such pleasant weather

Well, here we are smack dab in the middle of September.  The beans are slowing down just when they finally got started (we only picked about 4 ½ pounds this morning), the cukes are on their way out now (we only get 6 or 7 instead of 20 or more when we pick now), the onions are ready for storing, the leeks are growing nicely as we hill them every now and again, each section of beets planted at various times gets larger each week, some of the sweet peppers are actually turning red (I didn’t think that would happen at all), the potatoes yes I said potatoes are doing really well (they are a surprise for us all as we got them in so late it was a gamble which is why I didn’t mention them earlier), some of the edible flowers are done and some are still blooming nicely, the chard and kale are just doing as chard and kale always do – growing nicely, the celery is amazing and more carrots are growing longer and thicker as we planned. 

This morning we emptied some spent rows of salad mix and arugula in order to plant more, which we did.  We picked and picked tomatoes until it was too hot to pick any more.  Imagine I said too hot.  I actually turned on the irrigation system in the Beans, Greens and Onions bed for a second time this year.  The Tomato garden never needed water at all.   Same with the Pepper garden. 

some great variety, roprecos and green zebra
oh, and a volunteer yellow zucchini 

some huge carletons, my favourite gilberties for
dehydrating and a purple russian tucked in there

more plums, romas and friends

the blanche du quebec tomatoes we thought would never ripen

cherry varieties including yellow and red  pear, black
and green cherry, gardener's delight and ceylon

There are almost too many tomatoes to pick in the time we have.  Tomorrow morning we'll be picking, washing and packing salad greens, hilling up potatoes with straw, emptying an onion row, hilling up leeks, a bit of weeding and hopefully processing some tomatoes in one form or another.  

a few of the hot peppers heading to Wilf & Ada's Diner
this weekend including hot portugal, black hungarian, long red cayenne,
jalapeno and thai -
there will be many more by Saturday

sweet peppers starting to turn red, hopefully more to come

People have been calling for bushels of tomatoes, which is certainly doable.  The weather this week is completely suitable for tomato ripening at its best.  We’ve made and processed batches of basil tomato sauce and have started on the Vampire Buster sauce you’ve been asking for.  I’ve been lucky to have local cilantro donated for our fresh salsa and see that the cilantro we transplanted several weeks ago is doing great and should be ready when we start canning up Salsa.  In the meantime, we’ll have fresh salsa for you each week.  The basil in the gardens h as come back to life when I thought it had been damaged permanently by the cold nights.  Good basil. 

I had a tooth pulled on Monday and was unable to work outside and was instructed not to lift heavy things so was able to clean and tidy indoors a bit.  Housework is a piece of cake compared to the work we do outdoors all these months.  I prefer the outdoors work.  Thus the saying “Gardening Forever, Housework Whenever”.  J

I bet you are good and hungry with all this talk about food so let me tell you what we have to eat this week:

Beans  $3/pound   you can order ½ pound if you like

Beets, red and golden  $3/pound

Beet Greens  $3 bunch

Carrots  $3 bag

Carrot TOPS  free with your order if you need them for your little bunnies or horses, etc.

Celery  $2 bunch

Chard  $3 bag

Cucumbers  $2 each

Garlic  $3, $2, or $1 each

Garlic  $12 / pound

Granola, with fruit  $8 /500mL jar  

Granola, with nuts and fruit  $10 /500mL jar

Herbs, fresh:   bay leaf, citrus thyme, dill, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme  $2 each  

Kale  $3 bunch

Mizuna, Red Streaks  $2 bag

Onions, yellow  $2.50 / pound

Onions, large sweet Ailsa Craig  $2.50 pound

Onions, sweet Spanish  $2.50 / pound

Pea Shoots  $2 bag

PESTO, basil (frozen now) $4.50 125mL jar 

Radicchio  $2 each

Radishes   $2 bunch

Salad Greens  $5 bag 

Salsa, fresh  $4 250mL jar

SPROUTS, Sandwich Booster (clover, alfalfa, radish & mustard)  $3 / bag

SPROUTS, Spring Salad Mix  (broccoli, radish, red clover & alfalfa)  $3 / bag

Sunflower SHOOTS  $2 bag

Swiss Chard   $3 bunch

Tomatoes, cherry  $3 / pound

Tomatoes, heirloom $3 / pound  please let me know if you’d like all large or a mix

Zucchini  $6 or $4 each  I have LARGE ones right now, good for baking

I look forward to receiving Your Special Order.  Call or email me with amounts you’d like and any questions you may have.  Remember you can order any day.  Just give me 24 hours to pick freshest for you.  I deliver to Ottawa and Merrickville either Saturday or Sunday each weekend.

Until next post, have a great every day.

