Music Festival on the Farm this Saturday! |
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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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More than great music and good food, Chris will be doing a guided tour of the farm at the Music Festival. We're looking forward to showing everyone how it all happens! |
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Middle River Music Festival
Saturday August 29th
Come join your farmers and community this Satuday for Middle River Music Festival, right here on the farm!
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.
7 Bands – An eclectic mix of sounds under the open sky
Food vendors – Local eats, cold drinks, and tasty treats
Farm tour – Explore our organic vegetable farm
Flower garden – A family adventure & photo ops
Kids activities – The little ones will be happy all day
After party DJ – Keep the energy going as the sun sets
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!
Kids 12 and under are always free.
We'll see you in the fields!
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Farm Update
Aside from preparing for the music festival on Saturday, we are deep in late-summer mode here on the farm. Incredibly, we are almost done planting in the field for this year! By the end of this week we’ll be 96% done planting in the field. The last succession of salad mix and herbs are growing up nicely in the greenhouse, getting ready for transplanting in just a few weeks. After that, it’s just fast-growing, cold-hardy greens like arugula and spinach to direct sow outside.
Our summer crops are taking cues from these slightly cooler nights and shorter days, ripening fruits really rapidly. All the sudden we have tons of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and melons. In the case of tomatoes, we have so many that we’ve started to make canning quantities available too.
Aside from harvest, top of our minds is hand weeding all the winter storage carrots and beets we planted before all our summer crew goes back to school! The beets are a little extra weedy, but the carrot beds are pretty clean, so we think this project will be a little less intense than some previous years. It’s still a big task though, so we’re eager to get through it while we have so many sets of hands on the farm!
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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We love having so many folks gathered together for the festival. See you on Saturday! |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
We have 1/2 bushels of romas!
And lots of tomatoes of all shapes and sizes
Salad Tomatoes are a mix of "verona" which is a large grape tomato and "mountain magic" a small round tomato. Often voted the best tasting tomatoes in our very scientific tasting sessions.
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, arugula
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
Hoophouses and tunnels: beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, sweet pepper, basil, eggplant
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
LAST WEEK FOR PEACHES!
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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BULK FRUITING CROPS
Now available:
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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