Well, every farm is a bit different but one thing we all have in common is rest. Most farmers that run small-scale farming businesses work pretty damn hard during the growing season and it can take a real toll on our bodies. After about 8 months of 7-day work weeks and 10-16 hours of very physical work days, our bodies need time to heal. We sleep, go for walks, catch up on any movies or shows we don’t have time to watch during the growing months, and for the first few weeks after the season wraps up just try to do as little as possible. The other thing I know for sure about all farmers is that after a few weeks (if you really love your job) you can’t help but start thinking about the next growing season. Try as we might, that little hamster wheel in our head just starts turning…conveniently about the same time as the seed magazines start filling up our mailbox. If you put any other magazine in front of me, I have zero interest in flipping through it. But seed magazine time is a special time. Chris and I spend many hours poring over each detail of each new variety. We start daydreaming of what we are going to grow and what the future of our farm will look like.
This daydreaming inevitably leads the way to the dreaded desk work. As boring as it sounds, most of what farmers do in the winter is computer work. We use spreadsheets to keep our seed orders organized, to figure out all of our seed starting dates, and for field planning. Every year our crops get rotated in order to reduce pest pressure and disease. Some plants grow well beside others and some do not, so we plan accordingly. We calculate our succession plantings, meaning which crops can go in after another crop gets removed from the soil. As a small-scale farm this is a very important part of our planning. Because we grow in such a small space, we need to be able to ‘flip’ a bed very quickly. This means taking one crop out and then planting another one as soon as possible after. In most of our permanent beds on the farm we grow 2-3 crops per season. And it’s allll planned using Excel spreadsheets!
Our computer work also includes preparing all of our content for the next season’s CSA program. We pre-plan what we want to have ready for each basket, calculate planting dates, research and plan recipe ideas for our newsletters, and update all of our online content. This year we are excited to have our spring CSA membership available at our new farm. Because we were so busy getting settled here last year, we skipped it, but this season it means an earlier start and learning how to navigate our new farm micro-climates and hardiness zone. It’s a little nerve-wracking but we feel (relatively) confident. As we learn more about growing in unheated tunnels in this particular hardiness zone, we may even start to expand our growing season. But doing so takes careful planning ahead of time since we run our farm on a system where we have no external heat source (burning wood or propane).
Along with all of this desk work we also put a lot of time into our advertising. With a CSA basket sales stream there are always changes each season so we can never assume the same customers will return. The average rate for return CSA customers for most farms is about 25%. This low rate can make it difficult for farmers relying on the CSA direct sales method. We are very fortunate to have a pretty awesome community of farm-ily members and our return rate is about 60-80%. With the changing market these past few years and our farm no longer attending a farmer’s market, advertising and word of mouth have been two very important ways to get our farm name out there so we kick it grassroots-style and do some postering, put postcards in mailboxes, and have a few printed ads here and there.
As for on-the-farm stuff there’s still always lots to do in the winter. There’s always plenty of equipment that needs repairing and of course the fun task of snow clearing. This winter has been particularly snowy where we are and that makes clearing and shoveling am almost daily occurrence.
Small renovations on our house, the barn, and the greenhouse are slowly getting worked on. Chris built the chickens some beautiful new nesting boxes in anticipation for some new additions to the flock that we are getting in the spring. Don't worry CSA members, more eggs are coming!
The barn is getting lots of patchwork done and the inside is getting a few new animal stalls built soon.*wink wink*
This was our first winter with barn animals and the very first winter for the goats! It was pretty hilarious seeing how the girls interacted with their first snowfall…they hated it. They absolutely refuse to go outside when it’s snowing but luckily, they have a pretty sweet set-up inside the barn and lots of room to run around.
Now spring is just around the corner and our days of winter relaxation are numbered. Our CSA memberships are open online and our seedling sale will be opening soon as well. We have started to seed a few things inside the house and hope to get the greenhouse up and running in a few weeks. Before we know it, we’ll be waking up at 4am, in shorts, and trying to beat the heat. So come on 2023/Season 2 at the new farm. We’re ready for ya!
