June 1st Field Update!

Getting some blogging done before I have baby #3 and things go quiet on my end for a bit ;)
The kids and I went out in the field on the quad last evening and took some pictures of the crops to post an update on our veggies!!

Field 101: Clockwise: Black and Green Kale, Lettuce, Sweet Onions, Summer Cabbages.

Our front field 101 is split in two sections.  We've planted early items such as peas, kale, lettuces, cabbage and sweet onions. These are bare ground transplants, (except for the peas that were direct seeded) and are thriving nicely.  Green kale is already being plucked and lettuces start coming off this week.  Yes, the fields are clean.  Ben has one word for that: wages. We have booked/logged many many hours of cultivating, hand weeding and hoeing and investing in paying wages to have such clean fields.  Our men have the time right now - we are only harvesting a small amount from the greenhouses, therefore the majority of all days can be spent on maintenance of these growing crops. 

Field 105, top left: Sweet Corn; Field 101, top right: Garlic; Field 101, bottom left: Strawberries!!; Field 101, bottom right: Shelling and Sugar Snap Peas. 

Our sweet corn is up and doing well!  Not as big as all the other corn in our area (we don't plant corn on mulch and use untreated seed therefore soil must be warm before we plant resulting in our August corn.)  We are back into garlic once again, but this crop you see here will be for seed only as we establish a decent amount.  We'll have scapes on our tables thou! Strawberries are fan-tas-tic!!  Please take a minute to read our strawberry blog to learn everything about how we grow organic berries! Our peas-in-a-pod shelling peas are in blossom and sugar snaps are soon to follow. It's going to be full on peas/lettuce/berries all at once in a week or two and I'll probably go into labour too at that time!  That's how it goes!

Field 101, top left: Cherry, Grape, Roma, Basket, Heirloom Tomatoes!; Field 105, top right: Cucumbers!; Field 101, bottom left: Zucchini; Field 101, bottom right: Sun Sugar Cherry Tomatoes. 

We've got all the tomatoes and peppers in. These are all on mulch and drip this year.  Also cucs and zucs are on the mulch too. Once these crops go into high gear there will be little time for hoeing, hand weeding, therefore the mulch truly aids in this. Not to mention drip irrigation instead of overhead mass irrigation. I know the mulch is totally hated by some for understandable environmental reasons, so please know that we truly make an effort not to go apeshit and use it for everything.  

Our potatoes, carrots and beets are in Field 201 and are just growing away as well.  These are all bare ground plantings and I will share Instagram photos about how these crops are doing as well shortly. We succession seed the carrots and beets, so another seeding is going in this week, and another in a couple weeks.

We continue to harvest fresh beets, salad mix and turnips from the greenhouses and sucker, string and prune the covered field heirloom tomatoes as well!  These crops have been providing the small income to be able to pay the men for all their hard work weeding.  Plus the sale of our greenhouse seedlings which is also essential for farm start up costs and early wages. Do yourself a favour and always support a farmer selling plants in the spring.  If you like the veggies you eat all summer, supporting the family farm early on with costs associated with growing this amazing food is very important.  Selling extra seedlings is a great way to supplement income without going into debt for small growers. It's also an awesome way to get some great varieties of the veggies you love to eat all summer that you can grow yourself!  Win/win!  We are fortunate to have some great buyers and folks that understand this concept! 

In the next few weeks all our storage cabbage and cauliflower will hit the dirt and we are truly hoping that we have a better year than last season!  As some of you will note, we had very very little of these crops during this past winter which was a horror show for our bottom line.  We are hitting it hard this season to make up for the loss!  That's why if other growers are jealous because our display is awesome and we seem to have lots of early stuff - it's for good reason!  We have some mighty bills to pay and fear is a great motivator to haul serious ass!!! 

Again, if the blog seems sparce, it's all child related now, as I get busy and can't keep up.  Always check our Instagram which I find an easy, quick way to keep our customers connected with how we grow your food! 

Cheers to great organic grub 2016!! 

Jessie, Ben, Sadie, Nate & no. 3 soon to arrive!!