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

Lots to say

I have been a total slacker lately in regards to blogging. The garden pace has slowed down so much since the Wednesday market ended and I've been doing all kids of other stuff than being on the computer.

I actually got in the garden last week and spent a day weeding and rototiller in empty veggie beds in order to get them ready for winter cover crops. It felt great to get so much done. It had been quite a while since i was able to weed. With all the crazy amount of rain that we had received this summer the soil never really dried out enough to be able to weed. So, I'm feeling much better about how the garden looks. The path ways were really out of hand so I took our push mower and mowed them all down. Much better.

Last Monday Mom and I headed over to New Brunswick to visit two other CSA farms to gain some insight into their operations. It was great to see how they do certain things and the different crops that they are growing. Amarosia Farm near Shediac was a beautiful farm situated so close to the water. They grow so many different things including lemon cucumbers, 8 ball zucchini, Shiso, Amaranth and spaghetti squash as well as regular items such as beans, carrots and potatoes. They operate a 75 member CSA as well as three farmers markets and a health food store. Needles to say they are really busy. The second farm was Nature's Route Farm just outside of Sackville. They also have a 70 member CSA and they go to the Sackville market. They grew a large variety of vegetables as well including potatoes, carrots, beans, corn, beets, dried beans and onions. Each farm was very impressive and I really feel like I'm small potatoes in comparison but I saw some things that were really neat that I will try next year.

The market is still going really well in Summerside. The vendors have decided to go year round which will be a first for Summerside area. It is a great opportunity for local shoppers to support their neighbors and farmers.

Yesterday was a unique day here on the farm. All the kids from our church were invited out to the farm instead of their regular kids time. Around 10:30 6 or 7 cars pulled into the farm and out ran lots of excited and happy kids. We had a great time. We showed them our chicken tractor, how we grow the veggies, our favorite tools, a tour of the garden, fed the horses carrots and had a great veggie snack. Many of the kids had never been to a farm and they loved the open space and all the different veggies. One little girl got quite a kick out of the fact that broccoli grew the way it did. It was a great morning.


This big spider was busy spinning a web in the middle of the tomato patch

Seasonal changes

We are now done selling at the Charlottetown Farmers Market on Wednesdays. It went very well for us and I am happy that I was given a chance to sell there. We are planning on making a few changes next year and one of those will be to increase our restaurant sales and to stop selling at the Wednesday market. We will continue with our CSA program and I think between the restaurant sales and the CSA we will be furthur ahead. We'll see what happens next year that all might change yet. Thanks to everyone who came to purchase veggies from me at the Wednesday market.