That's the Way the World Goes Round

Every season has it's challenges and I do mean that without exception. The longer I do this growing food thing, the more I realize that no longer does the perfect season exist.  I remind myself of an old boyfriend who worked at Stelco in Hamilton in it's heyday, and I quote "it's too hot, it's too cold-when's payday?"

It's true that the conditions are never just right, but unlike the union workers at Stelco, my payday might critically be affected by the weather .  Too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry-no payday.

The reality is for me this year anyway that things aren't too bad. Dry I can handle. Wet conditions are another story.

Weird weather to be sure. Never have I worked up the soil and had it come up so dry. Holy mole. I've been one dusty chiquita tilling the soil on my now happily working John Deere tractor. Dust in every crevice, crook and cranny of my body. Some spots in the fields I didn't get to earlier are resisting the tiller. It bounces along the surface barely making a dent in my hard clay.

The rain today will change all that.

That's the way the world goes round (...thanks for the inspiration John Prine.) You do what you can with what you're given. And then things just happen. Who knows why.

I no longer find myself panicking because Mother Nature doesn't do precisely what I would like her to. I know we have not done precisely or even remotely what I suspect she would have liked us to do. So here we are.  Wacky weather, doing the best we can to grow food and eke out a living.

This week was a whirlwind of planting. Loads of basils, far, far too many hot and scorching peppers, sweet peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, brassicas of every type. Organic Gardening magazine test garden is in-check! Eggplants, cotton (for fun!), some beans, root chicory for a local coffee roaster, chards, Tiffany and Suzanne's fav celery, a major funky multi-coloured sweet corn, some of the hard to find Chersonskaya winter squash. And more to be sure.  Beets, carrots, salad....

This weekend I need to go through my seeds and make sure I don't forget anything I really want to get in this year, like the rice, farro and wax gourds. I know I can't possibly get everything in, but there's always next year, right? That's the way the world goes round..

Next week is the tomato planting blitz. If you bought plants from me, you probably got yours in. It definitely isn't too late. Think you'll be bored next week and want to try your hand at planting? Come on out-it's free!

I still have some nice plants available for your garden too. There are some great tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and basils left. Deals may be had!

Dang that Maris..I think his rows are crooked!

Maris the Amazing Farm Intern Digs in

The lines are all straight-really!

Thanks for keeping the blog going Maris. A pretty accurate summation of the week follows..planting, planting and watering, watering because of the ultra-dry conditions. yes, rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. Here's hoping!

Another week, another blog.

Leeks going to seed

I’ve been enjoying being outdoors all week in the fields diggin’ and plantin’. Linda’s new reoccurring question for me is “are you sick of diggin’ holes yet?” and my answer varies between “not yet”, “nope, I’d rather do this than most other jobs” and “it beats labelling”. The sun was pretty merciless at the beginning of the week (I’m somehow still getting more tanned and burnt), but the clouds have provided a bit of shade for the past few days. Despite the bit of shade, we’ve had virtually no rain. The weather network has given us nothing but false prophecies and I’m beginning to wonder if I should do some serious research on rain dances. Nevertheless we’ve been very productive and in the past four days we’ve planted basil, eggplants, peppers, corn, beans, tomatillos, ground cherries, kale, broccoli and some other guys. And I don’t just mean a few. I’m talking about hundreds upon hundreds for most of the above mentioned veg. I forgot my camera this week, but I think Linda took some pictures and is going to post them.

Our army of animals has grown in more ways than one at New Leaf. The whole gang (my family, not the animals) went to a free-range poultry workshop near Owen Sound last weekend, and we all learned/ saw some neat stuff including where the term to goose comes from (they literally bite your butt when you’re not paying attention). After the workshop, we picked up some more heritage chicks and heritage poults (baby turkeys), which we plan to raise for laying as well as for meat-birds (sorry Linda). The muscovy ducks we acquired have doubled in size since I last saw them. They’re hanging out with some other chicks and Billy the Kid (the miniature goat) in the same pen, and they all seem to get along and even sleeping on one another (the birds are on the goat, not the other way around). The next guys on the recruitment list are probably going to be some Berkshire pigs or geese, and maybe a cow. Another cool thing we learned at the poultry workshop was that cow patties contain 7 enzymes (don’t quote me) that chickens need to digest food with meanwhile the chickens end up breaking up the patties so they crumble and fall apart faster in the rain and wind. The chickens also lower the fly count around manure by constantly eating the fly eggs and larvae. How’s that for a symbiotic relationship?    

Guest Post-Maris the Amazing Farm Intern Plants!

