I was reminded that I hadn’t mentioned in the last post about potatoes in the winter shares. I don’t know the details yet, but am guessing it will be similar as the past few years: you will be able to order and pay separately for potatoes that I will get and store for you. Stay tuned as I get those details.
One of the reasons I do need people to start paying for the Winter shares now is because of hay. I used to make my own hay here. It was always an added stress on the season, but is an important part of the composting process and soil fertility needs for the vegetables. Last year I bought hay from a teenager in the community who is starting a hay business, and am doing the same this year. The hay was delivered unexpectedly on Saturday. It’s a couple thousand dollars that he was generously willing to wait for me to pay until I have the funds. I was counting on some of the winter share purchases to pay for the hay. Sorry to put a bit of pressure on, but the sooner some of you are able to pay for the winter shares the sooner I can pay him…
As always if you have any questions, let me know,
Thanks!

For the month of September I will be accepting previous Winter CSA share members to sign up for the 2026/27 winter season. You are welcome to sign up if you’ve ever had a winter share in the past (not just last year, but any previous year). If the Winter shares aren’t full by the end of September I will open it up to new members in October. The Winter CSA will begin early November and run bi-weekly until we’re done, usually end of February. The prices will be the same: $400 for a large share and $250 for a small. E-transfers to saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com is the easiest, but cash/cheque/Saubucks are good too.

If you have any questions let me know.

I think I over planted this one variety of onion. It’s called Ailsa Craig, named not after Ailsa Craig, Ontario, but Ailsa Craig, New York where it was developed in 1887! But they are both named after Ailsa Craig, Scotland. They are a good size sweet yellow onion, but they don’t store too long. Members will be getting some each week for the next several weeks, but I’ll sell extra for processing or just for everyday use to members and non-members. They will store for about a month but not much beyond that. Let me know if you’re interested.

The basil keeps coming in so for non-members who may want to purchase some get in touch… Members feel free to take more!
Cabbages will be in the share again but there are more than needed so extra are for sale to members or non-members. I don’t have tons extra, but just ask.
And Tomatoes! The processing tomatoes are starting to come in. At this point I will sell them a half a bushel at a time on a Tuesday or Friday. Members or non-members can sign up for a day from now until the middle of September. If I have enough for people to get more than a half bushel, or not enough people sign up you can get more. Let me know what you are interested in and I can let you know what I can do… The best is email saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com but you can reach out anyway you know how!

The bean story (short version). So I was asked when the deluge of beans is coming as we’ve had the last couple years. Well this year it will be more like a short shower than a deluge. The first planting didn’t germinate so well (there’s a story behind that but too long winded to go into). I could have reseeded, but didn’t. This is because I didn’t have for sure working shares set up for the season. I had one that said they weren’t sure they could commit to every week. In the past I’ve usually had two working shares to help with the pea and bean harvest. Last year I only had one regular working share so I ended up picking half the beans. This is very time consuming and I wasn’t ready to commit to doing most of the bean picking this year. So when I saw the low germination of the first planting I decided to simply see what we would get….

Other crops are bountiful, just not the beans this year. Sorry.

There’s been extra basil at the end of each csa pick-up lately, so if non-members would like to purchase a half bushel please let me know. I’ll be only taking one order per Tuesday or Friday harvest at this point. We’ll see how production continues. Members feel free to take more. I’m also now selling garlic from Rony and Myriam’s farm LunaMia. It’s a good time to make pesto!

Cucumbers are in abundance right now. If anyone would like to buy some please make arrangements with me at saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com They are the American Slicing type, and not so good for pickling since they have too much water in them, but great for salads and cold cucumber yogurt soup! There will be no lettuce in the csa shares this coming week, so now is your chance for cucumber salads and sandwiches!

