Another year, another blog!

After 3 years it is time to have a blog site that has my company name on it (if you look at the address bar in the browser above you will see the name Looney Rooney). Originally, I was going to call my business Looney Rooney's, but after more thought decided that the name should be a little more ... business like. I just never got around to updating the blog space!

There is a lot of information documenting the beginnings of Backyard Bounty at this blog. It is fun to check back periodically to see just how far what began as merely an idea has grown (no pun intended). But for 2010 I will be using the following blog address so don't forget to bookmark it and check in periodically:

http://backyardbountyfarming.blogspot.com

2010 promises to be a very busy, productive, and interesting year. The CSA program will be growing again, hopefully to 40 customers, I will be working to have a more consistent variety of produce for the farmers' market, and I will begin a brand new venture The Little Seedling Co. More information to follow.

The end of Season #2

some of the many beautiful Tonda Padana pumpkins I grew this year

I started the 2009 season cautiously optimistic that I could supply enough produce for 20 families and still have enough left over for the farmers' market. I 'm glad to report that I needn't have been cautious at all because the season went very very well. So well in fact that I have the confidence to boost production next year to 40 families! This means that I will have to find another field: one of my many Winter projects!

In 2010 will also be starting a certified organic veggie plant business in collaboration with the Green Room. Propagation starts in February and the first plants will likely be available for sale in April 2010. I will report more about this in the coming months.

Even though it has been a great season I am delighted to now have the opportunity to sleep in sometimes and to focus my attention on other interests over the Winter period. I think this Winter lull is really important in order to be able to recharge the batteries, so to speak. Otherwise I could see myself getting burned out quite easily. I'm super excited about next year but will relish this slower time in the meantime! :o)

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Fall

Farmer Paul next to his prized sunflower! Actually, this is his I told you so sunflower. This one had grown elsewhere and he wanted to move it but I said it wasn't a good idea because sunflowers didn't like being transplanted once they got to a certain size. He did it anyway and here is the result!! :o)

Now this is the Paul I know and love.

How about this for a beautiful tomato! This variety is called 'Orange Strawberry', quite appropriate I would say. This is from a very prolific indeterminate vine that is still producing a great deal of tomatoes, I'm really hoping we get a couple more weeks of sunshine to help them along.

Fall is so in the air; the nights are cooling down, there is a cool wind at times and the plants have slowed down their growth substantially. But lately we been having gorgeous sunny days - Fall is stunningly beautiful when it is like this.

I'm very excited to report that I will be taking a few 'Professional Development' days off in a couple of weeks to visit a farm in the Kootenays. If any of you are familiar with the beautiful inspiring book The Garden That You Are you will have seen Elderbee Greens who are featured. They produce organic bedding plants including veggie starts. I am planning on expanding my business next year, in collaboration with Linda from the Green Room, to incorporate organic veggie plants. It seems like such a natural progression because I start my own plants anyway for the CSA, and it will extend my season by a few months into the Spring. By visiting Elderbee Greens, who have been doing this for 35 years, I hope to avoid many of the 'learn as you go' mistakes.

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Apologies.....

....for the long silence! The Summer is such an insanely busy time, and what a Summer it has been! This year we have had approximately 3 days of rain since May, and combined with the, at times, very high temperatures it has been a challenge to keep all the plots watered sufficiently. As a result, the produce at some locations have struggled. However, the heat loving plants have been fabulously successful. The beans, tomatoes, basil and cantaloupe have been incredible, and the Summer squash, aghhhh, it won't stop producing. This all makes for a great display at the farmers' market:


Things are starting to get less crazy now though. Most of my Winter crops are planted, I just have a few more flats of seedlings to go out. Trying to get the Winter crops in on top of the busy Summer schedule made for a pretty intense time, but fun because it is so nice to see the next wave of veggies coming along so nicely.

At some locations the soil really needs building up, so after clearing away the main season crops I've planted clover seeds. I'm not confident they will germinate well with this lack of rain, but I can reseed if necessary in a few weeks. My plan is to let the clover grow for a while then turn it under as a green manure later in the Fall and then dress the beds with leaves and straw to add mass that will break down over the Winter.

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Mid July already!

Snap peas gone crazy - these have been incredibly abundant this year - they have taken over the hoophouse! I had intended to put vine tomatoes in that spot, but I guess that isn't going to happen.


