Making Progress in the Fields |
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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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The Music Festival stage will be right here in less than 2 weeks! |
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12 Days until Middle River Music Fest 2026! |
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Mark your calendars! Middle River Music Fest is back for its sixth year, right here on the farm, on Saturday, August 29. That's just 19 days away - perfect timing for the fields to dry out for you to explore.
If you've never been, picture this: a big family picnic right here on our farm, with live music drifting over the vegetables, greenhouses, and orchards. If you have been before, you know exactly why we're counting down.
This year brings 7 live bands, flower patches for the kids and the photographers among us, farm tours led by Chris, local food vendors, and a DJ afterparty to close things out under the stars.
If you've been before, you know the drill: blanket, folding chair, your people. If this is your first year, just show up and come spend the day with us!
Tickets are on sale now, and kids 12 and under are always free.
We'll see you in the fields.
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Farm Update
We’re making some progress in the fields following the flooding we experienced 2 weeks ago. With smaller rainstorms finding us every few days since the flooding event, the drying out process has been extended longer than we hoped. So, given the situation and how urgently some of our seedlings needed to be planted, we went ahead with planting, using less ideal methods which will make weeding more challenging, but that were “good enough for now”.
Thankfully we had enough sunny days last week that we were able to run the cultivating toolbar in the field on Friday. We’ve been watching some very happy weeds growing rapidly and threatening to overtake our storage crops, so it was great to knock them back. We will probably still be playing catch-up with weeds until harvest time, but we’re certainly in a better place now than we would have been!
We can now see we had (mostly) partial losses the crops affected by flooding. The good news is, we plant a lot of and many successions! This means, a few things might be slightly limited at times, but we shouldn’t run short. As for the fields, we might not be able to plant crops in some areas we had planned to this year, but we’ll seed a cover crop in those areas instead, to help the soil recover.
On the planting front, we’re finished planting most of the “Big Brassicas” for the fall/winter. Our 'Big Brassicas' are cabbage family vegetables that are transplanted as seedlings, instead of sown directly into the field. They include kale, cabbage, napa, kohlrabi, collards, and choi. These typically take so long to grow that we start planting them mid-July. Planting these are really large crew tasks that fall right on top of our regular schedule and summer complexity, adding an extra pinch on our time each year. We are excited (and relieved) to be finishing up these plantings, with only some choi to go. Now, back to our regularly scheduled planting.
Well… and getting ready to host our annual Music Festival on August 29th! Mowing, tidy and last-minute planning are on. We’re so excited to show everyone around, enjoy the music and eat good food together!
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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Morning sunlight in the thyme patch |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Yellow Potatoes start this week!
ANOTHER Big week for Watermelon and Cantaloupe!
Salad tomatoes
Watermelon is here and that means it's summer for real! Red-fleshed and with seeds (they're good for you!) watermelon is a can't-miss crop in summer heat. Variety is 'Mini Love'
Cantaloupe: Variety is called 'First Kiss' and it's sweet as can be! If you need convincing: our cantaloupe has converted multiple former cantaloupe-disliking people
From the Fields:
Bunched: Beets (red, golden, white and chioggia), sorrel, kale, chard, radish, carrots, green onions, fresh onions, fennel.
Bagged: Salad mix, spicy mix, mustards mix
Heads: Watermelon, cantaloupe, garlic, cabbage, choi, mini lettuce heads, magenta lettuce
Herbs: Green or red Genovese basil (lots right now if you want to make pesto!), tulsi (holy basil), Thai basil, mint, oregano, marjoram, dill seed heads, cilantro, flat parsley, curly parsley, rosemary
Baskets: zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, red and yellow potatoes, Serrano chilies, cayenne peppers, shishito peppers, poblano peppers, jalapeno, tomatillos
From the Greenhouse: Cucumber, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, sweet pepper.
From Hoophouses and Tunnels: Basil, eggplant, sweet pepper, beefsteak and heirloom tomatoes in quarts
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
Cantaloupe is hitting it's peak everywhere! We will also be offering it sourced from HOPE this week.
Strawberries are back after their summer break
Field of Greens Farm (Dutton): Everbearing strawberry quarts
Great Lakes Farms (Port Stanley): Peaches
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Sweet corn, green beans
Pfenning's (New Hamburg): Broccoli and cauliflower.
Through Pfenning's: Ontario mushrooms. 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. Seth is away this week and returning next week.
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.
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| 2026 General Admission Music Festival Advance Ticket |
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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 Box Program
This Program aims to make healthy food more accessible to economically-vulnerable families in our community.
In the Solidary Program, families in our community who need a little extra support can receive a medium farm share every week. Fresh, local food, grown with care — at just 1/3 of the cost. The remaining 2/3 is covered by the farm and community donations.
To learn more or donate, click the link below!
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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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