Winter CSA #17

Good morning

These cold nights as spring approaches always cause me a little worry.  While we don't have baby chicks to think about anymore we do have all the hot crops for our greenhouse out there as well as new beds planted in both greenhouses.  To lose them would really set us back. There's also the produce ready for market and the CSA baskets in the store to think about before settling down at night.  I must admit I feel really guilty in warm pyjamas by the fire as my husbands always tends to these things. The extent of my night duties are checking the nursery a few steps from the house and i still cringe at the 2 seconds of cold i will endure as i dash for the garage door.  I bet you Rick would build me a tunnel if he could, awww....such a lucky farm girl I am.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Kale
Whole Napa with bud
Pea Shoots
Sunflower Shoots

X-tra Greens: Spinach and Swiss Chard

Here's a link to a  delicious soup i made this week. ( i used the sunflower seeds) : French lentil stew

These plants are massive and check out all the buds!  The inner core is fully edible. However,  the  few inches at bottom need to have the outer skin peeled...but so worth it.

While we usually bring all the "ugly vegetables" into the house these guys were top notch!  They were from the napa we used to make the salad mix.  I was struck by the contrast as i saw my husband walking away, the mud and then these lovely Napa flowers.

So, so yummy!

The nursery is filling up and so the garden greens must go....all in this weeks salad.

Spicy Arugula Buds...in the salad mix

In next weeks basket, the last Winter CSA basket,  should contain Kale Buds.

Have a great week!

Shirley

Winter CSA #16

February 18

I can't remember the last time I checked the weather.  No need, not when you have your own personal weather man giving you updates all day long.  Who can blame him though, some days it makes things very challenging and he needs to prepare himself.  Many of those worries are caused by the road that leads to the farm...that runs his life and had him making 12 trips to load the truck this morning since he could not drive back there.  It's been ripped apart and smoothed over so many times now.  This winter, not being cold enough has it at it's worse and we've had to take alternate ways to get back there only making more of a mess.

When Rick saw the long range forecast earlier this week he knew we needed to act on our soil order because it looks like the next 2 weeks will be quite warm.  Will it even freeze up again?  Fafard confirmed they could get it to us first thing friday morning while it was still frozen.  We waited.  Guess there was a problem over at the trucking company and the soil will be here Tuesday morning.  Fafard felt terrible and have promised us that they will send someone by to help get it to the farm later.  Once again the back yard will look like a garden centre until things freeze up or dry up.


In spite of the mud, we look forward to the weather ahead and will be busy planting, potting up and seeding.  Exciting times.  We will not have baskets next week and should be back the following week.  We'll keep you posted.  There are 2 baskets left and lots of time till June when they start up again.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Pea Shoots
Carrots
Tatsoi
Spinach

X-Greens: Kale and Napa

Freshly tilled bed ready for turnips.  Tatsoi about to be harvested.

Cleaning up the old tatsoi bed by hand before seeding.

Weeding in between the Swiss Chard to sneak in some greens.

Tomatoes will be going in here soon enough but some quick baby greens should make it before that time.

Picture does no justice to this Kale which seems to glow.  For the most part i use it in my salad mix.

Cooking up some Winter Salad Mix with zucchini and drizzle of balsamic glaze 

A peak inside the nursery.  Using up every little inch!  Plus there is more going on upstairs.

Thanks and we will let you know when the next basket is. Have a great week!

Shirley

Winter CSA 15

February 11

It's been so nice to see the sun out on many occasions recently.  Since we didn't have baskets or market to prepare last week it was a perfect opportunity to work on our  nursery which is attached to the garage.  I really love that little place and I am so glad that we have it set up near the house! It makes it  easy to  check on the seedlings often.

We also attended a really neat diner last week with a few other small scale sustainable farmers that was put together by the amazing chef Daniel at Pearl Morrisette Winery.   We enjoyed a meal crafted by all the products offered by us farmers and I am still dreaming of the amazing wines and ... of all things ...those succulent greens i was served.  I love greens  but seldom do i get to enjoy them when we are out.  I have ordered dishes because they said Swiss Chard only to find 2 little pieces and been greatly disappointed but not this time...it was a mountain and i was in heaven.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Carrots
Leek / green onion mix
Whole Tatsoi
Sunflower Greens (smoothies, juice, wraps, salad)
Thyme

x-tra greens : Kale and Napa

Sunflower Greens and Tatsoi

The last of the leeks were divided up.

