Archive for sustainability

Seeding Onions – March 7, 2009

March 7, 2009 at 1:20 pm · Filed under seeding, sustainability ·Tagged , , ,

It doesn’t want to warm up, but we have put off opening the greenhouse as long as we can.

So, this weekend we are starting up the furnace (yes, in Canada you need a furnace to heat your greenhouse until it gets warm enough to heat itself). And we will begin seeding onions. We are seeding Walla Walla, Kelsie Sweet Giant, Super Star, White Spanish, Red Zeplin, Red Spanish, and Candy Yellow. These seeds will grow indoors until we can plant outdoors in May.

As you can imagine it is fairly expensive to heat a greenhouse. We start many of our vegetables in the greenhouse because the growing season in Saskatchewan is not long enough to direct seed. This is one of the reasons that produce from Saskatchewan is generally more expensive than produce grown in the USA or Mexico.

We are not “greenhouse producers”. We don’t operate our greenhouse year round, and all of our crops will be planted outdoors in the field when spring comes. Environmentally, greenhouse produce (that produce grown entirely in the greenhouse) grown in climates as cold as Saskatchewan or Manitoba has a large carbon footprint. It is a reality though, that if we want summer vegetables grown in Canada in the middle of winter we require greenhouse production. It may be better to purchase greenhouse produce from Southern Ontario or BC because their climate is milder and does not require as much fuel to heat the greenhouse. But then that produce needs to be trucked across the country. It is a trade off I guess. Food politics gets more complicated as the days go on.

Anyway, onion planting this weekend and then herbs right away.

Leave a Comment

Climate change & water shortages ~ do you know where your food is going to come from?

March 5, 2009 at 1:55 pm · Filed under buy local, sustainability ·Tagged , , , ,

Well, it seems to me that there is simply not enough noise being made about the California water shortage situation. Not only is California an unsustainable region for further urban development, as is Nevada, but it appears that those living there are putting their heads in the sand and ignoring the facts in front of them. It has huge implications for Canada and this is why.

Water management officials have said that they will cut off water, at least temporarily, to thousands of California farms as a result of the deepening drought gripping the state. Water will be redirected to cities to ensure urban citizens, hospitals and emergency crews have enough water to meet minimum health and safety needs.

How bad could it be?

2009 will see the reservoir at their lowest level since 1992. Cities will be required to ration their usage by a minimum of 20%. But rationing in the cities is not the largest concern. It is VERY important, don’t misunderstand. We should all be rationing our water consumption. There should be legislated water conservation policies. The days of letting the garden hose run on the driveway are over! Most Canadians are still water wasters and it is shameful. But the largest concern in California is that water is being directed away from agricultural use to supply growing cities. Cities that are built in regions that are not able to support the population residing there.

In California, agriculture normally receives 80 percent of the water supply managed by the federal government in order to irrigate 755,000 acres of farmland. Most of the USA’s vegetables are grown in one region, the San Joaquin Valley. This region will receive only 15% of the normal supply of water. Reports indicate that many farms are simply shutting down, will not be growing produce this year or maybe ever again. Those farms that will continue may be forced to use well water to irrigate. The USDA is predicting that prices of produce will shoot-up this year, perhaps by 20%, and that the supply may not meet the demand.

Back to Canada. At the moment, Canadian agriculture supplies a minimal percentage of the fresh produce available in the grocery stores. Canadians get the majority of their food from the USA, and most of that comes from California. Do you see where I am going with this? It is not the fault of the Canadian farmer. Climate and US subsidies have made it difficult to make a profit growing produce in Canada. Consumers are accustomed to, no, demand low prices that Canadian farmers simply cannot provide. Well, that is all about to change.

If California is having a difficult time supplying the US domestic market, and the price of producing that food increases substantially, do you think that they will be trucking large quantities of cheap food up here? I don’t. So where is your food going to come from? All of a sudden “Buy Local” has a new significance.

Not to be apocalyptic about it, but the potential for food shortage is a reality. There was a lot of talk about it last year, but last year there was still a fairly plentiful supply in North America. Shortages did occur in developing countries, but most Canadians did not notice much of a difference in the grocery stores. If shortages of the nature the USDA is predicting do occur, I would say that most urban residents are ill equipped to deal with it.

