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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Trellis lines set up, tomato plants laid out and ready for planting! We harvested the centre row of salad mix a little before it was full-sized to make room for the tomatoes. The remaining lettuce will be ready over the next 2-3 weeks
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Farm Update
We are so happy to have planted our early tomatoes in the Greenhouse last week! The plants were huge and thriving now that they have so much more room to grow roots.
Its easy to forget that with in project like tomato planting, 80% (or more) of the work comes before the actual planting part. First, we harvested lettuce and pulled out the residual stems to make room for the tomatoes. We calculated, measured, added extra nutrients to the soil (tomatoes are hungry plants!) and worked it into the top layer of soil. We gather trellising lines, twine, clips and hang them all. Then, we make a plan for where to plant each variety and try our best to make sure they don't get mixed up because it makes trellising and harvest way smoother to have types in a thoughtful place. After measuring the space between plants and laying plants out in the right order, then we are ready to plant!
Planting is a little complicated because these grafted tomatoes are vulnerable to breaking. We supported them with a trellis line right away because they were already so large, and lastly, turned on the drip irrigation to make sure they were nicely hydrated.
This week, we will check in on them more than usual to make sure they're looking healthy and acclimating well. We always graft a few extra plants of each variety in case something happens, so if one or two were damaged somehow, we aren't left with an empty spot in this premium greenhouse space.
A bigger challenge would be if the greenhouse heat fails, vents malfunction, or irrigation/weather causes a flood because we cannot replace the whole planting without being set back about 5 weeks. So, as long as we pay extra attention to these plants while they're young and vulnerable, we should have delicious early tomatoes by mid-May/June.
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Some of the tomato beds were free of maturing greens, so we transplanted basil alongside them |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
We have tons of spinach on hand! Great time to enjoy it fresh, or choose an XL bag and freeze some of the abundance.
Chard has made a re-appearance!
From the Greenhouse and hoophouses: Arugula, salad mix and spinach. Chard, flat and curly parsley. Living Genovese basil plants.
From storage: Carrots, sunchokes, celeriac, kohlrabi, and winter radishes. Dried herbs from the farm!
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
NEW: Artisan Bakery products, including Classic Sourdough as a pan loaf, Roasted Garlic Foccacia, Wholegrain Mustard, and Chili Crisp
La Houlette de vie: Seth is away this week.
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Sweet potatoes.
Great Lakes Farms (Port Stanley): Empire, Gala, Honeycrisp, ambrosia, Sunpunch, Golden Delicious.
Pfenning's Organics (New Hamburg): Beets, cabbage, yellow onions, leeks, red, yellow, and russet potatoes.
Through Pfenning's: Ontario mushrooms, garlic, and red delicious apples. Canadian tofu. From further away, shallots, citrus (incl. grapefruit), ginger, turmeric, broccoli, celery.
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.
La Houlette de vie (St. Thomas): Sourdough bread and pastry with grain that Seth fresh-mills himself ***off this 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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| Artisan Whole Grain Mustard |
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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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Middle River Music Fest 2026
Mark your calendars for August 29th, 2026! We are so excited to host the 6th annual Middle River Must Fest here on the farm. Look out for early bird tickets that go on sale in May!
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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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