Glen Valley Organic Farm

New: Goat Meat

2011-11-28T14:27:00.001-08:00

We now have a limited supply of goat meat available for sale.

The animals were all raised on our farm from birth this past spring. Our goats receive a diet of hay, organic grain and foraging. The cuts are similar to what you would expect for lamb in terms of size. Goat meat is very lean and is exceptional in curries.

Cuts available:

Loin Chops
$17.50/lb	Average 0.75-1.0 lbs

Leg Roast
$10.50/lb	Average 1.2-1.5 lbs

Shoulder Roast
$9.75/lb	Average 1.5-1.8 lbs

Stew Meat
$9.00/lb	Average 0.5-0.9 lbs

Shanks
$6.50/lb	Average 1.0-1.4 lbs

Neck Slices
$4.50/lb	Average 0.3-0.4 lbs

Ribs
$8.00/lb	Average 1.3 lbs

Shoulder Steaks
$11.50/lb	Average 1.4-1.6 lbs

To order goat meat for pick-up from the farm or at a farmers market, please e-mail glenvalleychris (at) gmail (dot) com or call 604-626-0067.

Please note: our goat herd is not part of our certified organic program; although we strictly follow organic standards for care, we cannot always source certified organic hay.

2011 Variety Reviews: Part II

2011-11-27T22:18:00.000-08:00

Aside from reviewing some of the new varieties we grew this year, I also put out a call to the organic community for variety reviews. The echos of silence were deafening . . . well, almost. Adam from Sundog Vegetables in Delta (who also worked for us last year) provided notes from his experience this year.

Peppers: Very happy with the Jalapeno M (conventional OP) variety from West Coast Seeds. Planted in cold frames in highly fertile soil with plastic mulch, they were very productive and vigorous plants. Not as spicy as I would've liked.

Lettuce: Very happy with the early season vigor of Speckled Butterhead and Merlot (both organic OP) from WCS. Was harvesting them in late May from a cold frame, when other lettuces (Anuenue and Plato, also organic WCS) were not doing well. Early field plantings of Speckled Butter and Merlot also did great. Speckled Butterhead did have a tendency to bolt in summer field plantings.

Celery: Tried both the OP Utah 52-70 and hybrid Victoria from WCS. Not seeing all that much difference between them. Victoria plants are maybe slightly larger, but not a huge difference. Transplanted out in early June, no plants bolted, harvesting now (late Oct.)

Amaranth: Thought this was supposed to do well on poor soil, so I planted it in the poorest soil on my place. Planted Red Leaf, Emerald Green, and Burgundy Grain (all WCS conventional). Very unproductive... Burgundy Grain only got to be about 1/2 meter tall, with correspondingly low yield. The Red Leaf and Emerald Green varieties produced very little, too.

Beans: Stayton, Carson, and Royal Burgundy (bush, OP, WCS, conventional) produced a nice first crop from an early planting (late May). Kentucky Wonder Wax (pole, OP, WCS, conventional) was productive as advertised, but did not have a very marketable appearance: pods were susceptible to rust and didn't keep a flattened form like other pole beans.

Cabbage: Pixie (F1, conv., WCS) and Derby Day (OP, organic, WCS) were both great early summer cabbages for me. Both produce rather small heads, but do so quickly on compact plants (was harvesting in early July after transplanting in late May/early June).

After putting out my call, Eden Balfour also posted some reviews. See them here: http://amillionconnections.blogspot.com/2011/10/vegetable-hits-and-misses.html

Sourcing Great Seed

2011-11-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

Sourcing great seed can make the difference between enjoying growing veggies and finding it to be a frustrating experience. As an organic farm, our certification process requires that we try to source seeds that are certified organic before considering conventional options. That can make our seed purchasing a bit tricky at time. Here are some of the sources we use on our farm.

We purchased a significant amount of seed from High MowingSeeds in 2011. We did this for two reasons. First, High Mowing only sells organic seed. When looking through their catalogue, there is no need to worry about whether a variety is available as organic seed. Second, they offer a Community Supported Seed program. Seed shares purchased before 31 December provide the purchaser with a 10% discount.

Unfortunately, we encountered problems getting our seed from High Mowing. Our first order ended up stalled at Canadian Customs for over a month (at no fault of High Mowing), and because the company didn’t offer a courier delivery option for Canadian customers there was no way to track the package. High Mowing re-shipped the order via courier (at their own expense) and has promised to offer better shipping arrangements to Canadian customers this coming season.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds remains the most efficient company for shipping, not to mention an excellent selection of varieties and tools. We have yet to have a problem getting a package through customs.

Both Johnny’s and High Mowing carry a wide range of the best organic seed varieties being produced by companies such as Vitalis and Bejo as well as small breeders of specialty cultivars. Both feature a number of varieties bred in-house or in co-operation with breeding research projects.

We stopped ordering from Seeds of Change after a string of problems is recent years. Their online ordering system often wouldn't allow orders to Canada; their phone orders go through a call centre staffed by people with no clue about growing. After parent company, multi-national Mars Corp, closed the business’ research farm in New Mexico without warning last year, we aren’t confident there is a commitment to developing new varieties or any effort to work with the organic community.

West Coast Seeds remains an option for some seeds, although the company carries limited selection for organic growers and seems focused more on the home gardener. Pricing on some commercial organic varieties this season (such as Napoli carrots) made it prohibitive to purchase from this local company. West Coast’s shipping charges policy on backordered products has racked up additional charges. US competitors generally ship backorders at no additional cost.

William Dam Seeds provides an alternative Canadian seed source. They have increased their selection of organic varieties and have competitive pricing. The only drawback is that they take an exceptionally long time to fill orders (up to six weeks).

Finally, local BC seed suppliers Stellar Seeds and Salt Spring Seeds are great for finding unique, organic, open pollinated varieties suited to growing in most parts of BC. They often don't have enough supply for a farm, but they do offer some great seeds for small experiments -- perfect for the backyard gardener!

2011 Variety Reviews: Part I

2011-11-23T22:32:00.000-08:00

In his book The Winter Harvest Handbook Eliot Coleman states that farmers have a responsibility to share their knowledge and experiments with each other to improve organic growing. In this spirit, I offer the following variety reviews from our trials this season. This is the first installment of reviews -- I have other varieties to note, plus reviews shared by other growers.

Our trials focus on finding suitable organic varieties of seed to replace standard conventional options. A primary focus is the production of profitable, marketable crops. As such, we use a number of hybrid varieties for the sake of yield, appearance and consistency of maturity dates. At the same time, we are always looking for suitable open-pollinated varieties to replace or grow alongside hybrid varieties.

Our farm is located in Abbotsford, in the Fraser Valley. We had an exceptionally late start in 2011, with cool, wet weather through to July. The second-half of the season provided warm, dry conditions, allowing crops to mature. These conditions have been taken into account when reviewing varieties.

Broccoli

Batavia F1, Belstar F1

High Mowing Seed

Batavia was a new variety for 2011. It performed well, producing an early crop of crowns and side shoots afterward. The catalogue notes that Batavia does not have the same heat tolerance as Belstar, although it is significantly earlier. Belstar produces consistent, even crowns. When grown side-by-side with conventional hybrids such as Everest and Diplomat, both Belstar and Batavia are slightly smaller with somewhat less-dense crowns. Overall, though, both are excellent organic alternatives.

Calabrese OP

West Coast Seeds

Over the past few years I’ve been searching for an open pollinated broccoli that would perform well for markets. Calabrese looked promising based on catalogue, but we were unable to get any reasonable harvest from these plants. Some plants produced small crowns, but for most it was even difficult to find marketable side-shoots. Most of the planting ending up flowering early-on.

Radicchio

Leonardo F1

Johnny’s Selected Seeds

This round-type radicchio produced consistent, sizable heads that held well in the field. We were pleased to see this variety available as organic. Leonardo impressed customers at markets, particularly alongside the trevisio-type hybrid Fiero (which is not available as organic seed).

Beets

Blankoma OP

Johnny’s Selected Seeds

This isn’t actually a new variety, although it was new to me this season. I thought this would be at least a popular novelty, particularly given that some customers are beet fanatics. Although the crop grew well, the beets did not have a high market appeal. We sold some in multi-colour bunches as “rainbow beets”, but would approach with caution in the future, particularly given the high cost of the seeds. Purple beets are perennial favorites and we stick to Early Wonder Tall Top as the preferred variety. Gold beets are second-most popular and nothing compares to Touchstone Gold. Chioggia Guardsmark appeared in 2010 and was a significant improvement on the traditional Chioggia, although the striped beets are not significantly popular at any of our markets.

Cabbage

Buscaro F1

High Mowing Seeds

I added Buscaro to our crop plan in order to get a late-season harvest of red cabbage after our tried-and-true Red Acre was finished. Overall, Buscaro disappointed with small heads and inconsistent maturity dates. This is one example where the open pollinated variety (available from BC’s own Stellar Seeds) performs best.

Kaitlin F1

High Mowing Seeds

Although others on the farm may have been cursing me under their breath for the amount of cabbage I seeded this season, I couldn’t resist some of the varieties listed. Of these, Kaitlin was one that impressed the most. This sauerkraut-type cabbage produces large (12-15 lb) heads of densely packed white leaves. Plants mature uniformly, meaning you’ll either need an army of krauting customers on standby or plans for processing them yourself. They hold well in the field and in the cooler. Sauerkraut made in the summer from Kaitlin has exceptional flavour.

Onions

Cortland F1

Johnny’s Selected Seeds

Bedfordshire Champion OP

Stellar Seeds

Although Cortland wasn’t a new variety this season, I am compelled to review it after trialing it for two seasons. We grew Cortland alongside Bedfordshire Champion (an open pollinated variety from Stellar Seeds) in an effort to find an organic seed alternative to Copra. After two seasons I remain hesitant to suggest either as an all-out replacement. Both Cortland and Bedfordshire Champion had high rates of bolting in the field. This season, neither variety’s tops fell over at maturity. Both retained significant amounts of moisture in the necks, making curing difficult and resulting in high rates of loss in storage. We didn’t have this problem last season, although neither variety stored as well as Copra. Given that Copra is produced by Bejo (which produces an array or organic seed varieties) and is widely used by organic farmers, it would seem logical that the company would develop an organic version soon.

Pumpkins

Jack Straw OP

High Mowing Seeds

I would be hesitant to review a non-edible pumpkin (or at least a carving pumpkin), except that Jack Straw was an exceptional variety. Plants produced large, consistently-sized pumpkins that matured evenly and with time to spare before Halloween.

Black Futzu OP

High Mowing Seeds

Listed as “a rare Japanese specialty for the porch or the table,” I couldn’t resist trying this new variety. This is a stunning pumpkin, with a visual appearance that draws customers’ attention at the market stand. Plants are productive and the catalogue notes that it can even be grown in large containers. My only mistake was harvesting it too early; I took the word “black” in its name as an indicator of maturity. In fact, mature fruit turn a chestnut-orange. I was about to write off this variety based on this mistake and the resulting lack of flavour. Luckily I left enough fruit to realize my mistake a few weeks later. It’s worth growing again.

Squash

Nutterbutter OP

High Mowing Seeds

Finding a Buttnernut variety that matures before rains (or frost) set in has always been a challenge for us. So it was nice to see a new, early, open-pollinated Butternut variety. But the promised 90 days in the catalogue is too ambitious. We still struggled to get the fruit out before frost – long after our 95 day varieties were picked and cured. The squash we did get were excellent texture, flavour and size (not too large). It’s a nice squash, but not the silver bullet for short-season climates.

2012 Wish List

Of course, I can always hope that there are some surprises in the new seed catalogues for 2012. At the top of my list is an indeterminate beefsteak tomato comparable with Big Beef in productivity, flavour and durability. The main objective is to find a seed that isn’t produced by a Monsanto-owned company.

War, Agriculture and Remembrance

2011-11-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

It has often occurred to me that November is an appropriate time for Remembrance Day. The days are generally bleak and the natural world is in a hasty decline as frost kills plants and trees shed their leaves. In short, the world around is a reminder of death.

This past week I have been thinking about the relationship between war and agriculture. More precisely, I've been considering the impact of war on agriculture.

The connection between war and agriculture is relatively new to me. My family has no history of veterans since most who were of service age during the world wars were farmers and thus exempt from military service. At the same time, I understand that war and political instability were motivating factors for some of my ancestors to leave their homes and travel to what they hoped would be a more stable future in Canada. War is at the root of many global migrations, particularly concerning rural peasants.

This understanding, however, is something I have pieced together gradually.

Landmines and Lasting Terror
My first lesson on war's impact on agriculture came over a decade ago while working of a project for Canada's Mine Action Team. Landmines leave a devastating legacy for agricultural communities around the world, often for generations following war.

The distribution of landmines in war-affected regions demonstrates that these weapons are not often used as protective devices in the battlefield. Rather, they are used to provoke terror in the general population and to destroy local economies.

An injured or killed adult in a farming family would mean the end of subsistence for all those who depended on the individual's labour for food and income.

The Soviets manufactured landmines that look like toys, to attract Afghani children. A crippled child would consume a family's resources, taking them away from war efforts.

Of most significance to understanding the impact of landmines is recognizing the terror they induce, even in their absence. The number of landmines in a field is irrelevant; a family doesn't know whether there is one mine or thousands. Regardless of how many are present, the threat of one being there is enough to keep people off the land until the entire area is demined -- or until the family is desperate.

The full impact of this lesson didn't sink in until I started farming myself. Standing in the field one day I understood what it would be like to be afraid of the land. If each footstep held the potential for death or dismemberment, I could not take farming for granted. Desperation forces many farmers around the world to take a chance with their lives every day.

Seed Banks and Targets of War
That war could have as raw an impact on farmers as landmines might be obvious. But the impacts of war on agriculture can demonstrate the greater values of a society. The example of seed banks as targets of war underscore this.

Two years ago I began reading about Nikolai Vavilov, a Russian botanist and geneticist who established the world's largest seed banks in St. Petersburg. The seed bank consisted of hundreds-of-thousands seed varieties collected by Vavilov while traveling the world, searching for the origins of various cultivated plants.

When Hitler's Nazis began to approach Leningrad in 1941, the Soviets evacuated the Hermitage's thousands of cultural artifacts to remote locations across the country. By comparison, Vavilov's Institute, located nearby and containing 400,000 seed varieties, was given no attention or protection by government officials.

Throughout the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted 28 months, staff at the seedbank stayed at the institute, protecting the seed collection. By the end of the siege, during which 700,000 residents of Leningrad died of starvation, nine of the institute's staff also perished. These individuals died protecting a collection of seeds they could have eaten in order to survive. Instead, they recognized the greater benefit these seeds would provide to their society -- something their own government had failed to overlook.

In the end, documents uncovered after the war demonstrated that the Nazis had formed a tactical unit to capture the seedbank. While they failed to take the seeds in Leningrad, they did collect seeds from stations located throughout occupied territories.

Meanwhile, Vavilov died of starvation in a Soviet prison, the victim of Satlin's anti-intellectualism.

Contemporary Seed Targets
In his 2008 book Where Our Food Comes From, Gary Paul Nabhan explains that seedbanks are continued targets of aggression in contemporary conflicts.

In 1992, the Mujahideen destroyed an Afghani seed bank. Although Afghani scientists salvaged some seed samples, most were lost in subsequent fighting when the neighbourhoods in which they were stored were destroyed.

Iraq held a seedbank which, as Nabhan explains, held "some of the finest collections of ancient Mesopotamian seeds that had survived through the twentieth century." Although samples from the collection were relocated to Syria in 1996, the Iraqi seedbank was destroyed following the American invasion in 2003. Amidst this, media attention focused on the looting of antiquities at the Iraqi National Museum.

In the aftermath, the American military distributed seed and fertilizer to Iraqi farmers from American companies. The US occupation also introduced rules prohibiting Iraqi farmers from saving their own seed. Many Iraqi farmers no longer have access to indigenous seed varieties, developed in their region over thousands of years.

During the Egyptian revolution this spring, the country's deserts gene bank was attacked, damaging its cooling system and destroying some equipment. The seed collection itself was, apparently, unharmed.

Seed is the basis of food sovereignty. All of these examples demonstrate the long-lasting impact of war on a society's ability to function, long after the war has ended.

War and the Destruction of a Way of Life
War's displacement of populations and the subsequent occupation of land by opposing forces can change a society's way of life permanently. Gary Paul Nabhan recounts the example of Lebanon to illustrate this.

A country that had once been one of the world's breadbaskets, Lebanon's agricultural community has been decimated by war and foreign occupations. Napoleon III's arrival in the 1860s brought with it the displacement of indigenous agriculture in favor of Mulberry Trees for silk production.

In approximately one decade, Lebanon became dependent on neighboring countries for two-thirds of its staple crops through imports. The notion of food sovereignty within the country's population was rapidly moving toward extinction.

When the Ottomans entered World War I, the country's male population was conscripted to fight alongside the Germans. One-fifth of the male population deserted the country.

Following a locust plague in 1915, the remaining population became subject to famine and disease. By the end of the war 100,000 residents of Beirut and Mount Lebanon had died as a result of the famine. Only 1 in 20 rural dwellers remained on the land in some areas.

Between 1955 and 1975 100,000 farmers were displaced due to agricultural modernization. The country went from half of its population living off the land after WWII, to only one-fifth in 1975.

The country continues to struggle with instability following the Lebanon War which lasted from 1975 to 1990 and the 2006 Lebanon War.

Ultimately, the presence of war in a society makes agriculture difficult, if not impossible to continue. Countries devastated by war are often additionally crippled by their dependence on international markets and aid to provide food in place of the disused and unusable agricultural land and a displaced rural population.

In the most brutal examples, land remains unusable due to landmines, intentional salination by departing occupiers or the destruction of orchards or groves of trees -- in the case of the olive tree, a sign of peace and a tree that can live hundreds of years.

The Transfer of War Technologies to Agriculture
Times of peace should be examples of sustainability and a return to non-violence. Instead, we now have an agriculture system that uses the mindset of war in its practices and philosophies.

Many of the chemical fertilizers and pesticides used in contemporary agriculture originated in the mindset of war. Fritz Haber's Nobel Prize-winning work on synthetic ammonia formed the basis for both a new generation of explosives as well as modern chemical fertilizer. His work on chemical warfare demonstrated the technique of gassing life using toxic chemicals, a common practice in conventional agriculture.

The fundamental problem with war's relationship to agriculture is that we have failed to transform the proverbial swords to ploughshares. Instead, modern agriculture applies the weapons and the war mentality to the earth.

Vandana Shiva underscores this problem:

The war mentality underlying military-industrial agriculture is evident from the names of Monsanto's herbicides - ''Round-Up'', ''Machete'', ''Lasso''. American Home Products, which has merged with Monsanto, gives its herbicides similarly aggressive names, including ''Pentagon'' and ''Squadron''. This is the language of war. Sustainability is based on peace with the earth.

The war against the earth begins in the mind. Violent thoughts shape violent actions. Violent categories construct violent tools. And nowhere is this more vivid than in the metaphors and methods on which industrial, agricultural and food production is based. Factories that produced poisons and explosives to kill people during wars were transformed into factories producing agri-chemicals after the wars.

The very marketing of agricultural products pits farmer against pest, disease and weather. The earth and its seasons become enemies, rather than the provider of abundance.

Renewing and Remembering
The season of late-fall following Remembrance Day is a time when the natural world in the north begins to rest. Animals hibernate, plants are dormant and the days are short, making for more indoor time to humans.

At the same time, this point of remembering war in mid-November also marks the beginning of a frantic season of consumption and activity as marketers implore us to purchase for the holidays and people keep manic schedules of parties and special events. The hollow cliches of "peace on earth" bookmark this season of decline.

