28. August 2010 by David.

Sometimes I’m somewhat overwhelmed for the amount of information requested from City folk about farming. I often am at a loss as to where to start. Recently I was asked what the first thing someone who was getting into farming should do. The one, first, thing…

Feeling funny, I started to compose my reply: The first thing someone should d, when considering starting a small farm, is buy a good pair of boots. It thought this person might not appreciate the sarcasm so and decided on a different strategy.

But I got to thinking, and maybe that wasn’t such a dumb answer after all. A good pair of work boots is critical to success on the farm. Or maybe three! Light runners, sandals, steel toes and of course, rubber boots. Where would a farmer be without his rubber boots? Walking through muck and snow, due soaked grass, wash station chaos, or right into the ditch. The wise farmer chooses his boots well.

I retired my rubber boots yesterday. They were my first real nice pair of gum boots. Not the cheapo, flat chunk of plastic with a sort of generic, plastic top hat. No, no, no. That won’t do. These were nitrile rubber outsoles, natural rubber, ergo-molded uppers, shock absorbing mid-sole, neoprene lined, re-enforced toe cap… Oh yes, these were badass.

But an axe puncture, chainsaw gash, shovel stab and barbed wire snag later they have reached the end of their patched, glued and duck taped life.

Farewell boots!

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22. August 2010 by David.

Since we lost our restaurant customer, The Courtyard, we have been attempting to make up lost sales through alternate sales channels. We attempted opening a farm store and attending two markets: Stittsville and Quartier Vanier. Although the Stittsville Market showed great potential, it was not as lucrative as the Quartier Vanier Farmer’s Market. We have therefore decided to forgo our attendance there. I wish best of luck to the other vendors, and invite Stittsville residents to visit this very new market.

We have instead decided to maintain a solid presence at the Quartier Vanier Farmer’s Market. This vibrant new market is a recent initiative by the Vanier Business Improvement Association. They are very organized and dedicated to making this market a premier destination for residents of Vanier, Overbrook, New Edinburgh, Rockliffe and Sandy Hill. Here you will find vegetables, meats, baked goods, preserves, tea, garlic and more! Every week features musical entertainment and a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Visit us soon!

Saturday: 9am to 2pm

http://www.vanierbia.com/

Our very own farm store has been also doing very well! Although sales are still quite small, this is a fantastic new development project. Every week the store becomes more sophisticated as we learn what appeals to our customers, and what makes the self-serve purchase happen easily. I hope to dedicate more energy into the farm store next year and offer a full line of farm grown vegetables!

Tuesday to Friday: 1pm - 7pm

Saturday: 8am - 7pm

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22. June 2010 by David.

On Fri, 6/18/10, Doucet, Clive <Clive.Doucet@ottawa.ca> wrote:

Subject: One third of Lansdowne Park to be declared as SURPLUS land - this is not a done deal - Council votes on June 28

Dear Ottawa residents,

It’s always good advice to read the fineprint before signing a contract. Well, we have read the fineprint in the Lansdowne Partnership Plan (LPP) legal agreement and it contains several disturbing clauses that should be of concern to any reasonable and prudent person.

Here is a list of what’s in the legal agreement that Council will be voting on on Monday, June 28:

1) The LPP Legal Agreement includes a clause to declare 12 acres of Lansdowne Park as SURPLUS which means it is SALEABLE.

2) In addition, the retail tenant (the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group: Greenberg, Shenkman, Ruddy and Hunt) will have the right of first opportunity to buy the land, which means that competitive bidding for the surplus land will not be permitted. 

3) Pursuant to the Urban Park Project Management Agreement, OSEG will act as project manager for the construction of the urban park, which includes the front lawn and Sylvia Holden Community Park. 

4) Pursuant to the Urban Park Property Management Agreement, OSEG will manage the urban park, Aberdeen Pavilion and Horticultural Building. 

5) Although taxpayers are footing the bill for the stadium construction to the tune of $129 million, base rent for the stadium during the first thirty years of the term is $1.00 per year. 

6) And if you think any of this is bad, wait until an arm’s length Muncipal Services Corporation takes over control of the park.  This is a very real possibility.

7) Here is the link to the LPP Project Agreement Framework legal document #18:

http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/public_consult/lansdowne_partnership/project_agreement_framework.pdf

Contrary to what many are claiming - this is not a “done deal”. 

