Georgetown Farmer's Market on Saturdays 7am-1pm

Come find us at the Farmer’s markets!  We are in two locations on Saturday mornings, Georgetown and Weston Go Station.  We are also attending the local Acton Farmer’s Market on Thursdays from 4-7pm.  We sell our own meat cuts, freshly ground flour and of course, veggies galore.

Happy people!

Hakurei turnips

Considering the time of the season, our stand looks pretty colourful.  Pink beauty radishes, orange baby carrots, purple kale, red, red Cylindra beets (with their greens of course) and the whitest Hakurei turnips this side of town!  All of our veggies have been picked and processed within 24 hours and you can tell we’re proud of them by our beautiful display and infectious smiles.  We love interacting with customers and we’ve got lots of farm stories to share, so if you are at any of these farmer’s markets, feel free to stop in!

In mid June about 20 interns visited from other CRAFT farms (Collaborative Regional Alliance For Farmer Training). The day started with home made Cinnamon buns in the farm store – made with our fresh ground red fife flour – followed by a tour of the vegetable garden and the cows.  One of the cows, Eva, paid the interns a hearty hello. We made a visit to the tomato greenhouse, and then dropped in at the barn where Johann talked  about biodynamics and Rudolph Steiner.

These bulls along with the other newborns from the fall are now settled into the farm and have been exploring the pastures.  A new round of youngins was born in the past few months including kittens, chicks, piglets and calves – oh those beautiful cows!

It was a wet and misty last Thursday morning.  As we walked out to work in the garden the cows were coming up the path into the barn. A young calf was following close to its mother on wobbly legs. After a closer look we realized another calf had been born over night. Was this calf number 5 or 6? It turns out she was the sixth calf born within the past twelve days. Her name is Miranda and she is Tara’s third calf. In the past few days two more calves were born bringing the total to eight born in the past eighteen days. There is an even mix of bulls and heifers. It is wonderful to have this new life on the farm. We see it with the animals and in all the vegetables which have shot up in the past week or two. Come visit us and see what, and who, is growing.

Those of you picking up on Tuesdays at the Farm or Guelph your first pickup date is: Tuesday, June 8^th

Those of you picking up on Saturdays in Georgetown your first pickup date is: Saturday, June 12^th

So if you haven’t signed up yet for the CSA you had better sign-up soon!

Further, just to note the Georgetown Market starts June 12^th

4 Cups chopped rhubarb
4 Cups sliced onions
4 Cups brown sugar
2 Cups cider or malt vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each- cloves, ginger, pepper

Throw everything into a pot, bring to a boil, cook 1 hour. Makes 3 X 500 ml jars. Adjust sugar to your liking. Enjoy.

While writing this update I’m watching the chickens in the field through the living room window.  These chickens are raised very differently from eggs you’d buy in a supermarket. Even so-called free range organic chickens are not raised this way. Not only are our chicken eggs delicious and nutritious, but they’re from smarter chickens. How many chickens do you know that live in a school bus?

The best way to know why Whole Circle chicken eggs taste good is to learn about a typical day in the life of our chickens.

At about 6 am we let them outside through the front and back door of the bus.  The bus provides excellent protection against night time predators such as coyotes, and gives them a place to stay warm.

Twice a day they get fed a mixture of oats, corn and wheat, which we pour into containers in the same field where the bus is parked. In contrast, their agribusiness-raised cousins are kept inside and fed a high protein diet with antibiotics so that they produce faster and are protected from diseases.

The Whole Circle chickens also feed on worms, insects and tender grasses. This is a natural vitamin pill – we never need to give them antibiotics. When it rains they spread out over the whole field to catch all the worms.

The most important ingredient is sunshine.  Many so-called free range chickens never actually go outside of their pen even though the door is open. Our chickens are outside most of the day, and stay inside the school bus to lay eggs (or, if they have homework).

While the chickens are running around the field their poop is providing a natural fertilizer for the field. The poop gets taken up by the roots of the grasses which is later used as pasteur for the cows. This mini-cycle is just one part of the many natural rhythms we’re trying to encourage on the farm. The proof is in the pudding – we invite you to come taste our eggs for yourself.

In addition to the fresh locally grown Asparagus we also have other Freshly Picked veggies:

Salad Spinach, Cooking Spinach, Baby Kale, Green onions and chives

We also have Storage Veggies:

Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips, Celeriac, Beets, Radishes, Jerusalem Artichokes as well as locally grown sweet potatoes and garlic.

Permaculture on the farm

Nitya has been working on adding a permaculture garden to Whole Circle Farm.  He has dug up 2 beds with the tractor, and filled them with logs, stumps and branches.  He then put the soil back on top and added some mulch to keep moisture.  The idea is that these raised beds will stay permanently and will provide for 10 years or more.  He has broadcasted a mix of seeds and we see sprouts already!