Everything is still a little behind due to the cool weather this spring.
Right now we are picking raddish and spinach.
In about 10 days we should have carrots, beets, lettuce & green onion also.
Keep checking back as we will update the harvest notes regularly.
if you are wondering if there is a Farmer’s Market near you take a look at this website the Saskatchewan Farmer’s Market Association. Not all Farmer’s Markets belong to this organization so it is always a good idea to call the town office of any community you are going to visit to see if they host a market.
Lincoln Gardens attended the “Local Bounty” conference on Sunday. This was the first time that it was held in Regina, but the second event in Saskatchewan (the first was in Saskatoon).
The day consisted on several speakers and presentations and an opportunity for producers and buyers to meet and mingle. There was a good attendance from local producers in all sectors ranging from meat and poultry, fruit and vegetable and a few processed food products. There was a very poor turn out from the local chef and restaurant industry. I have a few thoughts on why that might be, but first, the speakers.
CJ Katz, publisher of Savour Life magazine was the first presenter. She is a local food columnist who focuses on the trends in food consumption across the province. Her on-line e-zine has a large following and her reviews of eating establishments are watched by consumers and restauranteurs alike.
Ms. Katz spoke about the current interests of consumers, with a focus on the baby-boom generation and their renewed interest in healthy, life extending food choices. She made several good points about consumer trends, many are things that we have noticed in the past few years on the farm also. But, although boomers make up a large portion of society, they are not a homogenous group and we need to further break down this population in terms of socio-economic status and education to really understand their purchasing power and trends in buying.
Next up was Melanie Boldt of Pine View Farms . I have heard Melanie speak at an SVGA conference in the past. She has a degree in marketing and has some great insights into the challenges of direct sales agriculture. Pine View Farms is a direct market meat producer. They have an on-farm store where they sell their meat products and those of some partner farms. This model is similar to the way that market gardens have been operating from the farm-gate, but was a new idea for the sale of meat when they started. There is now several similar enterprises in the province that I am sure have modeled after Pine View.
Melanie spoke of the challenge of pricing and value. There is a perception amongst consumers that local should equal cheaper, and that is simply not the case. She made a point of differentiating between the consumer who only shops by price and the one who is a loyal customer who believes in your product and supports your business for reasons that go beyond price. These are the customers that all direct market producers want to attract. We can not compete on price, and many of us will not attempt to. We compete on quality and it was great to hear someone come out and tell it like it is.
Next in line was Moe Mathieu of the Willow on Wascana. I have known Moe for years and he is always entertaining to listen to. He spoke of the challenges of purchasing local products from the perspective of a chef/restaurant owner. He had several hilarious examples of how trying to source local products can be both time consuming and frustrating and at the same time exciting and educational.
The primary speaker was a special guest from Ontario, Michael Stadtlander. It is almost impossible to sum up Mr. Stadtlander’s culinary career, but he is a small scale farmer, artist and chef who is renowned across Canada and the world for his commitment to sustainable food and innovative approach to culinary arts. He spoke about his journey through cooking and farming. He is interesting and his approach to life may have been slightly shocking to some of those prairie folk in attendance.
Now comes the part where we, the producers, are to meet some buyers. The problem is that only a handful of chefs turned out, and there were far more producers than buyers. It was interesting none the less. Many of us producers have never met before. We are operating in different sectors and although we may belong to member organizations for our specific sectors we have not gathered together as small, local farmers from various sectors in one place. I got to meet fruit growers and herb growers that I have never met before.
Many of us shared the same concerns. We have difficulty balancing work load and ‘life’, we have concerns about consumer demand for cheap food, we all have difficult customers and people who steal from our farmer’s market tables. It was funny and reassuring to share some of these stories and learn that each of us is not alone in this difficult and back-breaking line of work. We shared our successes, our marketing plans and affirmed why it is we even do this. So even though it was not the intended outcome of the event, I think it was still successful.
Finally, the question of why there were not more local chefs at the event. I don’t think it is too perplexing. even though there is a lot of media attention to the local food movement there is still a large majority of consumers that do not care where their food comes from and those who want quick and cheap food both at the grocery store and when dinning out. There is a small number of consumers who are willing to pay for delicious and innovative food at a restaurant, which is why we only have a handful of interesting and creative restaurants in Regina, like the Willow, and many many cheap and really unimaginative pizza/chicken wing spots with the same menu as the place down the street and across town. Most times, I do not even need to see a menu at a restaurant in Regina to know what will be on it. That says a lot about the ‘culture’ of Regina as a community. Maybe it is changing, but I know that when I go to the grocery store in the city I see cart after cart filled with highly processed, dehydrated, pre-packaged junk foods and very little fresh produce or healthy products.
