Archive for lincoln gardens
November 30, 2009 at 2:19 pm
· Filed under Corn Maiden Market, lincoln gardens, maintenance ·Tagged lincoln gardens, Lumsden Garden Centre
The farm store has been closed for a month now but we have not had a day off yet. One of the things we hear all the time is “oh it must be so nice to have the whole winter off”. If only it was actually like that. Each season it seems there is more and more to do after we close the retail portion of this business for the year.
Wayne has been busy building our new greenhouse; it has been a race against the snow. So far the weather has cooperated but it is going to turn cold any day now. We have to complete this project so that we have a place to grow our plants in the spring, and trust me, building a green house in the middle of winter is no fun!
This greenhouse is a massive (well massive to us) structure, about 9000 square feet. The greenhouses we have been working with are only about 3000 square feet and not all under one roof. This greenhouse will be used primarily for the garden centre bedding plant production and retail space. It looks similar to these Paul Boers greenhouses
There is another 3000sq ft hoop-house to build for the veggie production, but that will be a project for next year. The list of projects for next year is getting longer and longer.
I have been working on year-end paper work and garden decor inventory. Luckily the inventory went fairly quickly as we have almost none! That means another buying trip in Guadalajara and contacting several domestic suppliers as well. The paper work on the other hand is slow and tedious. The plus side is that I get to do my office work with a cat on my lap (this could also be a downside, as he gets in the way!)
We have also been clearing tools out of the old shed that is falling down so that we can re-build it in January. Then there are the seed orders, plant orders and preparations for the germination room which we fire up in February.
So much for time off.
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October 3, 2009 at 1:48 pm
· Filed under Harvest Notes, lincoln gardens
Well it has been raining for 2 days non stop, so we have had difficulty getting to the fields. But the crew is going out in the mud first thing this morning to pick as much as they can.
This week we have:
Broccoli
Cauliflower – white and Chedder
Cabbage – green & red
Corn – Super Sweet
Potatoes – Norland & Russian Blue
Carrots – purple, white, orange
Beets
Spanish Onions
Zucchini
Swiss Chard
Field Tomatoes
Hot Peppers
Herbs
Strawberries
Squash
Pie Pumpkins
We also have seasonal BC Fruit and Turnips and Parsnips from ‘Peak of the Market’.
As always Local Honey (Lumsden Valley Honey Co), Jams, Pickles and Baking (Sweet Pea, Lumsden Beach) are for sale at the farm.
This weekend is the Lumsden Scarecrow Festival so be sure to check out the happenings along main street in the town too!
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August 30, 2009 at 1:31 pm
· Filed under lincoln gardens
A version of my family’s Borscht Recipe is now available under the “Recipe” tab to the right. Many customers ask for instructions for Borscht, and we are happy to provide this recipe so that you can make a delicious and easy soup from almost all of the veggies we grow!
Cheers
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August 23, 2009 at 12:50 pm
· Filed under events, lincoln gardens ·Tagged Corn, corn roast
As most people have realized, all of the crops are behind due to the weather we have had. Corn is late as well. We started picking Tuesday. We will have corn at the Farmers market on Wed Aug 26th.
We grow several varieties of corn and each has a different maturity date. The first we generally start with is an early heritage variety that is really nice with a BBQ or to freeze. It has nice sized kernels and a slightly chew texture like the corn you remember from childhood. “Super Sweet” varieties will be maturing in a few weeks.
Due to the seasonal conditions we have cancelled this year’s Corn Festival. We will still host the Pumpkin Festival if everything goes as planned.
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July 9, 2009 at 2:02 pm
· Filed under Harvest Notes, lincoln gardens ·Tagged farm fresh, Local Vegetables, Lumsden vegetables, market gardening, Regina Farmer's Market
The phone has been ringing off the hook! When will we have veggies? Well, this weekend we will start the harvest!
It will still be a slow start. We will have radish, lettuce, spinach, green onion, baby beets, herbs, and if weather permits we will start the pea picking! I know that is what everyone is waiting for.
The on-farm store will be open from 9 to 7 on the weekend and from 9-6 during the week days for now. We will increase the hours as we have more produce available and more staff. We are also taking orders for pickling cucumbers at this time so get your order in.
Our first day back at the Regina Farmers Market will be Wednesday July 15th.
If you are driving out to the farm this weekend, please don’t forget that it is the Craven Jamboree. Traffic is not too bad, but please beware of erratic drivers on the #20 highway between Lumsden & Craven.
See you this weekend!
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June 26, 2009 at 1:02 pm
· Filed under lincoln gardens ·Tagged Local Vegetables, Lumsden Garden Centre, Lumsden vegetables, market gardening
A number of people have been stopping in and calling the farm asking what we have available. Some years there may be a few early crops, radish and green onion ready, but this year and in general there is nothing to harvest until later.