Nice stuff

Air drying a little. These are pretty much fully edible.

Winter harvest on ice

These winter salads are just so beautiful

Spinach house yesterday

The big greenhouse yesterday. We have seeded one row of radishes and plan to sneak in a row of turnips before summer crops are planted .

See you next week!

Shirley

Winter CSA #14

January 28

This week I seeded all the cold crops that will be transplanted into what is currently the spinach house. Today i plan to seed all the tomatoes followed by the peppers that will be planted in the new greenhouse.  Having more than one indoor growing space is so nice!  Until now, with only one greenhouse, we would always choose to get a head start on our summer crops while missing out on the income early spring crops could provide.                  

The greenhouse is already showing signs of the change of seasons ahead.  If you look into the centre of most plants you will see the flower bud forming.  I look forward to all of you getting some of these soon!  Usually at this time of year we no longer have a CSA going and i always wish that our members would have also experienced this yummy part of the year.

As mentioned last week, we will be pausing to allow things to grow a little.   Therefore we will not be at the market or preparing CSA baskets next week.  There are 4 more baskets in the winter program.

In your baskets this week:

Chez Nous Salad Mix
Napa
Spinach (sorry it got a little damaged when washing)
Carrots
Leeks

Xtra greens: Mustard Greens and Kale

Always so nice to look at.  Something about continually harvesting the outer leaves prevents the Napa from forming the compact closed head.  You can notice the lighter and smoother inner leaves, this Napa will start to form it's flower bud soon.  

This frizzy green is called Golden Frills Mustard.

Tag teaming the spinach before the lights go out.  Days are getting noticeably longer though!

Thanks and well be in touch soon!

Shirley

Winter CSA 13

January 21

Believe it or not, growing carrots is not the easiest thing to do.  Nearly everything we grow goes in as a transplant ...even beets. However, this is not possible with carrots and so germinating a 50 foot row x 10 of carrots in August's heat is challenging, especially when carrots can take from 14 to 21 days to germinate and need to stay damp the whole time. Add to this task our clay soil and weed issues and your up for a challenge!  Carrots have often been a disappointment for us.  After years of experimenting, we finally found a technique that works  and this years carrot haul has been exceptional!  We pulled our last 3 rows this week.  Ideally, they should have been out much earlier and we are lucky that we were still able.  It was an ugly job considering the state of muckiness going on out there and I have never heard my husband complain about a job the way he did Thurday night. Him and our employee spent the whole day and got the last 3 rows out!  They are mostly purple and they are gorgeous and so sweet!

In your baskets this week:

Spinach
Napa Cabbage
Hakurei Turnips ( the last)
Purple Carrots
Baby Swiss Chard ( must try a piece raw... so sweet!)

X-tra Greens: Salad Mix and Kale

We have 5 baskets left to this program and ask that you read your emails as in the upcoming weeks we may need to skip a basket or two to allow for a growth.  As the days get longer and the sun starts to shine a little more, growth should take off significantly. Now that we have two greenhouses we are also planting our smaller one to Spring Crops this year.

Carrot Beds...

So full!

Here is the Spinach House at the moment. The sides were planted too late and never produced... The large row to the left is just starting. We have only been able to harvest from two rows on the right and the gardens at the back.  Next year should be much better!  We plan to fill this house with Spring greens shortly.

Here's a cool shot from Google Earth we found this week. It was taken in the Fall. You can see construction of the greenhouse on the bottom right. The nice green beds near middle top are the carrots.  Our empty chicken moat surrounding farm which also has the moveable chicken house still sitting in it.  We have 9 gardens, 2 greenhouses. There is a long garden at the top left on photo, this was created to have the small hoophouse move back and forth along it but proved to be too difficult.  The hoophouse is there but has no plastic on it at the moment.  We plan to cover that hoophouse for extra winter growing next year.  