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Our last CSA basket of the season went out last week and it all feels pretty surreal. This season has been so emotional for us. It was really difficult in some ways and in other ways it felt fantastic. Our 8 year dream is finally coming true and we’ve been trying to focus on that through the exhaustion and stress of not only farming but the added intensity of starting up a new farm. We got the keys to this place in January and after a difficult departure from our former rental farm we weren’t even sure if we could continue farming in 2022 or if we needed to take a season off. It was a decision we didn’t take lightly. To take a season off meant we would lose all business momentum that we had spent 3 years building, however we could take things a bit slower getting set up and be less stressed about our new start. After a lot of conversation we decided we needed to keep going. And so the adventure began…
To say this season went smoothly is..well..not true. It was a very difficult season but after a few days of reflection we both feel pretty good about it overall and feel our quality was pretty good for a first season. Definitely not where we want to be but knowing nothing about our soil and the microclimates around the farm we are pretty proud of the produce we put out.
The overall temperatures are different than what we are used to because we are in a colder temperature zone than before and that will take a few years of recognizing average patterns. We also had a pretty intense series of heat waves this summer and a record number of tornado warnings and very intense wind. We were very lucky not to have incurred too many losses compared to a lot of other farmers we know.
Our new soil seems to be pretty good. After getting a soil test, nothing was out of the ordinary. Much of Quebec has acidic soils and we are no different. To adjust, we add lime to our soils but overall the quality is decent. It will take a long time to build our soil into a healthy, symbiotic part of our farm but that is what this job (for us) is about. One of our main goals is to focus on building back depleted soils and to regenerate what has had only nutrients taken from it for years.
Some highlights from this season include this season’s round of corn and melons. This was our first season being able to grow them for our CSA baskets and it was such a nice treat. We got our new road to the back field finished and managed to get all our beds prepped and tunnels up in time! We worked crazy hard to get our barn ready and have set up an awesome winterized area for our fuzzy little kids. Obviously a big highlight was getting so many hilarious farm animals. They really do make us laugh every day.
As with every season there were a few lowlights. For some reason we still can’t grow beets. We’ve always had trouble with them, despite beets being one of the easiest crops to grow. At our last place after getting a soil test it tuned out we had a boron deficiency which is why we couldn’t grow them. Our new place doesn’t seem to have that deficiency so we’ll have to just keep trying and learning about our soil. Hopefully 2023 will be the year of beets because they are one of my favourite things to eat.
The weeds in our fields were a disaster. We had so much going on that it was impossible to keep up with weeding and we ended up loosing several crops to overcrowding from weeds. We had a gorgeous crop of sweet potatoes only to find out about half of them had been eaten by voles. It was frustrating but that’s a big part of farming. One of the reasons small scale farming is so important. When one crop fails we (hopefully) have a few back-ups to supplement what we lost.
Infrastructure - wise we got about half of what we wanted to accomplish done. Our plan was to get our orchard started as well as our irrigation pond built but both of those proved to be too much for this season and will have to be pushed back. We had hoped to have our wash station done by now but it turned out we couldn’t hire a contractor and therefore have to build it on our own. It is a difficult project to squeeze in with our crazy schedules but luckily we have an amazing human being in our lives, Chris’ dad, who has essentially done almost all of it for us. From the designing, permits, organizing, building – he has helped us through it all and we are so thankful for his help and guidance. We were able to get a good portion done and can hopefully wrap it up in the spring time when the big trucks can get here for our flooring, etc.
We still have a few more weeks of clean up around the farm which is proving to be difficult with all the snow we’ve been getting. After that, we plan on taking a few weeks off and not doing too much. Playing with the animals and maybe a few small renovations on the house.
Many people wonder what farmers do throughout the winter but there’s a lot of work that goes into farming behind the scenes. We spend the winter reviewing what worked and what didn’t and trying to adjust our game plan. We research and apply for any grants that we could take advantage of. There’s lots of admin – website updates, advertising but most of all planning for the next season. We calculate then place seed orders, figure out our crop rotations, and order any infrastructure or amendments we will need. ‘Farming’ is still a full time job in winter but it’s a nice break from the physical work. We aren’t sure what new things we’ll have in 2023 but we are both so excited to start planning and thinking about a new season. We look forward to having much more time to give a few farm tours and snuggly animal visits so stay tuned!
To everyone who supported us this season, thank you. We couldn't do it without you!
With love,
Jennie, Chris, Winnie the farm dog, Daisy and Buttercup the goats, and all the Hens.
