Winter Seeding and New(ish) Crops
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Order vegetables before Wednesday at 12pm for pickup at the Farm (Friday) or Western Fair Market (Saturday). No delivery this week.
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A look inside one of our snow-covered feild tunnels during a crop survey last week. We were really happy with how the spinach (right) regrew and impressed with how hardy the mâche turned out to be.
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Farm Update
This week, we are looking forward to making progress on various projects on the farm. This is the first winter ‘Off Week’, so we are still taking pre-orders for pickup, but aren't packing subscription or delivery boxes. That gap in production means we can dedicate more focus to taking early steps in this new season. Winter weather generally causes tasks to take longer, but no matter the pace, this season is taking form.
We started lots of transplants last week and will continue doing so this week. We seeded enough transplants to fill a few greenhouse beds each with lettuce mix, arugula, mustard greens, and a little bit of red Russian kale. It’s more seedlings than we initially planned on, but there were some unexpected openings. Unfortunately, the chard we normally harvest from the greenhouse through the winter met an early end. We will be glad to have those beds full with new transplants again soon and eagerly await the backup chard that is still maturing in Hoophouse 1.
A nice surprise last week was the beautifully regrown spinach from one of our field tunnels. The plants persevered through some extremely cold days and nights. With milder days last week, we were able to harvest more than expected.
Accompanying the spinach was a re-trial crop of mâche. We grew these little lettuce heads years ago, but removed them from our rotation to focus on improving our skills at growing crops (like spinach) that are more familiar in our area. Mind you - we do grow over 60 crops already, but we are looking forward to adding a little extra diversity this year, including with mâche.
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Planting early tomatoes in the greenhouse on March 7th last year! Believe it or not, that planting date is only 58 days away. |
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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, parsley, dill and cilantro.
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FROM OUR SUPPLIERS:
PRODUCE
HOPE Eco-Farms (Aylmer): Butterkin 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, leeks, red, yellow, and russet potatoes.
Through Pfenning's: Ontario mushrooms,. From further away, shallots, citrus, giner, turmeric.
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 OPTIONS
No delivery this week. Delivery is available bi-weekly until May.
Farm pickup: Friday 1pm-7pm
Western Fair Market: Saturday 8 am to 3 pm / Sunday 10 am to 2pm
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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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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