and then POOF it's Spring

One day we're scraping and shoveling and racing from car to building and from building to car, warming up the car first - then a couple of days later, we're shedding a layer of clothing and our mitts get left behind as the day warms us.  Spring - bouncy, sproingy, can't make up it's mind Spring.  And we've just begun.  

The unheated greenhouses are now, in fact, heated by the sun, that wonderful star of ours which is holding on to every last hour of daylight with us and keeping the greenhouses at about +20C these days - that's with the doors open too!

The seeds I started indoors over the last month are growing well and some will be up-potted tomorrow.  More seeds will be planted this week and next week and more the next week and the next week . . . you get the picture.

I have several goals set right now:

a.  to keep the Sprouts growing for you - they are nice to keep us healthy in the meantime;

b.  to have potted Herbs and Salad Greens ready for our booth at the SNG Sustainability Fair - Sunday April 26;

c.  to have hundreds of Vegetable, Herb and Edible Flower plants available for our Annual Plant Sale - May 23 to May 31;

d.  to start each plant indoors to be ready for transplanting outdoors at the precisely correct date;

e.  to start and maintain plants in the greenhouse until the soil outdoors is ready, get them out of there in time to transplant the plants waiting indoors to be deposited into the greenhouse;   

f.  to get all the gardens started in time to ensure a good harvest;

g.  to keep all of you happy and well fed over the next nine or more months; and 

h.  all the other stuff that isn't coming to mind right now and there's a lot.  

Whew, that's a big plate to fill and a good portion of this "planning" is left to the weather.  

I now have all seeds I need for the upcoming season, that's a good start.  This will be my first year with the Market Garden full-time.  I'm looking forward to every minute of it:  being outside by 5 a.m., having hands and feet in the soil, watching the hummingbirds a few inches from my face slurping from the bean flowers while I'm weeding (the birds are slurping, I am not), noticing a small family of deer watching me from a hundred feet away (or maybe it's the beans they're watching), sleeping soundly at night after filling my lungs with fresh air all day and knowing that I can provide totally nutritious foods to my customers.  

With all of this said, if you'd like me to start a particular item for you, best to let me know now. I love helping people get their own gardens started each Spring.  If you have certain herbs you'd like to grow in a sunny window, order a mixed container for yourself or a gift for a gardener friend.   

I'm currently putting together the best system for us to ensure your orders are filled and delivered to the best of your schedule.  If you know someone who is looking for food delivery, please let them/me know soon so they can jump on the band wagon.   I'll soon send out a survey asking for your likes/dislikes and will have to set a cut-off date for new customers.  

Please note:  Ottawa deliveries will be made Wednesday so my emails will go to everyone Mondays beginning April or the soonest date when Salad Greens are ready to eat.  

I`ll report in next week.  Have a great every day from now until then.  

Jo

Which is best for you? Placing weekly orders or CSA boxes?

Hi,
I've been thinking about you: our customers for years now; our recently new customers; and our customers to be this coming season.
I've been paying attention to your buying trends, your wants, your needs and the time you have or may not have to actually place weekly orders.
Over the past five years, I've stayed away from the usual CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) system as it wouldn't be the way I'd like to shop and most of you are in agreement.  I prefer to choose the foods I eat from day to day, from week to week and my choices change as I become more aware of ways to prepare foods I've never before tried.  But I recognize that some of you, as much as you truly would like to order each week, don't have the time to actually place your order.  I totally understand this.

So . . . this coming season, which is now, I'd like to offer you choices.
A.  If you like the way we've been communicating (I send you an email of available foods, you respond, I deliver), I'm happy to continue this method of shopping and delivering with you.
B.  If you're finding it difficult to get that email out to me and would prefer to have a standing order of a box of vegetables each week, I'm good with this.
C.  If you'd like a box of vegetables delivered to you every other week, this could work as well.

There is always an option for you to pick up your order if you let me know in advance - how fresh could food possibly be, eh?  Also, some weeks you may need more food as you could have company coming, or may want to freeze or put up some of those extra pounds upon pounds of beans, or you may be going away and not need food from us at that time.  I can throw flexibility into the mix too.

