Honestly right now all I can see on the farm is beans, dead cauliflower and weeds, so this week I'm going to back away from the day to day and share a little about our growing practices.
As you already know, the farm is certified organic which means that we strive to create a healthy and happy environment on the farm without adding any harmful pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic nutrients. One way that we are working on building our soil health naturally is through the use of cover crops also known as green manure. These are essentially crops that we grow not to harvest and sell but rather to feed the soil and boost the health on the physical environment.
We will use a variety of cover crops because they all offer different benefits. Buckwheat has been a favourite of ours over the last number of years because it germinates quickly meaning that it easily out-competes any weeds that may threaten a certain block, it is easy to terminate without heavy machinery, the pollinators absolutely love, and best of all it has been incredibly useful in fighting back against our wireworm population. We also grow various types of peas for green manure. Peas are a legume and therefore capable of fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil. They have an incredible relationship with bacteria in the soil and together they introduce a vital nutrient into our soils. Nitrogen is the main amendment that we add to our soils every year, so it's great to have a head start. We grow rye for its' ability to create biomass which translates into increased organic matter in our soils. Organic matter is key for holding moisture and transferring nutrients easily through the soil. Cover crops are incredible and I look forward to learning more about them!
There are a myriad of other green manures that we use and would like to use. As the farm continues to expand, new blocks will spend a season (maybe 2) in cover crop before they are used for cash crops. More space will allow us expand our crop rotation and leave areas to rejuvenate every now and again. We are still developing efficient systems to seed and terminate cover crops on a small scale, but they are absolutely worth the extra effort. We're still hoping to sneak some seeds into spent beds this year before the days get any shorter, though the rain (and hopefully no hurricanes!!!) in the forecast this week means that they will have to wait until next week. Better late than never!
Happy to chat more about our growing practices - let us know if you have any questions!
What are we eating this week? Still so so many tomatoes!
tomato egg- this super simple, super tasty meal is a go-to!
green beans in honey dill sauce - a friend topped a tray of green beans with honey dill sauce recently and it was a hit! Honey dill is a Manitoba staple and is an excellent condiment to have on hand. These recipes are even from the Travel Manitoba website!
eggplant parmesan - come on! So tasty! With our eggplants finally ripening, what better way to enjoy them than deep fried in tomato sauce with cheese.
Bupleurum (the leafy green with tiny yellow buds below) is one of my favourite fillers - it has a magical spiral pattern to it!
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