It’s currently 7am Sunday morning while I am writing
this, in the kitchen with a big cup of Earl Grey at my side and the barn cats
scampering around my feet.
Another working week has drawn to a close. I can’t
believe I’ve only been here for a little over two weeks now, it feels like so
much longer; the days go by so quickly.
Yesterday I went to my first market in a small town
called Carp just outside Ottawa. As it’s
early in the season we don’t have a huge variety for sale right now, but there
was still an abundance of produce. I
think we did pretty well, though Kylah said it wasn’t as busy as last week, but
then it was a bank holiday weekend last week, so more people could have been
out for that. This week we were selling
oak leaf lettuce mix, spinach, arugula (rocket to us British folk), radish, wet
garlic(young garlic), and leeks. So many
people were surprised that everything was grown outside, commenting that
veggies in their own gardens weren’t so far ahead. That’s part of the game in growing organic
veggies, getting to market with firsts of the season which fetch a higher
price. The early bird catches the worm and all that…
Our market stall
The market was fun and was nice to have a working day
that was different to being on the farm itself, plus I got to browse the stalls
and admire the beautiful things for sale.
There was a lady who made jewellery from vintage silver cutlery, sounds
a bit odd, but her stuff was beautiful.
Plus another lady who had some absolutely gorgeous hand-woven pashminas
and shrug type garments, with pretty prices too around $180! I may have to save
up for one. There was a lady selling
herbs, and as ever I cannot resist buying herbs; so I bought myself a lemon
verbena (one of my all-time favourites) and also a peach scented sage. They will grace the deck of my little cabin
once we move up to the farm at the beginning of July. Hopefully someone will look after them when I’ve
gone. The cabins are not far from being
finished now, all three have their basic structure up, they just need the
siding put in place, doors and windows to be installed and the decks to be
built. They look pretty funny, being
tall and narrow, we are now referring to them as the Elf Cabins. I’m really excited about getting to move into
one, though I am still enjoying living in the tent. Leah and I were sharing up
until Tuesday as her tent broke on the first night! So I have the tent to
myself now, and it is so big without another person in there! I’m glad I wont be in there when we get into
autumn however, as I think It will just be too cold for me to be comfortable in
a tent. We’ve had one night in May that
was around 2˚C
and that was blimmin’ cold, I don’t want to even imagine what it would be like
when the temperature dips below freezing.
I think the cabins will be a lot warmer!
Sleeping under an apple tree.
My palacial pad
What’s been happening on the farm this week?
As ever there has been a bucket load of weeding, mostly
carrots and beetroot which need delicate hand weeding. It’s so disheartening to spend a whole day
hand weeding a bed of carrots and then looking at it a few days later and
seeing that it needs doing again. I don’t
mind weeding at all, it just feels a bit futile at times and the amount of man-hours needed to
complete the task is staggering. It feels
like we are playing catch up a lot right now as there is so much to do. Other than weeding we have been doing some
more transplanting; this week we planted spring onions, parsley, Jerusalem artichokes
and watermelons; I am SO excited for the watermelons. We also direct sowed more squash and I seeded
lots of kale and chard in modules.
Things in general are growing well on the farm, there are
the first flowers on the tomatoes, the garlic is growing tall and the salad
crops are growing at an amazing speed. We do need more rain however, and the agriculture
information body in Canada have given severe drought predictions for this
summer which is worrying. Zach said he
has seen it get drier every year he has farmed here in the last six years, and
Bob who owns the beef farm where we are living at the moment said last year was
the driest he’s seen and he’s been farming for sixty years! Zach and Kylah have invested in an irrigation
system which has just been installed, it consists of a drip hose system to
water the cucurbit (cucumber family) beds and the poly tunnels and sprinkler
systems for the fields.
Talking of water we did have some rain on Tuesday after
the loudest thunder storm I have ever heard! And that was only a mild mini
storm, apparently they get a lot bigger and a lot louder, it probably sounds
like the world is going to end if they get any louder than the other day. It was impressive, I love thunder storms;
crazy moments of physics going on in the sky.
It would be amazing to capture some lightening on camera, but it’s
notoriously difficult to photograph. I may give it a go if the chance arises
again.
Animal encounters
This week I saw a groundhog while out exploring the farm
pastures and watching the sunset. At first
I thought I was one of the farm cats as I could see something moving through
the tall grass about 20 metres or so away, but then it popped it’s head up and
it wasn’t a cat, it was a groundhog!
The sunset I was watching when I saw the groundhog
On Friday lunchtime as Leah, Jackson and I sat beneath a
big old oak tree, we watched a Northern Harrier gracefully ride the wind as it
scoured the grassland below for small rodents. Earlier in the week I also saw
two huge vultures swooping through the sky, riding the thermals. I want to come
back as a bird in another life.
I've finally managed to snap one of the beautiful butterflies here too.
Well I think I’ve rambled enough, so until next week…
Much love
Becky
The tent looks awesome!
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