The new field looking lush and orderly - Grace had just finished weeding this whole area, which after the rain last week was overrun with large weeds. On the far right are pole beans, next to them copra onions and summer leeks, then 3 rows of different varieties of beans. In the distance on the left are pattypan squash plants. In between the beans and squash are carrots and beets.

This week I started harvesting some garlic and new potatoes. The potatoes are Sieglinde yellows. Very very tasty!

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Summer veggies

This week I've been eating tomatoes - yes my own!! This is a new variety that I am trying this year. They are a determinate (bush) yellow cherry variety called Gold Nugget. They taste delicious. I'm a huge fan of yellow tomatoes; I believe I read somewhere that they are less acidic than red ones. Unfortunately, there will not be enough yet to give a share of them to everybody, but perhaps there will be enough for a taste test at least.

The other new item this week is Summer squash. I am growing a few varieties: romanesca zucchini, butterstick zucchini, sunburst pattypan, and starship pattypan. Right now they are delicious because they are small and tasty. For those of you unfamiliar with pattypans, they are delicious cooked whole (when small) or can be chopped up just like zucchini and sauteed. I love all the Summer squash just simply grilled on the bbq.

This week's veggies are:

. salad mix
. Thai or Genovese basil
. broccoli spears
. peas
. green onions
. Swiss chard
. baby squash
. parsley

I'm sure everybody has their favourite recipes for using the classic Genovese basil, but have you tried Thai basil? I love it! This variety is Siam Queen; the authentic variety used for Thai cuisine. But it is also great with fish, stirfrys, soups, marinated with tofu, in salad rolls .......

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rain, rain, rain

Guess what?! It is raining here in Granthams - yippee! I just hope that means it is in upper Gibsons too. A few days ago we had a nice rainfall in Granthams and I was so happy to think that finally the complete field at the farm would get some water. But no, I arrived there about 20 minutes later and it was bone dry! The rain does mean I'll be doing some harvesting in the rain - oh well! ... Update: The weather cleared and I got to harvest in the sun, and bonus, had willing workers helping too - how lucky is that!! Pictures to come further below.

Despite the dryness everything is growing like crazy. As well as weeding and harvesting I'm busy starting Fall and Winter veggies. Most people think we have a short 6 month gardening season, but in fact there are many plants that do just fine up until the first hard frost or even through the entire Winter, some of them even thrive in that environment. I'm rereading Eliot Coleman's book FOUR SEASON HARVEST: Organic Vegetables From Your Home Garden All Year Long and am inspired to try some new greens: clayatonia, mache, minutina, sorrel, corn salad. The secret to Winter gardening is starting the plants so that they get enough time to grow almost to maturity so that when the very cold weather starts and they slow down they are at the right size for harvesting.

Enough about rain and Winter gardening! Now, we have months and months of warm weather crops on the way. This week we have:

. Backyard Bounty's famous salad mix
. baby carrots
. broccoli sprouts
. fresh snap peas
. green onions
. red Russian kale
. dill
. the last of the garlic scapes
. a head of romaine lettuce

A note about fresh peas. They are at their best when just picked. I pick them for you the morning of the pickup. Each day that goes by after they are picked they lose some of their delicious sweetness, so please try to eat them as soon as possible.

Below is my favourite kale soup recipe for those of you who are new to the Backyard Bounty community. Kale soup sounds boring and like something you should eat in the Winter. But this recipe is light and incredibly tasty. I promise! :o)

Kale Soup

Saute a large onion and a few cloves of garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add chicken broth (quantity depends on the number of people you are serving), a generous dash of fish sauce, a dash of hot sauce (I like Sambal Oelek) and a large bunch of kale chopped up. Let simmer for approx 20 minutes or until kale is tender. Serve with wedges of lime. The lime is crucial to transforming this soup from ok to delicious - enjoy!

Below is a link to a recipe for garlic scape pesto. I haven't actually tried this recipe, but aim to today as it sounds delicious:

http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2007/06/16/garlic-scape-pesto/

We have two visitors staying with us right now. Be wary if you decide to stay with us in the Summer time because this is what you will be doing:

weeding!
It is amazing how much weeding three people can do in one hour. Look at the field - fabulous!

Today I harvested carrots. Sometimes you get a very interesting one:

I see two people dancing. What do you see?

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Finally some rain?

I am a total sun worshipper, so it is bizarre that I woke up this morning grateful that there is a sprinkle of rain on the ground! It has been a challenge to keep everything watered only because I have had to be so diligent about it, we have been at least a month without rain - very unusual for our region. Generally I'm pretty relaxed about watering plants, I believe that once they are mature you should let them 'search' for water thus building a good strong deep root system. That strategy would not have worked this Spring though! The sprinkle of rain didn't amount to much though, so still we wait for a decent rainfall to nourish the crops.

