The Garlic Is Planted

True garlic planting weather is here. Grey skies, blustery winds, rain showers ushered in the time to put these babies to bed for the winter. We also planted a few rows of garlic seed to produce spring garlic next year. Just the hay mulch duvet to apply and the eight rows will be snug ahead of the freeze and snow.

Gundi also put her castells and candlesticks to bed this week, planting them out on a grassy bank at the top of the laneway (see picture above). They look happy, perky even, and they gleam in the sunlight. Gundi too is happy, with a sense of closure after having these creations sitting about idly, unsold for too long.

The field greens are mostly plowed under and hay bales have been rolled out to provide mulch and a rest to hard working beds in our top field. We did the same last year to beds in the lower field. A milpa three sisters mix of corn, beans and zucchini was planted into the hay in the spring, and by summer the worm activity and healthy vegetable production were a joy to behold. The hay is now worked right in to the soil, enriching it deeply.

So, it is now down to the two greenhouses to produce the fall greens for the rest of the year, until winter holidays call us away to Cuba. With the easing of farming pressures, now is a good time to get away for a break in the old country. My niece Anna is marrying her Dan in Shrewsbury, so I will get to see family (including my two sisters, three nieces, one nephew, one brother-in-law) again. After a few days solo in Snowdonia, I am also getting together at a north Wales farmhouse to reunite with Neil, Andy, and Jeremy, my Oxford college buddies. Unbelievably, it is now almost forty years since we met at Pot Hall! The two Brick Works markets that I will be away for on November 15 and 22 will be the first misses of the year. 

Colourful Mustard Greens

What a glorious clear, bright, sunny day, with the fall colours intensifying. The mustard greens are getting colourful too. At Evergreen Don Valley Brick Works market tomorrow, we will have arugula, spicy & mixed greens, lettuce mix, lots of garlic, fresh romano beans, 100% grass-fed beef (including steaks, roasts, ground, stew, ribs). Maybe see you there?

Celebrating Organic

Content From: Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA)

Published Monday, Sep. 08 2014, 2:54 PM EDT

From The Globe & Mail Friday, Sep. 19 2014

                             

Bees on the lavender at Rolling Hills Organics last summer; hardly any bees this summer

What started over a couple drinks one night during the recession has turned into a nationwide celebration with an ever-growing number of participants from all walks of life, says Matthew Holmes, executive director of the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA).

Canada’s National Organic Week, held from September 20 to 28, is the largest annual celebration of organic food, farming and products across the country. Organized by COTA, Canadian Organic Growers (COG) and the Canadian Health Food Association (CHFA), the event’s popularity reflects the high regard Canadians have for organic, says Holmes.

“Organic Week started in late 2008,” he recalls. “A colleague from Canadian Organic Growers (COG) and I decided we needed a focus point for the brands and consumers that were behind organic and were driving the growth of the market.”

At the time, there wasn’t much data available, according to Holmes, who knew that the organic market was growing but didn’t have much information on who was buying organic. “Even while people were cutting back and penny-pinching, they were increasingly choosing to buy quality food for their families,” he says.

In the five years since the inception of Organic Week, the organic market has seen substantial growth. Thanks to the increasing demand for organic products, approximately 5,000 certified organic producers and manufacturers are now operating in Canada. Organic food sales reached $3.5-billion in 2012, three times what was sold in 2006, making Canada the world’s fourth largest organic market.

“Organic farming is helping to revive our rural communities,” she says. “It has attracted a whole new diverse generation of farmers in Canada, many of whom didn’t even grow up in rural settings. More and more people are choosing to farm organically because they want to be part of an amazing organic community and they have an unwavering belief in the principles of organic production.”

Another development worthy of celebration is the growing awareness that sustainably grown organic food benefits our environment, families and communities, says St Hilaire. “Canadians have become highly literate consumers, who are very conscious of what they feed themselves and their families.”

CHFA president Helen Long agrees. “Canadians can feel confident that when they purchase a product with the Canada organic logo, they are not only investing in their health, but also supporting sustainable environmentally friendly practices and animal welfare,” she says, adding that with over 1,000 members across Canada dedicated to natural health and organic products, CHFA is proud to once again support Organic Week and shine a spotlight on the important impact the organic industry has for Canadians.