Jo

613-258-7970

joanne.daybrighteners@gmail.com

more new foods each week

The Online Store was not for me … right now … I might try again in the new year.  I just don’t have any more time to put into it right now.  I’m in the throes of harvesting, sorting, cooking, canning, dehydrating and all the things those of us with gardens do in the fall, which does not allow extra time for constant work at a system that seems to not have been meant for my business.  I’m told it’s meant for someone who doesn’t change their inventory on a regular basis.  I knew we were unique here, but I guess unique isn’t a good thing when setting up an online store.  Oh well. 

I do want to remind you that you can now order almost any day of the week, keeping in mind that Salad Greens are cut, washed and packed every Thursday and only available the few days afterwards while they last.  Everything else here is easily accessible on a daily basis with twenty-four hours’ notice to ensure your vegetables are picked and delivered as fresh as possible.  Monday is the exception.  That’s the day I need to take care of my house.

Fresh goodness ready this week for you is as follows:

Beans  $3/pound   you can order ½ pound if you like

Beets, red and golden  $3/pound

Beet Greens  $3 bunch

Carrots  $3 bag

Carrot TOPS  free with your order if you need them for your little bunnies or horses, etc.

Celery  $2 bunch

Chard  $3 bag

Cucumbers  $2 each

Garlic  $3, $2, or $1 each

Garlic  $12 / pound

Granola, with fruit  $8 /500mL jar  

Granola, with nuts and fruit  $10 /500mL jar

Herbs, fresh:   bay leaf, citrus thyme, dill, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme  $2 each  

Kale  $3 bunch

Mizuna, Red Streaks  $2 bag

Mizuna, Green  $2 bag

Onions, yellow  $2.50 / pound

Onions, large sweet Ailsa Craig  $2.50 pound

Onions, sweet Spanish  $2.50 / pound

PESTO, basil (frozen now) $4.50 125mL jar 

Radicchio  $2 each

Radishes  SURPRISE!  $2 bunch

Salad Greens  $5 / bag

Salsa, fresh made today  $4 /250mL jar

SPROUTS, Sandwich Booster (clover, alfalfa, radish & mustard)  $3 / bag

SPROUTS, Spring Salad Mix  (broccoli, radish, red clover & alfalfa)  $3 / bag

Sunflower SHOOTS  $2 bag

Swiss Chard   $3 bunch

Tomatoes, cherry  $3 / pound

Tomatoes, heirloom $3 / pound  please let me know if you’d like all large or a mix

Zucchini  $6 or $4 each  I only have LARGE ones right now, good for baking

Day Brighteners is a non-certified organic farm, where we practice sustainability and environmentally-friendly farming.  We always use non-GMO and organic/heirloom seeds.  You are very welcome to drop by most days, but calling or emailing first is a good idea.  We do appreciate your business very much and would like to hear from you with any comments or questions you have.   

I look forward to receiving Your Special Order.  Call or email me with amounts you’d like and any questions you may have. 

Until next post, have a great every day.

Jo

Do We Have Tomatoes?

DO we have tomatoes? Do WE have tomatoes? Do we HAVE tomatoes? Do we have TOMATOES?
Oh yes, we do have tomatoes!  Despite what you may think the weather has thrown at us, our approximately 10,000 square foot tomato garden has produced a staggering amount of beautiful heirlooms for us.

a sample of some of the larger heirloom tomatoes we have, some of the Black from Tulas are as big as your face
 weighing in at 1.5 pounds, others are a good sandwich size like the Oxheart, then there's the fabulous flavours
 of the Tangerine Orange, the Blanche du Quebec and Thorburn's Terra Cotta, the pink Carletons,
the round red fruit of the Rideaus and Scotias and Stupice.

 ceylons looking like mini-pumpkins,
red and yellow pear, various reds like gardener's delight
and my favourite amethyst cream
looking as delicious as they taste.

some pretty crazy looking toms here, but so much flavour

various pastes for the sauces, San Marzano, Gilbertie,
Roma, Black Plum, Black Prince, Orange Banana,
Ropreco, 

ya, picked a few, just a few

picked a few more

fresh salsa supplied in low flat jars, easier for dipping

So far, we've made fresh salsa, almost a hundred jars of tomato sauce, roasted cherry tomatoes which we froze for future months and dehydrated dozens.  I'll be making more sauce today and starting on the salsa to be processed into jars for upcoming months.

The wake up temperature Saturday morning of 2C seems to have not bothered the plants out in the garden.  It looks like the week ahead will give us some warmer nights which means many many many more tomatoes to come.

