question hydroponics.
ask your farmer how they grow their food. is it grown in real, living soil, is it grown using hydroponic methods (basically substituting a solution with nutrients in it for soil), is it grown using pesticides, etc. just ask the questions, and figure out what answers are acceptable for you. that's the best way to ensure accountability on the part of the people who grow your feed. and put your money where your values lie.

record week for sales! wow, that feels good!

tomorrow Sena, Aiyana and i are going on a whale watch in Massachusetts. we're very excited. they're really fun to hang out with. i can't wait to go!

at the saturday market

this week was definitely intense. not only the heat, but ed hurt his back, doing the work we do and pushing himself as he does. so he could not do much of anything, and he was not even supposed to sit or stand for any sgnificant period of time. this made things very difficult, because we're at peak season pretty much and there are so many things to do every day. i also didn't feel well - my stomach was hurting on and off and i was feeling nauseous. I think it was a bug of some sort. it was very hard with both of us hurting like that, and in retrospect we should have called it vacation week, and take time to recover. but we didn't and i did my best to keep things going.

fortunately i had much welcome help too. on CSA days, there's no way i could do all the picking and washing alone, and i had three friends come and help in turns, and we got it all done. also, on friday, the garlic really needed to be pulled out of the ground, sorted and hung up to dry. this is a big task, with all the garlic we have, but five of our CSA members volunteered to help, and they got it all done. it was a little garlic party, and i missed most of it because i was out in the field doing the planting for the week, but i am so grateful for their help.

my sister and ed's mom were also very helpful this week, taking our veges and making meals for us, because we had no time or energy for cooking.

so even though it was quite a challenge, we made it through, and even better, it showed us how much people care about us and what we're doing.

at the CSA this week, we had some very positive and inspiring feedback. multiple people commented, on separate occasions, that after a hard day of work dealing with whatever'sthey have to deal with, coming to our farm is a reward and relief, a little bit of sanity. people have been thanking us for being here, doing what's we're doing, saying how much they appreciate our work, and this feels very good to hear.

last monday, a young man stopped by our farm unexpectedly, and i gave him a tour and spoke to him for a while, (a break from garlic prep), and i later heard that he was very moved and inspired. it's nice to know that we have a positive effect on people sometimes.


peace

family day

things are really busy right now. we can barely keep up. actually we can't and it feels like we're constantly one or two weeks behind schedule. the weather has been amazing for growing, and that means for weeds too. so there's lots of weeding; we're still planting pretty heavy every week, so there's bed prep and everything to do with that. our crops have been coming in beautiful and very plentiful, so every day there's hours of harvesting to do. squashes and cucumbers take  a couple of hours for harvesting, then there are raspberries, and now the tomatoes are coming in...

so there's lots to do. but we are really grateful for all this beautiful food, and our market and CSA are going very well. our vegetables look beautiful and taste great, and seem to be very productive. we've been eating everything fresh every day. the raspberries are just so delicious, and such a treat right now. and fried squash and cucumber salad have been a daily thing, since they came out a couple of weeks ago. my sister's back from vacation and started taking our veges and cooking for us again. what a relief! i've been juicing carrots and beets, and i'm loving the juice. it's fresh and invigorating.

what else? one of my friends and i are trading veges for house cleaning. what a difference it makes to have a nice clean house to come to after the market on saturday!

for the past 2 weeks, we've been going to this sweet little river for family day. there's nobody ever there but us, and it's so sweet. the girls love playing in the river, while ed and i just hang out, and try not to do anything productive.

peace

urban farming

urban farming is something i think is really cool. it makes so much sense! people in cities are so dependent on the global supermarket system, which is unsustainable, unstable, and in general not something you want to be totally dependent on. there are ways to grow your own food, or at least part of it, even in cities, and it can be fun and rewarding. we had someone visit from new york city, and she was involved with farming there, and she was telling me of this one farm that started on what used to be a tennis court. they brought in a lot of soil and poured it right on top of the concrete and started growing food. sure, you won't be growing daikon radish there for a while, but there's a whole bunch of other things, like lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, and so much more, that will grow just fine. other city people are doing roof-top gardens, or converting backyards, and park spaces and other community spaces into beautiful, productive land. i am very excited about this. we also had a woman from boston visit, and she's involved with an urban farming project (i think it's the boston food project), and she was describing how beneficial it has been for people there to be a part of this.
apparently there's quite a bit of urban farming going on in montreal as well, and i would love to visit some of the spots where this is happening next time i'm there.

so to my city friends, i strongly encourage you to find out what's going on in your neighborhood, and get involved in, or start something yourself if there's nothing going on yet. it will be very rewarding, and you really don't need a lot of land to grow a decent amount of food. i'm thinking of my parents' neighborhood in brossard. they have a small park in front of their house, which is mostly lawn (what a waste), and baseball field. i guess people find it nice to hang out, but it would be even nicer if it were converted to a garden, where people could do something useful, and spend time outside together. you can grow enough food there to feed a small neighborhood. it could be very beautiful, with just a little creativity and lots of work.

i think this will be happening more and more. it's got to, with the inherent instability and unsustainability of our current global food system. people everywhere are realizing that it makes more sense, and it's more secure, to grow food in your own neighborhood, than to have it shipped from thousands of miles away. there's more accountability in it, and it's better for your health, not to mention the earth.

so get out and start doing something,
peace