Sent: July 25, 2011
And Now it is Summer
The year started with so much rain. Damage to our soil structure resulting from working it when it’s too wet is something we avoid. The frequent spring rains made scheduling field activities very byzantine. Fortunately our soil is naturally well drained. This, plus years of carefully building soil life with frequent incorporation of plough-down crops and taking great care to stay out of muddy fields has minimized frustrations this year.
Suddenly, very hot, dry, and windy conditions made the ground exceedingly dry. As a result our irrigation system has been getting its first real workout since the summer of 2007. Fortunately our soil contains sufficient clay and organic matter that it maintains its moisture quite well. Nevertheless, it takes quite a bit of time every day to move the irrigation reel to where it is most needed.
The first place we are noticing the benefits of healthy soil is in the salad green field – lettuce, arugula and mustard leaves remain sweet and tender (not bitter and tough). This year’s Summer Vegetable Field is in the adjacent “new farm” we purchased in 2006. For the past four years we have been carefully converting it from the former bacterial oriented field crop biology to fungal oriented vegetable soil. It seems as though we prepared this soil very well.
Many crops have given us record early maturity. We were even getting some ripe field tomatoes in June! Record early crops include Squash Blossoms, Rainbow of Baby Bell Peppers, and our Candy-Cane, Red Cylinder and White Beets. (The slower growing Golden Beets will be starting next week.) For some reason our ever-popular Gold Nugget Squash, Husk Cherries, and Baby Fennel will not be ready until August – nearly a month later than normal.
Last year we trialed some of the new “heat-tolerant” peas. They did very well. So far, even though the heat has been intense, the Shelling Peas and Purple Snow Peas are setting well plus the peas are remaining wonderfully sweet. Both the Green and the Yellow Roma Flat Beans are of course doing very well with all our Rome-like weather.
Baby Bell Peppers are terrific containers for your favourite stuffings.
Global Produce
One benefit of the Global Warming we are learning how to deal with is opportunities to grow heat-loving ethnic produce right here in Ontario. Both Guelph University and Vineland Research Station are working on perfecting the crops and varieties that could do well in our climate. Of course the other part of the equation is learning how to market this produce. For this, the main impediment is imports being “dumped” into Canada at prices lower than they are being sold for in the exporting countries. In lieu of halting this widespread illegal practice, the Ontario government is reinstating their financial support for fruit and vegetable growers [just prior to the election]. This program was stopped three years ago, but due to more produce packers going broke (and refusing to pay their farm suppliers) our food security requires that something be done.
Sent: July 19, 2011
Tour groups are visiting our farm
Our fields do not yet look like a stereotypical garden, but tour groups are already arriving. The summer salad greens, peas and beans, the early beets, carrots and fennel, the squash and tomatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, crosnes, and potatoes all look great and some are already producing enough for samples. However, the cover crop fields, which are the majority of the acreage, are only starting to germinate. (Frequent rains and equipment breakdowns made it difficult to get these seeded on time.) Therefore I needed to describe a picture what these will look like in a few weeks.
First to arrive last week was Local Food Plus (LFP). They like their interns to see our clean and organized farm and how we pay great attention to many details to assure superior flavour and a consistent supply. We use LFP as our certifier because their priorities include fair labour and environmentally sustainable practices as well as promoting the tremendous economic benefits that remain in our own communities for every bit of food which Ontarians decide to source locally.
Next came a group of students from The Institute of Holistic Nutrition. They really appreciated the link I made with the flavour admired by our celebrated chefs; to the reduction in any need for added salt, fat and sugar that are so abhorrent to nutritionists. They also found it fascinating that more flavourful produce not only has virtually no pest problems, but it also stores well for much longer than the cheap food that dominates our food stores.
Members of the Food Strategy Team of the Toronto Food Policy Council then arrived to learn about how food is actually being produced on our farms; and how cheap imports are affecting us. They are concerned that the “food desserts” in poor sections of the city are actually brought about by food being too cheap. (Evidently the margins have become so slim that supermarkets can no longer earn enough to even pay their rent.) Variety stores with seemingly cheap “junk food” are the only outlets with high enough margins to pay their rent. I told them that the farming community is becoming noticeably morose. Yet another large Bradford produce packer has gone bankrupt, once again leaving farmers unpaid. An upside of this is that the Provincial government has recently announced significant increases in farm supports. Rumours are that the federal government is also fast tracking additional supports. Of course most farmers and poor city-folk would rather not have to receive supports; the real solution would be to prohibit “dumped” cheap imports.
Nutrition students admiring milkweed flowers which have been in the news.
Widespread herbicide use is destroying the Monarch Butterfly’s food source.
New this week
Rainbow of Tomatoes are now making a triumphant return. My, they are delicious. So far there are not many 2nds, so for now we can only supply 1sts. We grow Patty Pan Squash because they provide the best tasting Squash Blossoms. They are shy on flavour, but we will send you some 4-6 inch beautiful sun-shine yellow fruits. We are once again growing the delicious flat Yellow Roma Beans. For some reason the green ones are running about a week late. Also coming soon are all colours of Beets, Baby Fennel, and delicious Gold Nugget Summer Squash.
