Big Changes in our Harvest Schedule |
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Have a veggie subscription with us? You are getting this email because you do not have a box scheduled for this week, but can still make a regular order through our store. If so, please complete the checkout process to submit your order.
Order vegetables before Wednesday at 12pm for pickup and delivery this week.
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Planting garlic today! We crack each bulb and plant the "Seed Garlic", which are just the biggest, nicest cloves. After planting, we'll mulch with straw and wait for them to emerge in the spring. |
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FARM UPDATE
Garlic planting is well on its way to being finished! With the adjustments we’ve made (better location, different mulch, planting bigger seed cloves) we’re excited to see if we have a noticeable improvement in yield and quality. Also in the garlic patch, we’ve planted a couple rows of tulips and narcissus (they appreciate the mulch too!) so we’re looking forward to seeing how that turns out as well.
It’s a strange morning around here because for the first time since the beginning of May, we don’t have fruiting crops to harvest on Monday. Our fruiting crops are on a harvest schedule (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Monday, Thursday, sometimes Saturday) which contrasts with all our other crops, which are harvested as-needed. The schedule is decided based on how fast each crop typically ripens.
We harvest all fruiting crops on Mondays because it gives us a much better picture of what is available for the whole week, allowing us to put an appropriate number of units into initial CSA boxes and make them available in the online store. By September, fruiting crops are so abundant that we have to really hurry and the harvest can still take nearly all day. This creates a serious pinch on Mondays because we want to open the online store as early as possible. The pinch is between opening the store so folks have enough time to order and customize for the week and making sure we have a good picture of what is available so we build initial CSA boxes strategically with the crops that are most abundant each week. This is not just financial efficiency which keeps the farm running - this balance is absolutely key in reducing food waste on the farm.
Without fruiting crops, we still have lots of work to do every Monday: preparing the field estimates, box program, and this email, but it gets a lot more straightforward! On Saturday, we harvested the last sweet peppers to make room for planting late greens. So, there are lots of peppers for this week, but none to harvest today. Since Mondays have really opened up, we’re able to get a lot more ‘other’ jobs done. In addition to hopefully finishing the garlic planting today, we’re harvesting 4-5 beds of carrots (about 2400 lbs) with the harvester, and possibly weeding more of the tunnels!
Have a question or something you would like to hear more about in a future newsletter? Let us know at the market, farm pickup, or send an email!
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From a recent kohlrabi harvest. We trim off the leaves, piling them up as we go. Then, we come through and load them into a pallet bin before sending them to cold storage! |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Green and part-coloured Sweet Peppers
Celery! Stems are cut and bunched together
Salsa (mild and hot), Tomato sauce, Marinara, and Tomato soup!
FROM THE FIELDS
Bunched: Celery, leeks, root parsley, sorrel, kale (green, red, and Toscano), collard greens, chard, radish, green onions, hakurei turnips.
Bagged: Salad mix, arugula, spinach (limited), spicy mix (salad mix plus mustards and endive)
Heads: Celeriac, cabbage (round, caraflex, tendersweet, red), napa cabbage, choi, kohlrabi, broccoli (limited), cauliflower (white and romanesco), garlic, curly endive, escarole, radicchio, fennel, lettuces
Herbs: Thyme, rosemary, parsley, dill, cilantro, mint, marjoram, lovage.
Baskets: Carrots, beets, rutabaga, potatoes (yellow, mini), parsnips. Daikon (purple and red), Black Spanish radish. Habanero.
FROM HOOPHOUSES, TUNNELS and GREENHOUSE
Sweet pepper, chard, celery.
PANTRY
Salsa (mild and hot), Tomato sauce, Marinara sauce, and Tomato soup! Made from our vegetables and canned by C'Angelina, a London-based family business.
OTHER
New t-shirt and toque designs by Amanda!
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
Tetsukabuto squash from HOPE Eco
Fuji and Golden Delicious apples from Great Lakes
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Acorn, Tetsukabuto, Buttercup/ Kabocha and Butternut squash. Red onions and sweet potato. A cooperative of Amish families using both time-honored and innovative techniques on their organic farms.
