Chestnut Acres Family Farm

New Years Resolution!!

2012-01-07T13:30:00.004-04:00

I hope this year I will be able to keep our blog up to date. I had good intentions last year but things got busy quickly and it was neglected. We had a successful CSA and blueberry harvest in 2011.

This was our first berry harvest and it proved to be challenging at times. We raked berries during the day and processed at night. Like the CSA we hope this aspect of the farm will get easier as we go along. We purchased harvest bins and a winder. A conveyor belt was built to help with the sorting of the berries. As the berries are winded they fall down onto the belt where three people sort out any other debris and then they are put into boxes at the end of the belt.

The large 10,000 sq greenhouse was completed in 2011. Installation of furnaces and duct work is still an ongoing process. We are thankful for the light snow so far this winter. When we dug this irrigation pond for the large greenhouse we didn't even think about it being great for skating. The girls are loving it!!

This root cellar was built in 2010. It proved to be invaluable in 2011. This is where we stored and packed our CSA bags and where we stored produce over night for the market. The cellar is cool and humid for storing the produce until our customers come or we take it to market. Our pick-up CSA customers know to go to the root cellar to get their weekly bag. Having this space for working during the hot months makes a big difference in the quality of the produce and the life of the produce. Before having the root cellar our customers would pick their CSA bag up from our porch.

2011 CSA

2011-05-05T13:50:00.002-03:00

There are a few spots left for the upcoming 2011 CSA. These spots are for pick-up at the farm. We have increased the number of CSA spots for 2011 in hopes that it will be a great year.

It has been a busy spring already here on the farm. With everything that is going on and that needs to be done it is hard to balance farm life and family life.

Our smaller greenhouse has been sowed with mainly spring crops, trays are constantly being seeded, the pasture has been seeded and gardens have been ploughed. Our main battle of the spring has been trying to get the plastic on our new greenhouse. The wind made it hard to get very far with putting the plastic on.

The asparagus, garlic and herbs have all survived the winter. We were worried that the snow load of this winter was going to take our small greenhouse but it managed to hold it's own. Next year with the large greenhouse I am sure there will be constant worries about wind and snow load.
JG

The season starts..

2011-05-05T13:38:00.003-03:00

Trays of seedlings ready to go out in the garden within the next couple of weeks. The greenhouse has been seeded with spring greens, green onions, carrots and lettuce mixes.

Our larger greenhouse has been slowly taking shape. The wind has been hard on us this spring.

Everyone had to help re-roll a roll of plastic after a gust of wind blew it up like a sail.

It's February Already!!

2011-02-06T21:21:00.007-04:00

It's February already and that means planning for the 2011 is fully underway. Seed orders, greenhouse prep, labour decisions, CSA member lists, garden planning and even seeding has started.

Trays of green onions and bulbing onions have been seeded and placed in our newly built germination chamber. We have built the germination chamber to hold 20 seed trays. We are hoping to get higher and faster germination with our trays.

Some of the berries we offered our CSA customers in 2010.

Getting greens ready for a Wednesday CSA.

Neighbour brought 19 hives to the farm in June.

3rd Week of CSA!!!

2010-07-01T18:23:00.011-03:00

We picked strawberries from Brown's U-pick farm for the bags this week.... they are red, juicy and tasty!!
Our garlic scapes were ready for the bags this week...... so curly and tasty too.
Derek and Sarah pulling weeds in the giant squash field. If all goes well, there will be plenty of squash to go around and then some. We've planted lots of varieties including Buttercup, Butternut, Delicata, Acorn, Spaghetti, and Baby Pam pie pumpkins!
We've been putting green onions in the bags every week so far. They look and taste good and grew well in both the greenhouse and outside.
Last Saturday was our first week at the Kingston Market. The table looked very good and full for the 3rd week of June. We brought the first carrots of the season and sold out of everything very quickly! We hope to be at the market every Saturday from now on.