This past week has been busy (when is it not?!) mostly with weeding. The new field all of a sudden just sprouted a blanket of weeds that engulfed everything I had planted. Quite miraculous really! As well as hours of hoeing it took many more hours of hand weeding to get between the individual plants. Thank you so much to Sarah who volunteered to help with this, I'm very grateful as it made a long arduous job much more pleasant. Also Julie and Grace have spent time on the farm too so there is some semblance of order again now!

This week's veggies are:

. salad mix
. swiss chard
. garlic scapes
. baby carrots
. kohlrabi
. broccoli sprouts or sugar snap peas
. green onions
. radishes

For those of you who haven't eaten kohlrabi, I would recommend peeling it and then slicing it and eating it raw. A delicious unique snack.

The garlic scapes are delicous used just like regular garlic but also as a side dish themselves - just sautee in a little olive oil.

First CSA pick up and farmers' market of the season

This past week has been very fulfilling for me. I got almost all of the plants from the greenhouse planted, including the cantaloupe. Last year I was very impressed with the flavour and numbers of cantaloupe I managed to grow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can repeat that success this year! Melons need a great deal of heat and so in our northern climate they are started on black plastic (which warms the soil up, and bonus, keeps the weeds down) and then row cover is put over the top of them.

This week was the first CSA pick up of the season and the first farmers' market. I was very happy with the CSA, it was really great to see everybody, and there was an abundance of produce:

. salad mix
. green onions
. kale
. one large broccoli head
. one head of romaine lettuce
. dill
. mustard greens or chinese broccoli
. radishes
. one basil plant

And the new pick up location at the United Church in Gibsons worked out very well.

It was fun to see many familiar faces at the Fiddlehead farmers' market. It wasn't super busy but it was a beautiful sunny day and I'm sure the market will pick up as the season progresses.

Below a pic of me, just in from harvesting broccoli and veg gin (chinese broccoli).

Some pics of the washstation that has made my life soooo much easier, the washing machine is used only for spinning the lettuce mix, and look at all the work surface I have now:


A scale, bags, elastics, twist ties and Backyard Bounty labels for packaging items:


The mesh table (made from an old pallet) used for draining items:


And last, just because I thought it was such a cute picture, my neighbour Linda of Greenroom Organics, coming back from having the tire on her tractor repaired!

The new field is fenced...

What a constructive week I've had: nearly all my greenhouse plants have been potted up, numerous flats of transplants have been put into the ground, even more veggies have been seeded, the new field on Henry Road has been fenced, a lot of weeding has been done, and my new improved wash station is ready to go. Yes, I'm tired but in a satisfying way!

Here is the new field at the farm joined with the original field. We took the fencing off of on one side of the original field and combined the two to make one large one.

Here Paul is putting the finishing touches to tighten the fence - twisting pieces of wire around the fence and post.

I like this picture because it really gives a sense of the amount of work that has already been done this season - and this is just one location. It is amazing what can be done with a few good hand tools and some muscle power!
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Home again!

Oh my, what a wacky past couple of weeks I have had. Immediately after my last posting my husband Paul and I decided to take a quick trip down to California to visit his family, specifically his father who is elderly and having heart problems. Our quick trip ended up lasting longer than anticipated because Paul ended up in emergency and having surgery, so we had to extend our trip until he was well enough to travel. He had two very large kidney stones that had to be blasted so that they would pass through. It was a horribly stressful time - it is never easy to watch somebody suffer - and it didn't help that I knew I should be home planting!

We finally made it home and I've since been planting like crazy. Luck would have it, I had a call from a friend of my daughter, Hannah, looking to do some volunteer work! She helped me plant out some tomatoes in the hoophouse and transplant the first veggies into the new field:

Also my employee, Grace had kept up with the weeding while I was away so the farm is actually looking quite good:

I have decided to delay my CSA program by two weeks. The combination of a cool Spring and my absence this month means that things are a little more behind than I like. The weather has been beautiful since I've been home so I'm sure things will really start to pick up now.

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May already!