What can you do? 

1. Write to members of Council:
Georges.Bedard@ottawa.ca; Michel.Bellemare@ottawa.ca; Rainer.Bloess@ottawa.ca;
Glenn.Brooks@ottawa.ca; Rick.Chiarelli@ottawa.ca; Alex.Cullen@ottawa.ca;
Diane.Deans@ottawa.ca; Steve.Desroches@ottawa.ca; Clive.Doucet@ottawa.ca;
Eli.El-Chantiry@ottawa.ca; Peggy.Feltmate@ottawa.ca; Jan.Harder@ottawa.ca;
Diane.Holmes@ottawa.ca; Peter.Hume@ottawa.ca; Gord.Hunter@ottawa.ca;
Rob.Jellett@ottawa.ca; Kitchissippi@ottawa.ca; Jacques.Legendre@ottawa.ca;
Maria.Mcrae@ottawa.ca; Bob.Monette@ottawa.ca; Doug.Thompson@ottawa.ca;
Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca; Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca; Larry.OBrien@ottawa.ca

2. Contact your local Community Association:  http://www.ottawa.ca/residents/parks_recreation/partners/community_orgs/east/comm_assoc_en.html

3. Talk to your work colleagues and neighbours.

4. Support the future of the Ottawa Farmers’ Market at Lansdowne: http://www.ottawafarmersmarket.ca/

5. If you’re on Facebook, join the “Save the Horticulture Building” group:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=131809170165702&ref=mf

and “Design Lansdowne Together”:  http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=40034316730

6. Donate to the Friends of Lansdowne Park legal fund: http://www.letsgetitright.ca/

For a quick one minute summary of the Lansdowne financial scheme, check out a YouTube video featuring retired economist, Michael Tiger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tsA1StX7PM or http://www.clivedoucet.com/

Sincerely,

Clive Doucet
Councillor, Capital Ward
www.clivedoucet.com

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16. May 2010 by David.

Has anybody else been wondering where those nasty little critters have disappeared to? I haven’t a single bite this spring. A mosquito gave my ankle a try a couple weeks ago… Perhaps his failed reconnaissance mission dissuaded the rest of his gang. And not a single black fly! Is it the dry spring? The Ottawa River is at its lowest in decades. I just hope the song birds can find an alternate meal.

I want to apologies to all you keeners who have offered their help over the past few months and who got a ”get back to me in a few weeks” type reply. I appreciate the surge of enthusiasm towards gardening and I want so support it as much as I can. The best way to gain valuable farming and gardening skills is to go through a summer internship on an organic farm. Gardening involves a variety of technical abilities that can only be learned over time and with practice.

Two young ladies will become more acquainted with the rhythms farming at Riverglen over the summer. Their 6 month stay on the farm will be filled with opportunities to use specialized tools as they go through the various tasks involved in maintaining a healthy, holistic farm. Two more apprentice farmers will join the crew for the months of July and August.

Managing a five person crew does require some planning and organization. It therefore hard for me to accommodate the more than 20 people who have communicated their desire to help out at the farm on a casual basis. In an effort to create balance between working with an efficient, tight crew and working with an assortment of eager volunteers, I will designate specific week days where community members are welcome to participate in farm activities. I suspect these will be harvest days, when we can often use help washing and packing vegetables.

I would also like to start a pool of names who can be contacted on special occasions, such as mulching and transplanting, when the more arms are the better. These names will be e-mailed ahead of group work days. Thanks to Otesha for helping us sheet mulch the perennial herb garden and the orchard.

**Pickup information has been confirmed! Keep an eye on your inbox for pickup location confirmation!

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27. April 2010 by David.

The air is warm and the soil is dry; time to put some seed in the ground. Cultivation, irrigation and in a few more weeks… germination. Peas, lettuce, asian greens, chard and spinach have already started to poke out of the ground. The tomatoes have been transplanted into larger cells. Assuming this weather holds up, and our irrigation system, we might have a bountiful, late spring crop.

But then again it’s snowing today… A bit of a reminder that it is, after all, only April. Cool weather is nice for hard, stinky tasks like cleaning out the winter manure piles in the chicken coop and in the barnyards. All the compost piles have been turned and we now turn our attention to cleaning out the barn. Ah, cleaning out the barn… Will this be the year we actually keep it clean?

