Market Produce -- Glamour Shots

Beet Bouquets - Merlin, Chioggia & Touchstone varieties

Carrot Bunches - Nelson, White Satin & Purple Haze varieties

Bright Lights Chard & French Breakfast Radishes

French Filet Beans -- Red Rocket, Islander & Tiburon Peppers -- unlabeled eggplant
from the World Crops Project

Costata Romanesco & a last minute addition
yellow zucchini variety that I didn't write down (it happens).

to the bone

This short film by Erin Li makes a great classroom resource for learning about migrant labour and food justice with young people. 

TO THE BONE from Erin Li on Vimeo.

where the bees live

Andrew took this picture in August when we went to visit the bees. Our two hives are located at a family friend's house in Milton, ON. She has a few acres and the hives sit right next to this field of grasses. The bees have lots to eat in this beautiful place. 

vancouver visit - sole food farm in the fall

In late October, after our farmer's market finished up for the season, I got to head out west to spend time with Andrew in Vancouver. First stop was Sole Food, the farm I apprenticed at in 2012. I spent a day helping at the pacific site, then Lissa and I drove around to the other sites to see how they look. These farm sites will always be some favourite spots of mine. It's interesting to feel so tied to this city land - to feel so at home in a parking lot or old gas station. They mean a whole lot to me. The spaces and the people.

Artichokes were a new crop at the Hastings Site this season. Lissa gave
me these two to take home and they were completely delicious.

Visiting the four high tunnels we built at Vernon Drive. Memories of our
rag-tag crew trying to install these monsters in a month straight of pouring rain. 

The new orchard that was installed at the Main & Terminal site. I helped write
the grant for this so it was extra special to see it live and in person.
Meyer lemons, unreal.

View of the Pacific site from up on the bridge -
memories of laying out 2,000+ pallet boxes for weeks on end.

I owe a lot to Sole Food - not only did they teach me so much while I was there farming, but Seann and Lissa answered my constant questions when I was trying to put together the farm plan for School Grown last winter. I still call Seann on the regular with questions about irrigation or low tunnels. They are good people.

And on the subject of Sole Food, here is a recent short film about the farm's work. Pretty great. There's a shot of me too! 

farm trucks.

Early Sunday mornings pre-farmer's market in Vancouver usually meant trying to jump one novelty sized farm truck with another.  Only the finest. 

September, 2012.

cultivating + collinear hoes

cultivating basil beds at sole food, 2012.

We try to reduce weed pressure at the farm by using the stale seed bed technique. Rather than plant directly into a prepped bed, we allow a bed to sit for a week or two after being turned/amended so that any weed seeds germinate. We then cultivate the bed just before seeding using a collinear hoe. The short bladed tool has one sharp edge - that edge passes just below the surface of the soil and slices through all the germinated seeds when the roots are in the white thread stage. We cultivate before seeding/transplating and then try to cultivate again every few weeks in between the plants. This works with plants that have 4" (or more) in row spacing or between rows (beans, kale, chard, collards, summer squash, tomatoes, etc.) The hoe doesn't work for crops that are more densely planted, especially those done with a pinpoint seeder or that are broadcasted. Those got a good old fashioned hand weed once the first leaves came up. This method also doesn't work for weeds that are deep rooted - like our seemingly indestructible bindweed. Bindweed usually just takes constant hand weeding to try an keep it under control. 

The students really love using the collinear hoes. Any detailed task that requires a specific tool yet is easy to master works really well with students. During the summer, there was no shortage of students who wanted to cultivate. 

A student's collinear hoe - crafted in welding class.

This spring I worked a lot with a grade nine student that was struggling with a recent move to the school. It was a challenge to connect and we were trying different ways to engage him in his classes. He showed an interest in welding and so the horticulture teacher gave him the project of designing and welding his own garden tool. One morning I was working with the senior class starting trays of summer squash in the greenhouse and this student came in to the class beaming from ear to ear holding his creation. A grade twelve student recognized it as a collinear hoe and asked him where it came from. "I made it, " he said. The senior students were completely impressed. They gathered around the tool and checked out the design and welding. One said he couldn't believe it, "it looked like it came from a store." This student doesn't get a lot of praise in school, and most attention he usually receives from both teachers and students is negative. And here he was, on the receiving end of some genuine admiration and respect from these senior students. A perfect moment. For the rest of the season, whenever we would take the tools outside to work, this hoe was always the first to be claimed - it was the students' favourite tool. 

Works real good, too.