Visitors

Wiame hanging out in the greenhouse. Photo: Sarah Burgess of Common Roots

We are always enriched when people come to visit the farm. In August, people from Common Roots Urban farm in Halifax spent a whole day with us. By the time they left, we were changed. Wiame, from Syria (pictured above) was really fun. She liked visiting the laying hens in the pasture, and right away jumped into the coop and began scooping eggs into her dress. She bought the 6 dozen she collected. We have hosted refugees from other countries many times, and each time we consider what it must have been like to grow up on, and then be displaced from your farm, home, community. Their stories are both horrific and heroic. We are humbled each time.

The challenge of the week was about water. Our irrigation pond kept getting lower and lower so we had to do something. Luckily, at the end of 2016 when we couldn’t irrigate for the whole month of August because of low water levels, we got another another pond dug. Good thing! It is a lot more relaxing when you know you’ve got water back-up. Until this year we hadn’t needed to use the extra water. Having water in the pond is one thing, but sometimes figuring out how to put it on the fields is another. For a few days, David was stymied by a water leak. A fitting let loose in a place where he incorrectly thought was solid pipe, so he didn’t check it. On the day he got the leak fixed, of course, it started raining. We got 40 mm, which was — to put it mildly — just in time and a huge blessing.

The irrigation pond was getting low…

Janet with a laying hen. Photo: Sarah Burgess of Common Roots

Marshall is back from vacation! He is about to head out to the field with empty crates for harvest

First delivery of the season to Dalhousie Student market. We have been supplying the Dal Student Union market with vegetables since it began many years ago (was it 2012?). This photo shows what the space looks like before they set everything up and make it look beautiful