My step-mom Cathy and our goat

Hello again. I’m pretty beat this evening so I’m going to keep this post relatively brief despite all the new stuff I’m getting up to and all the stuff that happened the past weekend.

So the big sale which started Saturday morning was a big hit. I actually dealt with more people than plants in a day which hasn’t happened in quite a while. It was great meeting all of Linda’s friends that helped out before and during the sale, and I thank all of you big time because there was absolutely no way we could have been prepared in time or been able to handle the sale on our own (or Linda on her own for the rest of the long weekend). And thank you Cake & Loaf for the enormous pizza slices provided at lunch. It was rather relieving to see some of the over ten thousand plants finally leaving Tree and Twig to other (hopefully) responsible green thumbs.

The work was pretty different this week at Tree and Twig and for the best. We’ve finally moved out of the green house, no more transplanting, and most importantly no more labelling. We started planting stuff in the real dirt. We’ve done some peppers, beans, radish, tomatoes, squash, melons, watermelons, basil, onions, leeks, and some other guys. We haven’t even scraped the tip of the iceberg in terms of planting, but we’ve certainly started and I’m glad to finally be outside digging, planting, sowing (although it’s been way too hot and dry for this time of year).

Unfortunately there hasn’t been a hatched duck yet. The first one is due at any moment, but still no signs of any cracking. On a positive duck note, we’ve acquired three new ducklings back at New Leaf. We went out on Sunday to a town just outside of London to pick up the baby miniature goat (whom I think we’re calling Billy the Kid). The goat was at a farm with a bunch of other animals including alpacas, donkeys, turkeys, giant workhorses, dogs, cats, and some neat looking ducks. These guys were Muscovy ducks and apparently they’re great at catching bugs right out of the air. We later read that they also poop on you as a defense when you pick them up, but I learned that the hard way.

I’d go on, but that seems as good of a spot to stop as any. Thanks for reading and check out my post again next week.            

Muscovy ducks

Guest post-Kristina and Steve visit Wellandport

I was really happy to reconnect last fall with my wonderful friend from University, Sandie. And so happy too, when her daughter and her fiancee expressed an interest in growing vegetables in their neck of the woods. It was great to have them visit in April, and it is refreshing and inspring to meet two very thoughtful and committed young  people. There's hope! So much of it.

Our adventure to Wellandport to learn and visit Tree and Twig farm at the end of April 2012

By Kristina Leith & Steven Adams

We are from Richards Landing on St. Joseph Island in Ontario. We had a nine hour drive to the farm and the first thing we noticed was the leave on the trees, it felt like spring had sprung over night; In our neck of the woods there were only buds on the trees. It was very evident that our climates are slightly different.

We arrived on a beautiful day with the sun shining, the birds chirping and the sweet smell of cherry blossoms. We stayed for two nights and were extremely lucky to have such beautiful nights while staying in our cozy tent. 

Meeting Linda was a treat, she is easy to talk to and learn from, she started by introducing us to all her lovely animals. I was very impressed when Joey the pig came right out when she called him. From there we could see her chickens and Roger the roster. Also her ducks, why did the ducks cross the road? To be chase back to the other side. Which we did. We were spoiled for breakfast, having our first duck eggs, they were tasty. All our meals we very nutritious and delicious, like greens picked straight from the garden. Who could ask for more? Her three dogs and five cats were all very cuddly and ready to welcome us into their home. We had the opportunity to meet Linda’s daughter who were very friendly and nice.

We were very surprised how much can be done in three green houses plus regular gardens and how much variety and diversity was in her plants and seeds, especially her tomatoes. Linda referred us to look up Elliot Coleman who specializes in winter growing; this excited us, we had thought, ‘what are we going to do in the off season’. With green houses it is possible to not have an off season and also makes it possible to be a regular consistent supplier to the local community.

Heading on this adventure, we knew that we liked the idea of gardening and growing food to support eating local but we did not know where to start. Visiting Linda was inspiring and very educational. Our goal is to be as diverse as possible in our climate. We want to remain local as possible and to be relatively small but be able to sustain ourselves. 

We liked the idea of mulching and Linda shared with us the variety of good reasons for it; keeps the moisture in the soil, controls heat, good for nutrition for the soil (as it decomposes), and best of all it deters weeds from growing. This trip also reminded us of the importance of composting, not only to reduce waste but to give nutrition back to the earth to support healthy organic growing. Linda helped us realize how many innovative ways there are to harvest plants, for example garlic, the greens and the seed pods can be harvested at different time in the season.  

After this adventure we decided that we are going to work towards getting a green house. As we learn more we will grow like our plants. We will make this a life project and try to enjoy every moment.