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Planting Through Changing Day Lengths
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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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Transplanting lettuce, which we will re-build one of our field tunnels around!
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Farm Update
Fall Equinox is here. This midway point between the longest and shortest days of the year means a lot to us as farmers. For one, it means we better have everything planted by now!
Colder temperatures do slow plants down, but shorter daylight hours mean our crops have fewer and fewer minutes to photosynthesise and grow. Even our fast-growing crops (arugula, radish, and mustard greens) need to be in the field now to mature before the first freezes.
We keep track of our crop plan and records on (several) spreadsheets where we have a setting to adjust projected harvest dates by the changing daylight hours. For example, arugula may be ready in as little as 21 days after seeding, but that is based on peak season conditions. With our daylight-hours adjustment, we know that the arugula we planted on September 18th will likely take closer to 45 days (more than twice as long!) to mature. So, it is likely ready near the end of October and not the beginning.
A few other factors can impact that projected harvest date, like protecting the crop with row cover, planting indoors, and of course, extreme weather. Often, when we plant indoors, we look at both the adjusted and non-adjusted numbers and make an educated guess. That is the key with these planning tools; they are really, really useful (especially when the plan is made way in advance each January), but these are still just tools. Good plans come from experience, observation, and a healthy dose of experimentation. With all that, it works out for the most part!
With all our field planting finished for this year, we have hoophouses and the greenhouse to plant over the next few weeks. We are looking forward to this last quarter of the year and all the harvest yet to come. Happy Equinox!
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In this photo, you can see the posts and string lines marking where the edges of the tunnel will be. We do not plant right up to the edges, because the plants on the outside are a lot colder in late-fall and often do not come to full size.
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Roma tomatoes: Some half bushels will be available for purchase directly in our store this week. Look in the Bulk Vegetables section
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, kohlrabi, head lettuces, green onion, W kale, and chard.
Greenhouse and hoophouses: Cucumbers, basil, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant.
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Winter squash is here! Kabocha/buttercup, spaghetti, butternut, honeynut and delicata squash. Sweet potatoes are also back in season.
Field of Greens CSA Farm: Strawberry pints and flats
Great Lakes Farms (Port Stanley): MacIntosh, courtland, gala, honeycrisp, ginger gold apples.
Forest City Microgreens (London): Fresh microgreens
Daryl Myny (Aylmer): Spanish onions
Through Pfenning's: Ontario pears, shallots, mushrooms. From further away; Paula red apples, 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.
Lewis Baked Goods (St. Thomas): Organic sourdough ready-to-use pizza crusts
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)
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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