To register for any of the in-person or on-line workshops or courses (see the full list on the School for Sacred Agriculture page) send an email to saugeenrivercsa@gmail.com with your name and which event you’re interested in. I will then send you any pertinent details and payment/donation information.
I’m still ironing out the technical details of a registration page on the website, and hope to have that up and running soon. With winter not yet here, the garden season is still wrapping up, but the first workshop is early December 🙂

Here are the planned Friday dates for the Winter Share pick ups 2024-25:

Nov 8, 22
Dec 6, 20
Jan 3, 17, 31
Feb 14, 28
Mar 14

If we have a bad snow storm I might make the call to adjust this schedule, at which point I’ll post the adjustment.

I’d like to announce a new chapter in the farm’s biography. Don’t worry, the CSA isn’t going anywhere.
For many years I’ve been teaching through the winter, but under the wings of other organizations. This winter I’m making the fledgling start with offering courses and workshops as an aspect of this farm’s activities. I’ve set up a new page on this site dedicated to the school. Here’s a poster of what I’ll be offering this teaching season:

And here is a poster for the first event/workshop happening in just over a month. If anyone is interested or has any questions, always feel free to check in!

I received an e-transfer to the CSA account but don’t know who it is from. It was from a “Dasa Properties” account and had the message “Saugeen River 3 invoices” If this is you, please contact me to make sure I record your payment… 🙂

Many of you are asking when the main season ends, so here are the dates to remember:
The last Farm Market Friday when I will have extra for sale will be October 11.
The last Friday of the main season CSA will be October 25.
The last Tuesday of the main season CSA will be October 28.
The first Winter CSA pick-up will be Friday November 8 (more details to come).

As a reminder, if you have had a winter share in the past and are interested in one again this season, please let me know by the end of the month. Many of the winter crops look really good (the rutabaga you’ve gotten is an example, but don’t worry it won’t be all rutabaga!) I do have a number of new people interested in the winter share, so if you don’t let me know, you will likely lose your spot.

A few of you have been asking for garlic for planting. Rony and Myriam of LunaMia farm have some they have selected out specifically to plant. If you are interested let me know how many pounds you would want. Or if you tell me how many cloves you intend to plant we’ll figure out the weight. If I know by the end of the day Wednesday I can have it in the store by Friday…

It’s the first of September and at this time I would like to start accepting RETURN Winter CSA members to sign up for shares. Anyone who has had a Winter share before has the month of September to sign up again. If the Winter CSA is not full by the end of the month I will accept new members. The Winter share prices will remain the same as last year: $250 for a small and $400 for a large share. Like last year, potatoes from Ben Cameron will be available to purchase. When you sign up, please let me know how many pounds of potatoes you would like for the winter. I will pick them up before the first Winter CSA date and store them for you. You can take them as you need them through the winter.

As always, if you have any questions, please ask!

At the Friday store and Tuesday CSA there will be beautiful garlic for sale from Rony and Myriam of Lunamia Farm near Desboro. Don’t miss it!

A before and after picture of a party doesn’t always look like this! Some of the weeding crew is pictured below, and thank you all for making a daunting task so enjoyable!

Join us at 9am in the CSA garden for the satisfying task of weeding some of crops we will all enjoy later this season. Many hands make for light, social, and enjoyable work! We’ll be cutting most of the weeds, not pulling them out, so if you have clippers, or a sturdy knife, please bring it. We have some extra but not enough for everyone. However much we get done, we’ll stop at noon for a potluck lunch. If you just want to come for lunch, feel free to bring a dish to share! Please bring your own cutlery and plates.

Soil wants to express itself. It’s the organ for the Earth’s artistry.
Weeds are always an expression of something, as is every plant. Seeds can wait in the soil (sometimes for decades) for the right time, place, and reason to express what the soil desires. Some weeds are medicinals for humans, animals, and soil. They can be trying to bring something that is missing, or balance an excess. Some weeds follow cultivation, and like the fertile soil that we prepare for our crops… that’s mostly what we have.
Most of all the soil wants to cover itself, to be a storehouse of carbon, which holds the potential for the expression of life. The trick is letting the soil express the life of our crops before it feels the need to express the life of the fertility loving weeds.
Weeding, as with so many things, is all about timing. If we catch the weeds when they are young, just sprouting along with our crops, we can direct the expression of the soil with a quick hoeing. Each bed can be hoed in 10 or 15 minutes. If we miss that window, each bed can take 2, 3, 4 hours to weed. This has happened a bit this year, encouraged by the rains. Because of our earliest first harvest day in mid-June, as soon as we finished the planting push, I had to focus on the twice a week harvest and distribution. I lost the crucial window to do the quick and easy hoeing for many of the crops. Getting many hands for the task Saturday will be great to get caught up!
There’s more to this story, but that’s to be shared in the garden!
Hope to see you there,