I’m getting quite a few questions about the prospective new Lactuca Urban Farm site, so figured I’d share where things are at. The quick answer: it’s in Inglewood and we’re in the process of negotiating the lease. Although nothing’s a done deal, we’re very near the end of the process. Perhaps I need to back up a bit. Travis and … Read More
Episode 51 – Cold Frame Build
I built my first cold frame back in March of 2011. It has undoubtedly changed the way I grow food. I’m now up to 8 frames under lids, with another 6 soon to be built for the 2013 season – the majority for market. This vid is simply a look at how we’re building them now, after much homework in … Read More
August Salad, week 1
Thursday has turned into harvest day here, and has become one of my favorite mornings of the week. I get to get up early, check out what’s at its best, eat some stuff fresh from the plant, and do some creative food stuff composing salads for Lactuca Micro Farm. I’m going to try to make a point of posting about … Read More
Cold Frame Ramp-Up
Wow have I been blog absent. Not a record stint, as I’ve had a few since 2005 when I started, but this one’s up there. Sorry about that. Back to regular programming. As it turns out, me bringing my greens to market in Ep 45 has steadily evolved into a bustling little business that Travis and I are having a … Read More
Episode 46 – Veggie Patch
I’d heard of Lisa via Slow Food Edmonton some time ago, but only recently had the opportunity to meet her. The drive north to her family’s farm via the Shaftesbury river ferry is shockingly gorgeous, and I was subsequently enamoured by their mixed farm, to be honest. I’ve heard many people speak or write about the romantic notion of farms … Read More
Episode 45 – Greens to Market
My buddy Travis has been doing cool food stuff for ages, and you might recognize him from prior episodes about the Edmonton Organic Growers’ Guild or ice fishing. In fact, we were sitting on the ice catching whitefish when he mentioned his spring plans to do an intensive backyard greens operation for sale to market, restaurants, and door-to-door by bike. I knew … Read More
Laissez-Faire Gardening Dividend
I see this ridiculously lovely onion, about as thick as my thumb, as a dividend of laissez faire gardening. I did not plant it this year. This year being my first with a solid crop rotation in place, last year’s allium patch is this year’s bean patch. But it looks like I missed a dozen or so onions last fall. … Read More
Best. Spinach. Crop. Ever.
I’ve grown spinach every year since 2003. For years I’ve seen seed catalog photos of large spinach plants, thinking they must be liars. My spinach was always small, would produce a few leaves, and it would proceed to bolt if the sun looked at it wrong. We’d get a nice crop of baby spinach, but that’s really about it. Apparently … Read More
Cold Frame vs. Direct Sown: June Update
I’ve been meaning to take some shots to illustrate this for a while now: the disparity between cold frame sown root veg [April 1], and direct sown when the soil was ready [early May]. Last year, I had succession planted carrots over a few weeks, and at some point in the summer, they all ended up about the same size … Read More