If you'd like to order tomatoes, I'm pleased to deliver them to you if you're in my delivery range or you could pick them up here.  You can order as many as you like whenever you like.  Just give me 24 hours to pick fresh for you.  All tomatoes are $3 a pound.  You can mix them up or order only large, only paste, only cherry - whatever you're heart desires.  We have them.

As well as the beloved tomatoes, the following foods are available right now:

Beets  $3/pound

Beet Greens  $3 bunch

Carrots  $3 bag

Carrot Tops  free with your order if you need them for your little bunnies or horses, etc.

Celery  $2 bunch

Chard  $3 bag

Cucumbers  $2 each

Garlic  $3, $2, or $1 each

Garlic  $12 / pound

Herbs, fresh:  basil, bay leaf, citrus thyme, dill, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme  $2 bunch  

Kale  $3 bunch

Mizuna, Red Streaks  $2 bag

Mustard Greens   $3 bunch

Onions, yellow  $2.50 / pound

Onions, sweet Spanish  $2.50 / pound

Radicchio  $2 each

Swiss Chard   $3 bunch

TOMATOES, cherry  $3 / pound

TOMATOES, heirloom $3 / pound

Granola, with fruit  $8 /500mL jar  

Granola, with nuts and fruit  $10 /500mL jar

Pesto, basil (frozen now) $4.50 125mL jar 

Sprouts, Sandwich Booster (clover, alfalfa, radish & mustard)  $3 / bag

IMPORTANT:  Please do not use the Online Store as it seems to not work for everyone.  Email or call with your order.
joanne.daybrighteners@gmail.com
613-258-7970

Thanks.

Until next post, have a great every day.

Let me explain all the excitement here

It’s time to shake it up around here.  I woke up the other morning with a revelation!  What?  I was thinking that we start many seedlings for the growing season indoors at the end of January and bring all those seedlings outdoors in April.  Then we start more seedlings in April, May, June and continually until about now.  Why, oh why, are we selling our wonderful non-GMO, “cide” free, organically-grown food to you only one day a week?  With full-time help now, there’s no reason we can’t deliver most products to you every day we work which is Tuesday through Saturday.  I need some time to take care of the house, grocery shop (not that I need many groceries) order new supplies and do a bit of catching up on fallen-behinds.  As you’ll see on the Local Line site, I need at least twenty-four hours’ notice for your order.  That way I can pick fresh for you.  The only thing that wouldn’t be available daily is Salad Greens as they are a full-day process once a week needing all hands on deck.  We never know how many bags we’ll have at the end of the day.  Sometimes we get twice what we need.  Other times we have exactly the amount we need for those of you who pre-ordered.  Weather is a big factor in how fast and well things grow, as you know.  You’ll see if they are available when you check the catelogue.  It changes every day, sometimes more than once each day.  

With the new Local Line ordering system you should be able to enjoy our foods when you like and order when convenient for you.  Some of your towns are not recognized by Google Maps.  In that case, you can put Ontario as your address.  Select what you want to order and your delivery day.  It’s best to keep payments as they are right now: cash, cheque or e-transfer.  We can set up more options when we get rolling. 

Day Brighteners Farm Online Store.  I’ve put a lot of effort into pictures (more to come as we make more food) and descriptions of each item for you.  I’m always open for suggestions to better the system for all of us.  There’s also a YouTube video Local Line prepared for us at https://youtu.be/AzrhTNY_1GA to make it simple – I need it to be simple. 

I do have to tell you though that the tomatoes and cucumbers are coming in fast and furious now, onions are superb, kale just keeps growing and growing, garlic is ready and everything else is growing as it should.   We’ll be adding fresh salsa to the list in a few days.  I have a summer cold right now and don’t really like to handle food while I’m all sniffly and sore throaty but will be wonderful again in a day or so. 

Day Brighteners is a non-certified organic farm, where we practice sustainability and environmentally-friendly farming.  We always use non-GMO and organic/heirloom seeds, no pesticide, herbicides or fungicides (“cides”) or chemicals here.  You are very welcome to drop by most days.  Calling or emailing first is a good idea so we’ll be here for you.  We do appreciate your business very much and would like to hear from you with any comments or questions you have.   

Thanks.  

Until next post, have a great every day.

Jo

To wash or not to wash

What are we telling you on those labels?  Salad Greens are always washed and table-ready which means we have cleaned them back and forth and up and down until the water they are in is crystal clear and spun-dried them until your greens are clean, dry enough and ready to eat. 

Sometimes we’re pressed for time and not able to wash some vegetables thoroughly (like kale or chard) for a number of reasons:  one of our team is away so we’re under-staffed; rain the night before or early morning has splashed up a lot of dirt from the ground onto that vegetable; we get too busy picking one vegetable and don’t want to not have a particular item available due to washing another thoroughly.  However, we do remove 95% of anything undesirable from all vegetables, they’re just not quite “table-ready”.   We communicate this to you by printing “Washed” or “Please Wash” on the label.  This will happen more frequently as a larger amount of produce becomes available.  We don’t want to lose the nutritional value or freshness by picking too many days before delivery so we leave everything in the ground as long as possible and scramble to get everything picked, washed and packed.  So read your label to see the best action to take. 