Pfenning's Organics (New Hamburg): Potatoes (yellow and red), onions (yellow and red), shallots
Tansy Orchard (Duncan): Empire, Northern Spy, Red Delicious, Spartan. Grown on their family farm, the first organic orchard in the Beaver Valley.
Great Lakes Farms (Port Stanley): Summerland Sunset, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Ambrosia, Mutsu, Jonagold, Empire, Cortland, Honeycrisp, Gala, and McIntosh apples. Grown on their family farm, just down the road from us.
Forest City Microgreens (London): Singles and microgreen blends. Grown and hand-harvested without the use of pesticides.
Organic, sourced through Pfenning's: Ontario: garlic, mushrooms, Royal Gala and McIntosh apples, Harrow Sweet pears. Canada: tofu. Imported: bananas, citrus, ginger, turmeric.
DAIRY and EGGS
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Eggs raised in small-flocks by a cooperative of Amish families. Seasonally pasture-raised with non-GMO feed.
Mistyglen Creamery (Belmont): Whole milk, chocolate milk. Plain and flavoured cheese curds. Vat-pasteurized and in glass bottles. Raised and handcrafted on their farm.
Organic, sourced through Pfenning's: L'Ancetre pasture butter and certified grass-fed cheeses.
Gunn's Hill (Woodstock): Brie, Handeck and Five Brother's cheese. Handcrafted cheese made with milk from their farm.
FROZEN
3Gen Organics (Wallenstein): Ground pork, sausage, bacon, ham, tenderloin, chops. From their multi-generational family farm, producing organic pork and feed.
YU Ranch (Tillsonburg): Ground beef, beef patties, stewing beef. Grass-fed and finished beef raised on pastures on their family farm.
New Leaf Foods (London): Plant-based beet burgers. Handmade with locally sourced ingredients.
BAKERY
J&D Peters Tortillas (Aylmer): Corn, spelt, whole wheat and unbleached flour tortillas. Made by this family-owned local business with organic flour.
La Houlette de vie (St. Thomas): Sourdough bread and pastries with organic and organically grown grain that Seth fresh-mills himself. (Available bi-weekly. On this week)
Artisan Bakery (London): Sourdough bread and pastries made with local Arva Mills flour. Other handcrafted goods: granola, mustard.
PANTRY
Aldred Maple (West Lorne): Amber or dark maple syrup. Produced on their family farm.
Mat's Fine Oils (Staffordville): Fresh, organic and cold-pressed sunflower oil. Grown and processed on their farm with a small team of farmers and draft horses. Store in the refrigerator.
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PICKUP/ DELIVERY OPTIONS
Farm pickup: Thursday 4 pm to 8 pm.
Home delivery: Thursday or Friday in London/St.Thomas, Saturday in KW region
Western Fair Market pickup: Saturday 8 am to 3 pm / Sunday 10 am to 2pm
Kitchener Market pickup: Saturday 7 am to 2 pm
RETURNING CONTAINERS
We love to re-use wherever possible! We can take our CGF boxes and liner bags, strawberry and blueberry baskets/boxes, milk bottles, and egg cartons.
For deliveries, please leave these return items out where you would like your order dropped off. Thank you!
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Community Solidarity Program
Our Solidarity Program aims to make healthy food more accessible to economically-vulnerable households in our community by making our produce boxes available at a reduced cost. The program splits the cost three ways: 40% is covered by community donations, 30% is covered by the farm, and 30% is paid by the recipient.
This program has been running since June, and we’re really happy with how it has been going so far. Every week, between 4 and 15 Solidarity boxes are purchased by households in our community. We are really proud to strengthen our community by working together to help our neighbours access good, local food.
We’ve updated the system to accept individual and subscription donations. There is a link to donate below, but don’t hesitate to email us if you would like help adding either type of donation. We are looking forward to continuing this program together!
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Why am I on this list? At some point you signed up for our previous "farmstand" list or our newsletter list. Want to get off the list? No problem: . Common Ground Farm 6986 Middle River Road St. Thomas, Ontario N5P 3S9 |
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