The bees have found the sumac

I have been monitoring the buckwheat to see if the bees find it this year. Two years ago, I reported that wild bees were foraging in abundance on the flowers. Last summer I was sad to see only very few. Yesterday the flowers were in peak bloom and, lo and behold, the air was abuzz with pollinating insects of all kinds, including wild bees. On close inspection, I was intrigued to find them all over the staghorn sumac adjacent to the field of buckwheat, where they were feeding to a lesser extent. Wherever they find their food, that's fine with me. It is a relief to see them at all!

Isn't It Ironic?

                       Our small certified organic farm                                     GM soybean harvest

                                                  

On May 24, millions of activists from around the world will once again March Against Monsanto, calling for the permanent boycott of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other harmful agro-chemicals. Currently, marches will occur on six continents, in 52 countries, with events scheduled in over 400 cities.

May 24 this year also happens to be my 58^th birthday. I will be at Evergreen Brick Works farmers market in Toronto, selling Rolling Hills Organics pre-washed salad greens (arugula, mixed greens, spicy greens, baby beet greens, baby lettuce mix, baby spinach, baby kale, baby chard), herbs and spices, and grass-fed, grass-finished beef. It is important to me to be there every week in person, to offer customers a one-on-one alternative to the chemicalized and genetically-modified offerings of the industrial food system.

Paraphrasing something that I read somewhere on the wonderful world wide web,

It is an irony that we, as a small farm, are mandated to pay annually to be verified (certified) as organic, whilst large industrial-scale farms are paid (subsidized) by our governments to grow pesticide-laden ‘commodity’ crops which are, for the most part, genetically modified and which have untested and potentially unforeseen dangerous consequences for our health and that of the biota that share the land with us.

Gundi's birthday

Today is Gundi’s birthday. This afternoon we went for a walk in Warkworth along Mill Creek, seeing the river bubbling and meandering along, a hawk swoop to pick out a fish lunch, and greenery unfurling everywhere.

This Spring, after the longest winter we can remember, we have been pleased to see Nature re-assert her authority with the re-appearance of a number of our treasured creatures – bumblebees, wild bees, green frogs, purple- and gold-finches, hummingbirds, rose breasted grosbeaks, Baltimore orioles, and today, bluebirds. OK, we have to put up with groggy blackflies beginning to bite, chipmunks and squirrels filling their cheeks with sunflower seeds, and raccoons and skunks sneaking out from the undergrowth. Today we stopped the car to help a very snappy snapping turtle across the road. It is just giddying to see Spring progressing at full tilt.

As we both enjoy Spring birthdays, we get to celebrate by eating outside al fresco.  Tonight’s birthday dinner was served as the thunder was rolling overhead, and just ahead of a welcome rain. Shrimp and scallops seared in ginger, garlic and olive oil, with rice, tomato salad, super-fresh and tender asparagus picked at a neighbour’s patch and gifted us. Con Freixenet negro bubbly y vino tinto chileno (carmenère), of course. Salud!

Outdoor Market Season is here

It being the beginning of May, the outdoor farmers market season starts for us at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto’s Don Valley this Saturday, May 3. This means an early start with the alarm clock going off at 4.30am (much earlier for some farmers who travel from farther afield).  The outdoor market runs as in previous years, from 8am to 1pm.

It has been a long winter for everyone, of course, with more than our normal share of cold, snow, and especially ice. We stayed home this winter with wood-fires blazing, eyeing with envy the cheerful reports from friends in hot climes. Spring has been tortuously slow and steady, like a dripping tap. However, we now find ourselves just a little behind in our seasonal rhythm of digging the beds and planting in the greenhouses. Outside, the landscape is regaining some colour and contrast as the grasses green, the garlics poke their heads up, and the dandelions and weeds follow. Heavy rains the last few days have left the brown earth furrows in the plowed fields temporarily waterlogged.

The beds in the greenhouses are now fully planted and beginning to fill in nicely with early spring greens. At market this week, we will have bags of pre-washed arugula, baby spinach, mixed greens, spicy greens, and baby kale – all certified organic and freshly-picked on Friday, of course. Next week, there will be more of these, plus baby lettuce mix and maybe baby beet greens.

And so another growing season is underway. The joy and wonder in seeing these tiny seeds turn into succulent, nutritious food never wanes. This year, we are focusing marketing efforts on Saturday Brick Works and Tuesday afternoon (this year 2 to 7pm) Riverdale Park farmers markets.  I look forward to market season and interacting with our lovely, loyal customers once more.

See you at market!