Spring is coming, have you ordered your CSA Veggie Box yet?

12/15/2017

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Winter Planting and Poultry

11/9/2017

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Winter Planting and Poultry

2017 was the year for a new flock of organic laying hens and we have a beautiful abundance of eggs.

We avoided purchasing poultry the previous year for so long because the weather was cold, but now the girls are all out there doing what hens are supposed to do. The birds are happily producing beautiful eggs that are available at the store. Come see for yourself! The chicks came from an organic farm and have been fed certified organic poultry feed from day one. We consider this important as it is among the first solid foods that our new babes consume and we continue to eat it for the rest of their lives. Besides our girls get to eat produce from the garden every day and live the good life.

We have been working for the anticipation of snow for the past month: cleaning up fields, cutting back crop, putting away irrigation lines, removing tomatoes from the greenhouse and replacing with winter greens, seeding trays of greens crop for growing in the Carousels. As well as in the greenhouse, putting the bees to bed, taking the surplus apples off the Pressing Matter to have them juiced into five litre containers for sale this winter and this week, putting in our first round of pruning in the pears. We are back in full force after a couple days off from the snow.

We are planning to do a small amount of grafting early in the New Year. We decided we really liked the Liberty Apple which is small and very tasty apple - great for putting into your pocket or into a child’s lunch box. Also, unbeatable for colour and flavour, as well as the Kerr crab-apple which we gave out as samples at Pressing Matter, where several people requested that we graft some transplants. This fall we have been eating a tasty heritage apple from the farm. It came with the farm and we have grown fond of it. Next year we will let you know how we made out.

Irrigation Water: Since this area is experiencing more development the farm is having problems with too much water running over the farm in the wintertime and an inadequate water supply in our irrigation pond in the dry weather. These are normal problems we have experienced in the past. We have a drip irrigation system covering most of the farm, which has served us well in the past, but in recent years, for much of the summer, we are short of irrigation water.
Well Water: Another developing problem is lower levels of water in our two wells which we use for drinking water and for washing our greens crops. It is gradually becoming more serious. As we are not on public water, we entirely depend on our current water supply. We are currently studying on-farm systems that we can use to be sure we have adequate potable water.

Group Tours and School Visits: We offer free group tours for friends of the farm as well as enjoyable and instructive tours for school children. Please contact the farm to make appropriate arrangements, or take advantage of the fact that our U-pick opens at noon on Fridays, so you can come along as a family after school that day. Older children coming with a school group or with their family may wish to take the time to sign up in the pickers’ book. They can be called in for piecework picking jobs as they occur. Children 15 years and younger will require written parental permission. If satisfactory for the student and the farmer, this could lead to summer employment. Please contact us for information - neorg@telus.net

Staffing: We maintain a list of people who wish to work on the farm, either as volunteers or as a casual employee, picking produce by the pound; or doing farm chores. We are in the fall/winter season which is very different than summer. Learn about organic growing of crops and help us grow nutritious, fresh produce for people in the neighbourhood.

Congratulations to Ryan and Staff at Hilltop Bistro for winning Bronze at Gold Medal Plates in Victoria.

We were delighted that the farm was asked to grow vegetables for this event. We are happy that everything turned out so well. Book your reservation for dinner or Saturday brunch at Hilltop.

" We awarded the bronze medal to Chef Ryan Zuvich of Hilltop Bistro in Nanaimo. The ingredients for his dish were all harvested from farms close to his restaurant within the last week – except for his garnish of nasturtium leaves which were snipped from live flats at his station last night. His central protein was a delicious chicken balotine (“old school” was how he described it) of exceptionally tasty chicken filets marinated in red wine, rolled in peppery leek ash and mushroom powder and then wrapped tightly in chicken skin. The thick slice each judge received looked like a pretty mosaic, perched on top of a medley of vegetables – purple carrot, tropea onion and Peruvian potatoes – each of which had been separately roasted with chicken fat, thyme and garlic and (by some miracle) reached us piping hot. A fluid gel of marionberry and currant added tang to the dish while crushed hazelnuts provided crunch. Chef’s sauce was a sort of Bordelaise, fortified by some of his chosen wine, a robust, rather rugged 2015 blend of Foch and Cabernet from Beaufort Vineyard & Estate in Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley. I thought it was one of the best matches of the night." Quote from the Gold Medal Plates Culinary Report

