Author: jenredfox

Deep Breath

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The farm is a frenzy of activity. Harvest continues in the greenhouses. Van loads of greens are going in to Warehouse Market. Seedlings are filling up all the covered spaces. Older seedlings are being prepared for planting outside (it’s a rough transition). Garden beds are being prepared. Crops are finally going in the ground. Row cover is rolled out over the little seedlings to keep them warm, and sand bags are placed all around to keep it from blowing away in the wind. Pumps are being primed and irrigation is being set up. The days have been sunny and windy, and they are getting longer!

OK, breathe. It is a lot. Things are never perfect, but we will manage as best as we can. It really helps to hear the peepers. They seem so enthusiastic. Or listen to the cardinals and chickadees flirting in the bushes. Or see the eagles and hawks riding high above the fields. Or consider all of the symbiotic relationships that are happening in the soil between roots, bacteria, fungi, and worms or insects. I marvel at the worm castings (poop) accumulating on the soil surface. It indicates how much burrowing and other work they are doing underground. Somehow the grand rhythm of life, tides, and seasons helps to put it all into perspective, and allows us to take a deep breath and keep going. We are growing a lot of vegetables, but we are also trying to disturb natural processes as little as possible.

It also helps to hear encouraging words from farm share members who are now signing up and paying for their season of produce. Thank you all for your support!

Below are recent photos of farm life:

Sarah, and in the background, Sydney, are planting the last row of tomatoes in the greenhouse.
Andrew and Olivia planting ginger
Rachel harvesting the first bunch of salad turnips for 2023!
Andrew and Olivia are marking each bed with a bright orange basket and a number. The sandbag in each basket keeps it from blowing away. But the basket is easy to move if we need to mow in that spot. The baskets are from the beansprout production days in the building on Isleville St. in Halifax that we use for the Warehouse Market now.
The plastic blew off this seedling greenhouse in the winter during a surprise windstorm after Tropical Storm Fiona. It was old and the base was rotting, so we had to take it down and rebuild it.
Kara and Dylan have got it ready to recover now
From left to right: Kara, Andrew, and Dylan. Getting beds prepped and putting crops in the ground
150 year old horse hillers from a neighbour down the road are going to be used for an experimental carrot hilling/weeding system
Here they are behind the power ox. David will add another layer or two of weeding gear behind the hillers
Rachel, Andrew, and Kara picking rocks in middle field. We generally pick rocks out of the field every year. We are trying to train them to walk from the field and put themselves in the ruts on the roads. 🙂
Beds in block 12 being prepared for seeding. Andrew and Olivia are experimenting with using used greenhouse plastic to flush weeds so they can be eliminated before planting