You are most important to Day Brighteners Farm and I'd like you to enjoy as much of our produce as possible and to not miss out.  Give my idea some thought and let me know what would work best for you.  The food we grow here from seed to transplant to nurturing to harvest to table is so very special.  I hate to see any of it wasted or not enjoyed by you and your friends and families.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts so we can come up with the best method for you to enjoy fresh, local, organic, colourful eating in the months ahead.
Thanks.
Jo

What a Lovely Evening Just Spent

I attended a meeting of the Kemptville Horticultural Society to talk about our farm and herbs and edible flowers.  The group was so nice, warm and inviting.  There was a seed exchange first and then after my talk we sat around sharing information.  I brought Sprouts and several of the members made yummy sounds whilst eating them and chatting around my little display table.  We made tentative plans for the group to come out for a tour of Day Brighteners Farm for one of their meetings.  I'm excited for that time to come.  A thank you card they gave me had a photograph of a beautiful painting of gladiolus flowers done by the President.
It was a pleasure being in a room with so many gardeners.  I could feel the energy, the hope in every one of us that Spring is right around the corner.
Good Night.
Jo

Warm days, Cold nights, Warmer greenhouses

Monday's weather report: -20 wind chill outside.  It was +17 inside the unheated greenhouses.  The sun is so intense and our days are about 12 hours now.  

So, I guess we'll be planting in the greenhouse by next week, just wanting those nights to be a tad warmer so as not to lose the days' planting efforts.

I've been seeding, watering, and taking care of new seedlings in the house for the last couple of weeks.  I've been doing this for a few years now but am always astonished by the rate at which seeds germinate.  I pushed some basil seeds into the seed starter Saturday, they were up by Sunday night!

I bought a box of tomatoes from SunTech this morning. They are not yet ripe enough to make tomato sauce, so we'll wait until next week to make it.  Their cukes and eggplants are so lovely, I couldn't resist . . . whole wheat pizza  mmmmmmm.

I may be with you on the sprout orders this week.  Two weeks ago, I sprouted so many we had extra.  Due to that, last week I sprouted less and didn't have enough.  We'll keep trying.  Maybe you should pre-order for the next week as well so I know how many to sprout.  The Spring Salad Mix and Alfalfa take from Sunday to Friday.  The Crunchy Bean Mix takes from Tuesday to Friday, so let me know if you can.

The Kemptville Horticultural Society asked me to be a guest speaker at their meeting tonight.  I'm pretty excited about this.  I'll be talking about herbs and edible flowers. They're also having a Seed Exchange that I can take part in.  I'm looking forward to that as well.  

I`ll report in next week.  Have a great every day from now until then.  

Jo

Days are getting longer - email to customers of Feb 11

- this is very promising, the days are definitely warmer - we'll ignore those awfully cccccold nights for now.  

I started hundreds of hot pepper plants this week and some edible flowers.  Just came in from removing lots of snow from the roof of the little old greenhouse, the new Greenhouse has a peaked roof and has a little tiny bit of snow but the sun will take care of that.  

My popped rib is mending but I'm told it'll take another couple of weeks before I can get back to the arm wrestling competitions :-)

I've started the 2015 Garden Planner, now that's exciting.  

Our tomato sauce and salsas have come to an end for now.  I'll pick up more lovely tomatoes from SunTech once available and get back into sauce making whilst dreaming of delicious heirloom and roma tomatoes ripening on the vines outside basking in the sun with their fellow onions, cabbages, carrots, beets, cucumbers, parsnips - oh stop!  Soon. Soon ... must wait.  

I`ll report in next week.  Have a great every day from now until then.  

Jo

oh the sprouts

were very popular last week.  Once I catch up to all of you, then I can try to keep up.  

And it turns out I've popped a rib.  It's a good thing those chickens are so cute and provide us with the loveliest of eggs, because it's hauling the large container of hot water (a gigantic hot water bottle so to speak) for them these cold nights, that did this.  I went to see our local super Natural Doctor (super and natural being two words, I don't think Shawn is supernatural, or maybe he is).  He sent me to the adorable and smartest chiropractor Heather who pressed and poked and jumped on my acheyness and then told  me I need to go back to do this again tomorrow!

So I'm moving slow . . . and disliking it very much but better in January than in May, although if it was May, the chickens wouldn't have needed the warmth and my body would be stronger too.  Don't ya just love winter?

That was last week's email to our customers.  Fast forward to today - it's been active around here. 

Last Friday I received a phone call from Norm at Multi-Shelter.  I think that the customer service at Multi-Shelter (which is the company from where we bought our newest Greenhouse in November) is exemplary.  From their website to the delivery process, then the availability of their staff and now the followup.  Norm was contacted by someone who saw on my blog there was ice on my Greenhouse.  Norm called to help me with that.  I quickly explained that the ice was on the old Greenhouse which I had purchased used (will never do that again) and it was re-constructed in pieces at the time, and not on his Greenhouse.  But isn't that great service?  Thanks Norm and Andrea.  

