Happy June! This week on the farm..

Rains, sunshine, cooler temps lately, no hail... we're doing pretty decent here! Currently cutting lettuce, picking Strawberries, cultivating and weeding. Also harvesting greenhouse Beets, Bok Choy and Swiss Chard. 

Planting is not near over as we still have tables in the greenhouse full of our cabbage and also late kale, broccoli and we are taking a stab at cauliflower this year too! All the late crops will be field planted in a few weeks.

The fields are full of moisture and crops are thriving. Flea beetle eaten kale is growing nicely now and our sweet onions are doing exceptionally well. We have spent a lot of time hoeing these crops to keep them clean. Our peas are in blossom and it won't be long until we're eating sugar snaps and sweet shelling peas again! 

The mini lettuces are awesome! We'll flood the markets with this beautiful stuff this week! Mini dark red oak leafs, butter types, frilly kinds.. Salad rules this time of year! 

And our strawberries!! We are trying really hard with this crop and are learning more each year about how to grow the best organic berries. The field is awash in blossoms, ripening strawberries, flowers, weeds and volunteer garlic. It is now time to be making your faithful trips to get farmers markets - as each week it will just keep getting better and better!  

End of May already?!

Time for another update! Cannot believe how FAST the spring is flying by. We are so busy it is unbelievable! I always seem to post happy stories for the most part with pictures that make the farm look absolutely amazing... We are so, so fortunate to be 'food' rich! Our expansive market garden fields are such a sight to behold and be proud of! Being such micro growers, we still seem to make ends meet! That's all thanks to our awesome customers ;) We truly are fighting the weather again to bring on another tastey season!! Our lettuces are late, but steadily growing. Two weeks and it will be salad city!!

The kale is infested with flea beetles (not to worry, these pests take off when the kale matures and the leaves get tougher. Happens ever year and we do nothing but wait them out).

We are growing some new mini lettuces that will be enjoyed for sure! This is a shot of the nice mahogany 'oak stained' rich red variety. I can taste the antioxidants now :)

Here's a new mini green leaf.. an oak leaf with buttery texture:

Also, the organic strawberry patch is doing well! Pretty weedy and we have a lot of learning to do regarding organic strawberry production, but we are hoping for the best this year! No frost killed early blossoms, so we may have some in a few weeks time :)

And the markets! We are back at The Junction! We are pleased to be one of 17 vendors and the new spot right along Dundas is great! We continue to harvest Radish, lettuces, Bok Choy etc from the greenhouses for our small markets until the field stuff is ready. Thanks for your support everyone :)

Hello May!

It's been a crazy spring here on the farm. With our baby daughter being born 6 weeks ago and Ben's mom becoming deathly ill and passing away this past week - it's been a whirlwind.... Sophie's empty chair in the greenhouse brings tears each morning...She will be beyond missed...She's living on in her little granddaughter Sadie, who will be an incredible little farm girl!
We've the Lettuces in now, early Kale is in, Peas have sprouted. Ben's saying if we don't get more rain, we have to set up pipes to irrigate....already?! We're shipping plants out now and I must say - they are gorgeous!! I had to scale back because of the birth of my daughter, so I didn't grow the mass amount of herbs I usually do, so I concentrated more on the Heirloom Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucs, Zucs, Basil and cole crops including Kale, Cabbages, Kohlrabi and Cauliflower. If you need vegetable bedding plants head to EGM at EBW now!! Ben has been cultivating for weeds in the lettuces and peas now too and spent until close to midnight last night plowing. Our worker Manuel arrived last week, and single handedly has been planting out the Onions! Oh, his arrival was such a happy event! Turning over flower beds, cutting grass, weed eating to keep the farm beautiful are secondary jobs that HAVE to be done so I can sleep at night! And now the greenhouse harvest begins! Beautiful Ostergruss Radish's are ready again, the Bok Choy, the Green Leaf Lettuces and some Salad Mix are all being harvested and washed for market tomorrow! Our weekend is full, pulling 7 days a week and no slowing down, as Potatoes must hit the soil, the cooking onions need to hit the dirt too and I have to get seeding the fall crops of Broccoli, Kale and perhaps more Red Cabbages.... Fingers crossed for a good season! I love this time of year!

Spring Farm Update!

This year is certainly different than last year! Very cold and wet. We are officially set back a minimum of two weeks. Ben worked ground a couple nights ago, so the fields are now ready to go for planting. He's cultivated the garlic and the strawberries and both crops are looking fantastic!! On a typical year we like to begin planting our sweet onions by April 15th. By this time peas are ready to hit the soil, lettuce shortly after....not this year. We will just be starting this weekend and then hopefully full speed ahead next week - all depending on the weather. We've had lots of support this season as we've got the new baby this spring and unfortunately Ben's mom is hospitalized and won't be with us much longer. It's so sad as last year at this time she was helping in the greenhouses and was hoeing lettuce in May... she is one hell of a good woman and loves this farm. We are spending as much time as we can with her before she leaves us... We have a lot on our plate - but farming continues. It's safe to say we are all looking forward to sunny, warm days in the field and a bounty of fresh veg this year. Our radishes, salad mix, bok choi and beet seedlings in the greenhouses are growing well and most should be available at market as the month of May progresses! So look for us back at The Brickworks pretty soon! It will be great to see everyone! Despite the slow start due to this cold spring we are optimistic we'll be able to bring on an abundant harvest as usual! Please be patient! Enjoy these farm photos I took this morning :)

2013's Spring has sprung at Sosnicki's!