Speaking of under-staffed I’m looking for someone to help us here Thursday and/or Friday mornings for the rest of August.  If you are that person or know of someone please have them email or call me.  Thanks. 

Tomatoes are looking great for everyone next week.  We do have some ready now, more by Friday but it’s a first-come/first-served game this week.  In a week or two we'll have so many and you will know about it for sure.  I almost fell over when I went to pick a few cukes for an order and picked FOURTEEN – wow.  We pulled all the white onions yesterday which are now sitting washed and awaiting your order.  They don’t keep like the other onions.  Some red onions are ready now.  I’m afraid the beans are pathetic this year.  I have never had problems with beans in the past – we’ll put this year down to a fail in that department.  We’ll still keep trying.  What can I say?

Garlic will be nicely cured and prettied up for you by next week. 

Order OnLine

This past week, I've been working diligently to set up my Local Line store.  Local Line is an ordering system that makes it easier for you to select the products you want and place an order every week. I’m making life easier for you.  This also helps me keep track of your orders and my own inventory levels.  There you’ll see my catalogue with pictures and a little description of some of the items.  It was fun to spend some time doing this and I’ll be adding more as we go. 

The Local Line store makes it easy for you to select your products, choose pickup or delivery, and easily checkout with a few clicks.  For a video to show you how easy it is to place an order, go to  https://youtu.be/AzrhTNY_1GA. 

Click here to visit my new online store - Day Brighteners Farm Online Store.​

Let’s see how it works.  Let me know your thoughts. 

Until next post, have a great every day. 

Jo

New Foods Available - finally

Quickly, here’s what is available for eating this week – it just keeps getting better.

Baby Carrots  NEW  $3 bunch

Basil  Pesto  $4.50 125mL jar 

Basil Plants:   $2 each 

Celery  $2 bunch

Cucumbers  NEW  $2 each

Edible flowers   $3 bag

Green Onions:  $2 bunch of 10

Herbs, fresh:  bay leaf, citrus thyme, dill, lemon balm, oregano, sage, savory, thyme  $2 bunch  

Herb Mix: a mix of several fresh herbs  $3 bunch   

Kale  $3 bunch

Mustard Greens   $3 bunch

Orach, red  (spinach better for you than spinach)  $3 bag

Peppers, sweet  NEW  $4 pound

Romaine Lettuce  $2

Salad Greens, washed and table ready:  includes arugula, strawberry spinach, orach, arugula, mini-mustard greens and various soft and crunchy lettuces and other green stuff growing on the property, herbs and edible flowers  $5 bag   

Sunflower Shoots  $2 bag 

Swiss Chard   $3 bunch

White Onions  $2.50/pound

Mind you, the carrots, cukes and peppers above-mentioned are not plentiful, but some are ready now, with many more to come in the near future.   Also keep in mind you don’t need to order items by the pound, it’s just the base price I set.  For example, you can order one or two peppers if that’s all you need.

The purple basil is doing so well I made the pesto with it this week.  How cool looking is that.  Same great taste, entirely different look.

Garlic is curing for another week.  Peas and beans are taking their time.  The tomatoes are coming along nicely colour-wise and size-wise.  I’m hoping they’ll be on your plates next week – hooray for the summer heat. 

I grow sprouts for those who have regular weekly delivery.  If you want me to grow some for you, please let me know.  It’s certainly do-able.  I don’t like to waste the seeds if the sprouts aren’t going to be delivered to someone. 

  

Day Brighteners is a non-certified organic farm, where we practice sustainability and environmentally-friendly farming.  We always use non-GMO and organic/heirloom seeds.  You are very welcome to drop by most days, but if it’s picking/packing/delivery day (Friday) you take your chances on getting the tour.  Calling or emailing first is a good idea.  We do appreciate your business very much and would like to hear from you with any comments or questions you have.  

We deliver to Kemptville and area Friday afternoons to and to Merrickville and Ottawa Saturday or Sunday.  We start picking Thursdays, so please email me or call me by Thursday afternoon for delivery to you.  If you’re outside our delivery range, we’ll make a special plan for you. 

Thank you.  

If you'd like to purchase any of the above items, I'm happy to provide them if available after our regular customers have ordered.  If you want to know how to receive delivery of our nutritional goodness, see Contact information and email or call me.  Thanks.

Until next post, have a great every day.  

Jo