sosnicki organics

We wish all our customers and friends all the very best during the holiday season! Your patronage and smiling faces make working the farmers' markets a true pleasure.  May 2015 be full of the best organic non-GMO food, be full of happiness and vitality for you and those you love! May you surround yourself with people that inspire you and make you smile daily!  From our family to yours, Jessie, Ben, Sadie and Nathan Sosnicki 

The winter looks great for storage crops this year! Look to us when you need yellow fleshed buttery French Fingerling Potatoes, Sweet Carrots for stews or fresh eating; juice Carrots in any quantity you require for all your energy juicing needs; Cabbages for braising, slaw, home made sauerkraut etc. We've got Red and Savoy Cabbages this winter too.  Punchy huge Cooking Onions and Beets too! No prepared foods this year as you all should know by now :)  My 20 month old daughter and 1 month old son stopped food production in its tracks for one good year. Our veggie operation will remain full steam and expand but my other baby (food prep) is on hold very temporary. I am typing this entry with one hand as I hold a fussy Nate and Sadie naps. My new job of being the mother is top priority for me and I'm loving every minute. Ben remarked yesterday how he wished Sadie could stay a year and a half old forever. She's so cute and amazing and growing way too fast... Being with her ful...

Ahh the sweet little whisps of snow that get your butt in gear firing up the wood stove and prepping yourself for the winter harvest!  We've had both little kids in the barn with us today while we graded for Saturday's market and all went pretty good.  Warm in the shop so our 19 month old runs around, .... and our 2 week old son sleeps soundly all bundled in his stroller by the wood stove.  Really nice to be able to work with the kids around. We are still field harvesting a lot of crops.  Fresh from the fields we have Cauliflower, Kale, Celeriac, bunched Carrots, Brussel Sprouts, perhaps some Swiss Chard (not really a priority and it's getting old) and Broccoli! From storage we have Rainbow Carrots, Juice Carrots (the uglies), Beets, Potatoes, Cabbage and Onions.    Our Cabbage storage is looking nice. We've got Reds, Winter Greens and the above sassy Savoy's too! Carrots are just incredible. All that rain really allowed them to germina...

On October 31st, Halloween, our son was born! Labor and delivery was uncomplicated and pretty quick! Nathan Edward Joseph Sosnicki arrived at 5:24pm weighing 7lbs 13oz.  Nathan is a name both Ben and I liked right off the bat. Little Nate.  Edward is after my father and Joe is after Ben's father. At 4 days old now he is actually looking a bit more like ME than Ben! But they change so much...so fast...He drinks breastmilk like a horse and is happy and thriving.  His big sister likes to 'pat' his head....gentle at first..then not so much. She is good at ignoring  him for now. Ben left 10 minutes after the birth to organize the Saturday market load! This time of year we are scampering to get the crops off and into storage before the help leaves! And since babies come when they are ready - you adapt! No maternity leave around here!! But we have helpful family members and so much support that I get all the rest I need. I feel great though and had Nate in the carrot patch...

Count down is on and this year I don't care about the first fall frost!  If we loose the sucky pepper patch, big deal.  Field tomatoes were desecrated weeks ago.... The cooler weather and first frost means sweet brussel sprouts, sweeter kale, won't hurt the broccoli and cauliflower, celery root or the cabbages. Last pick of corn is this week, so we won't be worried about that.  Beets and carrots are phenomenal as well and in abundance and harvest is definitely in full swing!  This is a very very productive month on farm as we scurry to load up the barn with the fall crops!  Mass potato harvest soon underway too..... So enjoy the beautiful fall weather, head to market to stock up on all your fall favs and talk to us about your supply of juice carrots this winter!  We'll have lots to share thats for sure!

