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Showing posts with the label heirloom tomatoes

A dry, dry year BUT we are doing ok!

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Well, our crops are doing quite well I must say.  Our strawberries were excellent. Our peas, zucchini and lettuces also did decent.  Now we are onto cucumbers and tomatoes as the big(er) crops and smaller item stuff like onions, potatoes and soon to come sweet corn and our colourful carrots and beets!  Growing a way is our cauliflower and cabbages, which look nice so far. We will also be busy harvesting our garlic shortly - but then entire crop is going for seed this year. Yes, it is dry.  But for us, this is not a total tragedy. And I'll share why. Our tomatoes on drip irrigation Heirloom, artisan, cherry, grape, beefsteak and roma from the fields this year. We have 25 acres of market vegetables to care for. We can quickly and efficiently irrigate this amount of food.  By using the drip method and mulch our peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes are thriving. Because of the heat and dryness there is little to no disease we are encountering thus far. Even...

Dealing with the crazy spring weather!

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We know that April is a volatile weather month.  So unpredictable. Last week the family went to Easter breakfast wearing winter coats.  By the afternoon my 1 year old was outside going barefoot in the grass for the first time this season - sun was out and hot.  Now, exactly one week later there has been more freezing rain and snow covers the ground.  Temps hovering around -5 degrees C.  Oye.  But, we roll along here and just ignore it all!! The cost of running the furnace is offset by the custom grow we do, so this is always a good feeling going to bed while the furnaces keep humming away. We use every square inch of greenhouse space to the max of either our own field crops or seedlings for buyers. The heirloom tomatoes are awesome!  This example above will be hardened off and shortly planted directly into the soil in our 'covered fields' (aka greenhouse #1 and #2).  This allows us to offer the late June early July tomatoes we offer at marke...

Greenhouse Progress!

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Now that it's March, we are high speed out in all houses! We were able to start two weeks early this year due to mild temperatures. As small growers we are able to afford firing early as we do custom grow which offsets the cost of running heat in the middle glass beast. Sadly, I had to streamline growing (because of our kidlets) so I was unable to do ALL the custom grow we usually do! To those farmers I couldn't accommodate this season - thanks for understanding! Kids grow fast, so my time with them is most important right now. The kids are just starting to enjoy some time out in the greenhouses too! DIRT! The best toy!! We are seeding down greenhouses #1 and #3 with early root and greens available at market by the end of APRIL! These houses will be brimming with green very soon! Stay tuned for awesome progress pics! Our heirloom tomatoes have been transplanted and are growing away nicely. It is VERY dicey to play around with tomatoes this early. Due to cloudy/snowy ...

"What are Sosnickis' up too, and when are they coming back to market???"

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Everyone is anxious to receive word when we'll be back at markets and what is coming.... well folks - not for a while. It's cold and a bit late this year. (That's the field crops- better news in the 'covered fields'.....) Good news is we've broke soil! Ben plowed and cultivated readying the ground for seedlings.  We have to watch it, as you don't want to jump the gun. If you can't smell the soil and the earthworms aren't around, your early plantings are just going to sit and not grow too well. Peas will go in, but I think we'll wait a few more days for onions, lettuce, kale etc. even with row covers (that are a must for us this year) the plants will thrive sitting on the wagons, drinking fish and hanging out for a few more days. MarketBaby Sadie has been tractor riding a lot with Ben ;) Market veg is going along the east side of the house this year. My absolute favourite place for the veg! Looks amazing when I walk out the door and have a monster...