Packing bags just in time for pick up and deliveries.
Greenhouse is looking good for the 3rd week of June.
Derek is experiencing the magic of the lettuce spinner!

Summer is coming!!!

2010-06-05T15:19:00.017-03:00

CSA FULL for 2010
Our CSA is now full for 2010 but we will be selling at the Kingston Farmers' Market so you will still have an opportunity to taste our produce. We thank everyone who expressed interest in being a member of our vegetable delivery program this year. If you did not get a spot for the full 20 weeks this year we may still be in touch later this summer for a partial season share depending on this years production. We will also be adding more memberships to our CSA in 2011.

Digging the new cold cellar!

Jodi is giving Sarah a lesson on how to use the seeder....

Joel and Derek transplanting onions

Carrots, radish, turnips, onions...... yummy!

Andrew is teaching Sarah how to dock the lambs' tails

Joel and Derek have discovered the fun of burning the weeds!

Putting parsnips into storage for now...

We have been bottle feeding 2 of our lambs because they were rejected by their mother...... they are always hungry!

We experimented with low tunnels this spring as an addition to the greenhouse to try and get a headstart on the season!

Derek is busy weeding the new carrots...... it definitely paid off... they look awesome now a month later!

2010-06-05T15:09:00.000-03:00

2010-01-30T08:01:00.007-04:00

Here are a few pictures of our apprentice cabin (a work in progress).

The Cabin has a full washroom with toilet, sink and shower. The tonge and groove 1" boards are 90% complete in the bathroom with only the ceiling and just above the shower left.

As it can be seen from this photo a loft has been constructed over the entry and washroom area. Once the floor is install in the loft it will make an ideal spot for a matress and sleeping quarters leaving the entire main floor area available for a living room. The picture also shows the insulation and vapour barrier that has been install in the rafters. The walls in the main living area still require the application of insulation, vapour barrier and tonge and groove boards. Tonge and groove boards are also planned for the ceiling. The insulation of the washroom was previously completed prior to installing the tonge and groove.

The next picture is the best one I could get of the main living area as it is hard to take good pictures of smaller rooms. Where the table is located now we could see installing a small wood stove with a flat top which would allow for heating the cabin as well as making coffee, tea, or cooking a small meal.

Here is a picure of 10,000 sq.ft green house now under construction.

Lark is our draft horse which we are planning to use on the farm this year.

Week Three of CSA.

2009-07-26T14:01:00.004-03:00

The third week of CSA deliveries has come and past. There have been some set backs that we have had to overcome and are still dealing with. We have been slowly regaining control in the vegetable gardens. We could not get in the fields to cultivate because of all the moisture. It was stressful not to be able to see what was growing withing the weeds. Now with a lot of the weeding done we are more confident with the progress of the gardens. Because the weeds grew so fast we are now discovering what seeds were smothered out and are doing some reseeding. We have not started selling at the Kingston Farmers Market yet because we are focusing on the CSA and making sure that we have what we need each week for the bags. The potatoes are doing much better than last year. We will be offering new potatoes this week in our bags.

We have been making some final decisions about the open farm day. August 15th will be the day. The time will be between 1pm and 4pm. We will be putting more details in the August newsletter.

Week 3
Spring Turnips
Green Onions
Mixed Lettuce

Carrots

Beet greens

Garlic Scapes

Snow peas

Tatsoi

At least we have rain...

2009-07-13T08:44:00.003-03:00

The weather hasn't been too cooperative this year. With all of the rain it has been hard to get on the fields to even weed. The weather has been great for the slugs unfortunately. The slugs ate a whole bed of lettuce in the greenhouse. The temperatures have been cooler here as well.

Thinking back to last year this year is a lot better already At least things are growing even if not as fast as we would like them. Last year there was no rain for irrigation and the irrigation spring on the mountain couldn't recharge itself fast enough. We dug two new irrigation holding ponds on the mountain.

