Farm Notes - Week 11
Feature of the week: Organic Baby Food!!
Special Orders for Baby Food are Welcome! We now have carrots and summer squash as well as spinach, kale and cabbage!| When Sandra Winters sent in a picture of baby Eric, eating spinach from the Organic Farm, with a special order for more spinach or kale, I was reminded of the baby food issue. Another mom came to the farm this week, with a baby on her hip, explaining she wanted to buy squash to make baby food. When our daughter Toby was born 35 years ago, we made baby food from the hearty Hubbard squash we were growing in our backyard garden in Seattle. Anyone who has joined the Veggie Coop won’t have to be reminded of how incipient and laden with chemical and pesticides baby food can be. And, of course, the sugar and salt added to baby food is another important concern for a society where childhood obesity is becoming a threat to the well being of children across Canada. |  |
| Baby Eric, son of Sandra Winters, CSA member. | |
| When I was working with disadvantaged families at Daybreak Parent Child Centre, making baby food and home made yogurt was a regular activity of our infant and toddler programs. Parents were amazed to learn how inexpensive and how easy it is to make their own baby food. The modus operandi in our parent program was that when one parent learned and became convinced of anything, from making macaroni-cheese from scratch to baby food, she might be asked to teach other parents. This was usually a one on one situation. I can still remember hearing one parent, who had declared that her toddler would never eat yogurt the year before, explain in a sort of “Trust me. Been There! Done that!” type of approach as she set about teaching another parent enrolled in our Healthy Baby Club. |  |
GOOD NEWS! Local Fish Silage Research!
We have just learned that the Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development, Fisheries and Marine Institute is conducting research on the agricultural applications for fish silage. Heather Manuel, Centre Director, writes, "To date all of this work has been conducted in the laboratory. Thus we would need to do some field tests on it." The Centre is in the process of submitting a proposal for field-testing.Will we be interested in being part of a research project for field-testing? Indeed! When we bought the land here on Churchill's Road, most of the soil was dry, sandy without any humus in the soil. Soil building in this region and on our farm has been very challenging (click here to read more). Studying and learning effective practices in soil building for organic farming is one of the main objectives of the Organic Farm. Besides the Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Project we were involved in for the past four years, (click here to read more about this project), we have just started a raspberry project with a local research group from Agricultural Research Station on Brookfield Road. A summary of this project is not yet available for the Website.
We continue to grow green manure crops such as clover and winter rye, which we plough down to build soil. We also buy loads of compost from Carews - a local supplier, shrimp meal from a fish plant in Carbonear and kelp meal shipped by pallets from Isle Au Mort on the West Coast. Last season, we brought in soy meal from Homestead Organics in Ontario. For the past six years, we have been using fish emulsion as a foliar spray, especially in the greenhouses. This is salmon emulsion produced in New Brunswick and mixed with sterile water to make a spray. We also buy compost tea to make another foliar spray from Jolly Farmers in New Brunswick. Compost tea is brewed on the farm and loaded into a large tank on the back of the tractor. We use compost tea with all crops on a regular basis, to support plant health through out the farm.
Although we believe in using green mulches that convert carbon dioxide to oxygen, and continue to plant clovers and ryes, we have also learned that this is a slow process for soil building in our climate. A direct source of enrichment, such as the old fashioned way of putting capelin into the potato trenches, may be more effective and less expensive, with the added benefit of supporting the local fishing industry. Of course, it will be several years before we know if Fish Silage will be helpful for farmers, but we are excited to learn that a proposal to explore agricultural applications is being considered. If we are fortunate enough to become a partner in this research, we will keep you posted as it unfolds.
TORBAY FARMER’S MARKET - A Wonderful Success!
Years ago, when the wharf at Portugal Cove was buzzing with fish, lobster and crab for sale, Judy Lien talked about using one of the Fish Sheds for selling vegetables, but couldn’t get the town or the Department of something or other to agree this was a good use for a Fish Shed. Since then, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to organize a network of farmers to get an initiative under way. The idea is to develop a farmer’s cooperative that farmers own and manage, like Charlottetown and Halifax markets.When the call came about a month ago to join a one-day Farmer’s Market in Torbay, I said we would be glad to participate, even though we were selling from the Farm Store. I invited Toby, our daughter and Visual Artist, to share a table.
The promotion was excellent, with coloured posters in all of the right places and announcements posted on relevant websites. The spirit and nature of the market unfolded exactly as we envision Farmers Markets should be. This pilot project, which took place on a lovely Saturday morning in mid-August, was evidence of the high level of interest from the buying public and the potential cooperation among farmers.
A mixture of people from the city and as far away as Mount Pearl and Conception Bay and locals drifted by from 9am to closing time at 1pm. Traverse Gardens had a double or triple table, along the back fence, which set the backdrop with vegetables, gorgeous tall, graceful rose plants (I bought two.). Ross Traverse, a giant among the rest of us, in physical stature and in experience, gracefully cruised his tables, proudly displaying signed copies of his new book on growing in cooler climates (I bought one of these as well.) Jill Whitaker, Rushmere Farms, was selling the usual lamb patties and sausage, taking orders for turkeys, explaining how the wool from their farm is made into blankets, which were also on display. Knowing that young children was my interest, when I approached her table, she showed me some laminated pictures of baby lambs that Dick uses in his presentations with kindergarten children. Dick is retired from the Marine Institute and Jill is a retired Home Economics teacher. He works 24/7 at the 100-acre farm on Salmonier Line while she works 24/7 at the family home on Western Gully with the chickens, eggs and turkeys. (Click here to view the Rushmere Farms brochure).
Danielle, one of the women managing the Lien Family Farm this season, was at a table in the corner, selling organic currants, tomatoes, lettuce mix and peas. Her helper was a WWOOFER from France. About 11 o’clock, the new kid on the block, Mark Wilson, came rolling in with a pick-up truck of everything, except soup to nuts. Three helpers helped him drag up tables in the middle of everything and unload the truck. I heard Mark comment to the surrounding customers, waiting to grab what they wanted, “I’ve been up all night.” Lettuce mix, kale, onions, squash and scores of green pumpkins. Mark said he was harvesting from several farms, including the farm of Neil Tilley in Kelligrews. Neil is an organic inspector, who has been ill most of this year. Not certified organic, but organic just the same.
Other booths included crafts and gorgeous soaps, e.g. lemon essence. This was also very tempting but I had already spent my money at Traverse Gardens along with a piece of folk art I purchased from Mr. Hally. This is the 80-year-old man from Torbay who makes pictures from wood and beach rocks. I plan to invite him to display and sell his work at The Organic Farm on Open Farm Day, September 23. (Mark Your Calendar!)
Oh yes! We did well. Toby brought home around $75.00 worth of sales from candle bowls and beads. We also sold all of the gooseberries, lots of cucumbers and herbs, several rosemary plants and four Mexican Hat plants. As expected, we sold the samples kits of cat grass and wheat grass as well as all of the items in the demo display. Meanwhile, back at the Farm Store, it has also been extremely busy; for the first time this year, we opened the store on Sunday with no lettuce mix for sale. I called the Lien Farm and offered to sell produce from their farm, explaining we were sold out of lettuce mix, tomatoes and peas. When Christa came with their bounty, she explained that she is organizing a Farmer’s Market at the Masonic Temple in early October and after the event, there will be yet another meeting about organizing a Farmer’s market. I told her to count us in!