So what did we learn from the Farmer-Chef Convention? Largely, that our province is again one step behind. We can talk all we want about the local food movement, but until consumers change their thinking about food, it is still a ‘fringe’ movement here, with a minority of people who are truly interested or educated about food security issues. I hope it changes soon, my livelihood depends on it. But the positive side is that we also learned that there are a lot of producers growing a wide variety of products in a sustainable manner and are providing that alternative food supply to those who want it. As producers it is our challenge to educate consumers about the benefits of the local food movement.
Things are moving along well, now that it has finally warmed up. However there are still many transplants that need to go to the field.
The SAWP workers are getting along fine on the farm. They organize their own time, learning what need to be done and how they want to go about doing it. Because it was raining for so many days, we had time to finish the covered deck on their house, so now they can relax on the deck after work. Their home is the nicest house on the farm now!
We are in need of sales staff. It is always a struggle to find enough people to work indoors. At the moment there is one full-time sales person, who has returned for the second year with us (yay!) but her and I can not do everything ourselves and we need another day person for a couple shifts per week and an evening person so that I can get out of the shop before 9 each night.
Our first WWOOF volunteer is wrapping up his stay today. It has been fun working with him and sharing our home/farm, plus he is a good worker! We got a number of projects that are usually left until the end of the year completed now, so there will be less to do later on.
the remainder of this week will be spent finishing up our transplanting, cleaning the veggie market, landscaping and paperwork. The paperwork has been neglected this month so I really need to focus on that.
cheers
After several days of rain we are finally ready to plant the herb garden.
We are changing the herb garden design this year. First we dug-out the perennial herbs and have them stored in bins near the greenhouse. Then Wayne tilled the entire field to remove weeds and prepare the ground for mulch. After placing the mulch down I spent a day measuring and staking the new layout for the herb garden.
In the past the herb were planted in long rows, but we are going for a more formal, permanent herb garden design now. The basic design is made of several triangles and intersecting pathways. In the field, at the moment, it looks confusing. But once the herbs are planted and the straw is put down on the pathways it will be beautiful.
There are two reasons we are changing the plan for the herb garden. The first is so that we can encourage perennial growth and establish a permanent location for the plants. This will reduce our need for seeding and transplanting new herbs each season. This way will be able to reduce the amount of plants we need to grow each spring, reduce weed growth and establish stronger, larger plants.
The second reason is so that we can invite visitors into the herb garden. In the past visitors have been discouraged from exploring most of the farm. We are establishing zones that visitors can explore. Over time we will include plant markers that explain the various uses of the herbs and introduce some medicinal herbs and edible flowers. The ‘wandering’ herb garden will not be a picking garden for customers, however I am sure that the aroma and colours will be enjoyable.
The children’s display garden is incorporated into the herb garden design. This is where we have a variety of veggies, pumpkins and flowers growing so that children who come on school tours can see up close what the plants look like and how they grow.
At the entrance to the herb garden we are planting grapes. We have never tried to grow them before. To begin with we will pick the fruit ourselves, but if they establish well in our climate we will include grapes in the u-pick operation.
The far end of the herb garden has been planted with GIANT pumpkins. I hope that we will be able to get a few really huge ones for kids to take their pictures with at Halloween.
This end of the field is also the entrance to the labyrinth site, another new feature of the farm. At the moment the site is just grass. We have cleared most of the wild brush and will put down a weed barrier later this week. After that a load of rocks, sand and gravel will be used to outline the labyrinth. I have been measuring and designing the labyrinth over the winter and we are excited to get started on it. It will be the third such site in the valley, the other two are located at St. Michael’s Retreat in Lumsden and at Spirit Haven in Craven. All of this is part of our Destination Ag-Tourism plan for the farm. More ways for visitors to enjoy their time spent on our land and more reasons to make the journey out to our area, plus it is fun and aesthetically pleasing!
Another busy weekend, lets hope this sun shines on us all day after the long rain.
Well, when we signed up with the wwoof network we really didn’t expect to have a response, thinking that most travelers would want to stay in the more populated areas of BC, Quebec and Ontario. But we have had contact with a few interested people already and one wwoofer will arrive this week.
It is a totally new experience for us, so we are a bit nervous and anxious about the whole thing. We do not have room in our house for a guest so the wwoofer will have to stay in the non-modern cottage on the farm. It is comfortable, but there is no running water (there is electricity!). I have no idea what kind of accommodation other farms provide so we hope that the experience at our farm won’t be too different.
We also have a traveller who will be camping at the farm. He will do some odd jobs for us while he is here. He has been staying at Spirit Haven Retreat Centre in Craven where he painted and did other projects. It is great to have people like this who are interested in helping out while they are in the region!
So off to work a little early so I can finish cleaning and preparing the cottage for our wwoofer.
We have one month to go before Lincoln Gardens starts to attend the Regina Farmer’s Market.
Market days are both fun and exhausting. Actually, market day begins the day before market and goes until we get back to the farm and unload the truck.