July 8th was our first CSA delivery day. Because we took on more customers this year it takes a full day of non-stop work to get the bags ready for 4:00pm. It will take a couple of weeks to get the systems going smoothly. The most trying part of the evening deliveries was finding street names and house numbers but we found everyone.

Because of the wet weather we were just able to get the lime and pelletized chicken manure spread on the fields. The oats and clover will be sowed this week.

KINGTSON FARMER MARKET

If you have been to the Kington Farmers Market you would have noticed that we have not been selling our produce yet. We are aiming to start in August. We have put off going to the market to concentrate on the CSA bags.

In the above picture there is Mizuna with honey mustard, balsamic vinegar and alive oil. Tangy but good. Andrew made up some club sandwiches using our lettuce, chicken and bacon. We had swiss chard, spring turnips and tatsoi sauted with chinese cabbage and garlic.

More Pictures

2009-04-27T10:57:00.006-03:00

We have been eager to get on the fields. Today the garden that will have mostly greens and some root veggies is being tilled and hilled. Hopefully we will be sowing this particular garden today or tomorrow with crops that don't mind the still chilly temperatures. (spinach, lettuce, green onions etc). The drip irrigation has been placed the in the greenhouse. We invested in the drip irrigation last year and it has proved to be invaluable. We were taking too much time hand watering the previous year. We used drip irrigation on the outside gardens too last year and we are hoping to put more down this year.

We are very pleased that our garlic survived the winter. There was some damage from deer traffic through the field this winter. Most of the damage was the garlic being uprooted by the deer walking through. The garlic is now almost four inches tall.

A New Season.

2009-03-14T11:27:00.004-03:00

I thought it was about time I updated our blog considering that the 2009 season is about to start. We have been seeding leeks, celery, green onions and bulbing onions. We are keeping the trays under growing lights in our hallway and in the basement. This is our first year mixing our own potting soil. We have started to prepare the greenhouse for spring planting. We will be planting the greenhouse the first of April.

Our parsnips are still in the ground from last season. We hope that the mice and deer didn't find them during the winter. We will putting up crop protection from the deer this spring. We have never seen deer as we have this winter. There has been alot of damage done to the apple trees and cedars.

We have been corresponding with our CSA members from last year and the response has been great for the upcoming season. We are happy to be adding more spaces for this season's CSA.

The seed orders have been placed and now we wait for them to be delivered. We will be trying some new varieties of fruit and veggies this year. Ex. melons, squash, onions, tomatoes and garlic. We are excited to see if the garlic we planted last fall has survived the winter season. There was plenty of snow cover and we mulched it well so everything should be good.

Week 18

2008-10-30T17:03:00.005-03:00

This week was number 17 for the CSA boxes. This week we had beets, carrots, potatoes, parsley, green cabbage, leeks, broccoli, kale, bulb onions and parsnips.

Today was a big day for us. We got our windmill up today. It went up really easy.

Autumn Leaves

2008-10-18T11:22:00.005-03:00

We are putting out a request for autumn leaves. We need leaves for mulching the greenhouse and our newly planted garlic beds. The leaves need to be from yards with lawns that have not been treated with herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. So, if you annually rake your lawn or have them raked for you, you can either email us or give us a call and we will come and get them. All of our contact information is on our website. http://www.chestnutacreslimited.com/

Harvest Season.

2008-10-17T06:52:00.003-03:00

There are only four more weeks of CSA deliveries. We are now taking it one week at a time hoping that the weather co-operates with us. Winter came early last year. The deer have been really hard on us this year. They seem to have figured out how to move the row covers to the side to get at the vegetables that are left in the garden. One of the fields we will be using next year will be closer to the house, maybe that will help some with that problem. But then there is always the option of more electric fencing.