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Our farming focus has always been vegetables and fruit. As we planned for our future farm we never really gave a thought to having animals (besides our Winnie) around. However, once we moved here we noticed there was a lot of a certain type of weed around called wild parsnip. This plant spreads rapidly and can be harmful to humans. Since our plan was to let a large portion of our property re-wild and we also use no till practices there was a very good chance that this weed could become a huge problem. So we started reading up on organic solutions. The best solution (to me anyway, wink wink) was to get goats. Goats are amazing creatures and will easily eat most noxious weeds that can hurt humans with no ill effect on them. Well, I started doing some research and put in an application to adopt two Nigerian dwarf goats to help us with our potential weed problems. This was mid-winter so as the season began I was completely wrapped up in a lot of other things but then came the time to go and get the girls. They were happy, healthy, had been properly weaned off of mama and were ready to go to their new home. We drove to pick them up and when farmer Becki put these little girls in our arms, we just MELTED. They were (are) so small and so sweet and it has been the best adventure with them so far. Their names are Daisy and Buttercup – named after two wildflowers in our fields. They both have a lot of spunk and love to get into trouble. Their favourite hobby is headbutting the chickens. Ohhhh right, well, that reminds me, we also got a bunch of chickens!
I have never once dreamt of getting chickens. I don’t eat eggs and I have always heard of how much work it can be to keep them healthy. But when I was researching what it takes to look after goats I read that chickens are excellent at keeping nasty ticks and fleas away and can help keep goats healthy. And so the ball started rolling…
We decided on three hens. Then, all of a sudden, that 3 became 5 hens then 5 became 7. Then…somehow…it became 17. Oops.
(Yes, some have wee vests. Chickens can be mean and pluck out back feathers so this gives them time to grow back. Not a fashion statement, though, Midge here pulls hers off beautifully)
These gals are all about 2 years old so that's a lot of old ladies hanging around. But, in my defence, I wanted to start adopting older hens for a certain reason. I have been learning a lot about the poultry industry and to be honest it's frightening. Laying birds are rotated (i.e. culled) almost annually to keep the flock in prime production when in reality these girls can live up to 12 years old. So I have taken up the hobby of rescuing old hens that still lay but not on the daily and were about to be sent to the chopping block. They live out their days eating the finest seed and have their own free range space. With the exception of being headbutted by Daisy (because she thinks it's funny) these girls live out their days in a little oasis. It has all been a pretty big learning curve because neither of us have previous animal experience. But after a few mistakes and trying to read as much as possible on how to raise animals we are feeling a bit more confident now we've had a few months with all of them.
So there you have it. Definitely the most exciting news around the farm. We are having so much fun with all these crazy animals and will definitely be adopting more in the future so stay tuned for more cuteness.
Fingers crossed for no uprisings.
With love,
Jennie, Chris, Winnie the farm dog, Daisy and Buttercup the goats, and all the gals.
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The insanity on the farm also comes from the fact that we are slowly introducing some animals to our farm-ily (with squeals of delight coming from our siblings and eye-rolls coming from all the parents). We recently got 7 laying hens to get more experience with egg production so (hopefully) in the future we can offer eggs for sale. This means the old (and very cluttered and dirty) barn on the property needed to be emptied and fixed up. This was not a small task. It has decades of farm stuff and junk accumulated in it and has taken us months to clean. However, I am very happy to say that most of it is now looking pretty good and we built a nice indoor coop and outdoor area for the animals. The gals are loving life being well protected and having a big area to dig for insects. Winnie is in need of some training since she has an extremely high prey drive but luckily she’s a smart pooch. And also we have adequate fencing….
Our biggest issue still seems to be road access. In order to get our wash station materials delivered we were told that our road (only sand) needed to be paved with larger gravel. So we did and it definitely made it better. Then the back road to our growing field turned from a mess to a complete disaster. Our tractor started getting stuck every time we tried to go back there. While we don’t mind walking back there at this point in the season we need to bring hundreds of trays back there to be transplanted not to mention our harvests which happen about four days a week. And so, yet again, we need to make another road. We will be making a new road with access over a small hill and just totally bypassing the old sink hole of a road. Hopefully this can get done this week and we can cross road #2 off our list.
So between the barn, the animals, the wash station, the cold room, and getting our CSA organized I must say we are tired (understatement of the year). That being said we are also pretty excited. It feels like we have been concentrating on getting all our infrastructure projects ready that we have completely neglected what we love doing – growing vegetables. However, our field is all set. All our raised beds are built, we have put up all our tunnels, our irrigation system has been installed, and our beds are full with vegetables. With the CSA underway we can refocus our attention to the growing field. And allll the weeds that have happily made it their home.
