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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The 2025 Crew
Left to right: Dhivahar, Brody, Marcelino, Erik, Chris, Jasmine, Michael, Raine, Lance, Janessa, Blayne, Laura, Jorge
Left to right (dogs): Ruby, Juno, Atlas
Not pictured: Ayla, Zach, Helena, Nolan, Sadie, Natalie, Tristan, Vic, Chloe, Max, Hailey, Pratham
Not pictured emergency summer helpers: Maya, Renee, Kathleen
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Our 2025 Season Recap!
We are back on the farm full-time this week. In addition to the regular wintertime work of prepping vegetables from cold storage and harvesting hardy greens, we are deep into planning for the season ahead! Since we began crop planning for this season and held the Year-End Review with the crew, we have been looking over lots of data from 2025 and wanted to share some… Here is our 2025 Recap!
Highest temperature: 34℃ (93.2℉)
Lowest temperature; -23℃ (-9.4℉)
Acres planted:18
Crops planted: 63
Varieties planted: 174
Seedings in our Crop Plan: 625
Trays of Seedlings: 1651+
Heads of Lettuce Transplanted: 149,248
Heads of Garlic Harvested: 16,800
Kilometers Pushing the Direct Seeder through the Field: 54.2 km or 33.7 mi
Rows of Carrots Seeded: 33,840 ft (10,314 m)
Winter Radishes in Cold Storage: 11,050 lbs
Boxes packed: 13,175+
Delivery stops: 7905
Boxes picked up at the Farm: 2,424
Boxes picked up at market: 2325 at Western Fair and 728 at Kitchener
Hours spent packing boxes: 1720
Vegetables donated to the Foodbank: $25,070
Team lunches our amazing crew: 38
Wonderful people who worked on the farm this year: 26
2025 was a challenging year weather-wise. An especially cold spring extended longer than usual, summer was extremely dry and unrelentingly hot, then in December everything froze earlier than expected. Our main irrigation pond ran completely dry and we expanded it to help avoid running out of water in the future. We moved out of the old seedling greenhouse (where we were bursting at the seams) and started figuring out the quirks and workflow in our new seedling area. We finally graduated from hand seeding every single tray, to using a drop seeder. We finished installing and started using biomass boiler and heat storage tank which has made heating the greenhouse less labour intensive and much more energy efficient. After almost 10 years of using our Kubota, we bought a second tractor. The list of changes and challenges could go on and on!
Thank you to everyone who supported the farm last year by buying vegetables or plants, reading updates and emails, saying hello at the market or farm pickup, coming to the open house or music festival. We are very, very grateful.
Here’s to an awesome 2026!
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Throwback from this summer and this weeding crew totally in the zone! |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
From the field: Bagged kale.
From storage: Carrots, beets, sunchokes, celeriac, rutabaga, kohlrabi, winter radishes, red and green cabbages
From the Greenhouse and hoophouses: Spinach, chard, parsley, dill and cilantro.
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Butternut squash and sweet potatoes.
Great Lakes Farms (Port Stanley): Macintosh, empire, gala, honeycrisp, ida red. ambrosia, sunpunch, golden delicious.
Daryl Myny (Aylmer): Spanish onions
Pfenning's Organics: Red onions, parsnip, red, yellow, and russet potatoes.
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): 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, hemp and sunflower oil. Store in the refrigerator.
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Welcoming Juno's Puppies! |
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We are thrilled to announce that our farm dog, Juno, has welcomed a litter of 12 beautiful Golden Retrievers. These puppies are being raised right here in our farmhouse living room, surrounded by the daily sights and sounds of farm life. We are looking for forever homes where these dogs will be welcomed as family members. Please follow the link below to learn more! |
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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)
RETURNING CONTAINERS
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 delivery, 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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