In the CSA department…  We’re FULL!! Hurray Many thanks go to Paige Willis who provided tremendous help communicating with newly registered members. Also, thanks go to Sarah Mohan who helped sort out the pickup locations. I still need to confirm the exact address for the Hintonburg and Britannia pickup locations, as well as determine which pickups will happen on Mondays and which will happen on Thursdays. For now, the Chipworks location is confirmed, as well as Mother Earth Natural Health in Westboro.

If anyone has any ideas on how to create an email list, or an easy way to send out a newsletter to all the members, I could really use some help! Get in touch with me ASAP

I’d like to welcome Ash, our new summer intern! Ash is a sturdy traveler, full of enthusiasm. She also brings a delightful dog named Wiki.

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8. April 2010 by David.

 A new bovine has been introduced to the farm. Simon, a Simmental bull, met our three Highland cows two weeks ago. The initial meeting was somewhat difficult. There was a brief standoff, a whole lot of running around and Nasturtium even to a plunge and leaped right over the fence! There’s something about seeing a 1400 lb animal leap… But after much head bobbing and hopping about the heard finally settled. Hay was fed, the fence was fixed, all is well. I expect Simon, who is still just a yearling, will start to grow significantly once the pastures turn green. If he gets along with his new girlfriends, we might see calves as early as next summer.

April 1st has come and gone. However, there are 10 harvest-shares left! If you’re interested, don’t delay sending your registration form with full payment. Harvest-shares will only be reserved once payment has been receive. Instead of counting on Canada Post to get your registration in early enough, you can always send an Interact email transfer.

For those who have already purchased their 2010 harvest-share, you’ll be happy to know seeds are germinating well in the farmhouse solarium. A few hundred leeks, onions, tomatoes and peppers have begun their assent towards the heavens. Luckily, warm weather has made heating the solarium a fairly simple task. This year’s abnormal warmth and dryness as also contributed to record-breaking, early field cultivation. The garden was ready for tillage a full two weeks ahead of last year! And seeding followed right behind… My fingers are crossed for an early start to harvesting!

solarium start

simon face-off

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25. March 2010 by David.

The porcupine is back. Along with an ancient looking snapping turtle, he is one of the characters that makes a visit to Riverglen Farm once a year. Each spring, in March, he can be seen lurking around the hedgerows, looking for tasty young bark to chew on. One year he was in the drainpipe. Another year he was perched way high in a tree. The minuscule branch he was perched didn’t look strong enough to carry his weight, but it did. He could have been an over-sized Christmas Tree ornament.

This year the dog was the one who found him. Katut has been training to chase deer from the gardens. Chasing can be fun. Groundhogs, foxes, cats… Chasing porcupines is not fun. After a night of coaxing, wrestling and trying, we’ll have to see what the vet can do about this one.

They say a porcupine represents a sense of peaceful satisfaction. The porcupine moves a night, looking for tender, woody growth  to eat. He spends the day lounging in the sun in conveniently located tree tops. He is care-free and content. An encounter with a porcupine might insight a look into one’s own life. Take the time to stop and admire him. In the midst of spring fever, it may be healthy to let the beautiful day slip away once in awhile. If you’re too eager, an obsession over your work could lead to a painful stop.

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8. March 2010 by David.

Greetings, from a sunny and cheerful farm!

It is absolutely marvelous out here. A full week of sun has already begun to reveal patches of brown, yellow and even green! As much as we can all appreciate the warm weather, the chickens are extra happy. After two or three months of beeing cooped up (literally) they have started their daily excursions up and down the barnyard.

I hope this early thaw will help dry out the barnyard, which will make an early start to spring clean-up an easy task. And if this weather holds up there could even be crops in the ground by month’s end!

My thanks go out to all those who have already submitted their registration forms. The group is already more than half full, but there are still 2010 harvest-shares available. Joining a CSA is a great way to help sustain a local, sustainable food system in Ottawa.

My seeds are on their way, and the crop list this year is very exciting! I’m looking forward to a larger variety of hardy greens and herbs, more broccoli, more onions, multi-coloured salad tomatoes, almost all open-pollinated varieties of vegetables, and no conventional seed whatsoever.