 Thanks
Have a great week!
Shirley

Winter CSA #12

January 14

It's a swampy soupy mess out there.  As always, the duck is quite content having the whole yard as his swimming pool.  As for us, we do our  best to find a walking path that hasn't been overtaken by mud while trying not to notice the smell of rotting cabbage.   That's right... you probably don't know that whenever there is a melt down, all the brassicas crops, which ruled the farm in the fall,  have since turned to mush and now fill the air with their distinct cabbagey smell.

It was so nice to see the sun this week, not only for it's soothing Vitamin D rays but because the plants just don't grow at all when it's gray all the time.  After being stuck in the house for a few weeks, it was quite a treat.  We were also grateful to see everything was still standing after that crazy wind storm Tuesday night.

And finally, I was happy to get a nice salad mix out to you after being a little short on greens for the last few baskets.  Not much lettuce in this one, instead you'll find Nappa, Swiss Chard, Asian Greens, Spinach, Tatsoi, Arugula, Mustards and Parsley.  It can easily be stretched by mixing it with your own lettuce or enjoyed just how it is.  We also made a Larger leaf mixed greens bag with Kale, Napa, Mustards and Swiss Chard.

In your basket this week:

Salad Mix
Greens Mix
Hakurei Turnips
Leeks
Carrots

Xtra greens: Salad Mix and Tatsoi

Thanks and have a great week!

Shirley
Chez Nous Farms

Winter CSA #11

January 7th

Once you start growing year long, spring seems to come so much faster.  It actually caught me by surprise last year....when one day I realized, wait a minute...I need to get on this.  I guess i was waiting for that break when i would start shopping the seed catalogs that had quietly rolled in well before the holidays.   We are presently still in full winter harvest and my first 2017 order has been made, the first seeds are germinating and my rosemary cuttings are in jars on my windowsill.

Seed shopping is still my very favourite job.  Along with food shopping, it's one that i never feel guilty about even if i get a little carried away.  Every year, we try to simplify our crops with those that are profitable and work for our farm.  I do however, have a plant sale... in which, i also sell things that we do not grow here to accommodate the customers and sometimes there are a few of these special plants left over that I could not bear send to the compost pile.  As always, I am pretty excited about some new varieties we'll be featuring this season!

In your baskets this week:

2 bags of carrots
1 bag od Hakurei turnips
1 Kale
1 Mizpoona green

X-tra Greens: Spinach and Tatsoi

I am especially happy to announce that yesterday the boys got the second layer of plastic on.  This is such a relief.  The plastic goes on in sections and the bottom of the greenhouse had both layers but we were waiting for an opportunity to cover the top with it's second layer and losing lots of heat in the meantime.  Waiting for the stars to align took a lot longer than we had hoped but it's done.

Wind is the biggest thing to consider when laying the plastic, the slightest breeze is problematic.  Things were pretty calm yesterday but they lost the plastic once and had to gather it up for the field.  It's obviously a job for more than 2 people but that's what we got.  I still can't believe that there has never been more than a two man crew working on this. Great job guys!

This weeks CSA was again 100% up to the boys.  Today is the first day i have been able to sit in a chair this long.  I am planning to get out there this week and hope all goes well.   Thanks for your patience ...it's all been a little overwhelming with the greenhouse, the weather, the holidays and then my back but all seems to be falling back into place.

I am lacking pictures but i did manage to get out there yesterday when i saw they where putting on the plastic.

Rick securing a couple spots along this side, you can see plastic is still floating along the top.  The roll of plastic which Rick lifted with a homemade crane was sitting atop the dispenser (top left)for a good 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, I missed the unrolling of the plastic.

Again Rick temporarily securing one side while Josh holds down the other.  

Check out the size of our first house compared to this one!

Two guys figuring out how to make up for the lack of extra hands.

And that's it. They spent the rest of the day freezing their fingers to properly secure the plastic in the track.  Were not done yet but this is the biggest part.  The difference inside the greenhouse was instant!

And for your entertainment ...my dog who had some fun as i wrote this post.  I can't believe it...I washed the couch cover and placed the pieces in the living room to assemble when i was done this. I'm sure your all familiar with her as she attacks the window when anyone arrives or leaves.

Her window.

Her reaction when i called her to take a picture....oh dear.

Have a great week!

Shirley

Chez Nous Farms