Sent: July 12, 2011
Already a sense of Urgency
Now that the Red Wing Blackbirds (and their chicks) have already headed south; and the fireflies have completed their illuminating night-time rituals, we had better celebrate summer while it’s still here. With this year’s topsy-turvy cool/wet and hot/humid conditions it has been most difficult to get all the seeding finished in a timely fashion. But we are doing our best to maintain steady supplies.
Garlic Scapes are so tender and mild and such an easy-to-use form of garlic that it should be a summer-time staple. I like to cut them into “square” spicy chucks to mirror sweet round peas. Radish Pods (the fruit of the radish plant) are the mildest way to enjoy radishes during the hot months. Use them as a raw condiment or garnish; or briefly blanch and salt them for an edamame type snack. Our Nugget Squash is not quite ready, but the recent hot days make perfumy Squash Blossoms plentiful. We pick the male flowers early each morning so they remain wide open to facilitate your stuffing them. (Why male flowers you ask: with the help of the bees the males have already done their job. The females have yet to swell up their wonderful fruit!)
Rainbow of Chards are back again. (We apologize for the two week gap.) Due to some irrigation pump issues a few weeks ago, arugula suffered from poor germination due to lack of (believe-it-or-not) water. But with reliable water, a new kind of insect cover, and healthier than ever soil, we fully expect to have a steady supply of Baby Arugula and larger Bulk Arugula until the cold greenhouse season limits our production. The same steady supply is true for all of our Salad Greens! For the budget conscious, how about a steady supply of Bulk Mixed Lettuces?
Cherry Tomatoes are becoming abundant enough to put onto our Availability List. If you lust after our Rainbow of (mid-size) Tomatoes, maybe Nicky could manage to send you a half-flat. (Hopefully we can add them to next week’s Availability List!) Candy-Cane and Red Cylinder Beets are also just starting a record early season. Flavour and Brix levels are the highest we have ever had in summer beets. Do prepare to incorporate these into your summer menus.
And then there are PEAS! Sugar Snap Peas are as convenient as ever (and this is as good a reason as any to use them). But now that Monsanto has purchased the reliable small producer, flavour is not what it used to be. Purple Snow Peas turn stunningly black when briefly sautéed or steamed. (Just don’t forget they also turn green when overcooked.) English Shelling Peas may provide small yields and require high labour, but everyone will notice, and then adore the difference. This summer we are again growing the long and wide true Italian Romano beans – in both green and yellow versions. They have been slow getting started, but this week’s hot weather has brought on a plethora of flowers. Maybe next week your customers can enjoy a plethora of these exceptional beans.
Shelling Peas are now intoxicatingly delectable.
Get Ready for Food Day Canada
Saturday, July 30 is coming rapidly. Plan to participate in this celebration of the Nations Table in any way you can. For more details, check the website at Food Day Canada.
Sent: July 4, 2011
Are these two stories linked?
It started as a rumour that an Alberta potato company was buying a huge chunk of some of Ontario’s best vegetable soil 90 minutes north of Toronto. In fact it was a U.S. hedge fund accumulating land for a mega-quarry. Recently an application was made to create a monster mine (2000 football fields and deeper than the Niagara Falls gorge). This will not only forever destroy a significant amount of our province’s premium vegetable soil; it will also destroy the natural water purification process for aquifers supplying one million downstream Ontario citizens. A few international investors will get rich for awhile; meanwhile communities downstream will have to build expensive water purification plants and operate them forever. Learn more and help Stop the Melancthon Quarry.
The Broader Public Sector Investment Fund is promoting local Ontario foods by increasing the amount of Ontario food procured by government supported municipal, university, school, and hospital food services. They have been sharing ways various institutions are already profitably accomplishing this; and sharing ways that local producers can also profitably participate. Since the overall Ontario economy is the principal beneficiary of this shift in food supply, it only makes sense that government institutions be mandated to participate. In contradiction to this, on July 12 and 13 the Toronto City Council will be debating this policy. If this seems short-sighted to you, please sign the petition sponsored by the Toronto Environmental Alliance.
Countries that export subsidized cheap food into Ontario are neither beneficent nor stupid. They are well aware that their overall economies greatly benefit from producing food even though selling it at low prices. But this will soon change. Conventional food production methods now require 7 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie of food energy. As energy costs rise, food production and transportation costs must soar even faster. We are already starting to see the current energy intensive food system begin to fail as prices are rapidly rising. Local ecological foods will begin to take their place. We cannot now squander our best soil (by building mega-quarries), nor lose our experienced farmers (by forcing them to compete with cheap subsidized imports).
The tomatoes are flowering, so summer is about to begin.
Spring produce is ending; Summer produce is coming
They are not quite here yet, but you can now start dreaming about our summer specialties! Coming soon are Cherry Tomatoes, Sugar Snap Peas, Shelling Peas, Candy Cane Beets, and Cylinder Beets. After these you can expect Rainbow of Tomatoes, Husk Cherries, Mini Bell Peppers Baby Summer Leeks, and Golden Beets.