This period that should mark rest and renewal is when we, as a society, demonstrate our ability to undermine our own well-being through over-consumption (and over-production of waste), the accumulation of debt and proclivity to illness as our immune system is overloaded with cold and flu season and an accompanying sleep deficit.

Living with the seasons on the farm has made me more aware of the contradictions of the season. I enjoy the longer nights and period of rest. I avoid seasonal parties and celebrate the change of seasons in a way that's appropriate to levels of energy (and income).

The season also makes Remembrance Day -- or a general period of remembrance -- more pertinent in my mind.

I haven't worn a poppy or attended a Remembrance Day ceremony in over a decade. Until now, this has been a reaction against a ceremony I attended on Parliament Hill. The event was marked in my mind by a religious leader offering prayers of vengeance and hatred against the "enemy". I couldn't square this sentiment with my understanding of the day; that is, my hope for peace and reconciliation and collaborative efforts to avoid violence.

In recent years, as our government has made great efforts to re-militarize our country and culture and our country continues to send more troops to war and fewer on peace-keeping missions, my refusal to acknowledge November 11 was a form of personal protest.

Nonetheless, the period of remembrance is something that has stayed with me. It is only since starting to farm that I've been able to begin articulating what it is that I remember and how such a period of public remembrance resonates within me.

Things coalesced for me last year when I read Vandana Shiva's lecture upon accepting the 2010 Sydney Peace Prize. She presented a vision of peace that not only included an absence of war, but a struggle for political and environmental justice. In explaining her work, Dr. Shiva explained that monetary affluence is not an ingredient for peace in a truly sustainable society:

... people can be affluent in material terms, even without the money economy, if they have access to land, their soils are fertile, their rivers flow clean, their cultures are rich and carry traditions of producing beautiful homes and clothing and delicious food, and there is social cohesion, solidarity and spirit of community.

The health of the earth and access to the soil forms a very basic and essential building block for peace. It is in this light that I recognize the importance of practicing agriculture that is part of a vision of peace, not reliant on imagery of war.

In recognizing this vision for agriculture, I take time to remember all those who are displaced from the land by war in all its forms: military, economic and poverty. It is in this spirit that I cherish and long for peace.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-10-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

From left to right: Barb, Nirmal, Kiran, Jeremy, Sheila, Paige (Roxie on shoulders, Julia in carrier), Uncle, Chris, Kate, Sean, Clara and Tricia.

One behalf of the entire Farm Team at Glen Valley Organic Farm, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of our friends, family, customers, suppliers and neighbours for your continued support. It makes our work very worthwhile to know that we share a common vision of sustainable, small-scale agricultural enterprises with a larger community.

Each year we produce a postcard to give out at our Thanksgiving farmers markets and in our final CSA boxes of the season. The photo, above, is on the front and an agriculture-related quote is on the reverse. This year's quote is taken from a speech by Lady Eden Balfour in 1977 to the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.

The quote is: "The techniques of organic farming cannot be imprisoned in a rigid set of rules. They depend essentially on the outlook of the farmer. Without a positive and ecological approach it is not possible to farm organically. [...]

The attitude of the organic farmer, who has trained himself to think ecologically, is different. He tries to see the living world as a whole. [...] Throughout his operations he endeavours to achieve his objective by cooperating with natural agencies in place of relying on man-made substitutes."

You can read the entire speech at http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/balfour_sustag.html

Variety reviews wanted

2011-10-05T17:59:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for feedback on varieties everyone grew this year for a blog post. Since we (farmers, gardeners, lovers of food) all trial new varieties every season, it would seem to make sense to share some of our experiences. Did the new carrot a catalogue promised would be a winner end up being a stinker? Did someone find the organic alternative to Big Beef? Are you sticking to tried and true varieties? If you're willing to share, I would love to pool together our experiences and share online.

Interested? Write to me, making sure to include the variety name, whether the seed was organic or conventional, whether it was open pollinated or a hybrid, where you purchased the seed from, any observations from growing and the region where you farm. Also, indicate if you're growing commercially or for your own use (and anything else of note about your growing: field or coldframe, etc). What did you like about the variety (vigour, colour, flavour, yield, etc.) or what wasn't up to par? Did the variety mature in the number of days suggested by the catalogue?

You can send your reviews to me at glenvalleychris (at) gmail (dot) com. Everything will be posted here when I have finished compiling responses.

Salmon and Agriculture: Making the Link

2011-10-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

These salmon and a carrot from our farm might have more in common than you would expect.

I'll admit that when I started farming, I didn't expect that it would lead me to involvement in a salmon conservation initiative.

At the same time, when I received a call asking our farm to participate in a salmon-related certification project last fall, something clicked.

The pitch went like this: The Pacific Salmon Foundation and the Fraser Basin Council were bringing an agricultural certification program to BC called Salmon-Safe. It already exists in Washington, Oregon and California. They need to see if the standards are applicable in a Canadian context. Would we agree to an inspection with the potential of being an early program participant?

I said yes; a couple of weeks later, an inspector visited the farm. This week, the program is launching publicly in the province.

Agriculture and marine life
One of the reasons the Salmon-Safe program resonated with me was because of an obvious link between agriculture and the health of aquatic ecosystems. What goes into the water directly impacts everything that lives in that water.

Around the world a number of aquatic dead zones exist in ocean areas into which large rivers flow. The largest dead zone is in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi River empties. The dead zone is caused by excessive nutrients feeding algae blooms. The algae decomposes, depriving the water of oxygen necessary for the survival of marine life. The excess nutrients feeding this situation come from agricultural runoff, the result of excess application of fertilizers and erosion.

Likewise, many agricultural pesticides are toxic to marine life. The improper use can result in the contamination of waterways. Excessive irrigation from streams can be harmful if the water source is home to aquatic life and the draw reduces water levels too much.

In many ways, the way we farm impacts the ecosystems upon which fish (and many other species) depend.

The gift of good soil
Of course, the relationship between agriculture and the health of salmon goes both ways. At our farm, the main fields are on the Fraser River floodplain. Although the river doesn't regularly flood this land anymore, the very fact that we have excellent soil is the result of previous millennia of nutrient deposits.

Not only did the river's cycle of flooding add nutrients from glacial deposits to the soil, it also deposited large quantities of fish. These fish decomposed, leaving an outstanding source of nutrients for vegetation along the river.

Likewise, each year when the salmon run, millions of fish carcasses lie along streams the feed the Fraser River. Wildlife hunt the living fish and also feed off of these expired fish, hauling the remains through the surrounding land. In the process, the surrounding lands are fertilized. In fact, BC's forests have had a very intimate relationship with salmon for this very reason.

Even today, when the river no longer floods, we still make use of the powerful fertility of fish through various organic fish fertilizers -- basically composted fish. Our farming practices, our forests and our wildlife are all dependent on the health of our salmon populations.

Salmon in BC
In addition to the physical links between salmon and the health of our ecosystems, there is a strong symbolic link with the salmon for the people of BC. Salmon are a keystone species in the province. Their homes stretch from the middle of the ocean to the very centre of the province in mountain streams. Over 130 species depend on salmon abundance for survival.

Many First Nations in the province continue to depend on salmon as a central food of traditional diets. So important was the salmon for these populations that the fish played a central role in their culture, mythology and religion.

The salmon is celebrated by people across the province who want to see the many species continue to thrive in the wild. In this light, we all have a part to play in protecting the habitat of an animal that is part of our cultural, ecological, economic and social fabric.

Salmon-Safe and the consumer
As a certification label, Salmon-Safe provides consumers with an additional tool when choosing products. For example, in the US many vineyards have joined the Salmon-Safe program. When faced with the choice of various wines, a salmon-friendly option might be a tipping point in making a purchasing decision.

Farms certified in the program are inspected by a third-party verification officer. The program's standards are scientifically-based. By choosing salmon-safe products, consumers know the item was produced in a manner that protects water quality and helps to restore wildlife habitat along salmon corridors in the province.

Ultimately, the Salmon-Safe program is recognition for what we're doing to establish a model of agriculture that is sustainable and contributes to the health of our environment and our society in general. It's part of how we strive to go beyond the basic criteria for organic status.

We hope to see the program expand to many more farms across the province and gain a recognition in customers' minds that links the agricultural producers they support with the health of the larger environment. It is in this spirit that we're excited to see the launch of Salmon-Safe BC this week.

Images of the season

2011-09-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is a slideshow featuring images of the season, courtesy of Fire & Light Media Group. These images were taken on the farm last year. They show a lot of the produce we're harvesting at the moment this season.

August

2011-08-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

An early morning spider web, back-lit by the rising sun. Photo by Brian Harris

I'm tired. Everything feels like a grind. Small problems often appear greater than they need be. Everyone on the farm needs more sleep. We're all trying to make it through to a point in the season when things will slow down.

August tends to be like this on the farm. Regardless of how prepared we think we are, it always comes as a surprise.

At the end of July we can often look at the fields and be satisfied with the way things are going. Weeding is getting done and we're done most of the intensive seedings by that point. Winter transplants are in the ground and most crops are doing well.

When August arrives, it often coincides with a blast of summer heat. As the crops mature, they transition from manageable to out-of-control. We are finishing with raspberries and the blackberries and blueberries are coming on. Beans are ready early in the month and become a seemingly never-ending harvest project. Cucumbers and zucchini need to be harvested every second day.

Amidst the arrival of abundance and a frenetic pace, the days are getting noticeably shorter. The sun is no longer rising at 5 a.m.; by the end of the month, it's barely offering dawn at 6 a.m. I milk the goats in the dark. Meanwhile, a thick fog rolls in over the fields most mornings. Spiders weave webs, the goats prepare to breed and the leaves on some trees begin to show signs of changing colours.

The August morning dew highlights spider webs and grass seed heads. Photo by Brian Harris

Our own fatigue begins to show. We're all irritable at times and some days the weight of the season seems unbearable. Other days, the ecstasy of the harvest is a thing of beauty. For us, it's easy to understand why this is a time of year when farm accidents are most prone to happen; the rush of the harvest combined with fatigue can be dangerous.

I personally begin to long for quieter days when we'll be able to relax inside and enjoy the jars of preserves from the summer while we plan for the next season ahead. We begin to plan fall programs for our children and I look forward to being able to spend more time with them, and taking on a greater share of child-keeping responsibilities.

Nonetheless, a lot of work remains. At the end of August we say good-bye to two of our summer apprentices. This year, Kate returns to UBC to work on her Masters project. Sean will stay on the farm for a little while longer, but reduce his work to one day a week. We still have two months of farmers markets ahead of us, plus CSA boxes to harvest and pack. Onions and shallots need to be harvested, cured, cleaned and stored. Squash will need to be picked and stored. Greens are a weekly harvest job and the beans are unrelenting in their growth.

In ancient European Pagan calendars, the beginning of August marks the start of the harvest season and a transition toward autumn. Indeed, the beginning of August coincides with half-way between Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox. Abundance of harvest is apparent and it's important to step back and enjoy the frenetic pace.

We hope you experience this abundance as you visit our farmers market stands or open your CSA boxes. It's an exciting time of year, but a time that also requires discipline, patience and perseverance to get the work done and to prepare for the winter months ahead. We're happy to hear how you're using the produce we grow and to get feedback about what you're looking forward to in the months ahead -- and even what you would like us to try growing in the future.

And tomorrow September begins. We'll have a smaller farm team, we'll begin work an hour later and move toward the 23rd when we'll have equal length of night and day. The season will begin to slow down and, hopefully, we'll begin to collect a few more hours of sleep.

Documentary: Home Grown Exhibition

2011-08-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

Home Grown Exhibition - Brian Harris from Fire and Light Media Group on Vimeo.

I have been inspired by the work of photographer Brian Harris over the past few years. I have also been honored to be able to work with Brian as a subject of his work as well as a speaker at an event he organized through the Home Grown Exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver last year.

This documentary examines Brian's work and direction in designing the exhibit at the museum. For those who weren't able to attend, this provides an excellent tour of the exhibit, capturing both the curatorial insight as well as the overall spatial design. The video is an excellent archive of the overall exhibit.

Compost Bin Update

2011-08-22T17:25:00.001-07:00

Many readers, I assume, are waiting for an update on the new compost bin I built earlier this season. I wrote about it here in May.

The bin is working well, composting the tremendous amount of plant matter we generate as we clean and grade produce each week. In fact, I'm turning the bins weekly at this point and getting some great compost in the process.

In the photo above, I have the front off of the first bin, which I had just finished turning into the second bin in the middle.

Two days later, the temperature in the centre bin was at 130F/54C. At this temperature thermophilic bacteria is breaking down the compost and creating a significant amount of heat. This is made possible by oxygen having been added to the compost during the turning process, resulting in what we call "hot" composting.

During hot composting, the temperature reaches levels that kill pathogens. This is particularly important when composting manure. In the case of veggie materials, we don't need to achieve hight temperatures, but the composting process goes faster with the heat. In the winter, hot composting can also help keep bacteria working, despite the cooler temperatures (although in very cold regions, your compost will still freeze up).

After cleaning out the first bin, having turned the contents into the second bin, we're ready to add more plant material.

Meanwhile, the third bin is ready to be cleaned out. The compost can be used immediately, although the best results will be achieved from curing the compost in a dry area. Curing is a process where worms and insect digest coarse materials such as sawdust, straw and harder bits of plant material.

You will get the best results in your compost if you add dry, carbon-containing materials to your food waste. This includes, straw, sawdust or dried leaves.

By adding carbon or brown layers, you are allowing the compost to hold more oxygen, but also providing proper ratios of carbon the the nitrogen-rich food materials that form the basis of your compost. This layering also helps dry out your compost, helping to avoid the dread pile of slime that often happens to home composters. Finally, this layer also helps reduce odour and flies on the pile.

Compost should form the basis of your growing process. Not only is it the ideal way to return food and plant waste to a useable form, but it is also the ideal source of fertility for any garden. I find composting to be a very satisfying process. To do it well, you need adequate materials -- a proper system of bins plus carbon/brown layering additions.

Good morning bees!

2011-08-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the sun warmed the hives this morning, the bees began their day with a flurry of activity. There are four hives on our farm. Each hive contains about 20,000 bees!

Herbs & Your Health Classes

2011-08-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

Herbs & Your Health is a 10 week course being offered this fall by Barb Hinde, CH, RNC of Glen Valley Herbs and Apothecary.

Barb is a chartered herbalist and a registered nutritional consultant who grows and works with certified organic herbs at Glen Valley Organic Farm.

The course runs 10 weeks, starting on September 21 and continuing until November 23. The classes are held on a Wednesday night at the Fort Langley Community Hall starting at 7 p.m. and finishing at approximately 8:30 p.m.

The course will touch on healthy lifestyle choices and using herbs to help treat specific conditions. The weeks will be divided into different areas of the body and the herbs that can be used in those areas will be discussed. Tincture, cream and salve making will be included in the classes.

The cost for the course is $250.

Please note that this is an information session only and is not meant to replace the advice of your health care practitioner. Always consult your practitioner before making any changes to your health regime.

Register before September 1st and save $50.00

Contact Barb Hinde at barbhinde (at) gmail.com or 604-626-0681 to register.

Putting together a CSA box

2011-08-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Every week throughout the summer we assemble 89 boxes of produce as part of our Community Supported Agriculture program. Subscribers purchase a share of the harvest early in the season and enjoy the veggies we produce throughout the harvest. This post provides some insight into how the boxes are assembled.

Above is command central. Our high tech tracking system involves a clipboard and order sheet with our orders noted. On Sunday and Monday of each week, we assess what produce will be available and assemble a list of box contents and a harvest list.

Jeremy and I alternate responsibilities each week. One week one of us coordinates orders, washing and packing while the other oversees field work. The following week we switch. The photos below show what it's like form the barn point of view -- it obviously leaves out the harvesting.

The first round of harvesting takes place on Monday. Items such as carrots, beets and onions are harvested, washed and packed before being placed in the cooler. Here, Nirmal and Kiran wash carrots for the CSA.

The Tuesday harvest begins at 7:00 a.m. Nirmal and Kiran begin harvesting with the most fragile (i.e. heat sensitive) items. By 8:00 a.m. the first batch of lettuce has arrived for washing and packing.

We wash everything before packing. This helps to remove field heat from the produce, hydrates the greens and makes sure everything is clean.

A case of lettuce ready for the CSA. Everything is packed into boxes and bins and placed on pallets in the cooler. This makes it easier to add each item at a time to the CSA bins when we pack them at the end of the day.

In addition to worrying about the veggies, we also have to make sure we have our packaging ready. Here, Sheila and Kate prepare our CSA bins with labels that note whether the box contains a full share or half-share subscription.

These decals are new, so each week we have to prepare a few more boxes -- not every bin gets returned each week. We have four bins in circulation for each subscription. It's a big investment in packaging to make the CSA run smoothly.

Meanwhile, the harvest continues. Here, Nirmal unloads the cabbage for the boxes.

All of the CSA bins washed and stacked, ready for packing. But we still have some work to do before filling these.

Items like beans and potatoes are weighed out and bagged. This is a time-consuming task.

At around 5 p.m. we begin preparing to pack the boxes. The first set of boxes leave for delivery to Langley at 6 p.m.

Sheila and Kate roll the trolley along as they pack potatoes into the boxes.

We try to place items in the same position in each box to make it easier to double-check that each box is filled properly. Despite this attention to detail, we make the odd mistake. One box was missing its lettuce two weeks ago.

Finally, the boxes are packed and placed on pallets in the cooler. The bins will be loaded onto our truck at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning along with our other deliveries and taken into Vancouver. That's right, amidst all of this, we're also packing other orders.

And so, here's what went into this set of boxes this week:

Each full share received:

1 bunch Rainbow Chard
1 Red Butter Lettuce
1 bunch Rainbow Beets
1 lb Yellow Beans
1 large Green Cabbage
2 lbs Rainbow Carrots
1 Long English Cucumber
1 bulb Fennel
1 bunch Green Onions
1 Sweet Onion
2 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 small or 1 large Zucchini

Each half-share received:

1 bunch Rainbow Beets
1/2 lb Green and Yellow Beans
1 small Green Cabbage
1 lb rainbow Carrots
1 Long English Cucumber
1 bulb Fennel
1 bunch Green Onions
1 Sweet Onion
2 Patti-Pan Squash

After all of the boxes are packed, there's still an e-mail to go out to subscribers. And while delivery is taking place on Wednesday morning, harvesting continues for the Langley Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoon and the New Westminster Farmers Market on Thursday. Thursday and Friday are harvest days for the weekend markets: Lonsdale and White Rock.

Amidst all of this, we continue planting, weeding, pruning and marketing plus other chores such as milking goats, feeding chickens, cleaning eggs and administrative tasks. The summers are busy, but it's an exciting time when there is so much amazing produce growing and we can put together great boxes for our subscribers.

Interested in subscribing next year? Let us know: glenvalleychris (at) gmail.com.

Project Corndog: An Extremely Local Dinner Theatre Event

2011-07-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

FarmFolkCityFolk presents

Project Corndog:

An Extremely Local Dinner Theatre Event

in Aldergrove, BC

August 18, 19, 20 & 21

on Fraser Common Farm

meal prepared by Seasonal 56 and paired with wines from Lotusland Vineyards

How close can you get to your food? Come and spend a summer evening on a local organic farm diving into a delicious piece of site sound and taste specific theatre. Follow puppets, musicians and circus acts through planted fields and fruit orchards, past streams and into a forest grove as Georgia, an organic farmer, and her scientist daughter Freidi struggle to save their family farm from an over the fence GMO attack and find love in unexpected places. The evening finishes with guests, farmers and actors sitting down to an open air organic meal grown on the very land they've just explored.