2010 Registration Package

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4. January 2010 by David.

Hello and best wishes from everyone at Riverglen Biodynamic Farm!

I’m happy to write that I had a fabulous time during my Christmas and New Year holidays. I was able to enjoy some well-deserved rest in the company of my loved ones and it was absolutely terrific! It’s nice to put aside a few of your more tedious responsibilities, if only just for a few days.

That’s not to say we’ve all been farting around over here. Just doing a little hiding out… You know how it is! So, since the last time I’ve entered a blog entry… well, the big field was plowed. I’m lucky to have a good relationship with my neighbour Kevin, with whom I often exchange favours. Kevin brought over his equipment in mid-November to turn over the soil in one of the garden areas. This will help break down both garden crop and cover crop residue, as well as expose the roots of any perennial weeds that are trying to take hold of the garden.

Kevin plowing

There has also been a good deal of wood cutting. Thanks to the generous help of my brother, my friends, Johann the mason and the good people from Canada World Youth, we were able to pack the porch with a few cords of wood. We’ll need to chop more to make it through the cold weather, but what a great start!

CWY gathering  CWY chopping

My neighbour Kevin also does another kind of plowing at the farm. Snow plowing! He does a fabulous job opening up our lane-way, as well as clearing out the farmyard and the barn entrances. He only comes out every now and again, however, and sometimes perhaps a little later than sooner… We got a tone of snow over the weekend and even my AWD Subaru (thanks mom and dad) had trouble getting through. Thankfully, it only took a little digging to get through the offending snowdrift. And not that I can complain about the snow. It has been an incredible winter for cross-country skiing!

subaru stuck

As for the critters out in the field, they have all been moved to their winter homes. The paddock on the North West side of the barns acts as the temporary home for my Highland cows and Shetland sheep. There they find shelter from the wind, a big heap of hay and a bathtub full of water. An electric tank heater keeps the water in the tub from freezing. A similar system of heated buckets ensures a supply of fresh water for my flock of chickens. I’m very impressed with the dozen and a half eggs I still collect daily. I’m also quite impressed, as were our Christmas guests, by the quality of their meat. Caro and I slaughtered, plucked and cleaned 4 roosters, on Solstice, to share with friends and family. The full-textured meat was bursting with flavour.

caro wire  indoor flock  plucking feathers

So what about buying harvest-shares of delicious biodynamic vegetables this season? Stay tuned; I’ve got a little something up my sleeve…

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15. November 2009 by David.

Hello again!

It’s nice to be back at the keyboard after somewhat of a hiatus. Did anybody else fall flat on their backs after the last CSA pickup? Luckily it was muddy and the landing was cushy…

Much has happened in the last month or so. We’ve been picking surplus vegetables here and there and packing them away in the basement. A few members have been visiting and participating in a little gleaning. Even the cows, who now have roam of the entire field, have discovered the tasty tops of carrots, kale and broccolli.

Besides putting all the toys away, cleaning up, wrapping up, packing up and battering up all the hatches, there’s a mighty chunk of administration work to do. My understanding, and appreciation, of accounting is once again expanding in leaps and bounds. There’s a pile of wood expanding on the porch and a pile of garbage shrinking in the barn. The chicken coops have been cleaned-out, stack with fresh hay and sealed up for winter. One by one the machines are getting a cleaning, oiling and hanging.

We’re also loosing two very special people on the farm. Jean-Leon and Kristina have moved into their new house on the Quebec side. There’s a big hole left behind which Johann and I are trying to patch up, one step at a time. Over the year and a half that Tina and J-L have been around, they’ve put a tremendous amount of energy into renovating, fixing and upscaling Riverglen. They’re presence will be missed!

But even in the cold and rain, there’s always something about November that is somewhat re-assuring. Amidst the calm crumbling of the delicate structures erected over the summer, there is a sense of returning home. Energies are now clearly directed inward as friends and communities come together to ensure each others’ warmth and comfort. Thank you for your patience as I take some time to settle a few loose ends.

In the coming weeks, you can look forward to a survey with a few feedback questions from myself as well as from our coordination group. You’ll also receive information about next year and how to go about saving your spot for a 2010 harvest-share!

Keep cozy,

-David

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