With love,
Jennie, Chris, and Winnie the farm pup
And introducing (in no particular order)...Francene, Betty, Veronica, Sweet Midge, Bertha, Mama Red, and Phyllis
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Thanks to Winnie's superior measuring skills and my sister (Jo) and dad (Pa) who lent a hand we were able to get it nearly completed over a few days. The deer fence is housing our growing field (just over an acre) and is 8 feet high. It seems a little overkill but there are so many deer around here and they could eat through our field in one night, easily. We’ve also seen them fly over a 6-foot fence on the property without breaking a sweat. We are NOT taking that chance and have put a good chunk of money into this fence fortress; by the end, (hopefully?) even I’ll have a hard time finding my way in.
The growing field itself is also about half finished. We are still busy building raised beds and topping them all with soil amendments. This is by far the most physical work and unfortunately, I ended up pulling a muscle in between my ribs from doing it so the rest of the bed building will be in Chris’ hands. Luckily, he’s great at it.
We have started putting up our caterpillar tunnels (of which we have 7) so our heat loving crops can go in and we are starting to transplant thousands of seedlings into the field.
Things seem to going relatively smoothly but now that our CSA is sold out, we are definitely feeling the pressure of finishing up these big tasks so we can focus on growing. Most seedlings in the greenhouse are screaming to be transplanted but it’s hard to find the time. Luckily most of these plants are resilient and can withstand a little suffering.
It's actually a big change to be this far north as well. Compared to our last place we are a whole temperature zone in difference (colder). We lose two weeks in spring and two weeks in fall to cold weather and frosts so we aren't in huge rush to get our cold sensitive plants in the ground. It will take a while to work out all the intricacies of growing in the open field and unheated tunnels with this temperature change but that kind of knowledge just comes with time and practice.
All things considered I'm glad we shortened our growing season this year. I look forward to pushing the boundaries of growing on the shoulder seasons using unheated tunnels but we definitely feel it's a smart move to get to know the micro climates of this property a bit better and also it gives us more time to set up.
So that was the week! No big crying fits and one deer fence completed. Not too bad...
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Luckily the previous owner of the property hasn’t taken all his equipment with him and between a 4-wheeler and the old (partially) broke down tractor that’s here we have been slowly (with a few minor smoky adjustments) moving our equipment to the back field where normal vehicles can’t go.
I’m not certain if the change in land size wasn’t apparent to us initially or if our excitement of moving to a permanent location was fogging up our brains but it definitely feels extra stressful moving from a one-acre plot to something that (although we are not growing on most of it) is two hundred acres. Getting something from one place to another is going to be a very big challenge for us this year. My only solace is in the fact that we have gone through the pains of starting up a farm before. Our first year starting up was an enormous challenge both mentally and physically. In all honesty, I wasn’t prepared for it. It seemed like everything that could go wrong, did. And, all cards on the table, it kind of feels the same way now on certain days – others not so much. But we’ve already gone through it and survived. We had great support from our farm-ily members (and still do), we fought, we cried, we worked, we laughed, and we got it done. We are already making some of the same mistakes we swore we would never make again and fixing some of the others. The amount of ‘mistake making’ in farming is laughable. But if nothing else, this career teaches patience and humility.
The good news is that all of our soil amendments (compost, lime, chicken manure) have been successfully delivered despite being so far away from the field that needs them. But they are here. That’s what counts. The greenhouse is also looking pretty stellar and is filling up very fast. It will soon be time to bump our seedling sale pots out into the brave new world and fill those spaces with more of our own starts.
We have been very busy tilling (for the last time EVER) to get our growing area prepped. And boy oh boy do I wish I wasn’t so lazy over winter because we are also building raised beds for our vegetables. 100 beds, 3x100 feet long, by hand. Yes, it is as horrible as it sounds. But after this we will have our beds permanently in place and never till or disturb them again.
While all that is happening we have our wash station being designed which I am very excited about. This has been my dream baby for a very long time. I have spent 3 years washing greens outside until the third week of November and I will have it no more. This indoor wash station will also have a 3 unit storage for our cool, cold, and dry produce.
Our other big infrastructure task is our irrigation pond. We hope to have construction on that going very soon so all our little seedlings can thrive when they get planted.