Pollinator Plants: Pay special attention to pollinator plants in the late fall and early spring. That is when the pollinators seriously need your help. In the spring the bees are looking for protein to feed their young and cannot survive without it. Continue to plant pollinator friendly plants in your vegetable, herb and flower gardens. Please see the list of preferred flowers posted on our website. The flower patches should be large and bountiful otherwise they will not look at them. They are hungry bees and will only pay attention if you plant LOTS.
Recently we did a presentation for the Eaglecrest Garden Club in Qualicum Beach. We told them about Nanoose Edibles Farm and we talked about growing a sustainable garden that would see them through most of their food needs throughout the year. They have many of serious gardeners in that garden club – good discussion, lots of questions, and friendly folk. I found the evening thoroughly enjoyable. If you are interested in having us do repeat that presentation, please contact me on Email and we can set up a date.

Lorne and I are looking to turn the farm into a Farmer Co-operative, using all the talents of the members to grow the farm into a productive (and instructive) farm into the future. To that end we have prepared the attached document, Farm Skills Questionnaire, for distribution throughout the area and beyond. Click Here We are asking folk who may see farming in their future to fill it out and send it back to us. This is not a job offer. It is simply a tool to search out a group of people who may wish to farm on a full or part-time basis and whose skills and talents may come together to produce the perfect workforce to manage this farm or other farms, who find themselves in the same predicament. .

"Those who can’t find time for exercise will have to make time for illness." Edward Stanley

Gardening is about keeping us healthy in many ways. I call it Food Sustainability from Your Home Garden. Folks develop and plan to grow their own food on a year-round basis. Choosing what they wish to eat; what foods are most valuable; how to grow them; teaching the children; visiting other farms and gardens; attending your local Garden Clubs; growing pollinator plants for the bees and rejoicing in everything you do. Things to keep you healthy and happy.
We had to reschedule the date for the Sustainable Roundtable to talk about Fava Beans as it was a snowy day. We don't have another date set but we will let you know when we do.

Events in Our Community

Nov 16, 2017 Coombs Farmers Institute Fall Meeting from 7pm-9pm at the Coombs Fair Grounds

Nov 16 -17, 2017 The Good Food Summit in Victoria

Dec 2, 2017 from 10am-3pm - 2017 Christmas Bazaar & Silent Auction at the Nanoose Library Centre

Jan 3-March 9, 2018 Meat Processing and Certification Program in Courteney

Feb 3, 2018 from 10am-3:30pm Qualicum Beach Seedy Saturday at QB Civic Centre

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Open House

10/3/2017

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Open House Thanksgiving Weekend

Come and bring the family to walk about the farm for the Thanksgiving weekend Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10am-5pm.

This is the last weekend of the FAMILY U-PICK. We have a great apple crop and are encouraging our customers to come and buy apples, picked or pick your own. We have a number of apple varieties which are fall/winter keepers, for sale at the farm in a twenty pound box for $20 per box. Many of the varieties will keep into the winter. You may wish to consider purchasing a box of long-keepers for winter cooking and baking; and another box of assorted eating apples as we have many delicious varieties.

Nanoose Bay Studio Tour is also this weekend! Oct 7,8, & 9 from 10am-4pm. We have the studio brochure map at the farm store.

Our current hours are Wednesday - Sunday from 10am-5pm. This will change depending on weather conditions and as we darken into winter. If someone isn't around please use the honour system.

