This Might be Our Driest Summer Yet!
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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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Picking beans last Friday for weekend markets |
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Farm Update
Irrigation water continues to be a challenge in our area. With the hot and dry weather this summer we have had to irrigate in our fields a lot more than we ever have and despite watering conservatively, our irrigation ponds are functionally empty. With no rain in the forecast, this may mean our fall crops may yield a lot less than planned for. Thankfully we did still have enough water to help get fall crops started. Though in a more typical year, we wouldn't be planting into soil with so much accumulated dryness.
This year however, we decided to individually hand water-in thousands of our late fall/winter cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower kale, and kohlrabi (lots of extra hard work that we will be thankful for while enjoying them in the winter!), in order to conserve water. Unfortunately the high temperatures, strong sun, and harsh wind got to some of these seedlings first and we lost quite a few cabbage. Truly, all our crops would really benefit from more water than we have access to right now.
We are already seeing some gaps from this chronic lack of water, the biggest in the last few weeks is with our salad mix. Planted and grown in dry conditions, the lettuce heads just aren’t the size they would normally be at maturity and so there was less that we could harvest. Not only are vegetables mostly made of water, but plants won't grow healthy root systems if there is no motivation (more water) to reach out to. With less water around, nutrients from the compost we added may also be more difficult to uptake, so it make sense that the heads didn’t grow as large.
For right now we are doing what we can with the little water we can access by shifting around the pumps. Any water we can get at is mostly going toward watering inside our greenhouse and hoophouses because we haven’t found enough volume to really water in the field. Since the ponds are empty we are taking the opportunity to dig them larger and deeper, so hopefully we will get a good fill into them during the winter! We feel thankful for good neighbors and fellow farmers who have offered us water and encouragement (thank you Bluegroves and Debackere’s!) though truly the most feasible answer to this challenge is more rain. We’re going to keep on track with continuing to get ready for fall and winter… and of course watching the forecast and hoping for rain!
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Our field samples of mini lettuce heads got a great rating! We love these sweet and crunchy little lettuce heads. Especially the cores! The wall of sunchokes in the background is getting ready to flower. |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
Cantaloupe: Last of the Season! Don't miss these!!
Arugula: Lots available this week! We use it both as a garnish, sandwich green and as a salad base. Fun fact: arugula is our fastest growing crop! In the summer it's ready 3 weeks after seeding.
Watermelon Radish: First of the season! We eat them peeled and raw as cruidite, roasted, in stir fries, and when grated they make an awesome and colourful addition to coleslaw.
Green onions: Back in abundance this week
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. Sweet corn, watermelon, red onion, shallots also available.
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 Lucious 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.
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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