Middle River Music Festival is THIS Saturday!
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Join us on the farm this Saturday to enjoy good music, food, and community. Middle River Music Fest is a single-day, family-friendly, and eco-friendly music festival where everyone is welcome!
Doors open at 2 pm for seven bands, local food, farm tours, kids activities and a DJ after-party.
Tickets are $35 in advance and rise to $50 on Saturday. Kids under 12 always free!
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See you there on 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 for pickup and delivery this week.
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Chris running the potato digger behind the tractor while a crew collects potatoes |
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Farm Update
We are digging lots of potatoes this morning. We start harvesting potatoes in early summer and only dig approximately what we need for each week. Those “new potatoes” have a very tender skin, so while they are delicious and ready to eat, the skins are not developed enough for storage.
Throughout the season we weed potatoes by hand pulling large weeds, but mostly by hilling them. As the tractor drives over each bed, the hiller pushes soil up from the bottom of the pathway to the side of the plants. This helps disturb weeds, but most importantly keeps the growing potatoes underground and avoids sun exposure (which causes green potatoes).
After the plants grow large (collecting solar energy for the below-ground tubers) and produce flowers, the above-ground parts have completed their life cycle so they start to yellow and die. The dying off (called ‘scenesing’) is a sign that the tubers are soon ready to harvest.
All summer we have continued harvesting only what we need for the week, partly to save time to get at the rest of to-do lists. Well, the potato area has started to look fairly decrepit and weeds are starting to take hold in the openings, so…. time to harvest! Great news is that the longer growing french fingerling and yellow-fleshed potatoes are out of the field and will be available now. They look good so far and we’re looking forward to taste-testing these!
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Early Roma tomato plants looking lush and in need of trellising! Bulk quantities available starting next week. |
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Bulk Vegetables
Our fruiting crops are in full swing, so it's nearly time for preserving! If you would like to request in advance and secure yours, click on the button below. Whatever we have unsold each week will be available to purchase directly in our online store.
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Lots of beefsteak and cherry tomatoes this week! It's so many tomatoes that we increased the cherry tomatoes from pints to quarts to share in the abundance. All the colours taste a little different, but are all favourites of ours. With all the varieties in production now, the team will be doing a tasting this week!
Yellow potatoes and French fingerling now available after this week's harvest.
Field: Carrots, beans, zucchini, tomatillos, salad tomatoes, eggplant, hot peppers, summer squash, potatoes, herbs (dill, cilantro, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram), salad mix, beets, arugula, cabbages, head lettuces, green onion, grilling onions, kale, and chard.
Greenhouse and hoophouses: Cucumbers, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, eggplant.
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer):Sweet corn, sugarbaby watermelon, and delicata squash.
Forest City Microgreens (London): Fresh microgreens
Field of Greens CSA Farm: Strawberries
Great Lakes Farms: Peaches
Daryl Myny (Aylmer): Spanish onions
Pfenning's: Green onions and broccoli
Through Pfenning's: Ontario mushrooms. From further away; lemons, limes, ginger, turmeric.
DAIRY and EGGS
Mistyglen Creamery (Belmont): Non-homogenized and vat pasteurized milk, yogurt, and cheese curds.
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Eggs.
Through Pfenning's: L'Ancetre butter and grass-fed cheese
Gunn's Hill (Woodstock): Brie, Handeck and Five Brother's cheeses
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
Seth/La Houlette de vie (St. Thomas): Organic sourdough bread made using local grain that Seth mills himself.
Artisan Bakery (London). Sourdoughs and pastry made with local flour.
J&D Peters Tortillas (Aylmer):Corn, spelt, whole wheat and unbleached flour tortillas.
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, organic hemp and sunflower oil. Store in the refrigerator.
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PICKUP/DELIVERY OPTIONS
Western Fair Market: Saturday 8 am to 3 pm / Sunday 10 am to 2pm
Farm pickup: Thursday 4 to 8 pm
Kitchener Farmer's Market: Saturday 7 am to 2 pm
Delivery: Thursday / Friday in London & St.Thomas and area, Saturday in KW / Cambridge (schedule will be sent out Wednesday night)
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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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