PARTY ON THE DRIVE

Lorne, Shiralee and I so much enjoyed our Sunday afternoon at the Party on the Drive. Great to meet new and old friends. Thanks to my former boss David from the Ministry of Agriculture in Victoria who came to pay us a visit. The entire day was enjoyable with special thanks to the folks who made it possible.

Sustainability Roundtable

We wrapped up another Roundtable this past weekend to talk about GARLIC. A good number of knowledgeable folks shared their garlic growing tips! West Coast Seeds has a great newsletter about garlic. Check it out Here

Mark your calendar for the next Roundtable - OCT 21 from 1:30pm-3:30pm to discuss POLLINATORS.

It was another successful year of having families come to the farm for the Family U-Pick season! Thank you for supporting your local farm, it truly makes a difference. It was quite enjoyable having families spend the day at the farm and make the connection of picking the food that they would later eat.

We need your help to plan for next year! What other fruits or vegetables would you like to u-pick? Would you want to u-pick flowers? More kids actives or transplants to take home?
Let us know by emailing Neorg@telus.net with your suggestions.

FALL VEGGIE BOX.

Having been blessed with rain we began our Fall Veggie Box Program. The crop has recovered well. Give it a try! Sign up sheet - HERE Please drop by with the form and payment (cash or cheque). $40 per box and you may pay in four week increments if you wish. Start anytime!

GOLD MEDAL PLATES
October 26^th one of our long-time restaurant customers Chef Ryan from Hilltop in Nanaimo, has been chosen to compete in the Gold Medal Plates competition at the Victoria Conference Centre in Victoria. We are very excited for Ryan! Chef Ryan’s goal is to showcase the Mid Island and highlight the existing and growing food community with a focus on produce from Nanoose Edibles.

Name this fruit!
It is loaded with pectin. It gets soft and turns red when cooked. Yes, it is fuzzy.
What am I?

WEATHER AND PLANTING FRUIT CROPS

Now that we have received some rain and the land has cooled down, we are busy planting, pruning and preparing fruit crops for next year. We will have a supply of assorted rooted organic berry crops available for sale throughout the fall, winter and spring. Strawberries, Raspberries, Thornless Blackberries, Marion Berries, Black Currants and more. In order to have transplants available when you need them, we need to hear from you. Please send us an Email neorg@telus.net so that we can get you into the order book.

FAVA BEAN STUDY

We began last season collecting a variety of Fava Beans for planting this fall, winter and spring. People have been growing them as a food source for more than 6.000 years. They contain 26% protein (the same as beef) . There are a lot of reasons why you should grow them. This Fall, winter and spring the farm plans to grow them; do tasters and ask you to select the ones you like best. We need to know what varieties taste great and perform well for us in this Region. And, when you grow them yourself you get a triple whammy – a highly nutritious food product; a soil conditioner for your garden; and the richest compost you can produce.
Packages are available for planting, it is the same time as garlic (mid to late October). The variety is Barton which produces good winter greens, nice flowers and beans.

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Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Beans oh my!

8/23/2017

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FAMILY U-PICK - FRIDAY, SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

This has proven to be such a happy event for all of us at Nanoose Edibles. Thank you so much for coming out with your friends and family and providing all of us with so much enjoyment. As we continue to pick berries, we begin to pick apples; and soon after pears and grapes. The Thornless Blackberries are beginning to ripen at the back of the farm. We have already picked some. They make a great juice berry for smoothies. There are still lots of snap peas to pick and eat, also snap beans in both yellow and purple pods. Bring along the whole family and plan to have a picnic.

Fall Veggie Box Program

The summer moves along quickly. We will be sending out notices for the Fall Veggie Box Program along with our September newsletter. Prices remain the same and box pick-up will continue to be on Fridays. The Box Program will introduce you to a number of products sold by people who live in the area: Coyote Coffee, Pizza rounds from Bhodi’s Bakery, Salad Dressings and other fine foods from Occasions in Lantzville, Cereal Grains from Vancouver Island Grain and Milling in Port Alberni, Jams, Jellies and Pickles from The Sisters, and pretty soon Hazelnuts from Chemainus. We are lucky to have these amazing people in our neighbourhood.