The dinner will be prepared by Seasonal 56, and served alongside wine pairings from Lotusland Vineyards.

Ensemble includes; Sandy Buck (Puppet Creator), Jan Derbyshire (Director), Chloe Doucet-Winkelman, Jeff Gladstone (Musical Director), Thomas Jones, Sarah May Redmond and Tallulah Winkelman (Playwright).

Tickets, $65, limited seating
Earlybird rate before August 2nd, $50
604-730-0450
admin@farmfolkcityfolk.ca

Late nights on the farm: Making Sauerkraut

2011-07-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I posted some information on cooking with cabbage. The past two evenings I was at work making sauerkraut. We're getting close to cabbage inundation at the moment, so I decided that it's time to start getting some sauerkraut ready for the year ahead. It's an amazing source of vitamin C over the winter and a great addition to a variety of meals and dishes.

For the first time, I did both green and purple cabbage. I love the contrasting colours right after putting them into jars. I'm also going to try sauerkraut made from cabbage, carrots, onions and beets, plus an assortment of herbs for new flavours.

You can see the difference in colour after aging. The jar on the left was made last fall by our neighbours, John and Donna at the Glen Valley Artichoke Farm. On the right is my sauerkraut immediately after putting it in the jar (i.e. before fermentation).

Fermenting is an amazing way to preserve food for the year in a way that maintains nutrients. If you're interested in making sauerkraut, here's a recipe that provides you with the basics. If you want to learn more about fermentation, check out the Wild Fermentation website maintained by Sandor Ellix Katz. His book, Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, is an amazing resource for getting into fermentation.

Tractor time on the farm

2011-07-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

While we do much of our field work by hand, there is a major task for our tractors: preparing the beds. We have three tractors that do the heaviest work for us. This includes disking the fields in the spring, subsoiling (dragging two long claws through the beds to break deep into the soil), applying compost and then cultivating a shaping the beds.

Above, is a pile of 30 tons of compost ready for spreading on beds prior to planting.

We load the compost into our compost spreader. This is a long job because we have to go back and forth between the farmyard (where we store the compost) and our fields.

While spreading the compost there is a lot of time to watch the crops and contemplate the world. This is my self-portrait while on the tractor last week.

Finally, the compost is cultivated in and the beds are shaped. Our beds are approximately 500 feet long. ideally, we get the beds ready a number of days ahead of seeding or transplanting to allow the weeds to germinate. Then we can plant into a clean bed. That's the ideal -- it doesn't always work out that way.

A raspberry treat

2011-07-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here's what Ethical Bean did for a special event in Vancouver this week. The raspberries (including the ingredients in the glaze) are from our farm. Quite a treat!

Recipe: The Yummy Kale Dish

2011-07-21T12:09:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:

2 tbs of cooking oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs dijon mustard
2 tsp. sugar
1 tbs. apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups of veggie/chicken broth
4 cups of stemmed & shredded kale
1/4 cup dried cranberries
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions:
Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Stir in onion and garlic. Cook and stir until onion softens and becomes translucent. Stir in mustard, sugar, vinegar and stock and bring to boil over high heat. Stir in kale, cover, and cook 5 minutes until wilted.

Stir in dried cranberries and continue boiling, uncovered, until liquid has reduced by half and the cranberries have softened, about 15 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sliced almonds before serving.

Serves 4 people as a side dish. Enjoy.

Recipes: Cabbage, Peasant Food

2011-07-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

Cabbage is now in full season, but it isn’t often recognized as a romantic vegetable. Rather, in many societies cabbage has long been a staple peasant food. This is still reflected in its price; cabbage is one of the best market bargains.

Cabbage actually comes from the same family as broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, kale, canola, brussels sprouts and arugula. These hearty greens are prized for their health benefits and cabbage is no exception, particularly when eaten raw or fermented. Cabbage is a nice green to work with because it has more texture and crunch than other greens and a stronger taste that compliments meats, particularly bacon, pancetta and anchovies.

If cabbage is a peasant food, this is testament to its versatility and hardiness. Different varieties were adapted for use in varying climates. We grow approximately five main season green cabbage varieties, two red varieties and three winter varieties. Cabbages can store for up to five months. The plant’s nutritional value provides a source of vitamin C in the form of sauerkraut through many harsh winters. It is the basic ingredient for coleslaw in summer and winter alike.

There are a number of recipes that feature cabbage that go beyond sauerkraut and coleslaw. Below are some favorites.

Preparing Cabbage

If you are a cabbage affectionado, there is no substitute for a good mandoline for slicing cabbage. Very thin cabbage slices make for the best texture in coleslaw, soups, stews and sauerkraut.

We purchased ours, pictured here, at the Home Hardware on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. It's Slovenian-made, but also pricey as far as kitchen tools go (and awkward to store). A sharp knife, of course, is a good substitute.

Cabbage Gratin

Ingredients
Butter and freshly grated Parmesan for the dish
1 1/2 lbs green cabbage, diced in 2-inch squares
1/3 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/4 cup cream
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 eggs
3 tbsp chopped parsley or dill
Salt and white pepper

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375F. Butter gratin dish and coat sides with cheese. Boil cabbage, uncovered, in salted water for 5 min. Drain, rinse, press out as much water as possible. Whisk remaining ingredients until smooth, add cabbage, pour into dish. Bake until firm and lightly browned, about 50 minutes. Serve with sour cream flavoured with mustard, curry sauce or creamy tomato sauce.

Braised Cabbage with Bacon and Thyme

From Jamie Oliver's Cook with Jamie

Ingredients

1 pint Chicken or Vegetable stock

6 slices Bacon

1/2 a handful of fresh thyme leaves (or 2 tbsp dried)

1 white/green cabbage, halved and very finely sliced

2 tbsp Butter

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation

Place stock, bacon and thyme in a pan, bring to a boil and then sprinkle in the sliced cabbage. Mix, put lid on pot and boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until the cabbage is a consistency you prefer. Top up with additional stock if you think it's reducing too much. Add the butter, some olive oil and season. Serve immediately.

Variation: We make a variation of this recipe, adding sliced carrots and onions.

Our CSA boxes this week

2011-07-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering what goes into our Community Supported Agriculture boxes, here's the list for this week:

1 Fennel Bulb (Large in full shares, small in half shares)
1 Crown Broccoli (Full shares only)
1 bunch Dill
1 bunch Beets
1 large Cabbage
1 Long English Cucumber
1 bunch Green Onions
2 lbs Sieglinde Potatoes
1 bunch Spinach
1 bunch Kale
1 bunch Rainbow Chard
2 heads lettuce (1 red butter, 1 green butter)

Here are some notes about the box contents this week:

Fennel

In case fennel is new to you, you can find some tips on cutting fennel bulbs on this blog post. What to do with Fennel? There are a couple of ideas at the end of the blog post, but I would also suggest chopping it and adding the chevrons to coleslaw (with the cabbage this week, for example). I like it roasted as well (with the potatoes, for example). There are other recipe ideas on Cookthink.com here.

The Greens

In case you missed it, I added a blog post about cooking with greens on the blog last week. In addition to that post, I can offer a summer salad recipe for using a variety of veggies each week. The butter lettuces are great in sandwiches and in salads.

Cabbage

OK, this is a vegetable that brings out the Ukrainian roots in me. Not only does fresh cabbage make awesome coleslaw, it can be made into Sauerkraut for future use. In case you're interested in making Sauerkraut, here's a good recipe. I must point out that making fermented sauerkraut and then storing it in your fridge is the best way to eat it, providing an amazing flavour and a variety of health benefits (it's a great source of vitamin C, for example). Whatever you do, I recommend that you don't process the finished kraut (provided, of course, that you have sufficient fridge space to store the unprocessed product). Processing sauerkraut will destroy much of the nutrient value.

And for a few more ideas, check out these recipes from Cookthink.com and these from Smitten Kitchen. And I haven't even touched on Borscht or Cabbage Rolls . . . there will be a cabbage post later this week -- keep your eyes on the blog.

Farm Fashion: Dressing for Mosquitos

2011-07-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Fashion isn't something we pay much attention to on the farm. I realize that I don't pay much attention to this until I go into the city. My dress code seems to have paused the moment I moved onto the farm. I don't fit in on the streets of Vancouver.

This is, for the most part, a good thing. We shop at thrift stores and can purchase an entire season's wardrobe for under $50. Moreover, once mosquito season arrives we have few qualms about dressing for the pests, not for style.

We don't use chemical mosquito sprays (not to mention sunscreen) on the farm. Imagine exposing yourself to the chemicals in these products every day. Plus, they help dirt stick to your skin and clog pores, making sweating difficult. Plus, they're expensive if you're reapplying them every couple of hours.

Jeremy, above, demonstrates sensible mosquito attire. Mosquitos are less attracted to light colours. Long sleeves and collared shirts help keep the mosquitos off our limbs and necks. And extra shirt around the head keeps the pests off our ears, heads and faces, depending on how they're wrapped.

Also of note, Jeremy's outfit is also great sun protection. Light, long-sleeve shirts are cool and keep skin covered. The head gear can be replaced by a hat when the bugs aren't as bad.

Barb, on the other hand, sports a sensible bug shirt. These are practical shirts made of netting that makes it difficult for mosquitos to bite. They can be awkward on the face when doing certain tasks, and they don't offer sun protection, but are useful overall. I use a similar shirt for milking and other farm tasks at various points during the day when the sun isn't shining.

New apprentices on the farm often learn about the mosquitos through trial and error. Kate and Sean, above, posed for this photo last week. They noted that the mosquitos weren't too bad. Sean's bandana functioned more for style than protection.

By later in the week, Sean had switched to a bug shirt. He also made a trip into town to purchase white t-shirts (previously, he only owned black).

I found Kate in the fields on Friday, harvesting salad in rain gear (notice that it's sunny out). The mosquitos were causing her grief. The long sleeves provided some protection from the blood-suckers. Today she also has a series of bandanas wrapped around her face.

Sheila makes use of a kerchief in the field along with light-coloured, long-sleeved, collared shirts.

Finally, keeping mosquitos off of children without the use of deet is a challenge. Paige managed to put together a set of t-shirt hoods for the children that keeps the bugs out of ears, hair and necks.

The mosquitos in the Fraser Valley are plentiful this year. With the high river levels, all of the ditches are backed up and the standing water across pastures and dugouts provided ideal habitat for mosquito larvae. It has been wet and the mosquitos have benefited tremendously.

If you have any tips on keeping the mosquitos at bay, we'd love to hear.

First week of July on the farm

2011-07-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

The sun and heat finally arrived this week and we have left June-uary behind. the fields are looking much better as green begins to take over the colour scheme. Here are some images of the farm from the past few days. Above, row cover over carrots and parsnips keeps the rust fly out. It also keeps heat and moisture in, helping to accelerate growth. The carrots and parsnips have been weeded this past week. Squash are on the left of the cover, onions on the right.

The shallots are looking very nice at the moment (although this bed is close to needing a weeding). Shallots and onions respond to the change in daylight hours after solstice and begin bulbing up.

There's something about the symmetry of some crops growing that looks stunning. Here's an arial shot of our Romaine and Red Oak Leaf lettuces hard at work.

The same can be said for the cabbage. We had our first cabbage harvest this past week. The variety above will be ready in a couple of week. We've tried to plant varieties that will come on consecutively through the season (rather than all at once). I'm still waiting for one of the farmers markets to hold a Cabbage Festival -- enough of the berry fetish! It's krauting time!

The salmonberries are just finishing up. Following them are the thimbleberries and, of course, the actual food crops we grow in our fields.

Above, thimbleberries. Below, flowering blackberries (a feast for the bees).

And the strawberries finally perked up. Nirmal shows off some of the beautiful (although small) harvest.

The redwing blackbirds nest on our farm, offering a great song and fantastic bug-control functions. I love the redwing blackbird, partly because it's one of the familiar birds from growing up on the prairies.

The raspberries have formed fruit and will be ready in a couple of weeks.

Here's an early planting of beans. I'll expect to be harvesting them by the end of the month.

The Fraser River has been very full for a long period this year. Above is a dyke on 88th, just of 264th in Langley (near our farm). Notice on the farm left that the field is flooded -- the dyke is over capacity and a lot of land on the area along the river here is flooded.

Our pasture areas are flooded and there are low areas of our vegetable fields we haven't been able to cultivate this season. This is the water level on my boots walking down to the fields through the pasture. All of the water means that it's a brutal year for mosquitos.

Cooking with Greens

2011-07-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

At this point in the season, our CSA subscribers and market customers may feel overwhelmed by greens. If you don't cook with Kale, Collards and/or Chard on a regular basis, finding a bunch of at least one of these in your box each week can be intimidating.

Last year we posted a list of ways to use greens. It still has the basics, but here are some more ideas.

The fastest way to prep greens is to chop them into ribbons and steam or saute them. They can be sauteed with onions or garlic (scapes anyone?). Both steamed and sauteed can be served with balsamic vinegar and oil. Lydia, a CSA subscriber suggested this recipe (click on the link) for Collards or Kale with Tahini. Lydia serves this on quinoa for a complete meal.

A classic in our kitchen for using a multitude of veggies in season (and whatever greens we have around) is this salad:

2 cups cooked Quinoa, Millet or Rice
1/2 cup cooked beans or chickpeas
4-6 oz Feta Cheese, cubed
2 tbsp Dulce Flakes or crumbled Kale Chips (see earlier recipe on blog)
2 handfuls steamed Fava Beans (taken out of the pods)
1/2 bunch chopped Parsley
1/2 chopped Cucumber
2 green onions, chopped
1 handful steamed broccoli florettes
1/4 fennel bulb, sliced horizontally into chevrons. See how to slice a fennel bulb here.
Any other veggies you have around: Tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Mix together and serve over a bed of greens (e.g. lettuce, Chopped
chard and kale, etc.) with olive oil and vinegar. It's a light,
filling meal.

We also love this recipe for Green Rice

(from The Rebar Cookbook)
1 bunch spinach, stemmed
1 bunch cilantro,
1/2 bunch Italian parsley
2 jalapeno peppers, one seeded
1 t salt
2 1/4 vegetable stock
2 T olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 c long grain rice

1. Carefully wash spinach, cilantro,parsley and jalapenos. Place in a blender with salt and 1 cup of stock. Blend to liquify and set aside.

2. Heat a rice pot at medium-high and add the oil. Heat and add onion with a pinch of salt; saute until translucent. Add the garlic and rice and saute for a few minutes, stirring often, until the rice turns lightly golden. Add the contents of the blender and the remaining stock to the rice; stir well to combine. Turn up th eheat and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to very low and cook for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let the rice stand covered for 10 minutes. Gently fluff the rice with a fork and serve immediately.

There are many ideas for using chard at Smitten Kitchen

Please share any additional ideas you might have.

Guest Post: CSA Member Perspective

2011-07-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Below is a guest blog post from Karen, one of our CSA members. When we began planning our Community Supported Agriculture program three years ago, Karen approached us at a farmers market and said "I hear you're starting a CSA." We responded that we were. "Yeah, I've already signed up," she stated. We were working (and continue to work) with the NOW BC Co-op to plan the delivery our CSA boxes. As a NOW BC member, Karen had already caught wind of what was coming down the pipe. She signed up before we even had a chance to reconsider doing the CSA!

I asked Karen to share her thoughts on why she joined our CSA and why she likes the CSA concept. Here is what she said:

I love my CSA, and the overall concept of community support agriculture. The idea that I can come between the banking system and a small family farmer appeals to me immensely, if only because the year-on-year unpredictability of a vocation like farming has caused a ruinous financial cycle for so many.

Let me be frank. I am never going to take up farming; I can barely seed my own garden on a regular basis. But as a consumer of food I believe it is up to me to put my money toward supporting growers who are making choices I can live with.

CSAs are a simple and direct way to source fresh local produce for my family. In short, I pay an agreed upon sum upfront in the spring for a summer/fall harvest, and receive a bin of fresh produce weekly -- whatever the farmers have grown that season. With the Glen Valley Organic Farm CSA, Chris is extremely communicative -- I blame it on his advanced Communications degrees -- and consultative about what he and Jeremy plan each year. I rarely give much in the way of suggestions or advice, though, because I love cooking whatever comes my way, and enjoying the challenges that some of the less common ingredients bring into my kitchen.

It is critical to me to feed my family affordable foods that have been taken from the earth with much care. I want the foods to be as chemical free as possible. I want the land to be fruitful for myself, my family and my community for generations to come. I want the people who plant, grow and harvest my foods to earn a living wage. These are my core values.

Do I have irrefutable proof that we must be careful stewards of the land? Actually, I don't. But it makes logical sense to me and even without scientific studies to quote I can say I have read enough to know that issues exist with careless or greedy farming. There always have been.

I truly like the idea of keeping the farmers away from the banks. When I pay upfront for a season of produce, I commit to supporting the farmers regardless of the crop yields. On average, the price of my CSA does not save me money when compared to what I would pay for it at the Farmer's Market. It is about the same. I can't lie. If the farm has a bumper year, I would expect to enjoy a bit more of the produce than during a regular year. But in the same spirit, I would gladly take a hit with my farmers if crops failed.

We are now entering into our third year with Glen Valley, and I can tell you that if my farmers need our support, financial or otherwise, I will do what I can to ensure they can continue to farm without incurring endless and compounding debts, year on year. That's how important I believe this connection is to my family, and that is how much I believe in the integrity of the farmers I have chosen.

I am deeply concerned about how much of our Canadian agricultural land is being swallowed up by urban development, and how much of the remaining is being purchased by other countries and national and multinational "farming" corporations. In the future, could Canada's farmland be turned into fiefdoms, if they haven't already? Will people work land owned by huge and extremely wealthy corporations rather than themselves? If they do, will they plant what they are told, fertilise and chemicalize to maximise profits and minimize inconvenience? If the serfs (I mean paid farmers) are lucky, they will have benevolent masters who listen to their expertise, and pay them a living wage. If not? ...

Of course, I don't know what these trends mean to us as citizens of Canada, and to our food system. So what keeps me working and agitating toward collective food security? I do not want to learn that our lands are irreversibly damaged, and our wildlife poisoned, because we allowed it to happen through careless consumer choices and a lack of political will.

I am aware that to some Canadians with different philosophies, this stand makes me look over-reactive. But that's okay. After all, I would rather to look foolish now, rather than be poor and hungry in the future. This is a cycle I believe we can avoid.

My kids love to see the blog, to visit the farm children and those of other CSA members. They are fascinated by the chickens and goats, and thrilled to pick berries and run in the fields. And of course, we all love to eat the fresh foods you put on our table. The connection, the conversation, the opportunity to be involved, makes eating the foods that arrive each week nutritious not only to our bodies, but to our hearts and souls as well.

Crop Planning: Transplants vs. Direct Seeding

2011-06-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

Last week I received a request from fellow blogger and tweeter Eden Balfour to explain how we decide whether to start particular crops indoors or to direct seed them into the field. Here's a quick overview.

The first factor determining whether we start transplants indoors concerns how early we can get a crop and what the overall outcome for a crop will be. For example, we start alliums (onions, shallots, leeks) indoors in February. This family needs a long season and is photosensitive, meaning its plants respond to daylight hours to bulb up. It needs to be well established before solstice in order to take full advantage of the season's daylight.

We can get earlier crops of almost everything we grow by doing early plantings indoors. We do this for brassicas (cabbages and broccoli), lettuce, fennel, squash, tomatoes and cucumbers. Many of these crops are seeded every week in order to have a continuous crop or to ensure we have a plant ready to go in the ground when the weather is right. Squash, for example, does not hold well in transplant pots. We seed our crop three times over three consecutive weeks to ensure we have at least one set of healthy plants when the weather is right for transplanting.

