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Happy Canada Day

6/30/2017

Happy Canada Day Weekend

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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Summer Solstice

6/8/2017

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Summer Solstice Workshop June 24

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Summer Solstice

Box Program Is Underway

Thank you to all the box program members! It has been tough getting it started as we had so little produce available this Spring. Normally we plant a large variety of bi-annual crops which are harvested throughout the fall, winter and available in abundance in the Spring. Not this year. Most everything we had planted was winter-killed and we had to wait for the new Spring growth. Hard on the farm as crop required reseeding for spring production. We so missed all the cole crops -- kale, collards, sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage and the rest. We are moving right along now and strawberries should ready in a week. We have room for more members. You can join anytime. Please check our website. http://www.nanooseediblesfarm.com/csa-box.html to get the sign-up forms or visit us at the farm.

June 24 from 1:30-3:30pm at the farm is the next Roundtable and we will talk about ummer Solstice planting. What does the solstice do for you and your garden? The Solstice is the beginning and the end of your gardening year. Learn how to plant with the seasons and the with solstice!
Check out the Facebook event.
Bring a notebook and a drawing of your garden.

Come be apart of the conversation.

No registration required.

The Sustainable Roundtable is a farm initiative to build a community of gardeners to share their knowledge and learn from each other.

Peppers

The peppers have made it into the pepper house and are loving the heat. They are heirloom peppers that will produce a range of different colors from red, orange and purple. Green peppers are unripe peppers and we like to eat as much nutrition as possible. It's all about heat with peppers. Keep them warm.

Baby Chicks

5 week old baby chicks have been moved to the poultry building. After an extraordinary amount concern for their well being, the chicks were finally moved. We just hadn’t had much practice, and didn’t remember how it all worked. You had to smile when it was all done as they just settled down in their new building as if they had lived there forever and wondered what all the fuss was about. We have a lot to learn.

Greenhouse
Tomatoes and basil just go together. One cannot imagine it otherwise. I try to have lots of basil seeds on hand and sow it just like any other seed to have it available in abundance for mid-summer. It is so suited to summer. Easy to pick and easy to dry.

Family U-Pick!

This is the first year we have seriously looked at U-pick as a way of marketing our produce. We really missed having families on the farm to visit and pick produce. We know it is going to be a long haul; and that it will take time before families remember why we are here and that they are welcome to come to the farm. Some young and enterprising members of the family may wish to pick for us while the family visits the farm. It is a great way for youngsters to get used to the farm and become associated with local farm families and to help out family member to make themselves a bit of pocket money.
To assist you with choosing what day you will come to pick, we will post available crops on Facebook each week.We are expecting to begin the strawberry pick very soon.

Natural Pastures Cheese Company

For more than 25 years we have been friends with Edgar and Mary-Ann Smith who own Natural Pastures Cheese Company. Located in Beaver Creek in Comox, we heartily recommend it for a walkabout when they have their Annual Open House. You will be amazed at their gorgeous farm. They have been making prize-winning cheeses for more than 25 years. If you haven’t tried them, you really should. They have many world prize winning cheeses to their credit. It can be purchased at our farm stand and in many supermarkets around the Island and elsewhere.

Red Can Gourmet

Red Can Gourmet can be found at Industrial Way in Tofino, just before you enter the town of Tofino – same street as the Tofino Brewery. im May is a splendid cook with a happy knack for cooking tasty and original food. We have been friends for endless years. He, Rodney Butters and I used to go to Feast of Fields in Victoria together more than 25 years ago. Great memories.

Check out some of the events that are happening at the farm and in the community. If you would like a hard copy of the events pick it up at our farm store.

June 24 Sustainable Roundtable - What can the solstice do
for you? 1:30-3:30pm at the farm
June 24 & 25 Open House weekend at the farm 10am-5pm
July 1 Canada Day - Open house at the farm

Do you want to pick for the farm in the summer?
We have planted more of berries this year and we will need people to pick for the farm. Come sign up and register at the farm store by putting your name and what days you are available. When we have berries to pick we will be going through the list of people to come in to pick for us. It is open for all ages (parent permission required). Please see our posted notices for summer workers and pickers.

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Happy Canada Day

Summer Solstice

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