GARLIC PRODUCTION
Our Yugoslavian Garlic is now harvested, but we still have a long way to go. After the harvest the garlic is left in the field for some days in dry and cure before having the roots and some of the top removed and put into a warm, well ventilated space to complete drying and get it cleaned up ready for the market. We are selling Garlic now at the farm. We will also take garlic with us to a number of events so the larger number of the public will have access to our product. We purchased this garlic from Dan Jason – Salt Spring Seeds about 25 years ago and have grown and cared for it ever since. For the time being, before the final cleaning, our garlic is available at a reduced price when you come to the farm to purchase it. Buy your garlic now and be ready to plant it in October. Newcomers to garlic growing can attend our Garlic Roundtable on September where hopefully we will answer all your questions about successfully growing garlic.

Grant
All the paperwork has been signed and we are proceeding with the Green Haven grant program with our intern Tom! We will be focusing on keeping records for saving seeds for high value crops and the soil for any improvements using cover crops. Knowing the plants in how they pollinate, such as spinach needs a male and female to pollinate, will result in a better understanding of the plants for the information to be shared with others. We will be hosting a Roundtable in 2018 with Tom leading the topic of Seed Saving with his findings.

PARTY ON THE DRIVE coming up on September 10^th at 12 pm. We will be there and will be bringing up of high nutrition sample seeds, herbs, pickled yellow beans and a huge supply of our Yugoslavian Garlic for planting in your garden in October and to stash away for winter culinary efforts.

SUSTAINABLE GARDENING ROUNDTABLES:

Heat and Water Stress - Sept 16 from 1:30-3:30pm
Now is a good time to think about how you might do things differently if, as it seems, the weather is likely to remain the same for a time. I think it will take a re-evaluation of the home garden to take better advantage of the timing, placement, and choice of plants to better suit different weather conditions. We need to think about natural weather conditions and use them to our best advantage – shade trees and buildings; putting in pea or beans trellising and taking advantage of the shade; planting shade loving plants in the shade of taller plants; getting plants well-established while the weather is cooler. Install some rain barrels to handle hand watering. Develop a list of summer vegetables that can manage with little water. Most greens crops will not germinate if the soil is already hot. Some varieties of strawberries will not bear when it is too hot. Consider planting yourself a double row of strawberries on the shady side of your raspberry trellising. Use a light coloured mulch (fresh roadside chips) to cover the soil and keep it cool. Check out the Facebook event Here

Garlic - September 30 from 1:30-3:30pm
We will hold another Garlic Lovers Round Table this fall before planting time. It was thoroughly useful and entertaining last fall. Besides learning about cleaning and preparing garlic for storage, we talked about saving for fall planting, Tips for planting garlic, what to do with the surplus, trying other varieties, etc. Where do we go from here? Check out the Facebook event Here

Pollinators - October 21 from 1:30-3:30pm
Bees do like it hot, but there isn’t a lot of available food when the weather is continuously hot like we are having. Things we can be thinking about for them is to make sure that you have flowering plants available and watered and also that you put out shallow containers of water near the hives. It is helpful to bees in stressful situations to let bi-annual herbs and flowers go to seed. Cucubits blossoms of all kinds are very welcome. Especially the bumble bees like to bumble around inside the yellow blossoms. The honeybees have spent almost a month now hanging out in our 50 foot Little Leaf Linden Tree. The entire tree buzzes away from morning to night. The ants carry the nectar around which drips over the leaves and everything else. I have read that it does not make great honey, but it is sweet and the bees seem to like it and I don’t think there is anything much we can do about it.