In another example, we previously only direct seeded corn. But due to the low spring temperatures, we often didn't get proper germination or an early crop. By doing transplants this year, we found that we could get an early crop of sweet corn with no gaps in the bed space from poor germination. This helped to make the most out of every inch in the bed.

The second factor we consider is the cost of the seed. In the past, we did early fennel plantings indoors and later plantings were seeded directly into the beds. But the cost for 10,000 fennel seeds is now over $300. We weren't getting the germination we desired doing direct seeding and the weeds out performed the fennel in many instances. By doing all of our fennel as transplants we make the most out of our seeds, thus reducing some costs, while getting a better crop in the end.

The third factor concerns weeds. For the vast majority of crops, if you can transplant them, you have a better chance of staying on top of the weeds. We don't use plastic mulch on crops other than cucurbits (squash, cucumbers), so being on top of weeds is crucial. By transplanting, we are able to give the crops a head-start.

Crops such as spinach, dill, cilantro, rutabagas, radishes, turnips, beets, parsnips and carrots are all best done as direct seeding. They generally germinate well and for most, because of their taproots need to have an undisturbed growing environment. For spinach, dill and cilantro, the volume being seeded every week means that direct seeding is most efficient.

When direct seeding, bed preparation is of particular importance. Being able to prepare a bed in advance (up to two weeks before seeding) gives weeds an opportunity to germinate. Prior to seeding, the bed can be weeded (hoed or with a tractor-mounted basket weeder). Alternatively, a few days after seeding, the bed can be flame weeded (i.e. scorching the weeds with a propane torch). This allows the crop to emerge into a relatively weed-free bed, thus having a head-start over future weeds.

The main advantage transplanting provides is control over the crop and generally earlier crops, plus some cost savings in seed. The main disadvantage is scalability (i.e. finding efficient ways of doing transplants for larger crops/operations) and cost of start areas, whether a growing room with artificial lights or greenhouse space.

We have done all of our transplants in plastics trays in the past. This year I tried experimenting with soil blocks, which help to hold plants for longer and reduce transplant shock. What I found, however, is that we will need an entirely different setup to make soil blocks work. We'll try more in the future, but they won't necessarily work for everything and will take more space, time and care to do successfully.

So, if anyone has any other transplanting tips, I would love to hear them. Please share!

Grassroots Marketing and Inspired Visions

2011-06-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

Given my activity on Twitter, I've started to get inquiries from promotional companies asking me to send out Tweets and write blog posts about products they are hired to promote.

Some of these inquiries are for small events; others are obvious examples of greenwashing.

Overall, given my background in Communication (academic and professional) prior to farming, I am curious and skeptical when I get a phone call from a promotions firm asking for my help in spreading word about a film.

So, when Collective Eye from Portland called last week asking to help spread the word about a new documentary about bees, I needed convincing. What I found was inspiring.

First, the documentary: Queen of the Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? This is a documentary that examines the disappearance of honey bees and looks at solutions to the current dilemma facing bees, beekeepers, farmers and all those who eat. These solutions are found in nature and sustainable agriculture, not in the lab or through a technological fix. The film sounds informed and inspiring while the visuals appear stunning.

Second, the promotions firm: Collective Eye. Actually, it's a small distributor for films that deal with social, political, environmental and spiritual issues. They're doing interesting work by contacting non-profits and farms with missions related to their films' content to help get out word to a target audience.

In some instances, this type of marketing makes my skin crawl. I see people unwittingly tweeting about products that are obvious greenwashing for companies. At the same time, I know that with social media, this type of marketing is increasingly prevalent. It's done well in some circumstances, and not in others.

I felt comfortable promoting Queen of the Sun. It's an important and inspiring examination of a problem we need to understand. If you see it, let me know what you think -- have I unwittingly helped spread word about a stinker? Based on the reviews I've read, I don't think that'll be the case.

Queen of the Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? premiers in Vancouver at the Denman Cinema on June 24th-30th.

Animals, Agriculture, Fertility and What We Eat

2011-06-20T09:09:00.001-07:00

What if your vegetables came from animals? If you're eating organically, this isn't too far off the mark.

It occurs to me regularly that our system of organic farming involves a significant amount of compost that, of course, comes from various livestock operations. In order to grow, we need soil fertility. Keeping our soil healthy and rich requires nutrients.

As required under organic guidelines, we use compost made of manure from organic livestock. The vast majority of our compost comes from off-farm operations, including chicken, goat, duck, turkey and mushroom sources. In addition to this, potting soil mixes often use blood meal and bone meal and fish fertilizer is used on transplants to keep plants alive when planting is delayed.

As a result, the veggies you eat from organic farms, depend on livestock operations in a fairly direct manner. I often wonder how this sits with our customers, particularly those who are vegan or vegetarian for a variety of reasons related to animal treatment. I've wanted to discuss this issue for some time.

The need for fertility
All systems of agriculture rely on the use of some inputs of nutrients and organic matter for the sake of fertility. When we grow and harvest a crop, we are removing plant matter from the fields. With it, we remove organic matter and nutrients that went into the plants' growth.

Animal manure is an obvious source of fertility to be added back into the soil. It is rich in nutrients, organic matter and, in an agricultural context, it is readily available.

Through the process of composting, bacteria breaks down matter and brings the temperature of the compost pile to a temperature that kills pathogenic bacteria. The compost is turned regularly to ensure all parts of the pile reach this temperature.

Alternatives to animal compost

There are alternative fertility sources for agriculture. The most widely used in our current system of agriculture is chemical fertilizer.

The macro nutrients required for growing are manufactured or mined from various chemical components. Nitrogen is produced, in the form of ammonia, from the air using natural gas (nitrogen comprises 78% of the air we breath). The process is comparable to the manner by which lightening fixes nitrogen (fields become quite lush in the days after an electric storm).

Phosphorus is made through a process that uses sulfur, coal and rock phosphate. Potassium is mined in the form of potash and then granulated.

These processes are, obviously, energy intensive, using non-renewable resources. Moreover, this form of agriculture focuses on feeding the plants, not the soil. It does not add organic matter back into the soil and, over time, leaves soil lifeless -- organisms cannot live in soil without nutrients and organic matter.

An alternate form of building soil is through the use of cover crops (green manures). Legumes such as peas and clovers have a symbiotic relationship with bacteria that grow on their roots and fix nitrogen. By turning these crops back into the soil, this nitrogen becomes available to a future crop.

By growing grain crops, organic matter is returned to the soil and there is evidence that these cover crops can help break disease and pest cycles in vegetable production. Grain crops do not fix nitrogen, although they provide a variety of other benefits, including weed control, water and soil conservation and the maintenance of soil microbial activity.

A limitation of cover crops is that they would require a significant portion of land being taken out of production at any given point in time in order to build the soil. And, ultimately, these crops will not build all of the nutrients required for production.

We use cover crops over the winter to help prevent soil erosion as well as throughout the growing season to build soil, control weeds and maintain nutrients in the soil. They are an important part of our agricultural practices.

Finally, there is an option of using human waste -- although not an option for organic growers, where the use of human waste is prohibited by organic standards. But sewage sludge is used in some conventional systems. This has challenges, ranging from the concentration of certain metals (like copper and lead) to the transfer of pathogens if the waste has not been treated properly.

There are a variety of innovative uses of human waste (as in biosolids -- that sounds better, doesn't it?) and this is an issue that needs further discussion. Simply stated, in our current system we take one of the most concentrated sources of nutrients and dump them into waterways where aquatic life is threatened by the resulting algae blooms. We are throwing away a source of nutrients that we cannot reclaim later.

The role of livestock

Given the above limitations, livestock remain an important component of organic production systems. Indeed, livestock waste is used in a variety of organic and conventional systems in a variety of manner -- some more sustainable than others.

But it also remains a fact that in our society we eat a tremendous amount of meat. It seems problematic to me that our over-consumption of meat (and its impacts in the form of resource allocation, greenhouse gas production, etc.) should form the backbone of a "sustainable" food system. Nonetheless, I think animal husbandry is a crucial part of sustainable agriculture.

In our current systems, we have more animal waste than can be used in agricultural systems. Animal waste leaches into our aquifers in the Lower Mainland (contaminating our water supplies) and runs off into rivers, lakes and oceans, causing algae growth and dead zones as algae decomposes and robs the water of oxygen.

There must be a balance.

A New Urban Diet?

This has lead me to think of cultural solutions, including the reduction of meat consumption. This isn't new, but it is contentious. From my perspective, those who spend most of their days in offices do not need the high calorie food provided by our dairy, egg and meat agriculture in the quantities available.

A sustainable urban diet might use fewer animal products. A vegetarian diet might be more appropriate for most people, most of the time.

The animal products we enjoy (milk, cheese, butter, eggs, meat) might be better celebrated in connection with their rural origins.

For example, cheese was traditionally a means of preserving milk for the months when animals finished their lactation cycle. Cheese could be eaten in the off season as well as transported to more distant markets for some additional income. It was not a daily staple for anyone other than the rural dwellers who made the product.

Easy to say for someone who farms? Perhaps, but a new urban diet has to take into account that staple foods must come from lower on the food chain if we are to achieve anything resembling a sustainable food system.

What this means for farmers is that they need to produce less livestock and animal products. It also means producing livestock based on what inputs can be produced at a closer distance; at the moment, all of our feed is brought in from the prairies and overseas and, in conventional systems, uses chemical fertilizers to grow and then fossil fuels for transport.

In the end, we need a better understanding of how much livestock production is needed to produce an equitable and sufficient diet for the population. This may involve re-scaling agriculture; we have an increasingly number of studies showing the higher productivity of small-scale, organic production. The urban farming movement will play a significant role in this discussion as well.

Otherwise, until we see a repopulation of rural areas in the form of small farms, we must rethink our menu and means of producing our food.

Animals, Veganism and Agriculture

In the end, I think livestock is a crucial component of sustainable agriculture. But this animal husbandry must be done an smaller scales (i.e. no 500 hog feed operations or 20,000 layer hen barns) and in coordination with the many other crop production systems that can make use of compost.

In this light, I think a close relationship with animals that respects them as living beings, but also as part of a nutrient cycle is important. I don't anthropomorphize livestock, but I do recognize that as living beings they feel pain and have a quality of life that must be measured and nurtured.

The animals we raise on our farm provide some food for us on the farm (milk and meat from the goats, eggs and eventually stewing hens from our chickens), but also provide some of the nutrients we need to grow our crops.

We rely on animal compost as a part of our farm's fertility plan. I respect that various choices people make about their food. When discussing agriculture with others I often think that we arrive at the same point (e.g. vegetarianism) but for different reasons (e.g. compassion for animals vs. environmental concern).

There is usually a lot of overlap in the ideas that inform our choices. And in that spirit, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please feel free to share your ideas and comments in the comments section below.

When life gives you rhubarb, just add sugar

2011-06-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

Rhubarb season has been a blast thus far and with strawberries just around the corner, nature's perfect culinary combination is about to blast onto the scene.

Rhubarb really is an amazing spring food. It is hardy, arriving in the garden before much of anything else. Its root has been used medicinally for millennia (for chronic diarrhea and hemorrhoids, if you must know) and the stalk increases appetite and acts as a mild laxative. That makes it the perfect spring cleanse food! Just don't eat the leaves (in case you felt inspired). They're toxic.

Of course, rhubarb is unpalatable to most people without the addition of sugar. The plant didn't even come into common usage in Europe until colonialism brought cheap sugar to the masses (yes, colonialism and slavery underwrites much of the history of our modern culinary traditions -- even to this day). But I digress.

By mid-June, when the season has been slow to pick-up, we know that after a month of rhubarb and before the strawberries arrive, you might be looking for some new ideas. Here are a few of our favorite recipes (as provided by http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/).

Stewed Rhubarb with Added Spices

When stewing rhubarb, add chai spices (cardamon, star anise, cinnamon and ginger) or citrus rind and juice.

Stewed rhubarb is great on its own, with yoghurt and/or with granola. And it's best with rich custard -- don't forget to pick up some eggs and heavy cream for a heavenly spring treat (I think the custard negates the spring tonic aspect of rhubarb . . . if you care).

Rhubarb Sorbet

1.5 lb rhubarb, cut in 5 cm pieces

25 mL water

175 mL sugar

5 mL vanilla

1 egg white

Puree rhubarb with water. Add sugar and cook until rhubarb is tender (about 5 min), stirring frequently. Remove from heat; add vanilla and food coloring. Cool to room temperature. Beat egg white until stiff but not dry. Fold into rhubarb mixture. Pour into 2.5 L baking dish (23 cm square). Freeze until firm around edges (about 1 h). Turn into chilled bowl; beat until smooth. Freeze partially (about 1 h more); beat again. Freeze until firm (about 2 h more). Makes 8 servings (125 mL each). If you have an ice cream maker, use it to freeze the sorbet.

Rhubarb Frozen Yogurt

2 Cups Stewed rhubarb

1/2 Cup Plain yogurt

3 Tablespoons Granulated sugar

2 Tablespoons Orange juice

In food processor puree stewed rhubarb until smooth. Blend in yogurt, sugar and orange juice. Freeze in icecream maker or cover and freeze in shallow metal pan for 3 to 4 hrs or until almost firm. Break up mixture and process in food processor in batches if necessary until smooth. Freeze in airtight container for 1 hour or until firm.

Fish with Rhubarb Sauce

2 c rhubarb cut into small pieces

1/2 c tomato sauce

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp sugar

1/2 c water

salt

1 lb fish

Wash rhubarb well. Peel off the hard skin.

Cook all ingredients except fish together in a pot for 30 minutes, until rhubarb is cooked thoroughly.

Add cut-up pieces of fish and simmer until fish is cooked.

Chicken Smothered In Rhubarb

3 1/2 pound chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces

Essence

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup olive oil

1 pound rhubarb, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

2 medium onions, julienned

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 bay leaf

Fresh thyme sprigs

1 cup white wine

3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Garnish: 2 cups cooked white rice, warm, 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

In a mixing bowl, toss the chickens with Essence and flour. In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken for 6 to 8 minutes on each side. Add the rhubarb and onions. Season with salt and pepper. Stirring constantly, wilt and brown the onions, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen any brown particles, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, herbs and wine, cover and reduce the heat. Stir occasionally and cook for about 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Stir in the parsley. Arrange the chicken on a platter and garnish with Essence (eseence of emril) and parsley and serve with rice.

Baked Chicken And Rhubarb

3 lb. chicken breasts and thighs or 1 whole chicken cut up

2 c. diced rhubarb (1/2-inch pieces)

1/3 c. sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 1/2 c. water

2 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

rice for serving

Combine cornstarch, sugar, rhubarb and water in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils. Cook until clear and thickened, about 2 minutes. Add lemon juice. Cool.

Place chicken in a shallow baking dish. Brush with butter and sprinkle with salt. Bake uncovered in 375 degrees oven for 30 minutes. Spoon rhubarb sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with spices. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes longer. Serve immediately with sauce spooned over chicken. Serve with hot cooked rice. Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Almond Rhubarb Coffee Cake

1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar

2/3 c. vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. milk

1 1/2 c. finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb

1/2 c. sugar

Topping:

1/3 c. sugar

1 Tbls. butter, melted

1/4 c. sliced almonds

Beat brown sugar, oil, egg & vanilla until smooth. Combine flour salt & baking soda; add to sugar mixture alternately with milk. Beat until smooth. Stir in Rhubarb & almonds. Pour into 2 greased 9-inch round cake pans. For topping, combine sugar & butter; stir in almonds. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or test done.

Need more ideas? Check out http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/ for more rhubarb ideas than you ever thought possible.

It's better to sell out than throw out

2011-06-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

The months of May and much of June can be odd times at the farmers markets, particularly for small farms. It often happens that by the end of the first hour we are sold out of our most prized veggies of the day. It often leaves people to ask, "Why don't you bring more?"

In fact, a few people have taken the time to explain to me the following impacts of us selling out:

It reflects poorly on the market when customers arrive and can't find produce;
We're only thinking about ourselves and not the people we need to feed (who consequently can't get our produce); and
People who have never been to the market before will arrive, find no selection, and never shop at a farmers market again.

Admittedly, most of these comments are offered in the spirit of direction, not of discussion. As a result, I very rarely get a chance to explain the marketing strategy of a small farm at the farmers market. While most of those offering me instruction likely don't read my blog, I will nonetheless take a moment to explain our objectives at the market.

First and foremost, we want to sell out. One of the first things my farmer mentors taught me was that it's better to sell out than to throw out. Some extra produce at the end of the day gets donated to local charities who pick up leftovers at the market. Some goes back to the farm for us to eat. Some ends up on the compost pile. None of it earns us an income. We never like to short customers on orders, but we also have to be realistic about what we can grow considering all factors such as weather and past sales history.

Second, we often don't have more product. As a small farm, we often take what we have. And the market is busy. Yes, we sell out of 144 pints of strawberries in an hour and we couldn't pick more before the market. Of course, if I could bring enough produce to sell everyone exactly what they wanted, I would. But the beauty of the farmers market (for the farmer) is that sometimes I only have a half-case of spinach and I can sell it along with everything else I have that week. The beauty (for the customer) is that the creative chef will be surprised by what arrives on a given week.

Third, produce doesn't keep. When we don't have refrigeration and automated misting machines at the market (a la grocery stores), it makes it difficult to hold produce through a four hour market, especially on a sunny day. Strawberries or raspberries picked ripe won't last. For heat-sensitive produce, we bring what we know we will sell in the cool, early hours of the market. The best farmers markets start early in the day and don't last more than four hours.

Fourth, we plan based on sales of the previous week. When we sell out of chard after the first hour of the market, we increase what we harvest for the following week. We also watch weather forecasts for each market day and have to decide whether sales will increase or decrease because a market falls on a long weekend. If sales of a product were rotten one week and then the same product sells out the following week, we're something left baffled. It's a tough guess at times, but we try to send what we think we can sell.

So, that's a bit of the logic behind the farmers market. Ultimately, we also have to keep in mind that we're one small farm and we can't feed everyone. Rather, we try to support markets and encourage other small farms so that we will have a diversity of farmers at markets, able to meet the needs of our customers' menus. I remain confident that a multitude of small farms can meet much of our society's food needs.

An efficient food system, in my ideal, means little waste and a diversity of growers -- including traditional farmers, urban farmers and gardeners galore. If we can do this by selling and using everything we grow rather than by throwing out surplus produce we're onto a good thing.

When the Spinach (and Weather) Doesn't Cooperate

2011-06-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I promised NOW BC, a Vancouver co-operative buying club, that we would have spinach available for them this week. This morning, when we should be harvesting to fill their order, there is no spinach.

Our first major planting of spinach started to size up last week. I was sure we would have enough for harvesting this week. But the spinach had already been in the ground a long time through the cold, wet spring. Then, with a blast of hot weather last week, it didn't look like the spinach would hold for long. We had to harvest what we could for weekend markets. The rest of the planting hasn't sized up. Moreover, after seeding the current planting we had to wait almost three weeks before seeding our next planting due to intense rain in the past months.

All of this means that the spinach people are expecting to receive tomorrow won't arrive. NOW BC can't secure spinach at the price we offered (spinach is wholesaling for the price NOW BC would have retailed ours for).

In some ways, this is the price one might pay for trying to work with a small farm: small crops and inconsistent supply. At the same time, the larger farms around us have no crop at the moment. When we can't get into the field to use our human-powered seeding equipment, other farms certainly can't get their tractors in to do larger seedings.

