Winter Workshops are finished

   As Orion sets in the evening skies, I know it is nearly time for spring planting to begin.  I make a point of trying not to book any commitments after March 31.  This is because April days with soil dry enough to plant seeds are just too valuable to miss.  Everything is ready.  Tractors are tuned up.  Tools bars have been adjusted.  Seeds are ordered.  We are just waiting for the soil to dry up enough we don’t need to wear boots.  Only then can we begin.

I usually try to limit my winter speaking engagements to three events.  But this year I added one to fill in for Vermont vegetable grower, Pete Johnson.  A week before he was scheduled to present at the Guelph Organic Conference his main storage barn burned to the ground.  Insurance was only going to cover 60% of his loss.  Since he was so tied up dealing with this tragedy, I volunteered to present for him.  [A few years ago we did a presentation together in New York so I am quite familiar with his techniques.]  After all the benefits conducted for his support, Pete now figures he may have actually made money on the tragedy.  But he still would not wish this experience on anyone.

I also spoke on supplying winter produce at a Just Food seminar in Ottawa.  This affiliate of the Ottawa Social Planning Council is doing absolutely wonderful work in providing useful services for their region’s farmers.  Just Food’s good work is already permitting them to expand their full-time staff of five to seven.  This year they will move onto the National Capital Commission’s 100 acre urban farm.  [Why can’t Toronto muster up similar public support?] 

In addition I was invited to speak on Winter Greenhouse Growing at the Atlantic Region Organic Conference in Fredericton.   It is so good to see how government and educational supports are making it possible for many young farmers to get onto their fields and start learning the business.  Organizers were so proud that Newfoundland sent 25 participants.  Even Ontario is now getting into the act.  Fleming College has a Sustainable Agriculture College program.  Last week a bus full of students came to Cookstown Greens to learn about our greenhouse methods.

In summary, it is gratifying to see so many young and second career farmers trying to make a go of it.  But I fear that too many are entering into the cruel world of quality food lacking sufficient training, working without enough of a business plan, and certainly lacking sufficient capital.  I pray that they can remain in business until the coming dramatic increases in food prices reach Canada.  There is absolutely no reason why they must have to compete with the cheapest food in the world.  In the near future we will need all the ecological farmers we can find!

Dave sharing techniques for Green Manuring with Everdale farmer trainees.

Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

   Slow Food Toronto explains why you should be objecting to Genetically Engineered Alfalfa.  This invasive product is one more impediment to ecological agriculture.  I hope you will join in objecting to this invasion of your rights.

What kind of Foodie are you?

   Ian Brown wrote this thoughtful article on Foodies in The Globe and Mail.   It may get your back up; or you may say “Right On.”

Early Spring is already arriving on the farm

    Last week’s warm weather brought even more songbirds earlier than ever.  Colourful Redwing Blackbirds, song-full Starlings, greedy Grackles, and Robin redbreasts are all now easy to spot.  Snowdrops are blooming.  The crocus, daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are popping out of the ground.    Our gravel road is getting soft and swervey.  On late night walks we can hear rampaging raccoons and smell odorous skunks.  Morning walks are on hard frosty ground; afternoon walks are muddy ventures.  (Thank goodness there are still a few snowbanks on which to wipe off the mud.)  Speckled Trout Lilies are starting to litter the woodlot floor.  On sunny days, bees are hesitantly leaving their hives. 

After the blanket of snow slips away:   There are fresh deer droppings where culled root vegetables were lying in the fields.  The fields with rye cover crops have already turned green.  Our creek starts roaring.  It is fun to look through last year’s gardens to see what survived the winter.  (Actually a lot survives under the snow.  The challenge is surviving April’s freezes and thaws.) 

Spring is also arriving in our greenhouses.  Lettuces and mustards and arugulas that have been serving us well with cuttings throughout the winter are now bolting (going to seed) and need to be pulled out, composted, and reseeded.  The tomato plants grow larger every day. We need to re-schedule seeding dates for seedling to be ready-for-harvest on the proper days.  In the office, we are putting on the finishing touches to our seed orders.  The sacks of winter storage vegetables now have more culls to discard.  The windows may be pulled open.  And every evening I leave my morning jacket at work. 

Spinach leaves, bleached white by the winter cold, highlight scrumptious new growth.

Chards grow well throughout the year

    No matter whether it is in the bright heat of summer, the frosty nights of fall, the relative dark of a winter greenhouse, or the variability of spring, Chard always does well.  This past year the demand grew so quickly that we did not always have enough.  In the outside fields we can always plant more; though it takes several weeks to be ready for harvest.  Unfortunately, this past winter we could not devote sufficient space in the greenhouses.  So we were only been able to fill standing orders.  With the intensifying sunlight encouraging everything to grow quicker, we have devoted more greenhouse space to these wonderful greens.  Now we can start taking a few more standing orders!

Chard received the “Swiss” prefix to differentiate it from the “French” spinach.  Nowadays, enough cooks know the difference between the two for us to drop the “Swiss” from Chard in the same way as we long ago dropped the “French” from Spinach.  On the other hand, one might think that there would be confusion due to both chard and beets sharing the same Latin name (Beta vulgaris.)  Beets were selected for their tasty roots.  Chards were selected for their superior tasting leaves.  Chard tastes better because it has significantly less bitter-tasting oxalic-acid.  Anyone with compromised kidneys would do well to stay away from oxalic-acid laden beet greens.  Prudent chefs serve beets for their roots; and chard for their leaves.

