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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Romas are ripening almost faster than we can pick them |
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Solidarity Program Update
and Call for Donations
Our Solidarity Program has been up and running for 2 months now, so we wanted to share some insights about how it’s going so far.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Solidarity Program aims to make healthy food more accessible to economically-vulnerable households in our community. 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.
Immediately after it began in late June, the program sent boxes to 4 households. The usage accelerated substantially, with 19 boxes in July, and 30 in August. Solidarity boxes have gone to over 20 homes, and about 50% of recipients have purchased a box more than once.
Since it began, this community has donated over $1400 to fund the program and help their neighbours access good, local food. As of now, over $1000 from that donation pool has been used to pay the community funded portion of each box. With the current usage rate, we expect the rest of the donation pool will be used up before the end of September.
We’re really happy with how it has being going so far, both excited and grateful by how the community has contributed. 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 form of donation. We are looking forward to continuing this program together!
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Farm Update
It’s a big tomato week on the farm again and fall 2026 is now officially dubbed “Tomato-gedden”. We continue to have lots to harvest, so we’re trying to both savour the season and make best use of everything we have.
We only planted slightly more tomatoes than last year, but have way more this season. After being disappointed with tomatoes all last season, we’ve made some changes to our system. Better variety selection and timing, more supplemental fertility when the plants started producing, and a focus on preventing disease on young plants rather than reacting to it happening are all areas we've adjusted.
Another focus has been recording detailed data about how much labour we're dedicating to tomatoes at all steps in the process. We will review everything in the winter and with better data and hindsight on our side, we might consider planting less next year or figuring out some other outlets for when we are in peak production.
For now, we are sending out a lot more bulk orders of tomatoes for folks who are doing home preservation. We also sent a really large batch to C’Angelina again, a family-owned business in London who has been making tomato soup and sauce out of our tomatoes for us for the last few years.
Both good news and bad news - this avalanche of tomatoes will be ending very soon. We have started seeding the lettuce, spinach and other hardy greens which will occupy the tomato tunnels in the fall/winter. Seeding these puts a hard deadline on tomatoes, so in the next 3 weeks, most of the tomatoes will have to be removed to make space for these late greens. We know this means a big bump in our workload over the next weeks, but it also means that if you want to save tomatoes for winter- don’t wait!
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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Good sight to see: A tomato hornworm covered in parasitic braconid wasp eggs. This parasitic wasp really helps us out in controlling the hornworm population and preventing them from eating our tomato plants |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Some ways the farm crew is enjoying fresh tomatoes:
-Pico de gallo: fresh tomato salsa, and Salsa Roja: red salsa
-Gazpacho: fresh tomato soup served cold
-Channa masala: tomato-based chickpea curry
-Arroz con tomate: tomato rice
-Tomato soup with grilled cheese
-Menemen: poached eggs in tomato sauce
-Stewed, with navy beans and sage
-Amoglio: fresh tomato and garlic sauce
-Bruschetta, pan con tomate, and open faced sandwich: so many ways to eat tomatoes on bread!
-'September Soup': pureed soup with tomato, red pepper, squash, and lots of cilantro!
-Sliced, on a plate, with salt and pepper (and maybe olive oil!)
-Eaten like an apple
Fall crops starting: Leeks, Celeriac, Root parsley, Collard greens
From the Fields:
Bunched: Leeks, root parsley, sorrel, kale, collard greens, chard, radish, carrots, fennel.
Bagged: Salad mix, arugula, mustard greens, spicy salad mix (lettuce + mustard greens), spinach
Heads: Celery, broccoli, garlic, cabbage, choi
Herbs: Green or red Genovese basil, tulsi (holy basil), Thai basil, mint, marjoram, dill, cilantro, flat parsley, curly parsley, rosemary
Baskets: Sweet peppers,eggplant, yellow potatoes, tomatoes, roma tomatoes, salad tomatoes, green tomatoes, beets, beans, Serrano chilies, cayenne peppers, shishito peppers, poblano peppers, jalapeno, tomatillos, Salsa Verde packs
From Hoophouses and tunnels:
Beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet pepper, basil
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
Spaghetti squash and Buttercup/Kabocha from HOPE
Empire and Cortland apples from Great Lakes
Royal Gala apples and Asian Pears through Pfenning's
Field of Greens Farm (Dutton): Everbearing strawberries
Great Lakes Farms (Port Stanley): Empire, Cortland, Sunrise, Paula Red, Zestar and Ginger Gold apples. Bartlett Pears.
Daryl Myny (Vienna, ON): Spanish onions, Honeynut squash, delicata squash
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Sweet corn, red onions, watermelon, sweet potato, Spaghetti squash, Buttercup/ Kabocha squash.
Pfenning's (New Hamburg): Cauliflower.
Through Pfenning's: Ontario mushrooms, Royal Gala and McIntosh apples, Lucious and Asian pears. Canadian tofu. From further away, citrus, ginger, turmeric.
DAIRY and EGGS
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Eggs
Through Pfenning's: L'Ancetre butter and grass-fed cheeses
Gunn's Hill (Woodstock): Brie, Handeck and Five Brother's cheese
FROZEN
3Gen Organics (Wallenstein): Ground pork, sausage, bacon, ham, tenderloin, chops
YU Ranch (Tillsonburg): Pasture-raised ground beef, beef patties, stewing beef
New Leaf Foods (London): Plant-based beet burgers
BAKERY
J&D Peters Tortillas (Aylmer): Corn, spelt, whole wheat and unbleached flour tortillas.
La Houlette de vie (St. Thomas):Sourdough bread and pastry with grain that Seth fresh-mills himself
Artisan Bakery (London): Sourdough bread and pastries made with local flour
PANTRY
Aldred Maple (West Lorne): Amber, dark, or whiskey barrel-aged maple syrup.
Wildflowers Honey (St. Thomas): Unpasteurized honey from hives all over Elgin County, including our farm!
Mat's Fine Oils (Staffordville): Fresh, organic and cold-pressed, hemp and sunflower oil. Store in the refrigerator.
From the Land Fermented Products (Port Stanley): Fire cider, elderberry syrup
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BULK FRUITING CROPS
Now available:
Habanero and other hot peppers
Roma tomatoes, Beefsteak tomatoes, seconds beefsteak tomatoes
Organic, local, and downright delicious! Bulk fruiting crops will be available now through the end of October. Inventory is updated every Monday. Order until Wednesday at 12pm for pickup/delivery options later in the week.
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PICKUP/ DELIVERY OPTIONS
Farm pickup: Thursday 4pm-8pm.
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
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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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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