Tiny Farm Blog Organic micro-farming with two acres and some tools ~ a daily photo journal...

Ah, yes, a leisurely autumn drive through the countryside… After the soothing greens of summer, the intense fall colors busting out everywhere never fails to amaze. Pretty as a picture. Still, it took a brief road trip and an extremely rare overnight stay in a larger nearby town, to remind me how for most of my life, scenes like this were a bit of an exotic treat. Living in the city, you planned for a drive in the country, but oftener than not, the turning of the leaves in autumn was observed tree by tree on city streets, or in parks…or pictures. Here in farm country, surrounded by trees wherever the fields end, the colors of nature are now not a novelty, simply the everyday backdrop. I left hardcore urban living entirely behind six years ago—now, this little off-farm break, cruising around a fair-sized town for a few hours, something I haven’t done in ages, was enough of a jog to remind me all in a rush how different things are, city to country…

In town, I got to see Raechelle’s kitchen garden (it’s literally right outside her kitchen door) as it makes its way through autumn. After a season of working with Rae every Tuesday in the field, it was cool to see her own veggie plot. I see rhubarb, and cherry tomatoes, and…

Here’s the inspiration for the red maple leaf on our Canadian flag, beautifully set in a riverside park… Tourism! ;)

Really fine weather for our second market day of the season: sunshine, warmth, a pleasant breeze…! A bit more variety than last week, with all-lettuce mesclun, spinach, arugula, Jerusalem artichoke, chives and rhubarb, but still not much quantity of anything. We were sold out by around 10 a.m. Hanging below the chokes bin is the “Certified Naturally Grown” sign. It’s a new certification this year, in addition to our “certified organic” status. Naturally Grown is a grassroots, farmer-to-farmer program, started in the USA, and entirely voluntary and at no charge, where farmers’ certify other farmers according to essentially the same production standards as the government-regulated organic program. Instead of a lot of paperwork and fees, it’s simple and straightforward, but of course the legal word “organic” can’t be used, so it’s…”naturally grown” instead. Since there are only a couple of other NG farms in Ontario, and none close by, the inspection for this tiny farm will be done by CSA members. I’m still maintaining regular organic certification, but for what we’re doing, selling local food direct to people, Naturally Grown makes most sense to me…

Harvest for the second farmers’ market of the season was OK, but still what I think of as kinda found crops. There’s the first market harvest ever of rhubarb, a binful (20 bundles or so) from the fairly giant patch (about 60 divisions) planted three years ago—kinda stubby, compared to the more sheltered rhubarb behind the farmhouse, but tasty all the same. There’s also 15 lbs (6.8kg) of all-lettuce mesclun from the greenhouse, around 10lbs (4.5kg) of new-growth spinach from a few beds planted last fall, 15 pounds of Jerusalem artichoke, some chives, overwintered and in full return in the herb garden, and a few bags of arugula. Enough to keep our hand in at the market, but I’m really waiting on new stuff from the field…!

Debacle may be a little strong, the future of my newly established rhubarb patch is not absolutely dire, but it’s not looking perky just yet. I’ve so far managed to spot only half a dozen of the 50 odd transplants I set out last year in spring. I’d ambitiously dug up part of an ancient patch in the house garden (it needed thinning anyway), divided out a ton of roots, and planted at least 50 on 3′ centers (hopefully, I’ll be able to count ‘em in a couple more weeks) in a permanent spot in the garden field. I can’t quite remember what I was thinking: eventually, rhubarb for an entire village?! Problem became the low priority of rhubarb in the busy year, upkeep of the patch got away from me, and it grew over quite heavily with grass and other weedy items. Also, fewer, denser plantings might’ve been a better idea. But rhubarb is tough, I dunno if it can be smothered by mere other plants… We’ll soon see!