What should you do? To start with, stop watering your bloody driveway. Have you ever heard of a broom? It works really well to remove dust, and seriously, does your driveway need to sparkle? Second, rip out your lawn, or a substantial portion of it, and plant some food for your family. Learn how to grow some basics, potatoes, a few carrots and some tomatoes. You won’t be able to supply all of your family’s food needs but it will make a difference. Next, make friends with a farmer. A real farmer!! Someone who is invested in agriculture and isn’t just doing it for a hobby (this is another rant, I will save for another day). Go to the Farmers Market, go to the Farm Gate, if you live in an urban area and can’t get to a Farmers Market, look for a community garden project and join.

My point is that Canadians need to start supporting Canadian Agriculture, stop looking for the cheapest price, and start looking for the highest nutritional value, i.e. FARM FRESH! And please, don’t try to barter for your vegetables with your iPod in one hand and your Gucci bag in the other – get your priorities in order. Consumers all over North America are about to get a wake up call.

Have a great day!

Leave a Comment

Ongoing Projects

February 17, 2009 at 4:15 pm · Filed under maintenance, sustainability

This time of year we start getting really impatient with the snow and cold! So our morning “board meetings” aka “breakfasts” are spent making plans for the up-coming season and for the long-term vision of the farm.

One thing we have identified as a major problem on the farm is a lack of parking. On busy days cars are lined up the road and down the highway, not very convenient or safe for our customers. This morning we drew out some possible solutions and think we have found one that does not take too much space out of our production land. It may be possible to finish a new ‘parking lot’ this year but for sure by next year.

The next issue we have been giving a lot of consideration to is water conservation. We are developing and installing a rain water collection system that will provide all the needed water for the garden centre. We plan expand this collection system to create a water treatment facility and use rain water for washing the vegetables rather than the very hard ground water.

Last season we switched much of our plastic mulch to bio-degradable mulch. This practice is going to be expanded and we think we can eliminate the plastic mulch altogether, making our environmental footprint smaller and our farming practices more sustainable.

There is so much more we plan to do. From landscaping to new buildings but these will need time and money! All of this planning keeps us busy on these cold cold days!

Leave a Comment

Plastic bags and plastic mulch

April 2, 2008 at 2:00 pm · Filed under sustainability

One of the challenges we have had over the years is the disposal of plastic mulch.  We use the mulch in order to reduce the weeds growing between the rows. Fewer weeds equals fewer hours weeding, which means we don’t need to use chemicals to control the weeds. Mulch has the added benefit of warming the soil for heat loving plants.

Unfortunately, up until now, mulch has been made from plastic that do not decompose. Some mulch has been marketed as “degradable” and it does break down into tiny little pieces of plastic, but that is not the same as “biodegradable”. In order to be biodegradable, the material must reduce to a form that the earth can recognize as organic matter.

Finally we have found a source for Biodegradable mulch. It is more expensive than the mulch we are currently using, but the benefits outweigh the cost. Each year we must remove the old mulch from the fields and dispose of it in the landfill. Now, we will be able to allow the mulch to decompose in the field, reducing the impact of plastic going into the landfill, reducing the use of plastic on our farm and reducing the labour needed to remove the mulch at the end of he season. And let me tell you, removing the plastic is a horrid job that no one likes to do!

Another thing we are going to try this year is the use of biodegradable shopping bags. Of course we would rather that people bring their own canvas bags, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. Even I will forget to bring my bags with me when I go grocery shopping!

The new bags are expensive, 25 cents each over the 3 cents we currently pay for bags. That is a big difference. We will have to pass this cost on the the consumer in some way. Currently, we are thinking that the easiest way would be to offer the bio-bags at cost at the time of purchase (the way many big grocery stores ask if you would like bags and how many). Customers who do not want the bio-bags will get regular plastic and those customers who feel strongly about reducing their environmental impact will have the option of using the new bio-bags. Eventually we will switch to only bio-bags.

The Regina Farmer’s Market is going green too! It is a great project that some of the vendors and the market board have been working on over the winter. The market has received a grant from the government to promote sustainable practices at the market. Vendors will offer the same bio-bags to the customers at cost. RFM vendors will also have some really beautiful canvas shopping bags for sale. The canvas bags have the new RFM logo on them so supporters of the Farmer’s Market can show their commitment to Buying Local every time they use their RFM shopping bag!

So it is a year of out with the old and in with the new! We will continue to look for ways to reduce the waste generated on our farm as part of our overall sustainability plan.

Leave a Comment