Progress

Jen & Whitey


New strawberry growth


Greenhouse work


Campbell brothers all working together, thanks guys!!!


Getting ready to plant the first bed!! Spinach & Lettuce mix



And the first bed is planted.

Well the first day of May has arrived. Its chilly and damp but a little bit of rain will be good to give all my newly planted seeds a drink. The greenhouse is still under construction but its coming along. We got some manure delivered yesterday which will be spread on the hay field and our compost from New Brunswick should be coming any day now. I was able to plant three beds so far 1.5 spinach and 1.5 lettuce mix. The seedlings are growing well and the shed is pretty much full. I have another full round of seeding to do on Monday and I'm not sure where I'll find the space.



Onions growing well in the shed


Truck almost empty


Pure Gold - Cattle manure


A proud farmer girl overlooking the new manure pile


Derek and I posing in front of new manure pile

My big belly is also progressing along quite well. Getting very hard to bend over and it sure was awkward trying to get up into the tractor yesterday. I'll need a step stool soon.


Belly shot 29 weeks. Two babies sure take up a lot of room!!

Last blast of winter?

We had a real kicker of a snow storm Monday & Tuesday. We got over 20cm and the wind blew it all around and I think most of it ended up behind our house in the form of a 6 foot snow drift which Derek had to shovel to be able to feed the horses and get firewood from the shed. By late afternoon yesterday the sun was shining and you would never have known that we had gotten hammered again by yet another winter storm. Will this be the last? The long range weather forecast is predicting warm weather with rain so that should help to bring the drift and all the other piles of snow down. Just on Sunday, one day before the snow, we were barbecuing and sitting outside enjoying the spring weather. It did not last for long.

The onions are growing really well. Overall the germination rate was pretty good and i'm happy with their growth so far. I've yet to plant anything else but hopefully I will get some peppers, parsley, shallots and other fine seeds started today.

The twins are growing well according to my doctor. We got to see them on the ultrasound last week and all looked good. 25 weeks down, and who knows how many more. She said the average term for twins was between 34-38 weeks so here's hoping for the 38 week mark!!!

Where to start

So, again I've been a terrible blogger. My main excuse is a lack of a digital camera but in reality I've just not made it a priority. Since the last time I blogged there has been some interesting developments here at the farm. We found out two weeks ago that we are not only expecting one baby in July but two babies. When I heard the word twins I was shocked!!! It was not something that had even registered slightly in my mind about being a possibility. I should have because there are a lot of twins in our family but I guess the news of being pregnant and planning for that and the farm was all my mind could handle, two babies was not something I had even considered. So now we are trying to plan not only for the CSA and market season but for hiring a new employee, making sure we have two of everything for when the babies arrive and just trying to come to terms that I will not be as available for working on the farm as I thought I would be. Luckily Derek is able to take 9 months paternity leave from work which is fantastic. So, that is our latest news.

We have our growing room all set up in the living room which makes the rest of the house rather cramped for a few months. Hopefully our greenhouse will be set up this summer so the house is not needed as much next year. We will be starting onions this week along with parsley and peppers shortly after.

Long time no Blog

Where have I been? Well, without my trusty digital camera my blogging days have been non-existent. I find it much harder to sit down and blog without nice pretty pictures to back it up. But, enough of my excuses. Its a new year and I have to get back in the blogging habit.

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday here at the farm but it sure all went quickly. We had Derek's family over early in December for the second annual Campbell Tree Hunt party. It was fun, no snow for sliding but everyone still had fun and managed to find trees. Christmas day we had my family over for the big meal and everyone had too much too eat but that's what Christmas is for right?

I have been looking through seed catalogs lately dreaming of all the new varieties of carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, flowers, etc that I'm going to plant. I usually buy way too much seed but how to chose one tomato over another, its just so hard!!! The market garden is moving across the driveway to a new field. The soil sample results show a low pH, low organic matter and mostly low everything else so we have our work ahead of us including lots of compost, more lime, some organic amendments and some good luck!!

I've also been keeping busy these days working at the down hill ski park just down the road from the farm. Its so convenient. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to work and double that to get home since its down hill there and up a monster of a hill to get back up. Its only part time but its a nice break from the paper work and on going planning that awaits me at the kitchen table. I've also been doing a bit of on farm food safety work with Island potato growers. Only a few farms so far but its been fun.

So, as I sit here at the computer with the snow swirling around and the wind howling I'm glad the wood stove is on and I'm not anxious to go back outside to give the horses water but chores must be done even in these less than ideal weather conditions.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday. Happy Gardening Planning!!!!

Still digging

I am still busy digging potatoes but we should be done by the end of this week. It rained yesterday which made the ground much too wet to be working with. Dad had hoped to be finished yesterday but sometimes mother nature does not always cooperate. There will be lots of pictures to follow in the upcoming days in regards to the potato harvest adventure.

Potato Harvest

I am working for my Dad this fall digging potatoes. They grow over 500 acres for the french fry world of McCains and Cavendish. I think we are almost 1/4 done and maybe a little bit more than that now. We are working long days, 12-14 hours, but some days it does rain and we do get to go home a bit earlier. Needless to say I have not been doing too much here on the farm these days. I need to get my garlic planted ASAP and hopefully that will get done this week or next. Here are a few pics from the potato harvest. I hope to have some more to post soon.



This is our old binpilar loading a small warehouse in Lower Bedeque, old school



Potato field in lower bedeque yet to be harvested. The tops need to die down first



Quick shot of the farm yard, lots of action





Close up action shot of conveyors, trucks and all kinds of potato equiptment

End of season

What a slacker again I've been in terms of posting to this blog. Life seems to have gotten away from me. We are all done at the market as our veggie selection is just about done. We have two weeks of the CSA left and even their baskets will be thin. My fall plantings did not turn out so great and the veggies that I thought would last into the fall were harvested and sold in the summer. Next summer my potato, winter squash, onion, leek, carrots, turnip, broccoli, cabbage, garlic and pumpkin plantings will be greatly expanded to ensure I can provide veggies well into the fall.

I do still have some arugula, lettuce mix and young radish that are growing quite well and will be ready for cutting this week. The CSA shares will be able to enjoy nice tender greens before the cold fall weather sets in. Even though we have had lots of rain this fall I still like to keep the greens well watered to ensure they grow well.


Watering the arugula



Close up shot of tender lettuce mix leaves