Fall in Full Force:
Will it Frost Tonight?
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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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Fall crops are rolling in! We did our first bulk harvest of cabbage last week. About 700 of these cabbages were hand-harvested and sent into cold storage. |
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FARM UPDATE
It's a big week on the farm as we move through more of our late-season transplanting in hoophouses and navigate some of our biggest harvests of the year.
Thanksgiving weekend tends to be a busy week for the box program, and a seasonal peak at markets. We have a wide range of crops in season, so this amplifies the harvest workload and complexity. Luckily, we still have some warmer-season crops like beans, tomatoes, basil, and peppers hanging on, but we will be taking some extra precautions to protect them because we have a frost risk tonight.
We are very glad to have more salad mix for this week. The rain and flooding we had in August made normal bed preparation impossible, stunting crop growth and resulting in limited recent harvests. Fortunately, we are into newer lettuce successions planted in much better conditions, bringing us much closer to our normal seasonal volume. It's a good thing too - there is a higher demand for XL bags of salad mix on Thanksgiving weekend!
One thing that alleviates some workload this week: no transplants to seed! This is the first week in all of 2026 where we don't have any transplants scheduled to seed on our crop plan. From now (week 41) until week 52, we have plants to start, but they are all fast-maturing greens which are sown directly into the soil instead of started in trays and planted out later. It generally takes anywhere from 6-14 hours a week to make and seed trays of transplants, so this is a big shift.
This afternoon we are running around closing tunnels, hoophouses, and putting row cover on some field crops. It might not be necessary, but with the risk of frost before a big harvest week, it is totally worth it!
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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Fennel (10 months), basking in the sun. She is a wonderful addition to the farm family and loves saying hello to us in the field. Fennel loves: eating her veggies (especially tomatoes) and stealing anything she can get her paws on (rags, pens, wrenches - you name it)! She and her Mom, Juno, get into a lot mischief together. Our internet is down today because they dug up and chewed through the cable while trying to catch something! |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Winter radishes are starting! Purple and Red daikon available.
Returning for the fall: Hakurei Salad Turnips and Curly Endive
FROM our FIELD
Bunched: Leeks, root parsley, sorrel, kale (green, red, and Toscano), collard greens, chard, radish, carrots, fennel, green onions, hakurei turnips.
Bagged: Salad mix, arugula, spinach (limited), mustard greens, spicy mix (salad mix plus mustards and endive)
Heads: Celeriac, cabbage (round, caraflex, tendersweet, red), choi, kohlrabi, broccoli (limited), garlic, curly endive
Herbs: Sage, thyme, rosemary, parsley, basil (green, red, Thai and tulsi (holy basil)), dill, cilantro, mint, marjoram, lovage.
Baskets: Beans (green or yellow), carrots, rutabaga, potatoes (yellow, French fingerling, mini), parsnips, root parsley, beets (red, white, chioggia, mixed). Daikon (purple and red). Sweet peppers, tomatoes (Roma or salad), green (unripe) tomatoes, hot peppers (serrano, cayenne, shishito, poblano), tomatillos, Salsa Verde packs
FROM HOOPHOUSES, TUNNELS and GREENHOUSE
Roma tomatoes, sweet pepper, basil (green, red, Thai and tulsi (holy basil))
PANTRY
Tomato sauce and tomato-vegetable soup made with our produce
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
NEW: Organic apples from Tansy Orchard in Duncan, Ontario!
PRODUCE
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): Mutsu, Jonagold, Empire, Cortland, Sunrise, Paula Red, Honeycrisp, Gala, and McIntosh apples. Grown on their family farm, just down the road from us.
Daryl Myny (Vienna, ON): Spanish onions, Honeynut and delicata squash. Family owned and operated organic farm specializing in alliums and squashes.
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Spaghetti, Buttercup/ Kabocha, Delicata and Butternut squash. Red onions and sweet potato. A cooperative of Amish families using both time-honored and innovative techniques on their organic farms.
Organic, sourced through Pfenning's: Ontario: mushrooms, Royal Gala and McIntosh apples, Luscious and Asian pears. Canada: tofu and cranberries. Imported: bananas, citrus, ginger, turmeric.
DAIRY and EGGS
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Small-flock raised eggs by a cooperative of Amish families Seasonally pasture-raised with non-GMO feed.
Mistyglen Creamery (Belmont): Whole milk, chocolate milk, and seasonal Mocha 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): 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.
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. Made with organic flour by this family-owned local business.
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 Arva Mills flour. Other handcrafted goods like granola, mustard, and chili crisp.
PANTRY
Aldred Maple (West Lorne): Amber, dark, or whiskey barrel-aged maple syrup.
Wildflowers Honey (St. Thomas): Unpasteurized honey harvested from hives all over Elgin County. Some of the hives are at our 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.
From the Land Fermented Products (Port Stanley): Fire cider, elderberry syrup
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| Organic Northern Spy Apples |
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BULK OPTIONS
Now available:
Habanero and other hot peppers
Roma tomatoes
Pickling Beets
Carrots
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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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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 being 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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