What this more accurately highlights is the difficulty of predicting crops while avoiding waste. Knowing whether the spinach will hold in the field (or size up adequately) in order to include on a price list is a gamble more than an art or science at many times. Often we avoid listing products with NOW BC simply because it's easier to guess that we won't have the supply than to try and promise that we will. If a planting is too large, it can go to waste if not enough marketing outlets exist to take it; too small, and someone gets shorted on their order.

This makes it even more challenging for home delivery services. To get a commitment from a farmer (or even wholesaler) that a product will be available can be tricky. When products don't show up, it leaves the delivery service with disappointed (and sometimes angry) customers and a precarious business model.

I offer this overview not to provide excuses, but in order to give some insight into why the world of food production and sales (particularly of fresh produce) is tricky. To provide abundance, there is always waste when extra produce isn't sold; just-in-time delivery often results in short orders -- whether working with small farms or the world's largest produce companies.

This spring has been particularly difficult for many farmers in the Lower Mainland and we're only just beginning to get a full perspective of the impacts. Our spinach is one small example. Such an explanation doesn't help consumers find a replacement. Hopefully it does help to build some understanding of the pressures we're all under.

Herb Walks with Glen Valley Herbs & Apothecary

2011-05-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Glen Valley Organic Farm's resident herbalist, Barb Hinde, is offering four herb walks this season. All walks will take place at Glen Valley Organic Farm.

Come and walk through the herb garden as well as the farm's 8 acres of forest. See how the plants grow in cultivated gardens as well as in their natural habitat. Learn about building your own backyard herb garden by understanding the seasonal growing cycle, learning which herbs grow best in this environment, and how to incorporate herbs -- both culinary and medicinal -- into your gardening and cooking.

Dazzle your senses as you touch, taste and feel the herbs and learn how nature has the potential to support good health. Dress comfortably for the weather; we walk rain or shine.

Each walk will highlight herbs in season as the garden and forest floor change and offer an array of herbal options.

About Your Guide

Barb Hinde is a chartered herbalist as well as a registered nutritional consultant. Practicing herbal medicine as well as good nutrition has been a life-long interest for Barb.

Barb grew up on a farm in the Fraser Valley with a parent who loved the earth and believed in the healing power of the body and the plants that Mother Nature provides. She spent time with her father in the garden as well as in the forest, thus starting a life-long love of what the earth has to offer.

After completing courses at Dominion Herbal College, Langara College and several long distance courses, Barb became an herbalist as well as a registered nutritional consultant. She has been growing medicinal and culinary herbs in earnest since 2002.

Dates & Times

Herb Walks will be held at Glen Valley Organic Farm on the following Saturdays in 2011:

May 28th
June 25th
July 23rd
August 27th

The walks start as 10 a.m. and continue until noon. The walks are following by a question and answer period in the farm's labyrinth garden. Feel free to bring a bagged lunch to enjoy during the Q & A session.

Cost

Each walk costs $25 per person. Pre-registration is required.

Registration

Please register by contacting Barb Hinde at 604-626-0681 or barbhinde (at) gmail (dot) com. Pre-registration is required.

Images of the past week on the farm

2011-05-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

The season got a kick-start this wee with some wonderful, warm weather. We were able to catch up on weeding, seeding and transplanting. Here are some of the things we noticed on the farm this week.

Above, the strawberries are in full flower. We anticipate tasting the first berries of the season next month.

Our neighbour, the Fraser River, has been rising over the past couple of weeks. A heavy snow pack in parts of the province means we anticipate a high river level this year, although we are unlikely to face any flood threats. Nonetheless, when the river is high, the ditches are unable to drain and we may see back-ups into our fields during heavy rainfall.

It's always a relief to see certain crops emerging from the earth. This tiny row of parsnips came up this past week, three weeks after seeding. This crop is grown from Harris Model variety seeds we saved on the farm two season ago.

Our new mason bee condos are seeing activity. A couple of holes are already filled by bees with their eggs, pollen and a mud plug.

Tricia's bees are doing very well. As soon as the day warms up, they're out collecting nectar on the farm.

If you've even used the term "it's a tough row to hoe", hopefully you've had the chance to hoe a tough roe. The above bed was planted in potatoes by mistake. The bed is lumpy and weedy, and a miscommunication saw it getting planted in too early. Our apprentices did a great job cleaning it up this week.

Viewing the farm early in the morning provides a stunning perspective of the beds again the valley slope and sometimes the mountains in the distance. This view reminds me why I enjoy farming (being outside in this beautiful space) and how much work we have to do to keep on top of the weeds!

This is a similar view, from the tractor, getting beds ready for seeding and transplanting.

These are some of our earlier plantings of lettuce and kale. They grew a lot this week. Lettuce generally doubles in size each week, so we might have some head lettuce for market in a few more weeks.

It's always satisfying to see the potatoes sending up their first leaves.

Our rhubarb is always the first big crop for the season. This week we sent rhubarb to an organic distributor in Vancouver, our restaurant distributor, Aphrodite's Pie Shop and, of course, the farmers market.

We seeded many beds this week, including spinach, dill, cilantro, beans, beets, sunflowers and wildflowers. Kate, above, is using the Earthway seeder on a future crop of spinach.

The goats are all doing well. The seven kids are growing fast and two more does will kid in the weeks ahead.

This coming week sees the start of the Langley Farmers Market, the White Rock Farmers Market, transplanting many new crops (strawberries, squash and fennel) and lots of weeding.

New compost bin, warm weather

2011-05-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

I finished building a new compost bin yesterday. This was something I've wanted to do for a while. For the past few years we've been piling organic veggie waste from cleaning and grading produce near our barn. The result has been an increasingly ugly and unmanageable pile of compost. Then, Paige found plan for a three-bin system on Metro Vancouver's website.

This bin allows us to fill one compartment over time. When it's full, we transfer the contents into the second bin and begin filling the first again. When it's full again, the contents of each bin get turned into the next bin again. By the time the waste comes out of the third bin, it is finished compost, ready for use.

Just a note about the Metro Vancouver plans: it's a great system, but the plan material list is short on wire mesh and screws -- you'll double of each to make it work.

And now, as you can see in the photo above, our indicator puddle is almost completely dried out, so that means we can get into the fields and plant, seed, weed and even harvest! Full steam ahead!

New Mason Bee Condos

2011-05-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Last week we welcomed Hartley and Brian from the Environmental Youth Alliance to the farm. They are running a native pollinators program with organic farms in the Lower Mainland. this includes a visit to each farm, doing an assessment of how the farm can better provide habitat to native pollinators and providing homes for mason bees and ground-nesting bees.

In the first photo, Hartley is assembling a mason bee housing frame. In the photo above, Brian is taping together trays for the mason bees to lay their eggs into.

A stack of trays, ready for placement.

After the housing frame was installed and the trays were in place, I got to place to mason bee cocoons behind. They placed one bee unit near our orchard and another unit in our fields.

Also part of the project is the building of nests for ground-nesting bees. Those aren't ready yet, but I'll post photos when we get them. Brian pointed out numerous, tiny holes in the ground where bees are nesting -- something I walk by and over every day without noticing!

Native bees are an important part of the diversity we have in our environment and a crucial part of the pollination puzzle we have on a farm. Honey bees are, by far, the most important pollinators for commercial crops, but they often overshadow the importance of native pollinators and their importance to many crops.

For more information about native pollinators, I recommend The Forgotten Pollinators by Stephen L. Buchmann and Gary Paul Nabhan.

Chicken days

2011-05-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Our small flock of birds moved to a new area two weeks ago. They have a lot of green grass and fat juicy worms to feast on. Within days of moving them, the yolks in their eggs became deep orange. The previous chicken run was disked and then reseeded. The chickens will return to that run later in the summer.

We are lucky to have In Season Farms in the Fraser Valley. They are willing to deliver feed to small farms like us. This is the auger sending feed down to one of our feed barrels this morning. Shortly after the photo was taken, the truck got stuck trying to leave the farm. I didn't take photos of the tractor pulling out the feed truck. I don't think anyone would have appreciated the visual record.

More goats

2011-05-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Over the course of 48 hours last week, the size of our goat herd expanded from five to 12. First, Worri had triplets and the next day Jumper had four kids. Needless to say, they are always a hit and an incredible spectacle.

Our new term for the pile of goats (this tends to be how they sleep) is a Goat Cuddle Puddle.

How long can a three-year-old cuddle a goat? We've always had to intervene before finding out.

This is Jumper cleaning her new kids after being born. When we took this photo we expected that she was finished, only to watch as one more kid came out moments later. The dark liquid in the bucket in the corner is molasses in warm water -- a post birth treat for the new mother.

There are two more goats that will have new kids in the next couple of weeks. They make for a busy spring!

Baby goats -- Exciting day on the farm

2011-05-05T09:10:00.001-07:00

The birth of new goats is always exciting on the farm. Our first set of kids arrived yesterday while we were all eating lunch. The farm children got to skip their nap to witness the exciting event.

Just minutes after the birth, all three kids are standing up, looking to feed. Worri, their mother, is trying to clean them all. Notice that the two females have exactly them same colouring as their mother while the male is all white, just like his Saanen father.

We relish the cuteness of baby goats. It's only a matter of time before they're just like the rest of the goats . . . lots of personality and, depending on the goat, stubborn and obnoxious.

Mama Worri stands guard as her kids snuggle in a pile under the manger. these kids arrived a full 10 days earlier than the average gestation for goats. Yes, we were surprised . . . and not quite prepared for this yet!

It's always a relief when the kids start looking for food and when the mother lets them feed. They're pretty self-sufficient animals as far as birthing goes. These two kids are competing for the same teat.

Four more goats are bred and will be kidding over the next month.

Killdeer in our fields

2011-04-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

We are fortunate to have a wide variety of wildlife on the farm. Each spring, our farm becomes home to killdeer birds. With their tiny nests nestled into the debris and weeds of the untilled fields, it is a challenge to see their eggs. Luckily, the killdeer adults put on quite a show to get our attention.

When walking near a nest, the adult killdeer make a loud call and pretend to be injured, hoping to attract potential predators away from a nest to an easier (and potentially more fulfilling) meal. While this works in some circumstances, it also announces to the crows that there is, indeed, a nest nearby.

Killdeer make our work challenging at times. They nest in the middle of the fields, often necessitating a tractor detour in order to avoid their nests during field preparation. At the same time, they eat a lot of pests and are phenomenally entertaining to watch. Unfortunately, as with the nest above, even if we are able to find a nest and work around it, other animals such as crows and ravens take the eggs.

Overall, killdeer are one piece of a larger part of the biodiversity we try to foster on the farm. Their presence provides us a benefit and, in turn, we try to ensure our farm is friendly to the wildlife looking for space in an increasingly crowded landscape.

For more information about the killdeer, check out the Hinterland Who's Who profile.

Eagle release at the farm

2011-04-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

An OWL staff member removes the recovered eagle from a cage before it is released. Note the gigantic wingspan.

Given our location on the migratory flight path of many species of birds, we are fortunate to see many of these birds on the farm at various points in the year. Raptors that stop by include bald eagles, barn owls, turkey vultures and hawks.

Last month, John and Barb found an injured, juvenile, bald eagle in the forested area of the farm. Realizing that the bird wouldn't be safe or able to recover on its own, they contacted the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL).

OWL staff came to the farm and collected the eagle. A few weeks later, they called to let us know they would be bringing the recovered eagle back for release.

On the day of the release, everyone on the farm gathered to watch. As shown in the photos here, eagles are very large birds -- their wingspans are approximately 6 feet. We often watch them soar high above us while we work in the fields. To see one up close was pretty spectacular.

OWL specializes in birds of prey (raptors) and treats over 300 birds a year. Located in Delta BC, they run educational programs as well as rehabilitative treatment.

Growing for Gardeners: Spring Transplants

2011-03-22T13:55:00.001-07:00

Here we go with a new idea: We're growing certified organic veggie transplants for home gardeners.

This year we wanted to do something more than just growing veggies for our farmers markets. We're also growing to help our fellow gardeners with their own plots of land.

Every year we grow tens-of-thousands of transplants for our crops. And every year more and more of our regular customers tell us that they're trying out their own community garden plots, balcony gardens or their own backyard. And we always get requests for transplants.

This year we're growing an array of veggie starts for home gardeners to use in their own gardens. We're seeding harder-to-grow crops like broccoli and cauliflower, onions, various greens, herbs and many more.

We're also ready to take custom orders to match your own garden plan.

Our transplants will be available at our Farmers Market stands beginning in May and direct from the farm by special arrangement. We'll also be at some special events, such as the Stone Soup Festival in East Vancouver on May 7.

To discuss your garden plans or to place a special order, please e-mail us at glenvalleychris@gmail.com.

Watch Me Grow! Growing food in the city

2011-03-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

Being a new parent I am witnessing the incredible experience of raising children with an understanding of where their food comes from. Turns out that many people are looking for a similar experience for their children -- and there's a lot of help to do this.

A new book, Watch Me Grow: A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City, is a resource to help introduce children to urban agriculture. Written by Vancouver children's writer Deborah Hodge, the book is engaging. It introduces children to food in the city, asking questions about how the readers experience the growing of food, and suggests activities to help develop a closer relationship to food and growing.

Exploring everything from where food can be grown in the city to how the food can be shared, the book is an inspiring tour of the ways city dwellers can get a bit closer to the sources of their food.

Illustrated with photos by Brian Harris, the book is visually stunning. Brian captures the colour, diversity and beauty of food communities. Anyone who attended the Museum of Vancouver's Home Grown exhibit or who has purchased a FarmFolkCityFolk calender in recent years knows Brian's work.

In his work, Brian attempts to capture the essence of human relationships to each other and the natural world. He is not interested in fetishizing food, but rather celebrates the richness of community built around growing and nurturing our selves and our environment.

This new release is a companion to last year's Up We Grow: A Year in the Life of a Small, Local Farm.

Just in time for this blog post, today it was announced that Up We Grow! is a finalist for the Christie Harris Award (children's illustrated book category) in the BC Book Prizes. Also, The American Library Association has just listed Up We Grow! as one of the Top 10 Books on the Environment for Youth.

Of course, some of my excitement about these books comes from the fact that our farm is featured in some of the photographs and the text of Up We Grow! was largely researched at our farm. We're thrilled to be part of such an exciting, educational celebration of local food.

I have copies of both books available for sale. Just let me know and I can get them to you.

Hints of spring on the farm

2011-02-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

The day lilies on the farm are up . . . within a week or so I think we'll be eating the shoots!

The lean-to cold frame is getting full with transplants. These are all onions and shallots on a heated table. The transplants come out here, where they get natural light, after the seeds have germinated and emerged.

This is what the floor of our indoor start room looks like at the moment. Kale, green onions, tomatoes, artichokes, celery, onions and leeks are germinating at the moment.

This note on a seed shipment from Johnny's Seeds (a US company) has me wondering. Is this a warning to the purchaser of what they can (and cannot do) or is it a note for customs to tell them that it's seed for growing, not resale? I'm going to call next week to find out.

Videos: Primers on joining a CSA

2011-02-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

Here are two great videos about Community Supported Agriculture programs. In case you're thinking about joining ours, we think these represent our philosophy and the nature of our CSA.

2011 CSA Subscriptions Now Available

2010-12-09T14:35:00.000-08:00

Glen Valley Organic Farm runs a small Community Supported Agriculture program in partnership with the NOWBC Co-op. Members of the CSA become partners with the farmers -- they purchase a share of the crop at the start of the season and receive a weekly Harvest Box over 16 weeks in the summer. Our first season of running our CSA was in 2009. The 2011 season marks a change for us as we increase the size of the CSA program and decrease the number of markets where we sell.

We are now selling subscriptions for our 2011 season. Read on to learn more.

Philosophy

We grow 45 different certified organic crops at Glen Valley Organic Farm. By growing a diversity of crops we are able to offer a wide selection to our customers through a Community Shared Agriculture program and at Farmers Markets. This diversity also protects us against weather and pests that inevitably wreak havoc on individual crops one year to the next. Direct sales to the public provide us with an income that allows us to use sustainable practices while also paying fair wages to our employees.

We think a Community Shared Agriculture program is an excellent way for consumers and farmers to connect and work with each other. By paying for a share of the crop at the beginning of the season, members help their farmers to cover start-up costs that often require lines of credit. In return, we provide subscribers with the first pick of our finest produce at incredible value, along with regular farm updates and opportunities to visit the farm -- both to work and for fun.

We recognize that a CSA program doesn't meet everyone’s needs. As a result, we invite you to read through the information below to determine whether or not our CSA is a good fit with your eating habits.

Cost

The Glen Valley Organic Farm CSA costs $520 in 2011. Half-shares are available for $320 (a half-share costs more than half of a regular share to cover packing and delivery costs, which are the same regardless of the share size). A $100 deposit is required immediately to hold your spot for new subscriptions. 2010 subscribers have until 1 February to pay their deposit. The remainder for all shares is due by 1 April.

Duration

The CSA starts mid- to late-June, depending on when crops begin to mature. It will run for approximately 16 weeks, although we may provide slightly smaller boxes at the start of the season and extend the program by one week, depending on selection and quantity available.

Delivery

In Vancouver our CSA boxes are delivered to pick-up depots by the NOWBC Co-op. Please check their depot page to see if there is a drop-off near you. Deliveries are made on Wednesdays or Thursdays, depending on the depot.

We will also deliver boxes to our stand at the Langley Farmers Market (Wednesdays) and the New Westminster Farmers Market (Thursdays). If there are enough subscribers, we will also consider drop-off locations in other south of the Fraser locations (Surrey, Walnut Grove, Fort Langley, Abbotsford and/or Mission). Let us know if you live in one of these areas and would be interested in hosting a drop-off location.

Box Contents

Each week's box contains a variety of in-season fruit and vegetables from our farm. We grow 45 different fruit and vegetable crops. A box is sufficient to provide vegetables for a family of four for a week. Some members who are vegetarian or follow raw food diets use all of the contents themselves. Other members share their boxes with another couple or family. Many members also preserve some of their box contents for winter eating. To determine whether this CSA is sufficient for your needs, consider whether you normally spend $32/week on fresh vegetables. If not, you might want to consider finding someone to share your box with.

A late-August 2010 box looked like this:

1 bunch Rainbow Chard
1 bunch Dandelion
1 Romaine Lettuce
1 bunch Dill
1 lb Green Beans
1 bunch Beets
2 Mini-Cabbages
3 lbs Carrots
1 Long English Cucumber
2 Slicer Cucumbers
2 Garlic Bulbs
1.1 lbs Leeks
2 Sweet Onions (one red, one white)
2 Beefsteak Tomatoes
1 bunch Green Onions

Substitutions and Cancellations

We are unable to accommodate substitutions. In order to help you learn how to use vegetables that might be new to you, we will include regular recipes on our farm blog at http://glenvalleyorganicfarm.blogspot.com. We are also unable to cancel boxes. As a CSA subscriber, you are purchasing a share of the season's harvest, regardless of holidays or other obligations. If you are going on vacation we invite you to offer your box to a friend or neighbour. We also offer an option through NOWBC Co-op to donate your box to a food bank if you are unable to use it on a given week.

Connection with the farm

There are a number of benefits to being a member of our CSA. This includes:

Work parties
This might not have been on everyone's list, but some people requested a CSA in a truer model of shared agriculture -- including the work. As a result, we will try to organize a few weekend work parties throughout the season when you can come out and work with us on specific projects. In exchange, you can choose additional produce to take home or even create your own box for that week. Plus, it's a chance to see the farm at different stages of the season and an opportunity for us to get to know our members better.