I also heard from Dominic at Wilf & Ada's Diner in Ottawa.  He and we are connecting again this year for hot peppers.  The entire first Greenhouse will be devoted to hot peppers for his Famous Hot Pepper Sauce.

My son is on his way home tomorrow from Victoria - yippee!  What weather to come home to eh?

Now the seed starting will begin in full force, no turning back, no stopping us.  I've not been able to do much in that respect since I can't lift anything heavy.  Bags of seed starter are heavy.    

In the meantime, I picked up more varieties of sprout seeds at Rainbow Foods this weekend so we'll have a constant supply for all of you sprout lovers.  If you're not on our weekly delivery list (and I can't imagine why you aren't) you can pick up our Sprouts at Heather's Healthy Harvest at the Raina Mall in Kemptville.  She's open Tuesday to Sunday.  She tells me that the Sprouts go from our hand to hers and to her customers' in about 10 minutes.  Poplular?  Ya.  

Have a great week.  

Jo

The Sprouts are . . . sprouting - yippee!

As it turns out, sprouts are actually better for you than any plant you can eat.  All of the nutrition and goodness is in the seed - so let's eat these wonderful little tidbits of crunchiness and deliciousness on everything.  

I can't go a day without sprouts now that we've begun eating them.  

January and February are the months for indoor learning, been watching gardening advice videos which I purchased last year and hadn't had time to look at yet and reading everything I can on seed starting, organic sustainable growing, am planning and will be starting seeds over the next several weeks.  Some will be planted indoors, some in the Greenhouse, which was 12 degrees Celsius yesterday, so nice and lovely warm.  

Since you asked . . . A few of you have asked what sprouts I'm growing.  Just to start, I picked up a Spring Salad mix, which contains seeds of broccoli, radish, red clover and alfalfa.  If you know me at all, I get bored very easily.  So I'll be picking up different varieties this weekend.  I figure in no time I'll be making my own mix but am reluctant to do so until I get the gist of this whole sprouting thing and what works best together.  It's very addictive I must say. 

Remember to let me know if you'd like to be added to our Weekly Delivery List, no obligation up front, but how will you resist once you know what colourful goodness we'll be bringing to your door.    

Jo

Weekly delivery 2015

See how you can be added to our weekly delivery - read November 21 post for details - or call for more info. We currently deliver to North Grenville and Ottawa's West End and Centertown.  We're adding Merrickville this year as our customers are there too.

Joanne Tipler

DAY BRIGHTENERS FARM

Organic Produce, Herbs and Edible Flowers 

805 Slater Road

Kemptville (Heckston), Ontario  

K0G 1J0

613-258-7970

joanne.daybrighteners@gmail.com

c'mon sunshine, warm us up here

Happy 2015!  Happy longer days ahead!   

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and remained healthy.  So many people around had flues or colds.  It's easy to get run down at such a busy time.  So far, so good around here.  

I received some wonderful gardening, cooking from the garden and greenhouse books that I've been reading every minute I can.  

EcoFarmDay, run yearly by Canadian Organic Growers, is also coming up in February, it's always a good learning session and nice to hook up with other local organic farmers.

I'm also reading everything I can about sprouts, will start that once the house gets back to some normality.  That back room which had everything shoved into it that didn't belong in the main part of the house has gotten out of control, again.  The bookkeeping is priority right now.  Once the seed sowing starts, there'll be no turning back.  

The Greenhouse is dark inside, unfortunately the roof is covered with ice that's not coming off in the near future.  Thus, no salad greens for a while.  

We've set up the new Greenhouse with tables, had electricity installed and will be setting up seed trays, heating mats and lights in a few weeks.  

The planning of all of this is stirring around in my head every waking moment, and there are a lot of waking moments with the recent full moon in play.  I'll be applying these ideas to the online garden planner in the next week or so, then let the games begin!

We're presently getting 2 - 3 eggs a day now from our four little silky hens, some days none.  

I've used the last of the frozen garden tomatoes and haven't been out to see if I can buy any local, still have lots of our frozen peppers. 

So, back to the books now and then the planning begins - yippeee!

Christmas is here

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and gets to visit with everyone they hold dear, whether it be personally or by other communication. Enjoy your day and drive safe if you're out there. 
Merry Christmas.