This week in our CSA boxes (bags) contained red potatoes, carrots, fennel, parsley, green cabbage, buttercup squash, green onions and a bag of apples. We are not sure what kind of tree that these apples grow on. This tree was planted before we bought the farm eight years ago. They almost taste like a red delicious , they are crispy like a red delicious but they don't have the size or the bumps of the bottom of the apple. Bugs do not seem to bother this tree. We have been trying to nurture this tree so we will have it for a long time yet. We have had a few of our fruit trees included in our annual certification process. We are hoping to improve our apple quality so we can include more apples in our CSA program.

The past couple of weeks have been focused on harvesting produce, preparing the greenhouse for spring, firewood, and getting the second half of the barn ready for a new concrete floor. You can't put a price on our barns. They could never be replaced.

Our girls brought their pumpkins to the Kingston Farmer's Market on Oct 4th for the annual pumpkin contest. They were thrilled with the whole process of weighing and the giving out prizes. We gave the girls each a container with pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds in June and let them plant them in their own spot. We had a bumper crop of sunflowers and 14 pumpkins.

JG

Week 12

2008-09-17T20:32:00.004-03:00

This weeks box share contained twelve items. Celery, Parsley, Basil, Green Onions, Patty Pan Squash, Cabbage or Cauliflower, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Red Pontiac Potatoes and Carrots.

Deliveries all went well it was nice to see some of our members that we haven't seen for a couple of weeks.

Sorry for the lack of posts.

2008-09-17T06:47:00.005-03:00

Everything has been going good here on the farm. Sorry for the lack of posts. Since out last post there has been camping, fairs, first days of school, VBS at both Baptist and Anglican churches, play dates, swimming lessons and it goes on and on. Anyone who has children knows that there is always something going on.

We had a small problem with the well pump yesterday but that was fixed prompty. The headgasket blew on our Massey Ferguson but is now repaired.

We have had a lot of problems with the deer this year. But that is okay. This is just our second year and we are learning. We are already thinking of prevention methods next year. We are given these problems to learn from. There will always be issues every year and we just need to take them as they come.

The CSA boxes (bags) are going great. We are gradually becoming more efficient at the packing and harvesting. Sometimes there are issues but everyone has been very understanding and helpful.

Brucshetta (?) pizza. Pizza dough with Italian salad dressing spread all over the dough. Then I put peppers basil and tomatoes grated mozza and parmesan cheese. Bake at 400F for approx 15 minutes.

I will post again later. The girls have to get up for school.

Heavenly Rain!!

2008-07-24T10:41:00.003-03:00

Our girls were excited to see the rain. Beth was "Singin' In The Rain".

We are so very thankful for the rain that we are receiving this week. We were in deperate need of it. Our lawns and pasture were turning brown and the gardens were really slow to get going. We now have a bountiful harvest each week for our CSA boxes and for the market on saturdays. Last night was week four of our box delivery.

This weeks boxes contained new potatoes, beets with greens, mizuna, tatsoi, white globe turnips, garlic scapes, snow peas, pod peas, lettuce mix, radish, green onions and carrots.

On the left there is a picture of mizuna being suateed in olive oil with a tsp of maple syrup and a tsp of apple cider vinegar. It should be cooked for about six minutes.

Today.

2008-07-06T20:46:00.004-03:00

As I sit here I am watching the sheep out on the back pasture leisurely grazing. They don't have a care in the world. Andrew is out hunting for potato bugs and I am baking sugar cookies for VBS this week at our church.

Today Andrew started to plough our back field. It had not been ploughed in at least thirty years and he began to get frustrated.

We were back at the market this Saturday. It was really busy and we sold everything that we had brought down.

The top picture is our Khatadin Ram "Rambo".

First CSA Box Night.

2008-07-02T21:45:00.004-03:00

Our first CSA night was a success. We added some certified organic strawberries from Richard and Heather Brown's farm in Bloomfield. Everyone worked well together this afternoon in gettting the boxes prepared. Andrew and I delivered the boxes without a hitch and the route took less time than we expected. We really enjoyed meeting everyone tonight and putting a face to the phone calls and emails.