So, for those of you wondering, there are no vegetables for sale at the farm yet. We don’t anticipate picking anything for a few weeks. This season has been poor growing weather. The spring was long and cold, then we had a lot of rain. It is finally warming up, but the plant growth is still behind. There is nothing we can do to change mother nature! This is the challenge of growing vegetables in Saskatchewan.
The staff have been busy weeding the veggie fields. This weather has been great for growing weeds! We have a few crops that need to be planted still. We plant several rotations of things like lettuce and cabbage so that we have fresh produce to pick through out the season. So some of the later fields are waiting to be planted and we hope to finish this up over the next week.
So what is available this week? Well, there are still a few bedding plants in the garden centre. All annuals are on sale at 1/2 price. We have a good selection of hanging baskets and container gardens to choose from also. It is not too late to get your backyard looking nice for summer, so take advantage of the sale and stock up on brightly coloured bedding plants!
We will update you as soon as we begin harvesting veggies. We will also post the u-pick schedule as soon as we know better when the first berries will be ready.
Hope you have a great weekend and maybe we will see you in the garden centre!
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June 3, 2009 at 1:59 pm
· Filed under lincoln gardens, seeding
I hate to sound like a typical farmer, complaining about the weather, but it has really been a poor spring! Dropping down to freezing temperatures a few times a week has caused issues with the planting schedule. We still have lettuce, herbs, tomatoes, swiss chard, peppers and a few other things growing in the greenhouse because we can’t risk freezing them off in the field. Some of the cauliflower that was transplanted froze and we don’t know if it will make it or not. That was about 3000 plants, so we really hope they will come back.
The weather has been hard on the home gardeners too. We have heard from folks who have re-planted their tomatoes 3 times already. With the short growing season in Saskatchewan this cool weather is not making the season look very promising. It is one thing for backyard gardeners to spend $20 planting a garden only to have it freeze, but on the scale that we are dealing with it could be very bad for us if we can’t get a decent crop.
The one thing that is growing well is the weeds! So the crew will spend the rest of the week hoeing and “scuffling” between the rows. A scuffler is a walk behind implement that tills the soil and uproots weeds. I tried to find a picture of it online, but no luck. It is one of those old fashioned tools that people are surprised to learn we actually ’still‘ use on the farm.
There are frost warnings for Friday again, so planting is on hold for another few days. With any luck we will be able to finish next week and maybe, just maybe the weather will cooperate!
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May 26, 2009 at 1:26 pm
· Filed under U-Pick Berries, lincoln gardens ·Tagged u-pick raspberries, u-pick saskatoons, u-pick strawberries
We are not done planting, but a rain day was welcome none the less. Wayne and the guys got a much needed break, and we had time to sit down and talk about some of the projects that are underway this season.
A few of the changes that are taking place this year is the addition of a larger greenhouse, that will serve as the garden centre and as the pumpkin patch display area. A parking lot to accommodate the ever increasing traffic on the farm. Expanding the u-pick berry fields. Landscaping & walking trail building are ongoing all year.
The U-Pick berries are going to take up most of the land close to the on farm store. We have planted more strawberries and raspberries. We have more Saskatoons and Honey Berries going in later this season. The grapes I planted last year need to be relocated and a few new vines are going in too. The cherries will still be a few seasons before they are ready to be picked, but we are planting more of those as well. The picnic area is being renovated too and if we have time we will build a gazebo for pickers to rest under.
So the rain day wasn’t a complete write off.
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May 20, 2009 at 1:07 pm
· Filed under Regina Farmer's Market, lincoln gardens ·Tagged garden centre, Regina Farmer's Market, seeding, vegetable crop production, vegetable seedlings
We have all of the onions transplanted and much of the cabbage. Wayne has seeded carrots, radish and corn. The potatoes are nearly all planted. We still have lettuce, swiss chard, cauliflower, broccoli, tomatoes, herbs, peppers to plant and beets to seed.
The weather is still cold and it is very windy. I think the crop production will be a week or so late at time of harvest, but we will know better once it warms up and things start growing.
The garden centre is in full swing. People are finally feeling confident about planting their flower beds so plants have been swiftly moving off the benches. Our shipment of Mexican pottery was delivered yesterday so it will be unpacked by the weekend.
Saturday May 23rd will be my first go at the Farmers Market for the season. I will have cabbage, lettuce, tomato, herb, celery, and pepper seedlings and edible flowers. Someone mentioned to me that they don’t know what to do with edible flowers so I will make a info sheet about it to give away with each sale. I have a small vehicle so I will be limited with the amount I can bring into the city. All of these things are available for sale at the farm too.
We have a few WWOOFers lined up for July and hope to have the yurt set up by June 1st. Any interested wwoof volunteers should apply at least 2 weeks before their planned arrival so that we can have the cottage or yurt ready for you.
Lets all hope the weather gets better!
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