Progress and new Pictures

Just a few pictures from around the farm. Its been busy busy busy but we're having fun trying to keep up. Strawberries are next on the planting list followed by tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, herbs, etc.................. the list goes on. Oh and did I mention the weeds have loved the rain, so in between planting we're trying our best to keep on top of the weeds. Now that is a never ending battle, but I secretly love weeding so I really don't mind. We've yet to try out our new Eco Weeder on actual weeds, right now we're still using old methods including the wheel & stirrup hoe as we had planted quite a few things before the Eco arrived so we did not have the spacing set up as required by the Eco.


Updated Family Photo


Young baby lettuce mix, almost ready


Freshly weeded onions and leeks


New plantings


Roots section including carrots, beets, parsnip - more to be planted later


Middle garden section including beans, leeks, onions, lettuce, broccoli, turnip, cabbage - more to be transplanted soon



Raspberry canes in the back, also the odd weed

It's Raining, finally

I was able to get one more bed planted today before the rain started. I planted tatsoi, radish and arugula and just got the bed covered with a row cover before the thunder started and the rain started to fall. It has been so dry here this spring and the rain is a welcome blessing!!! I'm sure the veggies and the weeds will be exploding later on this week.

Yea for rain.

Garden Update

Partial Garden View


Garlic Forest

For the most part things are looking pretty good so far this year. Since we have decided to scale things back a bit we're feeling a lot less stressed than other years. Focusing only on the CSA has given us more focus and we are enjoying a bit less craziness than other years.

My really early plantings are a bit of a write off due to intense weed pressure but that was kinda expected as we worked the ground probably when it was a bit too wet and didn't give the first flush of weeds a chance to germinate and cultivate before planting. I think I can save the lettuce mix and spinach but its going to mean intense hand weeding which is very time consuming, so we'll see. I think the 3 small beds of early carrots might be a no go but only time will tell. The main weed in that area of the garden is corn spurry and it looks an awful lot like a carrot which makes for difficult weeding.

So far in the garden we have:
early carrots, early beets, beet greens, swiss chard, snow and snap peas, lettuce mix, spinach, radish, Chinese cabbage, bok choy, red and green lettuce, tatsoi, garlic, kale, komatsuna, mizuna, potatoes, bunching onions, bulb onions from sets and transplants and leeks.

I did a walk about tonight after the babies went to bed and was very excited to see newly germinated carrots, superior potatoes and the peas look like they are very close to rooting.


Tiny carrot seedlings (the black specs are leftover marine compost from last season)

Most of the other veggies mentioned above are up and looking great. My transplants under the row cover are looking good and hopefully the forcasted frost will not be too hard on them.


Lettuce under cover


Chinese cabbage under cover

Something I did not expect to see was tonight was strawberry blossoms. It seems way too early and still a good chance or several chances of heavy frosts. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for the next month or so until the frost season is over!!!





Potato Sprout


Newly germinated lettuce mix

It's Here!!!

The Eco Weeder

Our new eco weeder arrived first thing this morning. Derek stayed home from work this morning to test drive the new machine. I must say it its pretty nifty. We tried it out on a few empty beds and I think with a little adjustment on the tractor this is going to be an awesome piece of machinery.


Checking out the "Eco"


These discs are pto driven, it should do a really good job


The boys enjoying the sunny warm weather, too bad the black flies are out already. They checked out the weeder and give their stamp of approval

The Boys

Just a few shots of the boys in action. They turned 10 months last week.

Something smells fishy

I just finished planting three beds while the boys had their morning nap. Swiss chard, beet greens, kale and early beets. Because we are organic we do not use regular fertilizer so we have to be creative and use other sources of nutrients. For the last two years we have been using crab meal from a farm in New Brunswick. Its supposed to be wonderful and it really does seem to work but man it stinks!! As soon as I was finished spreading it (by hand with the use of an ice cream bucket) I came in, changed my clothes, washed my hands with industrial hand cleaner and I still stink like fish guts. I can't wait to see what the babies think of that. Oh the things we do for great veggie crops.

New Blue

Well the White tractor left this week and was replaced with Big Blue. This was my Dad's old loader tractor and the one I learned to drive on. We have been bugging Dad and the guys for years to trade in for a different loader tractor and finally its a done deal. We are so excited about this purchase and its already made a hugh difference here on the farm.


Bye Bye White, off you go

We bought the white a few years ago and it was ok but it had outlived its usefulness on the farm. It had slow hydraulics, loose steering and had a terrible habit of not wanting to start when you needed it most. Enough was enough, the call was made, the deal was done and now we're happy to have two good working tractors that start when you turn the key, turn when you use the steering wheel, wonderful!!