This weeks' box contained Carrots, Green Onions, Swiss Chard, Turnip Greens, Lettuce, Beets with Greens and strawberries.

See You Next Week,

More Rain.....Wonderful!!!

2008-06-30T22:46:00.002-03:00

We are so thankful for all of the wonderful rain. We can already see the difference in the gardens from this weekends rains. Today we spent the day seeding and putting row covers on a lot of the crops. We did this even in the blissful rain. We were muddy and wet but kept on working.

JG

Better Late Than Never.

2008-06-28T21:50:00.002-03:00

Things are coming along here on the farm. The calf is settled in and there are four new piglets on the farm. The chickens only have five more weeks left. We got the meat chickens a month earlier this year because we thought it would be one less thing we would have to worry about in later in the summer.

All of the raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb and fruit trees that we planted have survived the spring transplanting.

Andrew and his father were trying our my grandfathers old hay mower today. It seems that they figured it out. The sheep will appreciate the efforts I am sure.

Water has been our biggest battle so far this season. We have only had two good rains in the past two months. "chances of showers" just isn't doing it for us. We have been installing a drip irrigation system and doing a lot of hand watering in an effort to keep the crops from stunting or bolting and even germinating has been a problem in some cases.

Our CSA members have been very understanding with the slow start and are eager for the boxes to start. The boxes are starting July 2nd. We are all excited about the CSA concept this year. We are looking forward to meeting everyone next week and are anticipating a great season.

Some New Pictures.

2008-05-25T20:45:00.004-03:00

The sheep have been really enjoying being out on pasture. This is the first year we have used the front pasture for the sheep so they were a little hard to get down there but now they now where the good grass is and they get so excited.

The picture on the top left is of cooked burdock root. Andrew read that burdock root was good cooked to he thought he would try it. If anyone else would like to try there is plenty of it growing on the farm. Andrew found that the burdock root had a mild taste to it. There is probably a better recipe for it than what we used.

This is our newest member of the farm. He is a Holstein calf and our girls have decided that Patch will be his name.

I will write another posting later. Right now Andrew and I are going for a walk before it gets dark.

2008-05-18T20:56:00.002-03:00

Sorry for the lack of postings. These past two weeks have been very busy with all of the planting that needs to get done. May 8th we planted half an acre of potatoes all by hand. So far in the gardens we have turnip, snow peas, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, green onions, carrots, beets, swiss chard, radish and lettuces. The rain that we received yesterday seemed to do wonders for the germination of the seed. The snow peas, pod peas, turnip, radish, lettuces, beets and broccoli are all up. It is such a wonderful feeling to see the little green seedlings popping up in a neat row.

During the last week we transplanted 30 rhubarb plants that a neighbour generously gave us well as some thornless raspberry canes. We have tripled the size of our blackberry patch. There were over 100 asparagus plants planted as well.

We have started to put the sheep out to pasture in the afternoons. It always turns out to be a family affair trying to get them our to the pasture and then back in again. The girls love it and they get to help with an important job. They are scared they are going to lose one of their baby lambs.

May 17th was our fourth market day. Each weekend is busier than the last. We have been selling out each saturday. There has been a steady interest in our CSA program. Even though we are full for this season we are still taking names for next year. It is our hope that as we see how the gardens are progresssing we may be able to take on more members later in the season.

JG

Updates.

2008-05-06T21:04:00.002-03:00

There is so much is going on here it is hard to decide where to start. May 3rd was our second market day. Everything sold quickly. Our goal is to sell enough to pay for the day and and to let frequent market visitors see that we are back for this season and that we have produce growing now.

I really love going to the market on saturdays. Now that it is our second year I feel as though I am becoming part of the vendor community. We like to buy what we can at the market during the season. The garlic we stocked up on in the fall was wonderful. It lasted until this spring and that is just because we used it all up.

The article in the Saturdays' Telegraph Journal, about the global crisis and how it effects the local producers, was a wonderful opportunity to let area residents know we exist and what we offer. The members of our CSA are all eager and excited about the program. We are exicted as well for the upcoming season.

