Field Sproutage

Did a field walk today & guess what I found?

That is one of the 1st wee beet babies to have popped up!

Peas are sprouting too, but I forgot to take a picture of those.

Also - garlic is looking awesome & sturdy:

And speaking of garlic, Johnny took me on a walk through Victoria Park today where he showed me some patches of wild garlic and nettle! They're going in the soup pot tonight with some re-sprouted green onions from last fall, a handful of sorrel and a wrinkled potato or 2 from the dregs of the storage bins. CAN'T WAIT!

"Real Farmers, Real Local"

So the Kitchener Farmers Market is adopting the Farmers Markets Ontario VERIFIED Farmers' Market Vendor system. Under this process, truly local producers selling only their own products can become "Verified Local" vendors & be identified as such so it is clearer to customers what they are buying.

According to the program backgrounder, "Farmers were being literally squeezed out of existing markets by resellers who continued to glut the market with food terminal sell-offs and, in some cases, told there was no room for them to sell at market.... FMO [Farmers Markets Ontario] is hopeful that we will start a trend where only real farmers with their own products will be found at markets across Ontario."

Awesome!

There will be annual inspections of "Verified Local" farms to make sure no one's cheating (the application form was quite involved!), and best of all the Kitchener Market & FMO are paying for the process so it's no extra cost to farmers. Watch for this designation when you're shopping this summer!!

Only 2 months until we start showing up for market again - hooray!

Ruby's Out!

After a field walk last night, I decided I could try a little ground prep today - got on the tractor for the 1st time this spring! Had to boost her off the car (with a CD case jammed onto the car's gas pedal to give a little extra juice while I tried to get Ruby's engine to turn over) but the whole ordeal was pretty quick & painless hooray!

Hooked up the discs & took her for a spin.

Hoping to plant the peas and carrots in the freshly prepped area by the end of the week! Here's how it looks:

Pretty exciting....

Oh - and speaking of exciting - here's how the garlic is looking now:

And the greenhouse:

Feeling pretty high on sunshine & veggie potential right now. Bring on the season!!

Garlic is up!

Walked the fields today, and discovered that the garlic we planted last fall has popped up & is looking BEAUTIFUL! So exciting to see something actually growing in the newly-melted fields.

Here's a few more pics of the fields today. 1st the dead oat cover crop (as it should be!)

Dead kale is oddly pretty.

And a few signs of recent critter visitors. Hopefully they'll find a food source elsewhere before the greens & peas start growing...