All About Fava Beans- November 4 from 1:30-3:30pm
For the past few years Nanoose Edibles has been paying attention to Fava Beans as a source of high quality food, especially in the winter months when we tend to search out more nutrient-dense food. The crew and I have grown on about twelve different types of Fava Beans to plant throughout the Fall and this year and Spring of 2018 in order to become more familiar with the crop and its usefulness as a major food source. Favas are 26% protein, the same percentage as beef, and it is perfectly possible that it could be used as a home-grown substitute for many meat dishes. We will be seeking your assistance with cooking and taste-testing.

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Spring is coming. Have you ordered your CSA Veggie Box yet?

7/31/2017

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Happy Canada Day

6/30/2017

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Happy Canada Day Weekend

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Happy Canada Day Weekend!

Normally we host a potluck at the farm but with all the celebrations taking place around the region, we are off to check out the events! We wouldn't be hosting a potluck this year but you are most than welcome to come and walk around the farm. We are going to be hosting a farm to table event later in the year. Let us know if you wish to join us!

Family U-Pick Season

We were busy last week with the Family U-Pick season getting underway. Our first crop for the Family U-Pick crew was picking strawberries! We don't have berries in abundance yet and they cleared out quickly. We must wait a few weeks for the next bunch to ripen. The strawberries are ever-bearing and we will keep getting berries until Aug/Sept depending on the weather.
It was nice to hear the children’s cheerful voices and comments from parents and children on how much they had enjoyed the experience. For some children it was the first time they had visited a farm! Great to see the agriculture experience start at a young age. Raspberries and peas should be making a move soon! Keep checkingFacebook or our website for updates on the Family U-Pick Season which runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

We are excited to share with you that we have been accepted for a grant with Green Farm Stream Program. We are looking for an intern for a 4 month contract. Please check out our ad for all the details.

The greenhouse crops are happy with this warm weather. Cam is doing a great job maintaining the tomatoes, cucumber and basil crops in the greenhouse. We plant basil in between the rows of the tomatoes to maximize the growing space. Each tomato row has a different variety of Heritage tomatoes, from assorted cherries to beefsteaks. On the east side on the greenhouse I seeded an entire row of assorted salad cucumbers. All survived and we have picked our first cukes. A bed of pickling tomatoes has been seeded in Field 6 for the pickle makers amongst you. We will try to have enough dill and garlic to keep it company. The pickling cucumber are a U-pick crop, so you might want to have an able bodied picker along. The cukes had a tough time last year but these are looking fine.

Cams gift to the farm

Our young farm worker, Cam, has been taking the welding course at VIU while working at the farm. He completed his welding project by producing this portable fire place and gifted it to the farm. It is a lovely addition to the farm and we will cherish it. Thank you so much Cam.

Laying Hens
Eggs have been in short supply at the farm since the mink got half our flock earlier this year. Some new chicks arrived this spring to take over the egg-laying responsibilities, but it is still going to take a couple more months before they are mature enough to lay eggs. We received them in the mail the first week of March, and it takes 20 weeks for the chicks to become mature enough to produce eggs. That will take us to the first week in October.

Lorne and I have given a lot of thought to the future of the farm and its’s role in the community. There are a number of diverse goals that come to mind: provide the community safe, highly quality nutritious food; encourage others to grown their own sustainable farms and gardens, and provide some guidance; encourage families to introduce their children to locally produced food and provide them with opportunities to visit the farm, learn about gardening and provide work experience. We are also rethinking our cropping plans and have made several changes to high value food crops that are possible to grow in this region: for example artichokes, asparagus, varieties of beets, high nutrition potatoes, and fava beans, edamame beans and other bean crops. We have also enlarged our berry crop acreage and added many new varieties of pears to our orchard. The aim is to develop a model for a sustainable organic farm that could become one of a number of local farms working together to provide our community with a secure supply of high quality nutritious food and a measure of economic well-being to the community.

We will be here for you all summer. We can always do with a helping hand and we really enjoy our visitors so please feel free to bring them around. We are intending to rent the Pond House. Please see our advert on line.

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Spring is coming, have you ordered your CSA Veggie Box yet?