WEEK 10: Field Trips!

After all the hard work lately the farm gods have cut us a break- we got to go on 2 field trips to other farms this week! After a bit of work Monday in the asparagus patch (read 150 bales of hay to mulch down some monster weeds)and a harvest day Tuesday, we had a C.R.A.F.T. day at Drumlin Farm up in Puslinch on Wednesday. There we learned about native and invasive species, helped pull some garlic mustard and European Buckthorn, and got the scoop on the merits (and dare I say bullshit gov't/corporate control mechanisms?) of traceability in Ontario- not yet required by legislation. We toured the quaint, human-scale beds and identified some common weeds.

Thursday was another harvest day (weeding and whatnot in the afternoons while some lucky folks go off to market), and Friday we went to Black Walnut Lane in Milgrove, a conventional sheep farm that sells lamb at our markets. Adele and Ron were great hosts, and shared a lot about their farm, the difficulties, the investments, the lessons they've learned. We were at the height of our glory catching lambs that needed to be weaned (the males are destined for market but the females will be kept to breed). We did a bit of pitch-fork work and called it day, returning home for our weekly Oh, to Grow session and field walk. We have solved the crop rotation problem definitively, both in terms of alternating heavy and light feeding crops on a given plot of land, and in terms of planting potatoes far from the previous year's location in an attempt to thwart the dreaded beetle infestation (the idea is avoid an early infestation as the pest searches for the crop).

All in all it is great to see other farms to witness other products, philosophies, and methods at work; and it's great to come back and contribute to the farm we call home.

Today: Bread baking, backyard gardening, number crunching, and horse competition photography. Tonight: potluck at Simpler Thyme. Tomorrow: Long Point beach. Who could ask for a better week?