There’s a surplus of summer cabbage so I wanted to offer some for sale (not red ones, I just like this picture). This is for members or non-members. Contact me to get details and to arrange pick-up. saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com

First the peas. Sugar Snap Peas are part of the share for the next couple harvests, and I noticed something this evening while harvesting. The pea plant has a white flower that the pea pod grows through, enlargening until the flower falls off and the peas inside the pod begin to get plump. Because of the timing and type of rain we had today I noticed many peas had the flower still stuck to the pod. I’ve seen it before, but it was more common this time. The flower sometimes caused a bit of discolouring of the pod where it was stuck on by the rain. If you see this, just wipe the flower off and the pea tastes fine. Don’t throw it out because of a bit of discolouring! Peas are here for a limited time so don’t waste them!

The harvest management reminder is something I share each year, so here it is as a reminder for returning members and an explanation for new members. Crops have different harvesting requirements to catch them at their optimal readiness. Having two harvests a week for the fruiting crops like peas, tomatoes, beans, peppers and many others works well which is why I’ve always had a Tuesday and Friday harvest. Some crops, like lettuce, I plan to harvest twice a week planting a new planting every ten days to keep an ongoing crop available (I can’t always stick to that schedule). Zucchini and Pickling Cucumbers need to be harvested every two days since they grow so fast.
There are some crops, however, that have a wider harvest window, meaning they can sit in the field longer without over maturing. These crops include: cabbage, celery, fennel, carrots, and beets. For many years I would alternate weeks with these crops. But when I started offering bi-weekly shares I needed to change that. The first year of bi-weekly shares (I think 2010) I continued doing what I had always done, but by the end of the summer I realized some bi-weekly members never got any carrots, and others never got any cabbage. So what I started doing with these crops is offer them for two weeks and then take two weeks off. So, I started harvesting celery this week and will offer it for two weeks then take a break. It might be bit more than some weekly members want but it lets every one get access to all that comes from the garden…
Carrots, beets, cabbage, and fennel will all be coming soon (along with zucchini!).

See some of you tomorrow,

Cory

I got to know Ziggy Blum and Sheila Stockton in the late 90’s when first moving to the area. They were part of the food co-op, and Herb Fair regulars, and I visited them at their beautiful artistic house and amazing gardens. They both were artists and loved all things plants. They later became CSA members when they had to cut back on gardening. When we bought this farm in 2001, every time (and I mean every time) Ziggy saw me he would address me as the Fool on the Hill, referring to the Beatles song. I have to admit I would find it either comically amusing, or a bit annoying, depending on my mood. He would always qualify it by asking how the wind was.

I’ve been thinking about this lately. This spring has been the windiest that I can remember. We are usually breezy here, but this spring there was almost a constant forceful wind, from every direction, often changing direction multiple times through the course of the day. It was a rare day (maybe only three in a month) that was calm. This has had its impact. I’m seeing transplant shock in several crops. When they go from the protection of the greenhouse to the exposed wind it can severely dry out their leaves, which then die off and the plant has to grow new ones. They usually recover from this, it just sets them back. I would often harden the plants off in the more protected space between my greenhouses, but that is exposed to the north wind, which sometimes damaged the seedlings in the flat… So always improvising. The other impact has been some of the crops under row cover. The wind has been so strong and so constant that some crops have suffered, being beaten non-stop by flapping covers. The kale and collards, when I took the cover off to first harvest them last week, had every leaf of significant size broken. I’ve never seen that before. The wind has settled and these crops are recovering nicely. A couple of the early crops will not recover though. The kohlrabi looks good but has more snapped leaves also beaten by the row cover. The scallions are next to these covered crops, and although they aren’t covered, the cover got pulled out of the rocks I had holding it down on a few occasions and slapped the scallions, bending and breaking them. So the scallions for the next couple weeks will look a bit rough, but will taste just as good.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Most crops are looking good as we hopefully settle into summer, but I wanted to share have this spring has affected the garden.

Cory

On Sunday June 7 from 1-3:30pm Tanya will host a workshop at the farm. Contact her for more info: tcoulter12@hotmail.com or 519 372 7898