I don't know about everybody else, but this year is flying by just a little too fast for me! Since my last posting life has been pretty hectic, but not! I had surgery, which meant I had to (and couldn't) do anything for 10 days. Any of you who know me knows this is VERY difficult, especially at this time of the year when there is so much to be done. Luckily, my husband really came through for me (and you!) and went out every day to plant or seed something - 3 cheers for Paul! :o) I also employed some part time help and that is working out really well too. As the business expands the employee will become increasingly necessary - there are only so many hours in a day!

In addition to everything else he has done the past two weeks, Paul built a walk in cooler! I'm very excited about this as last year it was a challenge to keep items cool after harvest. Last year I used an old fridge and our kitchen fridge, and it just wasn't enough room, but now I even have room to spare and it is easy access without having to juggle containers around to make room. To build it I purchased a device called a 'Coolbot' (you can google it for more info) that attaches to a regular air conditioner; it then very economically cools a well insulated area down to 3 degrees remarkably quickly. Improvements are also being made on my wash station to make things more efficient there.

My greenhouse at my home is overflowing with lush greenery. I LOVE my greenhouse: the look of it, the smell of it, the warmth of it. The plants outside are loving all this moisture and the warmer weather - so are the weeds!

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pictures!

I love seeing the seedlings looking so orderly in the greenhouse. This is the first year I have used plug trays (the flats with individual compartments) and so far I really like them, except I do have to water more often - they dry out practically daily.

Sunflower seeds! I threw a whole bunch in a flat to see how they would turn out for edible sunflower shoots.

This is the larger seed potatoes that have been cut up and left out on my deck to dry out a little before planting. The ones on the right hand side are the Russian fingerlings and the ones on the left are the German seiglindes. Both are delicious potatoes, can hardly wait to start harvesting!


A couple of pics of the farm starting to take shape. With the rye mostly turned over and rows of assorted veggies planted things are slowly starting to look promising for this season.

Grace Burns! Grace helps me on out a few days a week after school.

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busy, busy, busy

This warmer weather has seen me go crazy in the gardens the last week. I've been preparing beds (by turning over clover and rye) for a few weeks now, but this week I began actually planting. Yeahhh!!!! It has been a relief to move plants out of the greenhouse because it is overflowing with seedlings ready to go. I've planted out kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, and fennel. I've also seeded veg gin (a Chinese broccoli), radishes, and peas, which have all germinated nicely.

This week I also relocated the greenhouse at the farm. Many of you know that this particular greenhouse collapsed under the weight of the snow this Winter. My husband and I managed to fix it but the plastic was torn in various spots. Well, last week we had a big wind storm that blew the greenhouse apart! It was quite the thing to watch my greenhouse blowing in the wind like a big air balloon! I never did like the greenhouse where it was because in the Winter time it didn't get sun until the afternoon, so this seemed like as good a time as any to move it. As well as moving it Paul came up with some ideas to make it more sturdy. However, with this style of greenhouse (very economical) you can't expect too much. I'm dreaming of the day I can afford a larger, more permanent greenhouse. It is quite remarkable how much you can extend the season with an unheated greenhouse. Even despite the weeks of sub zero temperatures and the greenhouse collapsing on top of the crops, I am harvesting fabulous fall planted salad greens right now. Many crops can be grown over the Winter under plastic.

Today I am planning on seeding carrots and Swiss chard - and maybe even beets if I can get enough beds prepared - though realistically this will probably have to wait a day or two.

Work in the greenhouse continues as I am now starting the warmer weather crops such as tomatoes, squash, peppers etc. I start the plants in small pots and plug trays that I start in the germination area (a small heated section in my basement) until they germinate, then they are moved under the gro lights for a week or two until they grow their first real leaves. The hardier plants then go out to the greenhouse (at my home), which is unheated. The less hardy plants will stay under lights for a bit longer, until the nights heat up a little more.

My seedling potatoes arrived this week. They are certified organic Russian fingerlings and German sieglinde potatoes from a farm in Pemberton that I had a lot of success with last year; keeping my fingers crossed they grow as well again. I will be 'chitting' them (forcing them to start sprouting) over the next few weeks and then they will be planted.

I still have some CSA spaces available, so please spread the news. Only 7 weeks to go until the first delivery!

I hope you are all reveling in the warmer days as much as I am.

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The 2009 season begins!

Yesterday really felt like the season had truly begun. I had previously started dozens of flats of seedlings inside (which are all coming along great) and did some work in the hoophouse last week, but yesterday was warm and sunny and I finally got to dig outside in the dirt! I was turning beds and weeding at one of the new gardens. It promises to be a great space - lots of sunshine and nice soil - but will take quite a lot of work to get it cleaned up. I managed to get two beds cleaned out nicely - 6 more to go! :o)

I also planted peas out at two of the gardens, and checked on the greens growing in the hoophouse at the farm. What a joy to be outside working. I love my work!

