So apparently June seemed to get away from me from the Farmer blog's perspective. But from a weed's perspective I was all up in their business for the month of June. I have spectacular hand strength to prove it. June was a tough month for us, as we were supposed to be celebrating our wedding in Ontario and Calgary. We probably would have neglected our garden this year, from everything that goes with wedding celebrations so at least we do have something to show for the postponement!
I have never been so on top of the garden than this year, if that is any positive from the covid-19 pandemic. My full time work was halted abruptly and preparing for the fall is just one being shadow of doubt, so the easiest thing to do for myself was to disappear in the cloud of mosquitoes at the farm and weed away my worries. What they say about soil and antidepressants has proven to be correct in my experiences. My advice is to get dirty.
Now the last two weeks at the farm has been paradise, roaming through the rows with a drink in my hand, breathing it all in. I examine the little buds and train the delicate runners up our trellises. Casually watering some of the tender plants, because I have no worry due to the rain we have had this season. I have finally been able to reap my rewards, even before I started harvesting with all the time I put in weeding. Mind you we had radishes and turnip at the end of June so it wasn't long before I started harvesting and received that first wave of satisfaction from all my time invested.
This was my first ever planting of hakurei turnip and I was pleasantly surprised with how delicious they were, and how many people said they didnt like turnips, but tried these and liked them! Definitely a keeper for future plantings. Our radish harvest was also excellent, though hella spicy again, despite an early harvest. We had row covers on our brassicas and it has helped with insects, though our turnip did start to become lunch for some at the end of June. That has been our one insect issue at the farm. We are hoping our cabbage and brussel sprouts remain worm free this season!
So far the garden has been a sanctuary for me this year as we try to escape the world that has evolved these past few months. If anything, I've learned that our goal of returning to a simple life where we have more control over what we eat, our time, our habits and our sanity is the ultimate goal. We have been regularly spending weekends and some weeknights at the cabin living on the farm and it's slowly showing us how easy it can be to let things go and live more in the moment. I've found my paradise. We don't binge netflix, we take walks, we dig in the dirt, we have a fire and chat at the end of the day, we unplug. It is a completely different life from the city life. This includes the toilet situation. It's not all flowers and rainbows out there... there is a reason why I don't live there permanently. It's not all magic. Lol.
But honestly, it is wonderful to think we are working so hard towards a lifestyle that we want and it's getting very close to reality.
Yes, I took a selfie with my beans. They give me joy. And yes I have dirt on my face. They're the good microbes everyone wants this year, it's all the trend. I know you're envious.
We are ramping up for our first market, July 19 at the Wildrose Brewery again this year. We were able to have two markets last year with them. These guys have been so gracious to let us set up at their patio to sell fresh veggies and we also get to drink their beer. It's a match made in heaven. We are planning to have garlic scapes, baby potatoes, beets and fingers crossed a few zucchini if they have grown this week! It'll be a smaller market but hopefully it'll help with exposure for when we have our big harvests in August. So if you come on Sunday and we have run out, fear not! We will be back in August with LOADS of produce! But we also didnt want anyone to miss out on trying garlic scapes and baby potatoes. So really this market is a taster of what's to come. The variety this year will be so fun too. We know that not all of you are beet fanatics like us (silly fools), so we do have some delicious new veggies to sell, including the garden favourite snap peas, among other goodies.
So make sure to check out our Instagram page or Facebook page for more up to date info on our markets this summer as we would love to see you in person! We love sharing our hard work with everyone and seeing their love of farm fresh veggies is worth it. Trust me, we do not calculate our hourly wage 😆.
If you're curious as to what we are bringing on Sunday, follow us on our social media and we will be posting pics of the produce before Sunday afternoon to let you guys know what we will be selling!
Thanks for reading and we hope to see you on Sunday!
Cheers,
K