So needless to say, we have a lot going on. Did I mention that Chris also works full time off the farm? It’s going to be a wild season…
'Til next time!
Jennie, Chris, and Winnie the farm pup
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When Chris and I started discussing farming as our career it was over 10 years ago in a small box of an apartment. We had no background in farming but both felt a calling to become students of nature and learn all that we could from her.
After eight years of gardening and three years of farming on rented land we have finally found our forever farm where we can begin to build the life that we have been envisioning for all these years.
The idea of ‘owning’ a piece of land doesn’t really sit well with us. This is a colonial mindset that we both struggle to understand. We can’t own the mountains, the river, the soil, or the wildlife. Believe me, after being a farmer for a few years you realize just how much those things are in control of our lives, not the other way around. However, after searching for both rental and purchase options something finally became available for us and we feel unbelievably grateful to now have the security of a home in our lives.
Our new home is in Gracefield, Québec – about an hour and a half north of Ottawa. This land is on the unceded Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. What this means (bluntly) is that we are building a business and earning our living on stolen land. Not an easy pill to swallow for us. To this end we have decided that what we can do is work within the confines of our colonial structure to use our privilege to give back. Our privilege in this context means that we had not only the financial capability but the lack of systemic barriers (i.e. access) to this land. These are things we fully recognize many people, no matter how big a drive to do what they love, don’t have. So how do we use our privilege to give back? One of the ways we are looking into is Land Back. Reparations to the Anishinaabe Peoples through the individual act of returning land to its original caretakers. For us, it’s important to know that after we are gone this land and everything on it will be respected and honoured. We plan to keep everyone up to date as we learn about this type of reparation and encourage you do the same if you have the means.
While we are stewards of this land we will also give back by helping to build a more resilient community by making sure that there is healthy food accessible to everyone.
Lastly, we are honoured to have the opportunity to take a piece of land that has been conventionally farmed and allow it to return to a more natural state. This is something that means a lot to us. Every decision we make about our business needs to be justified through the lens of its environmental impact. This often means avoiding the easy road (think plastics and fossil fuels) and doing things that might take a bit more time and energy. We have come to realize that even what is deemed ‘sustainable’ small-scale farming is a slippery slope of negative impacts. Looking from an outside perspective it can seem as in tune with nature as you can get but realistically it can easily become a place where profit is put over nature in order to get the greenhouse tomatoes out before May. Honestly, that’s just not the type of farm we want to be. But let’s take a look at what it is, what it was, and what we hope it can become.
Our little farmhouse sits on 200 acres of beautiful land with both cleared fields, mixed forest, rocky outcrops, and is skirted by the Gatineau River. Untouched mountains flank each side of the house where the mesmerizing sounds of howling coyotes can be heard echoing through the evening. About 40% of the land is cleared and has been used for the big three: corn, soy, and wheat. Certain areas are compacted from years of tractor use and most of the soil is relatively depleted. Sounds bleak. Well, any way you look at conventional farming, it is. Our plan is to leave much of the land for nature to take her course and regrow back to her original state. We plan to help by planting trees, hedgerows and filling the outline of the bare fields with nesting boxes for birds and owls. We plan to diversify what we grow even further and plant an orchard with fruit trees, vines, and berry brambles, have a perennial herb garden filled with medicinal plants (to be used for a future tea line), as well as our main growing area where cover crops (crops not harvested for sale but rather grown to increase soil fertility and biomass, prevent erosion, and capture carbon and water) will be a huge part of our farm game.
We will take a few years to build our dream greenhouse. One that doesn't run off of propane but is built as a passive solar greenhouse which harnesses and stores the sun's energy in such a way that it needs no other heat source. Our home, over the years, will eventually be taken 'off-grid' and will run solely off solar power as will as many aspects of the farm as possible.
A very new-to-us part of the farm will be the introduction of a few animals. We will be adopting some goats to help us with a wild parsnip problem. Wild parsnip can be very dangerous to humans but goats love to eat it and have absolutely no problem digesting it. They will be accompanied by some sheep who spend all day grazing and help us maintain the grass. We will also be inviting some hens to join the party and eventually offering eggs, as well as adding a small apiary to offer honey, and syrup from our maple trees.
While we are so excited to get started we know our vision will take years to build. So kick back, follow along, and watch as we build our little farm.
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