Farm activities this month

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.

Organic Pesticides

There is a new fruit fly in the Pacific Northwest that is causing berry producers some stress. Rather than being attracted to rotting produce, as with most fruit flies, the Spotted Wing Drosophila Fruit Fly lays its eggs in immature soft-skinned fruit. The eggs then hatch in maturing fruit, resulting in larvae in the mature fruit. Obviously, this has an impact on the marketability of the fruit.

Agriculture Canada is monitoring fields across the Lower Mainland and the Okanagan for this new fly. They have found some in our field. They are recommending that organic farmers use a biological insecticide produced by Dow AgroSciences called Entrust. Biological insecticides in some formulations are allowed in organic production because they are comprised of naturally-occurring bacteria which are cultivated for agricultural application. Pests ingest and are killed by this bacteria.

These products, nonetheless, can pose hazards, even when applied according to directions. The problem with Entrust is summarized best by the product's own label:

"This product is highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment, drift or residues on blooming plants. Do not apply this product or allow it to drift to blooming plants if bees are visiting the treatment area. This product is harmful to parasitoids and predatory mites and slightly harmful to foliage-dwelling predators. Care should be taken when using this product in an integrated pest management program where users are relying on the presence of beneficial arthropods.

"This product is highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates. Do not contaminate aquatic habitats, such as lakes, rivers, sloughs, ponds, coulees, prairie potholes, creeks, marshes, streams, reservoirs, and wetlands, when cleaning and rinsing spray equipment or containers.

"This product contains an active ingredient and aromatic petroleum distillates which are toxic to aquatic organisms."

Farmers are also being advised to remove wild berries from around their fields such as Salmon Berries, Thimble Berries and Blackberries.

How either of these solutions fits the notion of "organic" agriculture is beyond me.

There is increasing resentment toward organic growers in the agricultural community because many conventional farmers think it is the fault of organic growers that this fruit fly is spreading. We don't generally spray pesticides, so we must be the ones at fault.

In reality, the fact that berries have become the only show in town over the past 20 years is really what should be examined. Mono-cropping is a sure-fire way to cultivate new diseases and pests and allow for their rapid spread. To this point, chemical companies have tried to provide a technological "fix" to these problems. If you enter an agricultural supply store in Abbotsford, you only need to look at the weekly list of sprays and chemical fertilizers listed for berry crops to understand the formulaic nature of this industrialized system of agriculture.

The challenge to farmers and consumers is whether or not we can cultivate a sustainable food system that relies on more than berries to pay farmers and feed the public at large. Supporting small, diversified, organic farms is the solution, not the problem in such a scenario. I only hope that governments realize this before they further recommend the destruction of natural habitat and the application of pesticides that poison our bees, native insects and aquatic life.