Surviving The Snow Storm

So, I guess you can call what we had last week a snow storm, mainly because it was the first snow of the season.  We did have major snow accumulation and all the produce was under the snow.  Before it snowed the temperature dropped for a couple of days and then we got this massive snow dump. I was thinking at the time, too bad the snow didn't come first for insulation.  Today I went out to take pictures to prove how amazing these greens are. The front yard has Mustard Greens (Red), Rainbow Swiss Chard and Cilantro.

Mustard Greens

Rainbow Swiss Chard and Cilantro 

As you can see, they are still beautiful and what I can tell you is that they taste beautiful also. They were completely buried under the snow for a couple of days.  I'm sure my neighbours are quite surprised to see me out there harvesting after all that severe weather.

I went to the back yard and to take some pictures of the kale and the cold frame.  Yesterday, I had to thin the greens in the cold frame so I took those in to eat.  I also harvested what I think will be the last of the beets. I said that the last time I harvested 22 beets but I'm pretty sure this is the last time for the beets. I can't imagine that they will grow any at this time.

Greens inside cold frame

Kale with carrots up front

I love harvesting at any time of the year but especially in December!

Happy harvesting to those who still have produce in their gardens.

Summertime and the Livin' Is Easy...Except For Urban Farmers

It’s been quite some time since our last blog entry and this is only an indication of how busy we’ve been with the day to day labour of growing food on the urban farm, and also an indication of how busy Blogger Bob has been with trying to complete some home renovations that were started . . . oh . . . a long time ago!
With five gardens in production this year,  we are very busy indeed.   After all the preparation and planting, there is the weeding, watering, bug collecting and slug slaying and then of course the harvesting.

CSA box from mid-June

Our first  CSA boxes of the 2010 season were delivered on June 3rd, but we were harvesting some crops as early as the third week of May.   Early in the season we had radishes, pea shoots, rhubarb, arugula, spinach, swiss chard and a greens mix.  We also started harvesting chives and a variety of herbs such as sorrel, oregano, lemon balm, sage and lavender.

 A few weeks into June we added a lettuce mix, garlic scapes, Egyptian onions and beet greens to the CSA boxes.

Some special projects were completed earlier in the year.  We finally completed a rain barrel installation at the Murray Hill garden.  It includes three 214 litre barrels plumbed together and collecting the rainfall from the southern slope of our roof.  It takes surprisingly little rainfall (20 – 30 mm) to completely fill the system which holds around 640 litres when full.   The barrels are elevated about six feet above the level of the garden beds so while there is enough pressure to use a hose for watering the flow rate doesn’t come close to what we have from the municipal water supply.  We might install a fixed irrigation system in the garden beds where we feed the barrel water through buried hoses to the root zones of the growing beds.
Rain barrels at the Murray Hill gardenPotato towers at the Hawthorne garden

This season we are also experimenting with potato towers at the Hawthorne garden.  The idea behind the potato towers is that as the plants grow in these square frames soil and mulch are added on top to keep the plants growing upward, and boards are added to the sides as the season progresses to keep the whole thing enclosed and then at harvest time we take the side boards off from the bottom and harvest the potatoes from the bottom up.
Of course, the increased acreage this year means more work.  In addition to valued contributions from a small and dedicated group of friends and volunteers, we are also very fortunate this year to have  the able assistance of our apprentice Natalia.  Her energy and enthusiasm for the work at hand really keep this operation chugging along on a daily basis.
Our annual Lake City Farm Tour and Open House has been set for Sunday, August 8th.  Mark your calendar.  All are welcome.  We hope to see you all here on the farm.