Some good news and some sad...

Hello All!

I just wanted to let people in on my latest news. I will begin with the good:

I just got a short contract teaching high school near home and I am very excited to start... this Tuesday!!! I will begin planning my 3 different courses immediately...

However, the other news is, of course, that I can no longer continue going to market. I have had a great season and finished with a bang on Friday which was my most successful day yet at Masonville (largely due to my flowers which sold out within the first few hours!).

I still have many things that I will be continuing to sell from the farm (7657 Egremont Rd.) and there will surely be a lot of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, pumpkins and other goodies that will be for sale if people are interested. I will keep people posted on this and likely send out a mass e-mail in the coming days advertising the produce we still have available.

Thanks again for following and I hope to see you next year!!!

Amy

Farming update and fun with flowers...

(Then
and
now)



I have had a great time in my market gardening adventure thus far and I expect things will really start picking up now that I have sweet corn. I have been going Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons to Lobo, Friday mornings to Masonville Market, and Saturday mornings to my own hometown, Watford. It has been REALLY busy, but a long the way I have found some great help. My cousin Rachel, who brought her family's fruit helped me in Masonville at the beginning, a nice person has been helping me set up and take down in Lobo, and several neighbours and family members have stopped in and helped me to weed the garden. My little sister and mom have made all my signs. Thanks people!!!

I have learned a lot too! I have learned about the likes and dislikes of the plant varieties I am growing (temperature, amount of rainfall, neighbour plants, etc) and the likes and dislikes of the insect and animal community around them (at least if I don't feed a lot of people, I will be feeding the bugs!). I am also learning about what my customers like. I wouldn't have thought that my colourful swiss chard and my beets would be the most popular sellers. Neither would I have guessed that yellow beans would have greater sales than green.

Now, I did not ever get around to labelling my last photo blog... so I will try to figure out how to label these pictures of bee heaven (some of the flowering veggies and plants in the garden):

Zucchini flower.

Cucumber flower.

Onion flower.

Dill flower.

Okra flower.


Eggplant flower.


Tomato flower.

Scarlet runner bean flower.

Green bean flower.


Savoy cabbage (not acually a flower, but beautiful!!)

And then we have sunflowers, which I have just started selling:

The garden is growing...

A little about me and my new adventure in market gardening...

It is now the end of June 2009, and I am still not quite sure what I've got myself into... but I love it! I thought I would create a blog to let friends and customers know a bit about me and what I am up to in my new garden.

After university, I spent some time in an office job. While I did learn a lot and I really liked the organization, I also came to see that I am not cut out for an office job. This past spring I began supply teaching and moved back to the farm after 7 years in the city. I was very happy to be home and I began to share thoughts with my Dad about doing a little market garden.

Shortly after, I was introduced to the alluring pages of the seed catalogue. Dad and I are both dreamers, while Mom and other siblings can be more practical. Luckily (or not), Mom was away for the day, so Dad and I had fun ordering all kinds of neat things, like different coloured carrots and cauliflowers and star-shaped zucchinis.

I planted seeds, weather permitting in the space I have rented from my Dad. After a day of supply teaching in London or surrounding schools, I would come home, change into my home clothes, and head out to the garden with my big orange wheelbarrow full of seeds, my garden tools, and my garden notebook. I would often stay out until I could no longer tell a weed from a little plant because it was too dark, but I can't say I minded it at all.

And here I am today, June 30th, seeds almost all in the ground, and approaching the next real test -- going to market. Have I planted enough? Have I planted too much? Will my prices be comparable? Will the beat up refrigerated cube van that I spent my last pennies on (now dubbed "The Skunk" because of the interesting paint job given by the previous owner) break down on my way to Masonville? Do I have everything I need (tents, tables, tubs, chalk board, business cards...etc.)?

We'll see!

I'll let you know after Friday morning at Masonville. Hopefully I will have a chance to post some pics of my garden and the farm by then...