Due to this cold, rainy summer our organic tomatoes took a beating. The crop will be composted due to mass anthracnose and blight diseases. So, unfortunately just not a tomato year!  It's a loss, however it will not ruin us. We no longer have that need to 'control' Mother Nature and spray the hell out of everything, so we move on and concentrate on our crops that enjoy this rainy cooler weather. Carrots, beets, Kale, greens, fall broccoli, onions, celery, celeriac, fall cauliflower looking INCREDIBLE! As organic farmers we are not banking on one or even a few main crops - we move on! Psst: our Heirloom Tomatoes in the old greenhouses look great still thou ;)

Our sweet corn starts this week! Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding regarding this late year with the corn! Your faces of anticipation at market when inquiring make growing the sweet corn so so worthwhile!   Late spring, cool weather = late corn. It's very rare we have July corn. The most asked question to us annually is "Why is there so much sweet corn available in July but yours isn't ready yet?" That's because most conventional sweet corn seed is chemically treated and is planted in cold spring soil. With our organic sweet corn we seed the corn when the soil is naturally warm later in the spring season as the seed is untreated and would otherwise rot.  We've weeded and cultivated this crop and all plantings look fab! With all the rain we have not had to irrigate at all either. More time to weed :). This sweet corn seed is untreated and a non-GMO variety . The variety name is 'Vision'. All our seed invoices were collected and r...

It doesn't seem like the end of July already... I'm just now looking at our sweet onions, carrots, beets and other crops to harvest when they should be in full swing. The result of late plantings this year. And that means one thing: August is going to be very busy! All these blog pics were taken today on farm.  Sweet corn is in tassel and the first pick should be in a couple weeks.  REMEMBER: because we grow certified organic sweet corn we do not plant treated seed. This means we plant later in May once the soil is naturally warm resulting in August corn annually :) We've weeded all the corn plantings and they are looking good. We should have glorious corn well into the fall months this year for all to enjoy. Always, Always NO GMO!!!! Summer cabbage is now available :) Our broccoli is also now available :) Golden Beets are growing away and will be in abundance by next week. Same with the good ol' purple beets!!  This is a second carrot patch geared more towards winter s...

The tomato jungle is in full swing and I adore wandering through the rows assessing and seeing the 'firsts'! The first sprig of colour showing through all the dense green foliage. The masses of bloom sets. The plump, heavy branches laden with glorious heirlooms! Ah, what an awesome way to kick start organic tomato growing! We use certified organic composted manures to nourish these soon-to-be giants and though we could use fish emulsion too, the need has never presented itself. Rich, healthy dirt :)  The seeds to grow these beauties are sown annually no later than January.  Open pollinated, save your own seeds with most of these varieties - oh yeah!! These are our covered fields and they house beets, lettuces, kale, radishes in between the vining tomatoes on non-walkways. Once those early crops finish they are rotto-tilled and kept sassy clean ;) Each tomato plant (we house 800 approx in each) is lovingly suckered and twined around tomato twine and reach the sky! Well, almos...

Ok, so we are speeding right along now! The cool spring certainly set us back (onions are in a month later this year!) but crops seem to be on the upswing! Strawberries are full swing. This week will be our most plentiful, then by next week they will dwindle. The flavour on these berries were excellent however the sweetness was not there. Cool weather I suppose. We've certainly enjoyed them and got our annual fill!  The heirloom tomato jungle is going crazy!! We are so busy outside that these giants have to wait for a rain day or late eve suckering job!  Kale!! Looking pretty decent! Huge patches of all green curly, RedBor and Dino kales. We did have some cut worm damage under the ground cloth, but we've also planted more than twice as much this year, so that should make up for it! Peas!! Sugar snaps and shelling type. Like I mentioned in the market newsletter, Ben and the men worked very hard to keep this patch clean! Full swing this week and next for peas! Boring lettuces......

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...

It would be easy for me to whine about the hard winter, cold spring, all our various hardships - but I'm not going to do that. Ben and I decided that we would kick ass the best we could paying off the mortgage and deal with all that farming brings so that when we are 60 years old we can inspire young farmers and show them how to get through the rough patches.  We are going forward with optimism about the rest of this growing year :) Just check out the plants! Whooo!!  These giants are the heirloom tomatoes  that will be planted once again in our covered fields (this time two greenhouses full!) Seeded in between the tomatoes are beets for extra early bunches. Usually these toms would be in the ground by now but it's just too cold. It was below 6 last night and the water pipes were frozen so I had to wait until mid morn to water. Ben had to drain the big water tank and the pump to ensure they didn't freeze last night. Warmer temps from now on I hope!  We've created the...