We Had 55mm of Rain Last Week! |
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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 at 12pm for pickup and delivery this week.
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Picture from Friday when we were finally able to plant potatoes! Here, Lance is dropping seed potatoes into a trench made on Tuesday before the rainstorm. We are so glad the trenches were closed on Friday afternoon, or these potatoes would have been swimming on Saturday! |
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Early Bird tickets available until the end of May!
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Farm Update
We are very, very thankful that the farm made it through the severe storms last week without any damage. On Tuesday evening we had warnings for a tornado, and aggressive rain. We especially worry about the greenhouse in situations like this because it may still be warm enough inside that the automatic vents will stay open, but it’s a huge risk to leave vents open in high winds. Luckily we had a small team on the farm who were able to close up the tunnels, hoophouses and force close the greenhouse vents before the weather got too intense and unsafe.
That heavy rain on Tuesday kept our fields quite wet right up until Friday afternoon. We had a really small window where things were dry enough on Friday to prep a areas and plant potatoes, but we couldn’t do nearly as much work as we needed to do. Directly following that window on Friday, we had even more rain on Saturday, bringing the week total to almost 55mm. Though we have a sandy enough soil, that’s a lot of rain in a short time frame.
This week is supposed to be sunny and warm, but with how wet the fields are, we don’t expect to be able to get in again until Wednesday at the earliest. There is plenty for us to do in the field and the big, long to-do list in on our whiteboard is staring us down! The list includes a lot of once-a-year plantings (celery, celeriac, herbs) in addition to the regularly scheduled lettuce transplanting and direct sowing. It’s a lot to fit in a regular week, even if the conditions were more straightforward.
There isn’t anything we can do to get into the fields before Wednesday, it just poses a logistical challenge. The crew is really big this time of year, so it can be challenging to have enough meaningful work for everyone to do while the fields are still wet early this week. Then Wednesdays to Fridays we are already really busy with harvest and packing for subscription boxes, orders and weekend farmer’s markets, so it will also be difficult to balance everything later on as well.
It’s a little ironic that last year was so dry that we used all the water in our main irrigation pond, dug it twice as large, and now it is predicted to be a wet year in our area! At the very least the pond is continuing to fill so we’re more resilient in future drought years.
Have a question or something you would like to hear more about in a future newsletter? Let us know at the market, farm pickup, or send an email!
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Sophia learning to harvest cucumbers this morning! While it's wet out in the fields we'll get a chance to catch up on trellising these and all our other early, trellised crops. |
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FARM STORE NOTES
FROM OUR FARM:
New this week: our own Green Garlic!
Green garlic is the young garlic plant before it has developed a full bulb. Since bulbs take a long time to mature, we plant extra garlic plants each fall so that we can pull more early to have as green garlic.
The texture is somewhere between leek and green onion, and it has a nice strong, fresh garlic flavour. Take off the leaves that stick out (similar to processing leek) and chop up the rest to use anywhere you would use garlic cloves. If you're looking to feature it, green garlic can be grilled and the slightly vegetal quality brings a fresh flavour to savoury dishes like potato soup!
From the Field: Spinach, mint, lovage, thyme, sorrel, oregano, marjoram, dill, cilantro, green garlic.
From the Greenhouse: Cucumber, beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes (limited)
From Hoophouses and Tunnels: Salad mix, arugula (limited), basil, dill, cilantro, red radishes, choi, bunched beets, green onions.
From storage: Sunchokes and winter radishes.
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
Ontario Roma tomatoes
Asparagus from Pfenning's
Canadian Fiddleheads
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Rhubarb, romaine, sweet potatoes.
Pfenning's Organics (New Hamburg): Asparagus, carrots, yellow onions, red, yellow, and russet potatoes.
Through Pfenning's: Ontario mushrooms and Roma tomatoes. Canadian fiddle heads and tofu. From further away, citrus, ginger, turmeric, broccoli.
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): Corn, spelt, whole wheat and unbleached flour tortillas.
La Houlette de vie (St. Thomas): Sourdough bread and pastry with grain that Seth fresh-mills himself
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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| 2026 Music Festival May Early Bird Ticket |
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PICKUP/ DELIVERY OPTIONS
Farm pickup: Thursday 4pm-8pm.
Home delivery: Thursday or Friday in London/St.Thomas, Saturday in KW region
Western Fair Market pickup: Saturday 8 am to 3 pm / Sunday 10 am to 2pm
Kitchener Market pickup: Saturday 7 am to 2 pm
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 deliveries, please leave these return items out where you would like your order dropped off. Thank you!
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