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freezing temperatures

It feels like this has been an extraordinarily long cold Winter. We are still getting freezing temperatures at night and sprinklings of snow every week or so. My seedlings that are inside under lights are nice and warm and cozy though, so they are coming along nicely.

Yesterday I transplanted the endive and arugula seedlings out into the hoophouse at the farm with the help of Joe, a guy who is interested in farming in the Roberts Creek area. He wants to shadow me for a while to learn as much as possible. This is a godsend for me right now because a couple of weeks ago my back went out! I hadn't done anything in particular to cause the problem, in fact I hadn't done any gardening work at all, which you would think would be a prime candidate for the cause. I'm on the mend thank goodness but for now I have to take it easy, no lifting heavy objects and digging etc. The hoophouse is now full of greens - the lettuces and red mustard that were planted last October are thriving!

I have an employee who will be starting in a couple of weeks. Her name is Grace, she is a student at high school and will be working for me a couple of hours after school each day. I have known Grace since she was a little toddler so it will be fun to work alongside her.

I am passing along this link because it really speaks to me and it may you too; an urban farmer talks about the physical labour involved in farming:

http://www.whyy.org/podcast/thisibelieve/tib20090213.mp3

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Home again and ready for a new season!

Hello again! It has been too long since my last post but I do have a good excuse, I was away on vacation. Now that I'm back from my travels I'm excited about getting started on the 2009 season. I had a fabulous time on the Big Island of Hawaii, did lots of hiking across lava fields, snorkeling with fish, turtles and even an octopus, visited many isolated beaches and even an active volcano, read five books (!), and worked on an organic lettuce farm. Yes you read right, I worked while on holiday! I learned a lot at the farm and am planning on implementing some of their ideas, but best of all it was just plain fun.

one of the many areas at the lettuce farm in Hawaii

A couple of weekends ago Paul got my seedling area set up in our basement. I started some trays: red onions, two types of leeks, endive, green onions and fennel. These will be followed shortly by broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, many varieties of lettuce, more onions, italian parsley, mustards and kale. And this only takes me to March! Of course, the peas and radish will go out in the field very soon too. I love this time of year: the activity after being idle through the Winter, the anticipation, the expectation, and being outside again.


I am excited to announce that this year the CSA program will include some produce from The Green Room. Linda and Gabriel, the owners, grow fabulous certified organic tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to die for! These are items that are quite difficult to grow well in the field in our area. I'm very excited to collaborate with Linda and Gabriel in order to bring even better quality produce to my customers.

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Incredibly hardy lettuces!

This picture was taken today of some of the lettuces growing in the hoophouse at the farm.

I decided to experiment and followed Elliot Coleman's recommendation of using a basic plastic hoophouse with row cover inside the hoophouse directly over the lettuces - a double barrier against the elements. What is truly amazing is that this year we have had a really hard Winter already with zub-zero temperatures for almost a month. I don't think I would have even considered attempting to overwinter lettuces if I had anticipated this weather. Even more amazing is that these plants have survived after the hoophouse collapsed on top of them too (see previous post)!

Maybe they will make it?!

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snow, snow and more snow!

Since my last post we had two more snow storms! Yep, one the day before christmas and then one the day after - phew! This is what you can see at the farm - absolutely nothing!
Except for a couple of hoops barely peeping out above the snow - hard to believe that anything could survive underneath all this snow, especially since there has been rain and freezing temperatures so the snow is frozen solid, you just walk on the top of it now, when these photos were taken you sunk down to your knees!Below is what the hoophouse looked like when we arrived - pretty sad!

It was the sides that had collapsed inward from all the weight - it took a lot of digging:This is what it looked like inside.............you can see the snow weighing down the sides:Today (January 2nd) we replaced all the broken hoops and added a wooden beam across the top with some extra wooden supports in the hope that this will be enough to withstand another snow storm. I didn't take any pictures because I just wanted to get it done - my fingers and toes and nose were frozen! It is no fun doing work like that in zero degree weather. To show how cold it was one of the pipes that was broken had a lump of mud frozen to it. I tried to get it off as we needed to reuse this specific pipe - I couldn't, it was frozen solid!

Not sure that I like farming in the Winter. Roll on Spring! :o)

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