I guess the season is not upcoming...it is here. We planted .25 of an acre today. I will be feeling that tomorrow morning. It doesn't sound like much of an area but it really is when you are picking rocks and sod. It took three of us all day to plant everything except for the peas and snow peas, this will be our task for the morning. We plan on planting our potatoes tomorrow as well.

Our apprentice started on May 4th. We are all a little nervous, but we are all getting along well and I think everything will fine.

JG

Saturday Is Market Day

2008-05-01T12:41:00.002-03:00

I will at the Kingston Farmer's Market this Saturday May 3rd. I will be selling Lettuce mixes and will be doing some promoting of out CSA Program.

Hope to be seeing you there.

JG

More From The Greenhouse

2008-04-22T20:55:00.002-03:00

As you can see the swiss chard is doing great. Beet greens as well as the lettuces are ready for harvest. This is good because the Kingston Farmer's Market starts this Saturday.

April 19th we started to plough our fields for this years' planting. One of the fields was tilled today. We are hoping to start seeding some of the hardier greens this weekend outside.

I have been working on the blackberry patch since yesterday. It is hard to start and finish a task when you have two little girls that want you to play with them rather that watch you work. But I finished transplanting 40 blackberry canes tonight. The root system on the plants make them very hard to dig up.

On Saturday we mulched the strawberries with straw. Because we have limited access to equipment we hand raked straw from the field where we planted oats last fall and then placed it on our hay wagon. We (the family) placed the straw around the plants. Our girls thought it was a wonderful afternoon.

Anyone for Radish?

2008-04-16T16:17:00.002-03:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. It seems that we are being pulled in all directions lately. In the past week and a half we have worked on barn stalls, worked in the greenhouse in the evenings, we have gotten the back wheels of the tractor fixed and have been working full out getting ready for our apprentice.

We had our annual peer review meeting with our local members of MCOG. At these meetings the members of a local group go through each members applications. During these meetings we discuss any concerns about we may have about each others applications and any concerns that we are having with our production. There were no concerns about Chestnut Acres application for re-certification. Now we wait for our inspection by a certified inspector in the summer. They will make any recommendations for any concerns they may have with our production.

Yesterday my father-in-law and I went to Fredericton for the day to take part in a cover crop workshop. It is something that we will have to work with to really learn what suits our us and our farm. There isn't a single answer or formula for cover cropping but experimenting and careful documentation is definitely in the cards for years down the road.

JG

The greenhouse starts producing.

2008-04-06T19:39:00.002-03:00

Tonight we had a feed of fresh spinach from the greenhouse. We planted it in the fall and it survived the winter temperatures. It was a pleasant surprise when Andrew brought it in this evening.

Today we looked over the back fields to see how we could go about expanding our growing capability for future seasons. Many of the fields have either grown up significantly or have been very neglected. Hopefully we will be able to remedy this in the next few years. Land availability is a constant planning problem. Being situated on the Peninsula we have to deal with a lot of rock outcrops and hilly terrain.

Blacky's sick lamb passed away today.

Andrew penned off one half of the barn for the sheep and their lambs. They are all happy to be together again.

JG

Never Ending!!

2008-04-05T22:12:00.002-03:00

Andrew is outside working on the apprentice's cabin and I am doing paperwork for our certification renewal. We are starting to find it hard to decide on a task that needs to be done and doing it. So many things are important and we really need to start prioritizing. Fixing that tractor, building pens in the barn, seeding, weeding, and finishing projects that have been started already.....

Update on Blacky's lambs.
I put the weak one back in with it's mother and brother. I was hoping that the lamb would get up and get some exercise. It is still very weak but is still eating. Blacky seems to have forgotton who the little guy is.

JG

I can't believe it is Wednesday!!

