Our 20th basket complete,
We hope that you have enjoyed your season in our CSA program. Overall, it was a great one, crops all grew well, tomatoes and zucchini really stood out this year. We still have many crops to harvest outdoors and while a little behind, we are still planting indoors. I am excited to finally having time to make some hot sauce, tomato sauce and spices!
Winter hours for the store are still unsure but weekends and Mondays will likely be our open days. We will continue to sell at the St-Catharines Market on Saturdays and may add Thursdays as well.
Again, we will be making adjustments to our farm for the upcoming season. Our CSA will be smaller and again be shortened, as we found ourselves struggling to prepare for winter farming this fall. If our crops don't get in, we have no income. September to us is busier than spring, add kids and sports to the mix and the whole thing becomes impossible. Therefore, it seems that we will have a cottagers season for the CSA May to Sept.
A second major change, that has come about after much debate is that we will not be offering eggs for sale for the winter or next season. I know that this will be disappointing to many but unfortunately when it comes down to it, this part of our business is more of a service and not very profitable at all. While we like to keep everybody happy, the hours we spend to raise our chickens the way we think is right and the organic grain we feed them just doesn't add up. Also, during the winter months egg sales always drop dramatically, at a time when caring for them and feeding them is the hardest and unlike crops, eggs must only be sold on site. We still need an income in the winter months and feel our time will be better spent growing winter crops which are in high demand and can be sold at the market. Plans to erect another greenhouse are in the works. Finally, we may again raise chickens in the future but not at the moment. We have a friend around the corner who has purchased a portion of our flock and will be selling eggs, we will post an address on door of store when she is ready.
Making changes are sometimes exciting and sometimes they are difficult but we know that they are necessary. We see many small farmers struggle and sometimes even quit altogether not because they don't love it but because they just can't live off it. It always saddens me when i see a farmer not value his time or product enough to charge a decent amount for it because i know that he is probably suffering and i may not have access to this wonderful product for long.
In your basket this week:
An amazing bag of Chez Nous Mix (nothing makes me feel healthier than eating a bag of this stuff!)
Southern Curled Mustard(green)
Dragon Tongue Mustard ( stems are totally edible..prepare like escarole)
Hakurei Turnips
Leeks
Juicers: Kale and cucumber/beet mix
Following are a whole bunch of pictures for those who are interested!
Thanks for supporting us!
We hope that you have enjoyed your season in our CSA program. Overall, it was a great one, crops all grew well, tomatoes and zucchini really stood out this year. We still have many crops to harvest outdoors and while a little behind, we are still planting indoors. I am excited to finally having time to make some hot sauce, tomato sauce and spices!
Winter hours for the store are still unsure but weekends and Mondays will likely be our open days. We will continue to sell at the St-Catharines Market on Saturdays and may add Thursdays as well.
Again, we will be making adjustments to our farm for the upcoming season. Our CSA will be smaller and again be shortened, as we found ourselves struggling to prepare for winter farming this fall. If our crops don't get in, we have no income. September to us is busier than spring, add kids and sports to the mix and the whole thing becomes impossible. Therefore, it seems that we will have a cottagers season for the CSA May to Sept.
A second major change, that has come about after much debate is that we will not be offering eggs for sale for the winter or next season. I know that this will be disappointing to many but unfortunately when it comes down to it, this part of our business is more of a service and not very profitable at all. While we like to keep everybody happy, the hours we spend to raise our chickens the way we think is right and the organic grain we feed them just doesn't add up. Also, during the winter months egg sales always drop dramatically, at a time when caring for them and feeding them is the hardest and unlike crops, eggs must only be sold on site. We still need an income in the winter months and feel our time will be better spent growing winter crops which are in high demand and can be sold at the market. Plans to erect another greenhouse are in the works. Finally, we may again raise chickens in the future but not at the moment. We have a friend around the corner who has purchased a portion of our flock and will be selling eggs, we will post an address on door of store when she is ready.
Making changes are sometimes exciting and sometimes they are difficult but we know that they are necessary. We see many small farmers struggle and sometimes even quit altogether not because they don't love it but because they just can't live off it. It always saddens me when i see a farmer not value his time or product enough to charge a decent amount for it because i know that he is probably suffering and i may not have access to this wonderful product for long.
In your basket this week:
An amazing bag of Chez Nous Mix (nothing makes me feel healthier than eating a bag of this stuff!)
Southern Curled Mustard(green)
Dragon Tongue Mustard ( stems are totally edible..prepare like escarole)
Hakurei Turnips
Leeks
Juicers: Kale and cucumber/beet mix
Following are a whole bunch of pictures for those who are interested!
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| Our soil arrived recently after a night of rain, bringing it out to the farm was quite a disaster and finally couldn't be completed. |
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| We are lucky to have a neighbour with an unsprayed apple tree, every fall we harvest wheel barrows full for the birds. |
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| Piri Piri peppers |
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| My beautiful flowers after the frost the other night. Lettuce looks great! |
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| Near the end of summer, I finally got around to planting the smallest little Alpine strawberry plants. They have really taken off! |
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| The strawberries are white |
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| Garlic planting is nearly complete |
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| Kale |
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| Dragon tongue Mustard |
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| Flower Sprouts |
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| Escarole, Lettuce, Bok Choy and Celtuce |
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| Today we finish this greenhouse with cold hardy transplants |
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| We've also cleared out the small greenhouse by the front of the house. This tomato plant Pit Viper was supposed to be a dwarf plant. It is a monster and super healthy monster full of tomatoes. |
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| A little family time |
Thanks for supporting us!