We can now take on a few more orders for our colourful Rainbow of Chards.  Please call the farm to let us know when you plan to add them to your menu.  For smaller leaves, we can once again provide Mini-Chards.  For even smaller garnishes, we always have Crimson Chard Seedlings and Golden Chard Seedlings.

Mini-Chard is smaller than Rainbow of Chards; and larger than Seedlings.

A Call for help in making Ontario a profitable Culinary Destination

   The key ingredient to any culinary destination is local specialty foods to demonstrate a fascinating local culture.  We clearly need more effective food and farming policies.  With provincial and federal elections coming up, this is a great time to become involved.  Our chefs need to contribute their very influential voices.  Sustain Ontario is currently developing a useful proposal for an Ontario Food Act.   The Greater Toronto Area Agriculture Action Committee will be holding a summit at Evergreen Brick Works on March 30.

Sent: March 7, 2011

What’s Happening?

   At last week’s Terroir V hospitality industry symposium I was approached by many of our chefs who were curious to know what I am doing these days.  I suspect many others also want to know.  So I’ll repeat my answer for everyone:

Our terrific staff and I are still diligently working to consistently provide all the fine produce we still have in our root cellar and are growing in our greenhouses.  Now that the recession slowdown is finally over, it is once again becoming a challenge to fill all the orders.  Next year, with the help of a new owner, we hope to have more greenhouse and root cellar capacity in order to have additional choices and a longer supply.

The award-winning farm is still Up-For-Sale.

  There has been tremendous interest from a wide variety of prospective buyers.  Several are now doing their due diligence to confirm that the business truly fits in with their visions.  Every one of these prospects has asked if I plan to remain active in the business.  My answer is, “Yes.”   All were pleased to hear this answer.  So I think it is safe to say that we will continue business in much the same way we already know.  Having already invested in the establishment of exceptionally healthy soil, we are well positioned to weather the coming food crisis.

The million dollar view from our fields over the Nottawasaga Valley.

Are we reaching Peak Oil?

   The biggest effect will not be the price of gasoline; it will be the price of food.  To provide one calorie of food, “modern agriculture” now requires over seven calories of energy to synthetically fertilize plants, and deliver our food from around the world.  At peak oil, the price of food will start rising several times faster than the price of gasoline.  How will we deal with this?

With food shortages, the price of farmland will start booming.  (Please read this Wall Street Journal article.)  Then the US will surely cease “dumping” their excess food into Canada – thereby suddenly bumping up our food prices by at least 20%.  Organic mixed farming methods use much less petroleum energy – but they require more expertise, more labour, and must be done on a smaller scale.  So North America will soon need millions of new (trained) farmers.  Meat, the most energy intensive food, will rise in price even more quickly.  In order to replace the crutch that meat provides, chefs will require better tasting ingredients and training in how to use them.  Are we getting ready for these profound changes?

Sent: March 29, 2010

Spring appears to be coming extra early this year

   Sadly we are running low on root vegetables unusually early this spring.  We attribute this to last fall’s very cold and cloudy October.  Normally this is the month when root vegetables begin plumping up for a big November harvest.  Eventually the weather did become warmer (i.e. October-like) during November so that many of the roots eventually did fill out in December.  However, during this exceptionally late and hurried harvest we did not notice how hard and fibrous the final crops had become during this most unusual fall.  Of course we eventually discovered this problem while packing during the past few weeks.  So after we threw out literally tons of root vegetables, we quickly went from good supplies; to sudden shortages.  We are very sorry for any inconveniences this  will present to your menu planning.

   To help us maintain sales through the spring, we would really appreciate whatever you can do to adjust your menus to make more use of the produce we do have available. To refresh your memory, please look at our website pages on Seedlings, Salad Greens, Leafy Greens and Edible Flowers.  They are all now growing very well in the greenhouses.  Plus they all say “seasonal and local”.

Beth is our Edible Flower Selector extraordinaire!

Great Video of Cookstown Greens

   Last January a very enthusiastic recent honours graduate from Waterloo University requested a tour of Cookstown Greens.  He and a film-maker friend came and recorded their visit on video.  A few weeks later Majid Mirza sent me a link to the marvellous video they had assembled.  After the 1½ minute review of pesticide use, you too will enjoy this Video about Cookstown Greens.

A Tearless Onion?

   Rather than feeding the world; it is now being recognized that GMO’s are starving the world’s poor!  The poor cannot afford the chemicals required to make the GMO’s grow.  But subsidized U.S. farmers can now grow lots of cheap calories (but which in fact use more calories than they really provide) for export to people who still cannot afford to buy this “food”.  Despite lots of hype, GMO’s are basically only being used in corn, soy beans, canola, sugar beets, and cotton.  If you are eschewing processed foods in your kitchen, you are probably not using any GMO’s.  Just when we thought Monsanto was finally realizing the folly of their incredibly expensive Genetic Modifications industry, they now seem to be working on – a Tearless Onion!

Sent: March 22, 2010