2008-04-02T16:56:00.002-03:00

It seems that all we have been thinking about this past month is the sheep. The last thing we want to do at night is to count sheep to go to help us fall asleep. There is only one more ewe to lamb. We had our 10th lamb this morning. We gave her alittle help. Hopefully the lamb will do well.

Blacky's little lamb that is in the house is doing a lot better. We thought he wasn't going to make it for a couple of days. He is very quiet and he is eating well on his own.

It was wonderful not having to put a fire in the greenhouse last night. If things would calm down in the barn I would be able to get some work done in the greenhouse.

JG

What a weekend.....

2008-03-30T17:02:00.002-03:00

Friday night Andrew went out to the barn to feed the twin lambs their bottles and found another ewe about to birth. The poor ewe was in distress. She is our smallest eweand it seemed that she was having the largest lamb of them all. It had to be an assisted birth. We called the provincial vet for some support. The lamb survived and so did the ewe. We had to meet up with the vet to get some pain medication for her and some other things she needed after her truama. She won't let her lamb suckle probably because of the pain. So... that lamb is being bottle fed too. We are still putting the lamb on it's mother throughout the day to keep her healthy.

Blacky's smallest lamb isn't doing so well. He can hardly lift his head. We have been giving him medication and we have to feed the little thing through a tube. We put him in the front porch.

I don't know what we would do if we didn't have the front porch.

We worked outside for most of the day yesterday. When we were not in the barn with the lambs we worked in the greenhouse. Watering and weeding the planted beds. We also brought out all of the colder weather crop transplants to the greenhouse. I needed the room in the front porch to plant more trays. The transplants will grow better in the greenhouse anyhow. With the better sunlight and warmer temperatures.

JG

Snow!!!

2008-03-28T19:13:00.002-03:00

There wasn't anymore lambs born today. Yet anyway. Blacky's milk still hasn't come in so therefore I am now bottle feeding them every two hours. They learn quickly who has the food. When I enter the barn and starting talking they go to the gate of their pen and wait for me.

My evening is going to be spent watering and seeding in the front porch. With every CSA membership we get I get motivated to plant more trays.

#7 AND #8!!

2008-03-27T16:55:00.005-03:00

"Blacky" had a set of twin boys this morning. The second was very small but is doing alot better this afternoon. Poor Blacky isn't making any milk though. The girls and I have been bottle feeding the twins every two hours. Their mother seems to have accepted them otherwise. Hopefully her milk will come in for the sake of the lambs.

It seems the past two weeks have been totally focused on the lambs. I have gotten some more seeding done in the front porch. I am running out of shelf space.

JG

More Lambs!!

2008-03-26T18:11:00.002-03:00

I hope many of you got the chance to listen to Maritime Noon call-in show on CBC today. I really enjoyed it. If you missed it I think you can go to the Maritime Noon webpage and download todays show. The show was on buying local and how we as consumers can support our local farmers.

News from the barn.....

Our ewe "Erica" gave birth to a ram Monday night. She was really spooked. Andrew and I brought the lamb into the house for the night because it was going to be so cold and we were worried about Erica's ability to look after him. We brought him in and gave him a warm bath to clean him up a bit and dried him off really well. He spent the night in our bathroom. He was blaating in the bathroom and the dog was in the kitchen barking for most of the night.

Yesterday morning we took him out to Erica. After a full day of latching the lamb onto Erica and forcing her to stand still she seems to behaving like a good mother. We checked on her many times today to see how they were both doing.

Our ewe that gave birth last Thursday got her head stuck and had to be rescued. She is the one we have started to call "Shaggy".

Everything we have planted in the greenhouse seems to be growing well. The growing season seems so far off still the falling snow outside.

I am off to Fredericton tomorrow for a Canadian Young Farmer's forum.

Miserable Morning!!!

2008-03-20T09:17:00.002-03:00

There is ice everywhere. It has been freezing rain since early this morning. "Big Blue" is doing great with her new lambs. Andrew got a surprise this morning when he went out to the barn. There was another lamb. We didn't think that that particular ewe would was that close. But hey what do we know, we are learning.