We've been busy trimming cabbage for the most part of early 2013, but we've now hit the greenhouses and full speed a head! Crops just sprouting and growing beautifully! We've decided to heat 1/4 of the big middle glass beast this year, instead of a whole half.  We started two weeks earlier, so to save on heat costs, less is best. We filled it up fast!  Now we are pushing cooler crops (onions, chard, kale, spinach seedlings) to the back half to make room in the warmer section for the seeding of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants etc, etc.  Below is some early mesclun mix we will be transplanting in cut sections to our other greenhouse - aka 'covered field' area.  Some early salad mix on it's way!

 We've got a jump start on a lot of everyone's favourite: Kale!  Kale will be a biggie for us this year as we hope to really offer a lot of big bunches at a fair price. Everyone, and I mean everyone can enjoy a lot of kale this year! To your health!  Below, our baby kale seedlings: 

Here's a nice shot below of our baby Spinach & Swiss Chard seedlings.  These crops will also be transplanted into another greenhouse, directly into the soil to grow to maturity in the 'covered fields'. We are growing a nice batch of early beets as well!   

And last but certainly not least, check out the most amazing HEIRLOOM TOMATO plants (dare I call them seedlings anymore? They are huge!) growing away below!  They will be transplanted for a second time into bigger pots and then shortly transplanted yet again into another 'covered field' - the tomato jungle!  This is how we offer early tomatoes.  It's funny when folks assume we are 'importing' them in, and I explain we only sell what we grow and how we are able to get some early tomatoes to Toronto in June!  

Stay tuned!  Lots of action happening at Sosnicki's this year!  Lots of your favourites returning and some new items we are trying out this year!  Weather permitting of course!  Mother nature always has her say :)

A quick story about our vegan cabbage rolls...

Vegan cabbage rolls are easy for us to make.  With a bit of planning through out the summer, ingredients are easy to come by.  They differ each year depending on what crops did well and how much extra time I had during the summer to can or freeze.  This year was awesome for tomatoes and peppers so I was able to squirrel away a lot of roasted red peppers and roma tomato sauce!

Kale is new this year in the filling and it turned out excellent.  We are still harvesting fresh kale out of the greenhouses and the fields. The ladies at the hall are always interested to see what new ingredients I will be incorporating! Above Anne washes and preps the kale for cooking down. I pretty much just stir fry the kale with a bit of sunflower oil in a big pot to render it down to add to the rice mixture.

Above, my grandma and Sheila are busy peeling our cooking onions.  Onions are a staple in all cabbage rolls I make.  Stella peels lots of our garlic.  The garlic is added into the mix just before roasting, so they are nice and garlic-laced! Jars and jars of our roma tomato sauce is at the ready.

Our frozen roasted red peppers are heated up.  We strain the juice from them and add this amazing juice to the tomato juice!  We do the same with the onions that were cooked down with sunflower oil and unrefined sea salt.  A beautiful concoction of roasted pepper juice, tomato juice and onion juice are added to each layer or rolls in each roast pan. This was 86 year old Anne's idea this year and man, let me tell you, it is good! We have nicknamed them 'Christmas Cabbage Rolls' because the roasted red pepper and the kale make a beautiful red and green color combination!

 Once the filling mix of brown rice, kale, red peppers, onions, garlic, sunflower oil and unrefined sea salt is mixed and tasted, we roll them in our cabbage leaves.  The cabbage has been cored and boiled out and leaves torn into sized pieces for easy rolling. After each layer is created, it is topped with the glorious tomato, pepper, onion juice mixture.

I always get a kick out of the roast pans at the hall.  They have cooked a lot of food over the years and to see the faded masking tape with our town's name on it, you can only imagine what the ladies were roasting and where they were taking the food and who they were feeding.  The cabbage rolls are roasted for no less than 3 hours.  They are topped with remnant cabbage leaves to protect them from burning.  They are packaged and more sauce is added before they are covered.  They are then frozen and ready for you to buy! They will be at all markets this week and over the holidays and into the new year.  I do sell out, so feel free to order by emailing me at jb@sosnickiorganics.com indicating how many packs of 6 rolls you need at $12 each and which market you want to pick up at.  We are active at Dufferin Grove each Thursday from 2:30 pm until 7:00 pm and Evergreen's Brick Works Saturday morns from 8 am till 1 pm and Wychwood Green Barns market from 8 am till 1 pm on Saturday morn as well.  Enjoy them folks - they are very, very good this year! Oh yeah, and they are certified organic too :)