Fun parties
Our CSA members are invited to our open house in May or June and we're also going to plan a big harvest shin-dig for late September or early October. This will include a large potluck and a preserves exchange. Last year's CSA parties were a blast.

Farm updates
Our weekly blog posting will provide you with an insight into farm operations, thoughts about agriculture and a number of recipes to help you learn about new ways of using the vegetables in your box.

How to subscribe

To subscribe to our Harvest Box CSA, mail your deposit cheque for $100 along with your contact information (address, phone number and e-mail) to the address below. We will notify you when we receive your deposit. The remaining amount of our subscription fee will be due by 1 April. Alternatively, if you live in Vancouver you can enroll and pay online through NOWBC. E-mail glenvalleychris (at) gmail (dot) com for more info on this option.

Glen Valley Organic Farm

8550 Bradner Road, Abbotsford BC V4X 2H5

Small-Farm Business Planning Resources

2010-12-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

If you've been following my Twitter account or reading up on the local small-scale agriculture news, you may have noted that I've been teaching the Business Planning component of Kwantlen University's Richmond Farm School this fall. For anyone working on starting a new small farm, here is a summary of some of the business planning resources I would recommend.

***Updated 9 December 2011***

Business Planning

Business Planning for Small-Scale Community Farming Enterprises. Published by FarmFolkCityFolk and The Land Conservancy. This is an accessible, step-by-step guide to business planning for small-scale farms. Excellent for use as a workbook, although the end business plan may need some refining, based on a more professional business planning template. http://ffcf.bc.ca/programs/farm/cf/business-plan.html
Guide to Starting a New Farm Enterprise. The Province of BC’s business planning guide for small- and medium-sized farms. A very good guide for understanding the components of a successful small- to medium-size farm enterprise http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/regional/NewFarm/NewFarm.htm
Urban Farm Business PlanHandbook An excellent resource forresearching and writing a business plan. Written for urban farms, this documenthas detailed worksheets to help guide users through the process of developing auseful business plan. http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/urbanag/resources.htm#handbook
SmartFarm: A centralized site by the Province of BC's Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, providing information about programs, events and resources for farms. http://www.smartfarmbc.ca/

Business Management

BC’s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands maintains this resources site with links to information on all aspects of business management for agricultural enterprises. http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/
Business Canada http://www.canadabusiness.ca The Federal Government’s resource for businesses. Information on everything from business planning to insurance, legal issues, taxes and much more. Some specific resources of note:

Insurance for your business: http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/guide/3169/
Legal Issues for Small Businesses: http://www.canadabusiness.ca/eng/guide/2277/

Finances and Bookkeeping

Farm Financial Records: A Guide to Managing for Success. Published by the Canadian Farm Business Management Council. A comprehensive guide to managing your financial records. Available through www.farmcentre.com (along with a variety of other publications that might be of use).

Whole Farm Plan

Whole Farm Plan Guide. Published by FarmFolkCityFolk and The Land Conservancy. When purchasing a property and/or establishing a farming project a whole farm plan helps develop an assessment of the farm’s capacity, resources and opportunities. It also helps to benchmark ecological indicators and, ultimately, develop shared vision and goals for those involved in managing the land. http://ffcf.bc.ca/programs/farm/cf/planGuide.html

Land Access Agreements

A Guide to Farmland Access Agreements Leases, Profits à Prendre, Licences and Memoranda of Understanding. Published by FarmFolkCityFolk and The Land Conservancy. Comprehensive guide to types of land access agreements, benefits and drawbacks of each and sample agreements. http://ffcf.bc.ca/programs/farm/cf/laa.html

Local Government

BC’s Farming and Food Future: A Local Government Toolkit for Sustainable Food Production. Published by FarmFolkCityFolk and The Land Conservancy. At times, the best plans for sustainable agriculture run up against local government regulations. This guide offers a toolkit for advocating change to municipal regulations around agriculture. http://ffcf.bc.ca/programs/farm/cf/toolKit.html

Magazines

Small Farm Canada. www.smallfarmcanada.ca The perfect resource for Canadian small-scale farmers. Covers a variety of agricultural and business-related topics for fruit, veggie, livestock and agritourism plus much more.
Growing For Market. www.growingformarket.com An American resource, written specifically for farmers who market primarily through farmers markets and CSAs. Great info on growing practices, marketing and tools. One of the best publications for small farmers operating a farm enterprise for profit.

Labour

Stewards of Irreplaceable Land. http://www.soilapprenticeships.org/ A BC-based apprenticeship program, linking farmers and apprentices from across Canada.
WorkSafeBC. Once you find your employees, you’ll have to enroll in WorkSafeBC so your workers are covered by the provincial workers compensation program. www.worksafebc.com

Books
Coleman, Eliot. (1995) The New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of Tool and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener. Chelsea Green Publishing.

Not a business planning resource, per se, but an essential introduction to organic growing. Excellent demonstration of how to merge thinking about crop planning, marketing and deciding what to grow based on what sells. Crucial if only for one piece of advice: don’t try to farm without taking a day off each week!

Henderson, Elizabeth. (2007) Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen’s Guide to Community Supported Agriculture. Chelsea Green Publishing.

An essential resource for starting a CSA. Includes everything from crop planning through to alternative means of engaging under-serviced communities. Based on work by North America’s original CSAs.

Wiswall, Richard. (2009) The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook: A Complete Guide to Managing Finances, Crops, and Staff—and Making a Profit. Chelsea Green Publishing.

A business planning handbook written specifically for organic farmers. More suited to the scale and focus of small-scale vegetable farms. Includes a disc with planning and efficiency tools.

Canada Revenue Agency

Canada Revenue Agency. New Business Guide: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/sm/menu-eng.html Links to the various services available and overview of obligations for a new business in Canada.
Canada Revenue Agency. Guide For Canadian Small Businesses: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tg/rc4070/README.html Overview of different types of business structures, taxes, payroll, audits and various services available.

Business Risk Management

AgiInvest: http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1291828779399&lang=eng One of the Federal/Provincial Income Stabilization programs for farms. AgriInvest helps cover fluctuations in income up to 15% through a dollar-for-dollar matching savings account. Application is done through your income tax return.
Production Insurance: http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/production_insurance/ British Columbia’s crop insurance program.

General
Profitability on a small farm, Paul and Sandy Arnold. The best summary article of how to approach the management of a small-scale farm. http://www.cog.ca/documents/Winter04Arnold.pdf

Changes coming for next season

2010-11-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

There are some changes coming to how we market our produce next season. I haven't posted for a while, largely because of time constraints. But I wanted to note an important change.

Beginning in the 2011 season our farm will no longer be part of the Langley Organic Growers marketing co-operative. We decided to step out of this collective of organic farms in an effort to concentrate our sales efforts in fewer venues.

As many of our regular customers know, we have been selling at 9 farmers markets in 2010. Five of these were through Langley Organic Growers (all four Vancouver markets and Coquitlam). The remaining four markets (Lonsdale Quay, White Rock, New Westminster and Langley) are stands we do alone as Glen Valley Organic Farm.

Due to personnel changes on our farm this season, Langley Organic Growers had difficulty staffing all of the markets we were registered to attend. In the meantime, we have just completed the second year of our Community Supported Agriculture Harvest Box program. We have received a number of requests to expand our CSA program next year. As well, we regularly send less produce to some markets in an effort to supply the rest of the markets.

In the past, our marketing co-operative has felt an obligation to attend a new market in order to support its development and provide customers with an organic alternative. Due to a growing number of new, small farms, this is no longer necessary. And due to the growing number of markets, it is no longer possible, either.

We recognize an opportunity to concentrate our efforts on our four markets (possibly one more) plus our CSA in the coming season. Supplying as many markets as we have been doing is no longer sustainable for us in terms of energy and attention. In addition, we see a need to focus some attention on supplying under-served markets, including low-income customers and neighbourhoods outside of Vancouver-proper.

Langley Organic Growers has included Myers Organic Farms, Olers Farm, In Season Farm and Greg Reid Farm and Glen Valley Organic Farm since 2007. Prior to this, Friesen Farm and Glorious Organics were part of Langley Organic Growers while In Season and Greg Reid Farms were not.

Before the 2007 season Friesen Farm and Glorious Organics formed Organic Farm Connection and Langley Organic Growers welcomed In season and Greg Reid Farms. This arrangement benefited all farms by allowing for less congestion at market stalls and greater capacity to supply more customers.

The farms involved in Langley Organic Growers and Organic Farm Connection include some of the original organic farmers in the Lower Mainland. It has been a privilege to work so closely with these experienced farmers during our entry into farming.

This past year has been exciting. More new farmers are coming to markets and this is providing many shoppers with more choice. No one farm or farm co-operative needs to feel an obligation to supply all of the markets.

We know that our departure from Langley Organic Growers will provide the remaining farms with more opportunity to grow crops we have previously supplied. It will also streamline the group's overall operations.

One of the most important lessons we have learned since starting farming is that co-operation is the cornerstone to successful agricultural operations. No one farm or farmer can do everything. The farm community supports each other in times of crisis as well as in regular daily operations. Likewise, the partnerships we have with urban food groups is very strong and provides us with the ability to farm in a small-scale, sustainable fashion.

Our dream for the sector is a future of thousands of small-scale farms practicing sustainable, intensive growing practices and marketing direct-to-consumer and/or co-operatively through a variety of channels. The local food scene is changing rapidly and this dream seems attainable with some hard work and a focus on end goals.

So, with all of this in mind, we don't think of our departure from Langley Organic Growers as an attempt to "go it alone". Rather, we're refocusing and figuring out some next steps in an effort to continue to grow and change in tune with the larger local, organic food movement. We're happy to have so many wonderful people to work with.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-10-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

On behalf of the entire farm team at Glen Valley Organic Farm, we would like to extend our thanks to the many friends, family members and customers who support us throughout the year. We wish all of you a wonderful autumn season and a wonderful time of thanksgiving and reflection.

Watermelons and the Price of Local Food

2010-09-29T21:36:00.001-07:00

My two farm hands pose with their melon harvest . . . their new favorite crop.

Melon season arrived on the farm today and melons make me think of money. Prices, more specifically. And I've been thinking about prices and money a lot this week, after a CBC radio host commented on the cost of local, organic food . . . but more on that in a moment. I'm also thinking about watermelons.

The truth is, the melons surprised me. I've been ignoring the melon patch. Nothing else is planted around it, so it's been easy to walk by and not look too closely.

Today, however, we ran out of fruit in the house. And both children were screaming. And Paige (now 8 months pregnant) needed some quiet. It was time for a walk. A trip yielding fruit would be even better.

We ended up in the melon patch. Watermelons were the only conceivable fruit I could think of that might be ready on the farm (apart from apples, of course). In the back of my mind I recalled Jeremy commenting on the fact that melons might be ready for the market this weekend. I didn't think much of it at the time; last year we had melons in mid-August. Beginning of October melons? They couldn't be any good.

Watermelons are a difficult crop, but well worth the effort when they grow well. They need heat, lots of water, weeding and more heat. We started growing melons two years ago as an experiment. When we sent a bunch to market for the first time we had to figure out a price -- we had no precedent.

Once our costs were considered, we figured that we would have to charge the same price we have for our squash -- $1.25/lb. This came as quite a shock to customers who normally pay $0.29/lb for conventional melons in the stores through the summer. After various comments about the price that first week, we discussed whether we needed to lower the price.

So, consider this: each melon requires about 190 liters of irrigation water. It makes sense when you think of the primary ingredient of a watermelon: water. In fact, a number of customers noted that our price seemed rather high when most of the fruit is water (of course, they still line up to pay $3.00/lb for tomatoes that are 94% water and $2.50/bunch for spinach that is 92% water).

Nonetheless, a large portion of the population doesn't blink an eye at paying $2.00 for half a liter of bottled water -- that's four times what they pay for a liter of gasoline for their car. So what value do you place on 190 liters of water, especially when fortified with fiber and a great range of nutrients?

Then I heard about watermelons in Japan. It turns out they are a delicacy. Many people in Japan have never tasted watermelons. They regularly sell for $200. Moreover, the first Hokkaido watermelons of the season are auctioned at an astounding price ($6,000 two years ago). Unbelievable? Read about it at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24997464/

All things considered, we figured that $1.25/lb was a heck of a deal for melons. In fact, Lulu Lemon should be designing yoga bags with melon carriers, not water bottle carriers -- think of the Vancouver fashion statement that would make. The next Saturday morning I explained this to our customers waiting in line at the market. We sold out of melons in an hour.

The cost of local, organic food: Here's the dirt

Having said all of this, it still doesn't answer the question of why local, organic food costs what it does . . . $1.25/lb or otherwise. So here is a summary of some of the factors:

Wages: In BC, many farm workers are paid the agricultural minimum wage of $8/hour. Pretty lousy. At the same time, BC growers are competing against imports from places where people are paid between $4 and $8/day. Keep in mind that in the US, most farm workers are illegal migrants working under the table for far less than minimum wage. Even in BC, in 2008 a judge noted the exploitation in BC's fruit and vegetable industry. For any operation, labour is generally the greatest expense. Try competing against someone who doesn't pay their employees. Add to that, on our farm we reject the minimum wage. Our apprentices earn $10/hour plus accommodations and food; our long-time, permanent workers are paid $13/hour plus a profit-share bonus at the end of the season. Still not great, but this factors into the prices we set.
Labour: In addition to the cost of wages, organic growing requires a significant amount of labour compared to conventional growing. All of our planting, weeding and harvesting is done by hand. Weeding alone is a full-time job for many of us throughout the summer. This is an even greater factor for our farm because we use very little plastic mulch for weed control.
Land: Anyone trying to pay a mortgage in BC knows about the cost of land. Trying to earn a living from farming while paying a mortgage is borderline insane. This is one area where our farm has an advantage; the land is co-operatively owned and leased to us at affordable rates.
Scale: Most of the farms you find at the farmers markets are there because it's one of the few places they can get the price they need to cover their costs. They are small-scale farms. Because of their small scale, they are able to employ more sustainable practices (e.g. hand weeding instead of disposable plastic mulch). By comparison, many large farms depend on volume to make money. If they sell at low prices to wholesalers, earning one or two dollars for each case, they'll make their money by selling a lot. Small producers can't do this, but they can compete on the basis of quality: many people will pay to have fresh and excellent-tasting produce.
Industry pressure . . . or lack thereof: There is huge pressure on farms to sell to distributors for prices that are sometimes less than the cost of production. In the summer when Americans are on holidays and crops are plentiful, Californian farms dump product at low prices. Local farms are then forced to sell cheap or let the food rot. Keep in mind that supermarkets generally lose money on fresh produce -- it's a loss leader -- instead earning their profit from the less-healthy packaged food. The appearance of abundance in the produce aisle has many costs -- wasted food, labour exploitation and dangerous agricultural practices that feed a system with cheap food. One alternative is the farmers market, where a farm can set a price that reflects the cost of production and justify the price to the end consumer.
Opportunity and Capacity: I would be naive to state that some farms don't take advantage of the ability to set their own prices at the farmers markets. I have been shocked to see the prices on some produce. In some instances there has been little challenge because there haven't been other farmers. Having said that, this season has been a good example of what farmers markets are cultivating: competition. There are few places where the primary producers line up, lay out their products and set their own prices, all in direct line of the end consumer's questions and queries. It's somewhat of an ideal form of capitalism. This year, there were many new farms at the markets. Some are existing farms who have figured out that the markets provide a better return on their products. Many, however, are new farmers -- the result of capacity building within the sector over the past few years to get more young farmers into the fields. The end result: Vancouver markets featured local, organic, non-greenhouse (i.e. tasty) tomatoes (normally a high-value crop) for well under $2/lb, and even lower when buying in bulk.

With all of this in mind, it is fair to note that there are many people who can't afford to buy fresh produce at all. There are more people who can't afford to buy organic produce. And there are many more people who choose not to buy organic produce as a personal choice. None of this makes anyone better than anyone else. Rather, it's a distraction from larger issues.

As a farmer, I want everyone to be able to access the food I grow. At the same time, I refuse to allow myself or my employees to live in poverty so that someone else can have cheap food. We live in a society with such abundance that there is little reason for people to go hungry. The inequality that results in hunger is a societal problem -- it's not the farmer's fault. Rather, it's all of our fault and all of our responsibility. There's more to say on this point, along with some stories of how this is being addressed . . . but it'll have to wait for a future post.

Anyway, we think a lot about the price of food on our farm and what makes for fair compensation to the people who grow the food, the cost of environmental stewardship and value for those purchasing the food. There aren't easy answers, but these are important discussions to have.

As for the watermelons, we had a great harvest this evening. The screaming stopped and my daughters feasted on a late-September treat after dinner. Actually, it was their dinner. Knowing what came next, the refused to eat anything else.

We'll have melons at our markets this week. They might cost a bit more and it might seem late in the season, but at a time when peaches are finished and cherries are but a distant memory these melons will blow you away.

Squash of the Week

2010-09-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

OK, I missed a week, but no one seems to be interested in making their guesses publicly. Oh well, here's the next squash to guess.

This Week's Harvest Box Contents

2010-09-29T15:36:00.000-07:00

The CSA Harvest Box contents are changing with the season. Here's what our subscribers will find in their boxes this week:

1 Long English Cucumber
2 lbs Cooking Onions
1 lb Shallots
5-7 lbs Red Kuri Squash
1 massive Sweet Onion
1 Sweet Red Pepper
1 bunch Radishes
3 lbs Apples
1 bunch Collards
1 bunch Kale
1 head Lettuce
1 bunch Beets

Here's some info that might help you navigate the box this week:

Apples
Apple varieties are Blenheim Orange and Belle de Boskoop. Both of these apples are primarily cooking apples, although we like them for fresh eating and cider as well. If you can hold on to them, both varieties will taste better in a week.

Squash
The Red Kuri Squash is a very dry-fleshed squash with a rich flavour. It is popular for soups, its seed cavity can be stuffed and it also fares well in baking (it makes great pies). Local restaurant Seasonal 56 posted a recipe for Red Kuri soup on their Facebook page.

Onions
The onions and shallots are together in the same bag this week (sorry for any confusion this caused people last week . . . hopefully everyone figured out the difference). We have also included a massive Bedfordshire Champion Sweet Onion this week. You can use this raw in sandwiches, burgers and salads.

Collards
The collard greens are great chopped and sauteed with butter, seasoned with sesame seed oil and soya sauce or balsamic vinegar. You can also blanch them in boiling water and use them as wraps for your favorite sandwich fillings. Many people use them raw, too. Try grated carrots, beets, lettuce and sweet onion with rice or quinoa and cheese. Cookthink.com also has some ideas for using collards.

Happy cooking and happy nourishing.

Summer's Last Sunset

2010-09-22T10:04:00.001-07:00

Last night I was heading into Abbotsford and stopped at the top of the hill to catch summer's last sunset over Glen Valley. It was quite spectacular.

Heading away from the valley, I was reminded that the full moon this month falls on the Autumnal Equinox. Here's the almost-full moon of last night.

Autumn and the Foggy Valley Days

2010-09-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks the Autumnal Equinox. At this time of year we often see the fog rolling into the valley, obscuring our views for part of the morning. As the days get shorter and cooler, the fog lasts longer and longer . . . until one day it doesn't lift at all.

The photo above is taken from above our farm, just a quick walk up the hill, out of the valley. As you can see, just the tree tops are visible in the valley below.

From this vantage point on a clear day one can see clear across the Lower Mainland and even see skyscrapers in cities closer to Vancouver. In addition, it's a fantastic view of the farms in Glen Valley and the Fraser River meandering through. Below is an image on a relatively clear day.

Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. We celebrated the Equinox on the weekend with a party for some friends and family. The weather didn't cooperate, so we moved everything into the barn and had a great time.