The day before market we have extra pickers and packers working to fill the amount of veggies needed to take to market and sell on the farm. In the middle of summer, Market days mean that we need double the amount of produce ready for sale, especially on Saturdays. So we are sometimes working right until 9 at night sorting and packing the veggies.
Usually we load the truck the night before market. This means that about 30 bins weighing 50-60 pounds each need to be lifted and placed in the truck. As well, we have the tables, signs, canopies, supplies, cash registers, scales, etc to pack up and get on the truck. The last thing to go on is the ever important power pack. Forgetting to bring our power source is not an option! Loading the truck takes about an hour and there is a specific order things need to go to make it work properly. So at 10 pm the truck is ready to go.
5 am is the starting time for market days. I count the float and make sure there is going to be enough coins to get us through the day. We are often the unofficial coin exchange at the market so I need to bring enough for our use and for any other vendors who may need extra coins through the day. I have never weighed the coin bag but I am sure it must be at least 30 pounds!
Before I leave for market I get the on-farm store ready to go for the day. Set up the cash registers, make sure everything will run smoothly while I am gone. Then I do a last minute walk around to make sure everything I need for market is actually in the truck (power pack!).
I try to leave at 6:30 – 7:00. I pick up my mom on the way into the city and then we drive downtown. Navigating the busy streets on Wednesdays with the market truck can be a challenge. We always hope the street is not closed off yet when we get there on Saturdays.
On Wednesdays we pull into our vendor location and wait for the office traffic to finish and the city to close Scarth St for the day. On Saturdays we “try” to pull into our vendor location but more and more often, some bar-hoper has left their car in our spot and we can not get the big truck into place. This slows down our whole set up and sometimes makes it impossible to actually get the truck into our location. It is frustrating to say the least.
Then we have 45 minutes to unload the truck that took over an hour to load in the first place! We put up the canopies, set up the tables, table covers, umbrella, bring down the bins of veggies and place them on the table, put out the price signs, cash register etc. While we are doing this there is always some ‘early birds’ who want to carry on a conversation while we are obviously busting our butts to set up before the bell rings. Or that one customer who repeatedly comes early and tries to get us to sell before the bell rings. This year I am getting a sign that says “can’t talk…working”.
We usually finish pouring the coins into the tray just as the bell rings and then we start selling like mad. Our line is generally backed up before we even get going. Some customers are patient, other, well, not so much. We try our best to keep the line moving, but everything needs to be weighed or counted and there is only so fast you can go. We have 4 – 5 staff at market, and everyone is moving a the same time, making for some funny situations. Every now and then we will look up from the cash register and see our line and just laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Making things worse is looking across the market at a vendor with no line. We will actually tell people to go across the street to see what the other vendors have if our line gets too out of hand.
We spend the whole day lifting, moving, standing and full out running to get the produce down from the truck , out on the table and through the cash line.
Most of our customers are great. However there is always going to be that handful who try to barter in the midst of a super busy day. “No, they are $2″, “No, we don’t cut cabbage in half”, “No, we can’t sell you 1/2 a bunch of onions”, “No, I don’t have time to cut the tops off”. Or the ones who think we can’t see them putting a bag of carrots into their backpack. And then there are the ones who walk all the way down the street to tell us that so-and-so at the other end is selling their potatoes for 1/2 the price we are. “Thanks, not changing the price”. Next.
The cell phone rings a few times during market. Usually it is a ’situation’ at the farm market or it is a question about how much broccoli we will be bringing back because they have run out at the farm store and don’t have time to pick more today. I sort that out while still ringing in the customer’s order who is in front of me. Multi-tasking at its’ best.
At the end of market we have to re-load the truck, sweep the street and collect any garbage. Even if we are finished we have to wait for the other vendors to pack up and move their vehicles before we can move out.
The drive back to the farm is quick unless we have to make any stops for machine parts or other supplies. We un-load the truck, again, sort any produce that can still be sold, put the rest in the compost, put our market supplies back in their storage areas and wash out the display bins, table covers etc. I throw the market float into the safe and rush into the farm store to see what sort of chaos we have in there.
I close the on-farm store at 9pm and crash. We do this all over again in three days. The on-farm store is open every day of the week so there is lots to do in between RFM days. Usually at some point during the summer I hear myself telling an impatient RFM customer that “we are working on day 90 of 14hr days, give us a break!”. We do our best to stay friendly, but we are not doing this as a hobby with lots of rest in between like some of the vendors. We do get a little cranky after a while.
So is it worth it? You bet. We get to talk to our customers about how the crops are growing, about the things you can cook with hot peppers and really just enjoy working outside in a festival type atmosphere. Most of our customers tell us how much the appreciate what we do. Most of our customers tell us that they love our produce and are loyal to us. The other vendors are great to visit with (when we have time!) and it can feel like a special community of people who care about the same things we do. So even though it is exhausting we will keep doing it.
Don’t forget to Buy Local and support your neighbour farmer we are nearly killing ourselves!
