sosnicki organics

Benny checking onion germination. Very, very nice this year. Lettuce is also doing very well. You can see the lettuce seedlings peaking out from behind Ben. The weather is a lot colder than last year, meaning our expenses to heat are automatically doubled. It's a hurtful expense, but has to be paid. This is farming - working with the weather and in this business you just have to hope for the best and sometimes deal with the worse. March is unpredictable. Along with the onions and lettuce our field crops of kale, broccoli, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, celeriac etc have been approved by Pro-Cert to seed and have hit the dirt, have germinated and are holding their own. These are some young cooking onion seedlings. These happen to be our own, but we have also successfully grown a bunch for various Farm Start Farmers. It feels really great to not only be growing vegetable seedlings for our own fields, but to grow for a 'new generation of farmers!' Ben and I r...

Spring has sprung at the farm!  These beauties are the first of the Heirloom tomatoes! They are set to be transplanted next week already! (Their home will be Greenhouse #1, directly into the soil come April!) It's so nice to have the greenhouses fired and seedlings emerging! It was a very, very busy winter on the farm so there really was no break or holiday for us once again. However, when my customers ask if I have some time off I always assure them that considering I love what I do, each day is an adventure, something new and exciting happening - holiday's aren't important to us right now.  I look forward to the end of cooking season and the beginning of seeding season each year.  When the sun hits the glass - it's summer out there! Success has a lot to do with the weather and so far it is a bit chilly, but the thaw is coming. We have to start onions seedling early, therefore we have to apply some heat to the greenhouse - it's not cheap! To help cut costs we are...

A nice cozy night on the farm last night.  A big fire keeping the house warm.  Ben and I arguing at 2am about who is going to go down and put another stick in the fire.   Waiting for the silver barn to crack in half and fly away in the HUGE ASS STORM HITTING SOUTHERN ONTARIO every channel was crapping their pants about the night before. Ben woke up shaking his head today.  The way the weather media promoted this ‘storm’ was not very accurate.  We are just laughing now because I swear immediately following the ‘end’ of the storm warning in our area, it began to snow!  I think we got all of 10 cm during the ‘storm’. Ben did get stuck with the tractor and plow once this morning, but I was able to pull him out with the ol’ dodge.  A few big drifts down our long laneway.  First thing in the morning I was laughing as Lady Bug our horse went sauntering by the house as if to say: “What storm?“   She wasn’t hiding in the barn, she was out and abou...

Ben's mother, the farm's Matriarch, Sophie Sosnicki deserves some praise.  This woman has worked hard her entire life. And she's still going.  She comes to help out on the farm year round.  She mentioned some comfort food meals that she grew up on in Poland when money was tight.  At first I thought they sounded odd and not very good, but then I made them!  Potato Cabbage Rolls are fantastic!  Rendering down a lot of onions with a good quality fat (I'm sure they used lard in Poland, but I opted for organic sunflower oil), then mixed with raw shredded potato, (squeeze out all the starchy liquid!!) egg and a touch of flour to bind, sea salt and pepper.  Roll this mixture into prepped boiled cabbage and roast for an hour or so!  No sauce, just topped each layer with a drizzle of oil and salt and pepper.  It is like a savory potato pancake wrapped in soft spicy roasted cabbage!  They are even better the next day as ultimate leftovers!  ...

And so it begins again.  New Year's eve was spent on farm this year with some good friends and their insano Jack Russel's.  A BBQ supper and later a trek over to a late night garage party at another farm with an awesome motley crew of hilarious folks!  I never give up an opportunity to get the two funniest guys I know together - Paul and Erwin.  It's nice to be back to the grind though.  We've overhauled the farm office, packed away old receipts, but not to far, never know when you'll get pegged for another audit! The binder is ready for a new growing season with the new 'Crop Production Records'.  Made a phone call up to Pro-Cert to remedy some minor compliance issues this afternoon.  If I can get Ben to record the temperature of the compost pile this year it will be a miracle!! Smashy , we cleaned out your room finally and have half a dozen huge plastic bins full of horse stuff and old clothes we are storing in the barn for memories one day! ;)...

Well, it's that time of year again and how quickly it all comes and goes! Christmas on the farm has always been special.  We all come together to eat and drink with family and friends, sharing the bounty from our harvest and buying in other great foods from local producers. For kids, well it's a spectacular time, especially if your lucky enough to actually SEE Santa outside with his big sack and know for sure his sleigh and reindeer are parked behind the big hedge in the field!!!  We've had a lot of fun during past Christmas's!!   Ben and I have been rushing around - not buying gifts or dealing with mass shoppers -we don't buy into the retail aspect of the holidays, instead keep busy like elves ourselves grading storage crops, delivering produce and attending markets!  It's been a busy, busy season!  We get two Saturdays off, but the Thursday markets continue!  Christmas eve will be a celebration packed with 'Prawn Wontons' and  'Duck Poutine...

  The farm is awash in a nice snow cover, but luckily we have missed the massive snow squalls other county's have received.  This means my perogie crew had no trouble driving in from all the back roads and neighboring towns.  We hit the kitchen both Monday and Tuesday of this week and have created enough holiday food now for the markets!  A quick photo blog before I discuss NEW PREPARED FOODS being made! Time is flying and we are busy, busy, busy and I cannot believe the year is almost at an end!!  Above Mary and Ben rolling the dough and cutting the circles for the Perogies.....   Above Anne making the Potato Cheddar Perogies.... Above Boiling the Perogies....   Above Cooling the Perogies.....   My favorite machine, Mr. Hobart nicely put away after all it's service making dough and mashing potatoes....I love the Ukrainian Cloths the women have it wear when not in use!  This machine is respected - once you've made dough and mashed po...