Equinox is a time of balance. The days and nights are of equal length and we transition from the long days of outdoor labour in the fields to more family time indoors and recovery from the season we've had. We, as farmers, move toward a time of leisure and learning. We are able to pick up books we've been meaning to read. We are able to take days off. But we do this amidst the outdoor tasks that need to be finished before winter arrives. Slaughter day approaches for the goats, we continue to get root crops into storage and finish preserving fruits and vegetables. In many ways, it truly is a time of balance.

Since starting farming, celebrating the change of seasons has gained more relevance for me. My body is exhausted and craving for sleep as well as the warm, savory meals of winter, comprised of root vegetables held in storage. I want to be able to spend more time with my children, going to the library and swimming with them and visiting friends. Marking the change of seasons is a way of celebrating what we have accomplished while reminding us of the need to change pace -- and understanding that changing pace is allowed.

I get a chuckle, however, when I hear people state that celebrating the Equinox and Solstice is flaky. In actual fact, it's marking a distinct change of seasons as the earth orbits around the sun. It's a change upon which all life on earth hinges. And it's much more concrete that any religion we're asked to believe in and celebrate (many religious holidays being, of course, appropriations and abstractions of old pagan rituals based on the change of seasons).

So take a moment to celebrate the arrival of autumn by taking stock of where you need better balance in your life. Take a walk and contemplate the changes taking place and compare what you are seeing to your memories of summer. And if you've been preserving food, take a picture of your canning cupboard or freezer -- for posterity's sake if nothing else. And while you're at it, make sure you've written down how much you actually preserved (for next year's planning).

We talk a lot about balance in our lives. I think it's fine to be out of balance from time to time. That's particularly true in farming when the summer is such a busy time. But it's important to re-balance and make sure we don't try to extend summer into the months when we need to rest.

Spring, after all, is only six months away.

Curried Couscous with Crispy Kale

2010-09-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

From Moira, one of our Community Supported Agriculture subscribers . . .

Serves 6 to 8

This is an easy, versatile couscous dish that works well as a warm side dish or served cold in lettuce cups as a salad. The curry flavor is distinctive but not overwhelming; adjust the amount of curry powder to suit your taste. The tamari-crisped kale is very flavorful and adds interest and nutritional benefits to the dish.

To stretch this recipe into a meal, try adding shredded cooked chicken or pork, garbanzo beans, or diced shrimp.

2 large bunches dinosaur (Tuscan) kale, stemmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper (1/4-inch dice)
2 shallots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1/2 tablespoons good-quality curry powder
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup Organic Raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or pistachios

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the kale and blanch for 2 minutes. Drain and let cool.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. When the kale is cool enough to handle, squeeze the water from it. Place the kale in a small bowl and toss with the tamari sauce. Spread the kale pieces in a thin layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the kale is dry and slightly crispy, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool at room temperature.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat; when the oil is hot, add the bell pepper and shallots. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables start to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, curry powder, and brown sugar, and cook, stirring frequently, for another 3 minutes.

Add the broth, raisins, and salt, and bring the liquid to a boil. Stir in the couscous, cover the pan, and turn off the heat. Let the couscous sit for 15 minutes without removing the cover, and then fluff the grains with a fork. Stir in the reserved kale.

Transfer to a platter or shallow bowl and garnish with the toasted pine nuts.

Fall Fair Time

2010-09-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

I just returned from the Mount Lehman Fall Fair with my daughter Roxie. This evening is the entry period for the fall fair contests. I entered a variety of our fruit and vegetables that are currently in season.

The experience was a blast. I'm not sure how many people actually enter items at the fall fair, but the organizers were quite excited to see a lot of produce coming in. In fact, they had to add another table. All of a sudden, I was part of a bunch of conversations about what kind of soil is best for growing, where to buy seeds and when to plant.

People asked if I was a hobby gardener. I almost felt ashamed to say that I'm a farmer, as though they might think I have an unfair advantage. The advantage really comes from the fact that eight of us grew these items, but my name had to go on the entry forms.

My inspiration for entering the fall fair came from Amy Jo Ehman's book Prairie Feast: A Writer's Journey Home for Dinner. Written about a year of local eating in Saskatchewan, Amy Jo visited a number of community fairs and festivals, even entering her bread in a wheat festival and her friend's mustard in an Oktoberfest.

The reality of our situation hit me as I read. Since moving to the farm four years ago, we haven't had a whole lot of exposure to the local community. We're rather out-of-the-way at the end of the valley and our errands are scattered between Abbotsford, Fort Langley and Vancouver. And we haven't made a lot of effort to meet people in the area.

All of this is slowly changing. We've met many farming neighbours through the farmers markets and we're slowly finding out about community events. As our children grow, we'll undoubtedly find out about more community goings-on.

But the Fall Fair seemed like the best way to do something right now -- at a time when we otherwise say that the season is too busy for other things. When you grow vegetables for a living, can we really be too busy for the local Fall Fair?

Last summer I was the guest speaker at the Pender Island Fall Fair. It was a blast and, perhaps, the first time I had really paid attention to a fall fair. They had exhibits, a big meal, a parade and, of course, all sorts of competitions for produce, baking, preserves, flowers, eggs, animals and art. It was an amazing day.

These events are so much of what community life should be about. On a small scale like this, everyone knows who the organizers are and, ultimately, everyone needs to participate in order for it to work out. And too many rural fall fairs aren't getting the participation they deserve.

Maybe more fall fairs will pop up in the cities now, too. With urban gardeners increasing in numbers, they need a place to exhibit their achievements and have a chance at winning a blue ribbon.

I hope we do see more fall fairs in the city and rural areas alike. And through them we could see more community celebrations. Hopefully, in the future, the produce competitions will be the main event and no one will be embarrassed to admit whether they're a gardener or farmer. In the end, we're all in this together.

All About Our Eggs

2010-09-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

One of the questions we get every week at the markets concerns whether our eggs are from Free Range chickens. We actually spend more time talking about our eggs and hens than any other topic with customers. So, here's some info.

To be certified organic, eggs must come from free range hens. This means outdoor access, no cages. In our case, our small flock has access to half an acre of green space to roam, plus a spacious coop where they roost, feed and lay their eggs. They also have a covered space outdoors and a dust bath (which helps with controlling parasites).

Our hens get a diet of certified organic grains, plus access to oyster shell to help their shell strength. They also get a large dose of greens from our vegetable production, including beet tops and extra lettuce, chard and kale that comes back from market. They also eat greens growing in their chicken run (various grasses and weeds) plus a healthy dose of insects and worms that they scrounge from the earth.

It is the access to greens and bugs that give our hens' eggs a rich, dark yolk -- due to the
presence of organic pigments called cartenoids, found in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants. But in case you're worried that the richer yolk is bad for you, here's some info from a 2007 study commissioned by Mother Earth News -- Truly free-range eggs had:

1/3 less cholesterol
1/4 less saturated fat
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene

Now, although the colour of the yolk indicates healthier eggs, the shell colour is irrelevant. Shell colour is determined by the breed of hens (i.e. it is a genetic trait). For example, brown colouring comes from the pigment protoporphyrin. This comes from haemoglobin in the blood; the pigment is added to the egg during its formation. There are heritage varieties of hens that lay different coloured eggs (blue, green, etc) but these are generally not available commercially because the hens often have lower productivity than breeds used in commercial production today.

Our chickens play an important roll in our overall farm operation. The manure we get from the birds is composted and then used to nourish the soil for our fruit and vegetable crops.

Finally, there's the issue of price. Simply put, it costs more to purchase organic feed and to maintain the space required for free range hens. Our farmers market cost of $5.50/dozen doesn't actually leave us with a very large profit margin at the end of the day. But we think the price (lower than most store-bought organic eggs, higher than conventional battery cage eggs) is worth it.

Home Sweet Home

2010-09-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

One of our Co-operative shareholders, Tricia Carpenter, started keeping bees on the farm this year. Although she didn't get the bees until late in the season, they seem to have taken to their new home. We won't get any honey from the hives this year, but the bees have been busy pollinating our crops.

Name That Squash

2010-09-16T14:36:00.001-07:00

Can you name this squash? Leave your answer in the comments section below.

Breeding Time

2010-09-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Fall is approaching and that means figuring out certain logistics . . . like how we will get our goats bred. We don't have a buck on the farm, so that means we'll have to take our dairy goats out on the town (or to another farm that is) to be bred.

I'm trying to figure out how the online dating ad would look for this: "Single female goat seeking non-committal male goat for 20 minutes. Must be from good milking stock."

The photo, by the way, was taken by Brian Harris last September. It shows two of Alyson's goats during mating season. For farmers without televisions, this is an exciting time of year.

The Canning Continues

2010-09-15T14:29:00.001-07:00

Our preserves pantry is filling up. We have tomato sauce, tomatoes, salsa, salmon, pears, peaches, plums, pickles and various jams ready for winter. Our freezer is also filling up with stocks for winter soups, salmon, corn and berries. The cheese fridge has four large rounds of Gouda aging.

Our apple orchard has a lot of October apples, so saucing is still coming up, along with making cider. We'll be happy when the preserving season is over. At the same time, since we started making cheese, canning fruit and veggies seems like a quick task!

A Peek Inside This Week's CSA Boxes

2010-09-15T05:33:00.000-07:00

Here's what our Community Supported Agriculture subscribers are getting in their Harvest Boxes this week:

1 bunch Kale
1 head Red Oak Lettuce
1 bunch Golden Beets
3 lbs Carrots
1 Long English Cucumber
1 bunch Green Onions
3 lbs Cooking Onions
1 lb Shallots
1 medium Tomato
1 pint Blueberries

We were happy to be able to include cooking onions and shallots now that the sweet onions are finished. These onions are stronger than the sweet onions and can be stored in a cool, dark place (e.g. under the sink or in a pantry) if you're not going to be using them right away.

The shallots can also be stored. Shallots tend to be a bit milder than onions. They develop a very nice sweetness after a long, low-heat cooking and are can be used in savory tarts (particularly good with goat cheese). Check out these shallot recipes from Cookthink.com:

Honey-Roasted Shallots
Skirt Steak with Caramelized Shallots You can do the caramelized shallots without the steak, too
French Onion and Shallot Soup

While you're at Cookthink.com, and if you're feeling overloaded with beets and/or carrots, you might check out some new ways of preparing them: carrots, and beets. Or, type in your ingredient of choice and see the selection of recipes.

This will be the only week for blueberries and likely the last week for tomatoes. We're not sure if zucchini or beans will make a reappearance now that the weather is cooling down.

Cycling the Coast: Farm Visitors

2010-09-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

At the start of their journey: Our visitors as they head out for their next farm and cycling adventure.

This past week we had visitors on the farm. Ned and Charlotte are cycling the coast, starting in Vancouver and heading down through Washington, Oregon, California and into Mexico and beyond. They are trying to learn about farming, particularly focusing on the Community Shared Agriculture system, in the hopes of figuring out something to do in the realm of farming back in Britain when they return next year.

They arrived just at the right point in the season -- the diversion of guests was a welcome break from the tiring routine of the end of August and early September. They helped us get a thousand pounds (or so) of onions out of the fields and into curing. And they lent a hand at a couple of markets.

We were able to send them on their way with a few extra contacts for the journey south and hopefully a good impression of what can be done with a small-scale farm.

You can check out their project and perhaps answer some of the questions they post by reading their blog, Cropcycle. And if you know of some farms they should check out on their journey you can let them know via their blog as well.

Ned and Charlotte heading off to their next stop on the start of a great cycling adventure.

The Season of Saving Begins

2010-08-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and Rob cleaning onions, September 2009 (photo courtesy of Brian Harris).

The daylight hours are shortening and there is a distinct sense of autumn approaching. Leaves are justing beginning to change colours on the trees and we're shifting gears into harvesting a new set of crops.

In many ways, this is a season of saving and I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Last week an exhibit opened at the Museum of Vancouver, featuring photography of BC Community Farms and Urban Agriculture by Brian Harris. The exhibit reminded me of the role of saving in farm life.

Throughout the exhibit there are quotes about food and agriculture. One of the quotes is by me, taken from a larger statement: "Knowledge about agriculture is no different than the knowledge contained in a seed. Both must be grown out each season, tested against the soil and weather. They must be passed from the minds and hands of one generation to the next. Those who assume mentorship roles understand that what they have amassed is useless unless passed along to others who will continue their work."

The quote in the exhibit is in shortened form:

“Knowledge about agriculture is like the knowledge contained in a seed. Both must be grown out each season then passed from the minds and hands of one generation to the next.”

The quote comes from real-life observations. My parents were the first generation in their families who chose not to farm. They did, nonetheless, keep a large garden in our backyard while I grew up and some of the gardening rubbed off on me. But it strikes me that so much knowledge about growing food can be lost in only one generation.

In a similar vein, there are varieties of beans, poppies and various other veggies that we lost when my grandmother stopped gardening in her 80s. Many of these varieties likely came with her family from the Carpathian Valley region of what is now Ukraine. The seeds formed the basis for the meals enjoyed at many family gatherings. In losing these seeds, we risk losing something greater in knowing our history.

The truth is, however, I didn't write the above-mentioned quote in an essay or speech. Rather, Brian asked me for a quote on the theme of mentorship while he was designing the exhibit. I actually received his request while on a winter vacation, enjoying the farmer's markets of Hawaii.

Now the quote has me thinking that an essay on mentorship and the transfer of knowledge in agriculture is due. I started writing some rough notes yesterday. Daily work on the farm is serving as an inspiration for the piece, particularly as we begin to do a lot of saving.

This past week we brought up the first storage onions and shallots for drying. Once the tops of the onions start to die in the field we pull them out and bring them into a dry space to prepare them for winter.

A few of the onions brought up from the field yesterday and laid out in the coldframe this morning.

The onions get laid out in our coldframes, where they will dry for a few weeks. Once the tops and roots are dried completely, the bulb is sealed and can be cleaned. The tops and roots are cut off and the outer layer of skin is removed, leaving a beautiful, clean onion or shallot. The bulbs are bagged and put away in a storage room where we control the humidity and temperature through the winter until everything is sold.

Meanwhile, the end of summer also marks the point when seeds must be harvested for next year's crops. While we purchase most of our seeds for growing, there are a few crops from which we have been trying to save seed.

A handful of golden beet seed, harvested this fall.

Last fall I saved a few bags of the best beets we had and stored them until this spring. Early in the spring I planted out the beets. Now, many months later, we're harvesting the seed. The beets, in particular, are a crop I think we should be able to save and adapt a variety to excel in our growing conditions here in the Lower Mainland.

Another seed we saved this year is from our crop of fava beans. Beans are an easy crop to save seed from and favas, given their size and early maturity, are particularly nice seeds to grow.

Thousands of fava beans dry in a bin after shucking.

Finally, saving is a huge theme in our kitchens as we preserve food through canning, drying and freezing. We spend long hours doing this work in the fall, and we always appreciate our work throughout the winter and spring as we enjoy the memories of summer on our taste buds.

Saving, whether it be seeds, food, knowledge or even money is something we don't do much of these days. We trust that answers to our questions are only a google away. Seeds are purchased from catalogs and gardening stores. Food is always available, at least for those who can afford it. National statistics tell us that most people have far more debt than savings to their names.

Despite this, I am encouraged by the numbers of people learning to grow and preserve food. There are many people getting into small-scale farming and exploring how to get involved in the agricultural sector. If this continues, we just might be able to do a bit more saving, before too much more is lost from our hands and memories.

Thousands of shallots drying before being cleaned and stored for the winter.

Going to market

2010-08-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Going to market is almost always a highlight of the week for us. It's an opportunity to get off the farm, meet our customers and to do a little bit of shopping for the week ahead. There is something exciting about the energy and pace of the market which comes as a great contrast to the long days of often-solitary work on the farm throughout the week. I've heard some people even describe the market environment as addictive.

This year, Jeremy, Rob and I have shared the responsibilities of the Lonsdale Quay, White Rock and New Westminster markets, each taking a turn at one of the markets every three weeks. Our apprentices Adam and Cat have shared working at the Langley Market.

Here's a rundown of a market day along with my editorial comment. I took some photos from the last couple of markets I worked -- Lonsdale Quay and White Rock.

For the weekend markets, the day starts early with loading the truck -- at 5 or 6 a.m. When everything is loaded in the height of the season the market truck should look something like this:

While driving to the market we sometimes get a great view of the sunrise coming up over the mountains and valley.

And once we arrive at the market, it's time to transform an empty square, parking lot or park into a carnival-esque market scene. The White Rock market is held in a square between two condo towers. On this particular week someone threw old food from their window at market vendors during set-up. Maybe the set-up time is too early for some people on the weekend. We were lucky no one got hurt, though, given that the package fell about 15 stories.

At our Lonsdale Quay market on Saturday mornings we have the ever-able Storm who helps us. He's been part of the market scene for longer than we have and knows how to navigate piles of produce boxes and set up a market stand with his eyes closed.

Once everything is set up we occasionally get an opportunity to admire the presentation before starting to sell. If we finish setting up too early before the start of market, our customers begin to get a bit anxious for having to wait.

A major part of market set-up is presentation. Making the food look beautiful in large piles and orderly rows goes a long way to helping sell everything.

We try to be strict about only selling after the advertised opening time. At Lonsdale Quay there is no strict start time, although the market is advertised as starting at 10 a.m. Until two years ago, we started selling as soon as we were st up. But our customers started arriving earlier and earlier.

One week I pulled the truck in to begin setting up at 7:30 a.m. and there were two customers waiting who proceeded to take boxes off the truck and began rummaging through for produce. We were sold out before the market opened, much to the dismay of customers who arrived on time. That's bad market management.

The next week I arrived with a rope and a handful of coffee cards. I tied off the stand and told customers we would no longer sell before the advertised start time. I handed out coffee cards so people could get a complimentary coffee on the corner and wait. People complained fiercely, other vendors continued to sell early and the market society didn't care.

We still sell out and customers appreciate knowing when the market actually starts in order to plan their days. We've maintained strict start times since. Remember, the early bird only gets the worm. Everyone else gets some organic produce with their worm.

Every so often before the market starts a market manager comes by to talk to us. On this particular week in White Rock, Market Manager Helen came by to tell us that we should have a tent over our stall. I had forgotten the tent that morning. The health department gets upset when we don't have a tent because they're afraid birds will poop on our produce and cause mass pathogenic outbreaks. It's amazing what they can dream up in their offices.

It was a great day for working without a tent (no rain). Jeremy forgot the cash float the following week. In the past I've forgotten the tent, the scale and the float (not all on the same week). Any one of those instances could lead to a terrible day. But we managed to recover each time thanks to the generosity and ingenuity of other vendors and market volunteers.

Then we can finally get to work selling food. The weather has a major impact on how busy it will be (I understand that people don't eat on rainy days). Lonsdale Quay is the one exception to this rule. The north shore is always wetter than anywhere else in the Lower Mainland and its residents know that they have to brave the rain or spend much of their lives indoors.

If all goes according to plans, our stall is more-or-less empty within a few hours. By the way, we don't sell off produce at the end of the day for lower prices. We take it home and eat it.

When people try to get food for less than the marked price we respond in one of two ways. On a good day we simply explain that we won't undermine the price other customers have paid and that the posted price reflects the value of the food based on what it costs us to bring it to market. On a bad day we ask people to buzz off.

Our philosophy for farmers markets is to sell out rather than throw out. We could take a lot of produce to keep the stall fully stocked until the end of the day (and probably achieve some additional sales), but much more food would be wasted. Rather, we order up or down on a weekly basis depending on previous weeks' sales and the weather forecast.