Everything is starting to grow in the greenhouse. It is very encouraging. We have gone through a lot of wood though.

Our CSA box sales have been going good. A few more and will have hit our goal for this season.

Two more lambs!!!!

2008-03-19T19:43:00.001-03:00

Two more lambs were born last night around 7:00pm. "Big Blue" did wonderful. We were all there if she needed help. She showed no signs of stress and seemed to know exactly what to do and when to do it.
JG

More Cold Nights!

2008-03-16T19:59:00.003-03:00

We have yet another cold night night at -15C with high winds. The cool temperatures are causing a lot of nightly checks on both the lambing pens and the greenhouse. Thank goodness for family to help with many of the shifts.

We expect to have another sheep lamb sometime in the next day or so. The ewe has been showing signs of being ready as long as the one that gave birth yesterday, so tonight could be the night.

The plants direct seeded in the greenhouse have started to germinate. The work to heat now does not feel like it was in vane.

Lambs Are Born

2008-03-15T09:30:00.004-03:00

Today marks the beginning of lambing season with the birth of a set of twin lambs born to "Little Bear". All went well and the birth was unassisted. The first of the twins was born shortly after 8:00am and the second 20 minutes later. The lambs appear to be healthy and walking around well. We will be checking in often to ensure they are both nursing.

CSA Memberships

2008-03-11T13:11:00.000-03:00

After such a frustrating week fighting with weather it is reassuring and encouraging to see such a great level of support from local customers interested in joining our CSA. Our advertising campaign is off to a great start with a flurry of interest in memberships for the upcoming season. We will be posting more information and answers to your questions on our website soon so come visit us often. Feel free to send us an email or call us with any questions or comments you might have. Jodi and I both love hearing from our present and prospective customers.

Long Cold Nights

2008-03-11T09:38:00.000-03:00

March has certainly come in like a lion! Snow, freezing rain and record rain fall has left us feeling discouraged and frustrated.

The last 3 rain falls have led to flooding in the greenhouse. Cold nights has reeked havoc on the firewood supply and left us tired and ran down due to the constant attending during the -15 C nights.

Today is sunny and will allow us a break from attending the fire during daylight hours. The temperature will no doubt reach the high thirties today, which will allow us to open the ventilation and remove some of the moisture that has built up due to flooding.

The flooding came on fast and water levels receded just as quickly so there is a possibility that the seed already planted will not rot.

We certainly hope that the rest of March brings warm nights and sunny days but as we all know the weather is in the hands of God.

May God bless our hard work and reward us with an early and productive crop this spring.

Time must now be spent preparing the barn for lambing as many of the sheep are showing signs of be due very shortly. Hope also to get the tractor repaired this week as it will be needed as soon as the fields can be worked. Other priorities include the completion of an apprentice cabin, repairs and upgrades to cultivation equipment and the completion of this years certification forms.

2008-03-02T21:44:00.000-04:00

We started to heat the greenhouse today. We have started to seed the greenhouse today as well. We are hoping to get a head start for the beginning of the market season in April. More trays are being planted everyday in the front porch. There was a big snow storm here yesterday and today. There must be three feet of snow on the garden. It is a very comfortable temperature in the greenhouse.

Greenhouse Work Begins

2008-02-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

Today Andrew will begin preparing the greenhouse beds to receive the transpants in about 3 weeks time. Things are cold today -26 C with the windchill, but we are hoping it will warm up quickly come the first of March.

Started transplants

2008-02-13T22:10:00.000-04:00

Today we started to seed the transplants for the greenhouse and for the market gardens. The celery, green onions and storage onions are a real treat to hand seed. You either can not see the seed or loose your place on the tray. The peppers were seeded as well. Our front porch is starting to look like a mini greenhouse and it is only February. We started to heat the front porch to help with germination.

2008-02-13T21:51:00.001-04:00