Supermarkets have fully-stocked produce sections and it means that a high percentage of their produce gets thrown out. In fact, most supermarkets don't make money on produce. The real profit is made from packaged food that can sit on shelves for months and doesn't have to be thrown out. They sell produce cheap as a loss leader to get people into the store.

And before returning home to unload the market truck we stop off at the local Co-Op gas station to fill up for the next market trip. It's a good reminder that despite our attempts to sell local, we're still dependent on oil for the moment. There's still work to do.

Great book on human-scale farming

2010-08-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

We are excited about the release of a new book about small-scale, local farming. Up We Grow! is written by Vancouver author Deborah Hodge for children ages 4-7. The book features photography by Brian Harris, showing small farms and farmers from around British Columbia.

The book is excellent for its portrayal of the human side of food production. Too often discussions of local food focuses on pictures of food. Up We Grow! shows the people who grow food in our communities. This is a feature of Brian Harris' photography; he captures the community and cultural elements of farming. Deborah's text engages children with questions about how they celebrate the seasons and inquiries about their favorite foods.

What we especially like about this book is that it features our farm. The text is based on visits the author did over a one-year period, documenting the activities of the farm. The farm in the book is a composite of many farms, using Brian's spectacular photography.

The book is available at bookstores around British Columbia and beyond. Kidbooks in Vancouver is hosting a book launch on Thursday, 26 August from 7-9 p.m. Check out their amazing window display here.

We have copies of the book for sale at our farmers market stands at Lonsdale Quay (Saturdays 10-3), White Rock (Sundays 9-1), Langley (Wednesdays 3-7) and New Westminster (Thursdays 3-7).

Our Harvest Boxes This Week

2010-08-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting the contents of our Harvest Boxes to the blog thus far. Today, however, I'm noting the contents, just because we're at the height of the season and the boxes look incredible.

1 bunch Rainbow Chard
1 bunch Dandelion
1 Romaine Lettuce
1 bunch Dill
1 lb Green Beans
1 bunch Beets
2 Mini-Cabbages
3 lbs Carrots
1 Long English Cucumber
2 Slicer Cucumbers
2 Garlic Bulbs
1.1 lbs Leeks
2 Sweet Onions (one red, one white)
2 Beefsteak Tomatoes
1 bunch Green Onions

We went heavy on the allium family this week; it's the last week for garlic, the leeks and sweet onions are beautiful and a planting of green onions matured this week. This is foreshadowing for the incredible crop of storage onions and shallots we are just beginning to cure for storage. The tomatoes are at their peak and we only wish we could grow more! Cucumbers, beans, carrots and beets remain in abundance.

I'll take a moment to note that since our farm is in the Lower Mainland our boxes are heavy on veggies and lower on fruit. We don't have the consistently high temperatures and cold winters necessary for the popular soft fruit crops that grow in the interior. This is part of understanding the bio-region in which we live and knowing what we can grow in this environment. Field crops (root crops, leafy greens, beans and berries) do well here, tree fruit not so much (although I'm looking forward to some amazing apples from the orchard of heirloom trees in the month ahead).

Our CSA has 33 members this year. We're trying to figure out how to increase the spots available for next year, including working with different social service agencies to get boxes to individuals who otherwise have difficulty accessing fresh produce. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Mid-August farm round-up

2010-08-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Mid-August means the harvest is picking up and the days are still long and hot. Our sunflowers are in full bloom and the bees are busy, as you can see above.

We planted three beds of sunflowers on the edges of our fields this year. They attract beneficial insects and are an incredible sight.

Jeremy has hung garlic to cure in various locations around the farm. One of my favorite views of the farm is from the dairy barn where one batch of garlic is curing. You can see the red roof and vines of a farm residence in front of the pastures and fields below.

I was happy to spy some of the pumpkins and squash sizing up and even ripening in the fields. Squash are one of my favorite crops, both for their taste and aesthetic in the fall.

A Red Kuri squash is looking pretty nice amidst the vines.

Part of a bed of cilantro has gone to seed, right next to our pickling cucumbers. I was harvesting cucumbers today and heard a hum the entire time -- thousands of bumble bees, honey bees, wasps and various insects all pollinating the flowers. It's absolutely amazing to overhear flower sex!

The Crone's Cottage in our meadow is another good place for curing garlic. You can see that the cottage has quite a lean. It might not be around in its current state for much longer.

For the meantime it makes a great place to cure garlic and butcher goats (to come later in the fall).

That's my photo documentation for the day.

First canning of the season

2010-08-16T09:17:00.000-07:00

Last night we did our first canning for the season (apart from some earlier jams). I picked up a case of peaches from The Fruit Guy at the White Rock Farmers Market yesterday (his booth was right next too ours). The peaches had to be used the day of the sale, so we got the canning equipment out and fired up (i.e. turned on) the stove.

We have a large assortment of jars, many of which are from my own grandparents. The jars above came from my Ukrainian-roots grandmother in Saskatchewan, so they've seen everything from dill pickles and sauerkraut to borscht, apples and root beer over the decades.

You'll notice the glass lids, which use a rubber ring for sealing. these haven't been manufactured since the 1950s. Jar companies say these aren't safe for canning because they don't have a moron-proof "snap" lid to indicate that they're sealed (and since you don't have to buy new lids every year to support their companies, they must be unsafe). Instead, you actually have to remove the zinc lids to check if the lid is sealed. And the lids seal so tight that you need a knife or screwdriver to open them up. It's obvious whether or not they're sealed.

We noted that yesterday had to have been the hottest day of the year thus far -- it seems like we only do canning on the hottest days. But no wonder; that's when the produce ripens!

Now we're gearing up for more fruit canning, tomato sauces, salsas and lots of apple sauce. If we're adventuresome enough, we might even try salmon this year. It means many long, hot nights in the kitchen and many great meals through the winter.

So I'm curious . . . do you can? And if so, what do you can? Share your comments below.

Magic Spaces on the Farm: The Herb Garden

2010-08-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

The Herb Garden at Glen Valley Organic Farm

Often we think about magic as something unattainable. Yet there's magic in the world around us everyday. Indeed, our gardens contain some of the greatest magic of all, particularly when it comes to healing and maintaining health. A range of herbs and other plants contain various chemicals that can help us in many ways.

Last summer the farm welcomed Barb as our resident herbalist. Barb arrived from her previous farm, Twobie Creek, along with hundreds of her perennials and a small flock of ducks. Coming the Glen Valley Organic Farm allowed Barb to downsize to an appropriate amount of growing space without the overhead cost of a mortgage.

Now established as Glen Valley Herb and Apothecary, Barb began work on reclaiming a herb garden that had previously existed at the south end of the property, right along the entry to the forest -- high above the rest of the farm. The old herb garden had been more or less abandoned for three years prior to Barb's arrival.

After weeks of blackberry and weed removal, the former splendor of the herb garden began to reappear. Along with a newly constructed shed (and duck home), the herb garden is now in full bloom. Barb is doing regular harvests and drying the herbs to add to her apothecary, although the move between farms means many of her perennials are only getting established this season.

In addition to the herb garden itself, Barb has established her lavender bed in a previously-unused (and weedy) flowerbed at the farm's entrance. She also planted rosebushes (which she harvests flowers from to produce Rose Petal Moisturizer) around the yard in front of the Farm House. Barb also has a coldframe that she uses for starting transplants in the spring and overwintering fragile plants.

Barb in front of her apothecary cupboard

Barb's culinary and medicinal herbs, salves and moisturizers are available at some of our farmers market stands throughout the year.

As a herbalist, Barb knows the medicinal qualities of her herbs. But Barb is also a strong advocate for viewing our entire diet as part of our medicinal routine. Many of our regular culinary herbs also have medicinal properties -- as do many of our foods. Eating a diverse and varied diet and being conscious of potential impacts of certain foods is an important part of preventative medicine.

And that's the magic of our gardens. Much of what we need to stay healthy doesn't come from a bottle. Rather, when the garden is our medicine cabinet we can rest a bit more easily that the natural world around us is a therapeutic place.

Home Grown at the Museum of Vancouver

2010-08-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

The Museum of Vancouver is hosting an exhibit entitled Home Grown: Local Sustainable Food, from August 26, 2010 through January2, 2011. It features the photography of Brain Harris, including images from our farm.

I'll be doing a tour of the exhibit on 2 September focusing on the topic of The Advantages of Knowing Your Farmer by Buying Locally.

Magic spaces on the farm: The Labyrinth

2010-08-02T14:44:00.000-07:00

Jo Wilson in the farm Labyrinth

Glen Valley Organic Farm has many corners and pockets that are best summed up as "magical". I like to imagine that there could be magical beasts that frequent these spaces -- whether trolls, fairies or leprechauns. But mostly they're magical for reasons we can see as well. Some of these spaces are magical because of their natural beauty while others are magical because of what people have done to the spaces.

One of the magical spaces we walk by many times each day is the farm's labyrinth. A small section of land between the farmhouse and barns along Bradner Road, the labyrinth is a magnificent garden bursting with flowers and herbs throughout the summer months.

Started by Brenda Grealis, the Labyrinth has been a labor of love for a long-time member of the farm co-operative, Jo Wilson. Every weekend throughout the summer Jo makes her way to the farm from her home in Burnaby via public transit and her bicycle, arriving on Saturday and leaving early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Jo spends much of her weekends weeding, digging and pruning in the Labyrinth's flower beds as well as a few other flower beds around the main farmyard. This year is the first year that the entire Labyrinth is completed -- all of the beds are finished and maintained.

Walking through the Labyrinth is special in its own right, but Jo's presence makes the space magical. Having become a member of the farm co-operative in order to preserve the farmland and support farmers, Jo has supported Glen Valley Organic Farm since its early days. She regularly works at the farm's stall (as part of Langley Organic Growers) at the Main Street Market in Vancouver. She offers ideas and advice on problems we face at various points. And she helps with gardening at a time when we simply don't have time ourselves to keep the farmyard maintained beyond an occasional grass cutting.

Having a city supporter who takes her involvement with the farm to this level is a significant support to the farm. In particular, her weekend visits help to provide us perspective on the world during the busiest time of the farming year. And by maintaining beautiful gardens, we have both a refuge and an aesthetically appealing space right near our homes.

The Labyrinth has other magical properties. Last night Jo watched a baby hummingbird fly through the flox flowers. Each summer a small patch of blueberry bushes keeps farm residents and visitors well-fed. Small ornaments throughout the garden provide surprises to Labyrinth walkers.

It's a treat to have spaces on the farm that are magical. It's an added bonus that the magic is as much a result of farm personalities as the natural beauty. And maybe there's the odd leprechaun running through the garden too.

Scenes from the farm

2010-07-28T16:33:00.000-07:00

The farm is in all its splendor at the moment, so here are some images to show what's going on.

The onions are bulbing up. They respond to the shortening daylight. Our crop this year looks much better than the sad harvest of 2009.

We don't enjoy much tree fruit on the farm (apart from the abundance of apples in the fall). Although our peach trees produced no fruit this summer, our plum trees are full. Here is a typical branch of abundance.

It doesn't look like much now, but these beds contain many of our fall and winter crops: cauliflower, cabbages, broccoli and brussels sprouts. You can see the irrigation line and a few small transplants.

This is a view toward the north-west corner of the farm, from the centre-south end (the higher elevation point on the property). You can see the pastures and the crop fields just before the train (that's the CN mainline separating us from the Fraser River). Gorgeous mountains in the distance.

We plant flower belts in our fields to provide habitat to beneficial insects. The flowers include poppies, calendula, bachelor buttons, baby's breath and cosmos - plus more. This mix provides continuous flowering from late-June through the end of the season. Insects attracted include parasitic wasps and ladybugs.

An up-close shot of the flowers in the fields.

How to cut a fennel bulb

2010-07-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

An eternal challenge for some people subscribed to our CSA has been the fennel bulb: how to cut it, how to cook it . . . why do we grow it?

I love fennel. It has to be one of the most aesthetically-pleasing veggies in our fields and at the market stand. And its scent and flavour is outstanding -- the anise added to a meal is a treat. Some customers tell us their children like eating fennel raw.

To aid in the fennel challenge for those new to this vegetable I photographed my lunch preparations yesterday and offer this tutorial on cutting fennel

A beautiful bulb of fennel ready to be used.

The first cut down the middle.

You can see the inner core -- it'll be removed after quartering the bulb.

The second cut to quarter the bulb.

Now you can see the inner core -- it gets cut out with an angled slice.

The quartered bulb, core removed.

And then what to do with the fennel? I coated these in egg and bread crumbs and then fried them. They went very nicely with some lemon juice and mayonnaise.

Other ideas: roast them with salmon or white fish (like halibut), add it to fish stock for chowders, roast it with other seasonal veggies like zucchini, potatoes and beets, or shred it and add to coleslaw.

Bissara (Fresh Fava Bean Dip)

2010-07-23T11:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a recipe for using fava beans -- in abundance on the West Coast at the moment.

Bissara (Fresh Fava Bean Dip)

2 pounds fresh fava beans, shelled, peeled if large
3 tb fresh lemon juice
5 tb extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
pita wedges, sliced raw carrots, or crackers for serving

Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Blanch the beans for 2 or 3 minutes. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Peel if the beans are large.

In a blender or food processor, combine half the beans, the reserved liquid and the lemon juice. (Add more liquid if you prefer a thinner dip.) Process, scraping down the sides with a spatula, until the mixture is fairly smooth. Add the remaining beans and the oil, and process until smooth.

Transfer to a serving bowl and stir in the salt and cumin. Sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with pita bread, vegetables, or crackers for dipping.

From Kitty Morse's Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from My Moroccan Kitchen

Summer Salad Recipe

2010-07-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick summer salad recipe to help use up various vegetables and greens you have in the fridge. Mix and match different veggies and grains for a different variation each time.

2 cups cooked Quinoa, Millet or Rice
1/2 cup cooked beans or chickpeas
4-6 oz Feta Cheese, cubed
2 tbsp Dulce Flakes or crumbled Kale Chips (see earlier recipe on blog)
2 handfuls steamed Fava Beans (taken out of the pods)
1/2 bunch chopped Parsley
1/2 chopped Cucumber
2 green onions, chopped
1 handful steamed broccoli florettes
1/4 fennel bulb, sliced horizontally into chevrons
Any other veggies you have around: Tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Mix together and serve over a bed of greens (e.g. lettuce, Chopped chard and kale, etc.) with olive oil and vinegar. It's a light, filling meal.

Farm activities this month

2010-07-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

It's already into the final stretch of July and I haven't done much to update the blog lately. Here's a summary of what's happening at this time of the year.

The fields are a constant challenge to stay on top of -- from weeds and irrigating to constant harvesting, we're experiencing busy days. Luckily the rain has held off and that has made weed management a bit better. Each week there's something new to harvest as well as another item that has gone out of season.

Our farmers market stalls are getting quite full and should be packed in another couple of weeks as we get into beans, sweet onions and tomatoes. The berries continue at full pace and we're getting the first few blueberries off of our new planting of bushes.

The freezer is beginning to fill up with frozen rhubarb and berries. Our rhubarb crop hadn't done well in the spring, but has rebounded. The harvest now will be for Aphrodite's Cafe and Pie Shop in Vancouver.

This weekend we will begin transplanting our winter crops -- cauliflower, broccoli, kale, collards and brussels sprouts. Our final seedings of carrots, parsnips, beets and beans are done. We've turned a corner where at least seeding is largely out of the way.

We're had a couple of challenging crops. We haven't had much luck with corn this year -- the sweet corn has had terrible germination and the crows got a lot of what did come up. It was hardly worth trying to weed in the end, and the beds will likely be used for winter crops. The milling corn will hopefully produce better results.

The impact of the Spotted Wing Drosophilia Fruit Fly still remains to be seen. We're finding them in the fields, but haven't had obvious damage to the fruit to make it unmarketable . . . yet. But we're warning customers about the challenges and offering full refunds on any product that people don't like.

After having to put down a goat earlier in the month due to a lymphatic infection we're now preparing to have all the other goats tested for chronic problems that can make them more susceptible to infections. In the meantime, we're milking two does and getting about 1 gallon of milk each day -- enough for drinking and making regular batches of cheese.

In the fields everything is incredible to watch. As the days shorten, the onions and shallots respond by beginning to develop their bulbs. Our flower patches are humming with activity, attracting millions of beneficial insects that are cleaning up aphids on other crops. Garter Snakes are cleaning up slugs and small rodents in the fields. The farm's new hives of honey bees are busy gathering nectar and pollen -- we should have an excellent blackberry harvest with all the pollination taking place.

In personal news, Jeremy has been accepted by Slow Food Vancouver as a delegate to this fall's Terra Madre celebration in Italy. If you're interested in helping sponsor this hard-working farmer's airfare, he would surely be grateful.

And while Jeremy is in Italy we'll be finishing the final markets and preparing for the growth of our family -- a new baby due on or about 11 November. Winter will, no doubt, be as busy or busier than summer, only in different ways.

Here's hoping your summer is going well -- bountiful gardens, great vacations if you do that kind of thing in the summer, and a great dose of sunshine.

Glen Valley Organic Farm

New: Goat Meat

2011 Variety Reviews: Part II

Sourcing Great Seed

2011 Variety Reviews: Part I

War, Agriculture and Remembrance

Happy Thanksgiving!

Variety reviews wanted

Salmon and Agriculture: Making the Link

Images of the season

August

Documentary: Home Grown Exhibition

Compost Bin Update

Good morning bees!

Herbs & Your Health Classes

Putting together a CSA box

Project Corndog: An Extremely Local Dinner Theatre Event

Tickets, $65, limited seatingEarlybird rate before August 2nd, $50604-730-0450admin@farmfolkcityfolk.ca

Late nights on the farm: Making Sauerkraut

Tractor time on the farm

A raspberry treat

Recipe: The Yummy Kale Dish

Recipes: Cabbage, Peasant Food

Our CSA boxes this week

Farm Fashion: Dressing for Mosquitos

First week of July on the farm

Cooking with Greens

Guest Post: CSA Member Perspective

Crop Planning: Transplants vs. Direct Seeding

Grassroots Marketing and Inspired Visions

Animals, Agriculture, Fertility and What We Eat

When life gives you rhubarb, just add sugar

It's better to sell out than throw out

When the Spinach (and Weather) Doesn't Cooperate

Herb Walks with Glen Valley Herbs & Apothecary

Images of the past week on the farm

New compost bin, warm weather

New Mason Bee Condos

Chicken days

More goats

Baby goats -- Exciting day on the farm

Killdeer in our fields

Eagle release at the farm

Growing for Gardeners: Spring Transplants

Watch Me Grow! Growing food in the city

Hints of spring on the farm

Videos: Primers on joining a CSA

2011 CSA Subscriptions Now Available

Philosophy

Cost

Duration

Delivery

Box Contents

Substitutions and Cancellations

Connection with the farm

How to subscribe

Small-Farm Business Planning Resources

Changes coming for next season

Happy Thanksgiving

Watermelons and the Price of Local Food

Squash of the Week

This Week's Harvest Box Contents

Summer's Last Sunset

Autumn and the Foggy Valley Days

Curried Couscous with Crispy Kale

Fall Fair Time

All About Our Eggs

Home Sweet Home

Name That Squash

Breeding Time

The Canning Continues

A Peek Inside This Week's CSA Boxes

Cycling the Coast: Farm Visitors

The Season of Saving Begins

Going to market

Great book on human-scale farming

Our Harvest Boxes This Week

Mid-August farm round-up

First canning of the season

Magic Spaces on the Farm: The Herb Garden

Tickets, $65, limited seating
Earlybird rate before August 2nd, $50
604-730-0450
admin@farmfolkcityfolk.ca