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Summer 2017 on the Farm

 

 

This summers big project is the greenhouse at Edible Forest Farm.  Well underway by mid August we just have windows and doors to frame in and the building will be weather proof by late September. This building will be used to help us become more sustainable by our being able to start all our early vegetables by early April ready for May planting. We will also be able to produce micro-greens for salads as well as having a place to propagate things like our lavender and various tree cuttings.

This summer we shared an alley between the rows for KASSI to grow heritage and heirloom and save seeds from. they have many various plants growing including; tomatoes, squash, leeks, peas,beans and lettuce. They also have some sunflowers and dill growing.

Our beds for the farm saw 30 plus cabbage, pickling cucumbers, squash, peppers, kale, tomatoes and a bumper crop of potatoes. We also grew several hundred head of garlic for sale and our own usage. This year we included hogs into our system and still have a few for sale, we raised them once again on only organic feed, pears and non-sprayed apples to finish them off. Our flock of chickens took a bit of a downward slide this season losing 3 to a meandering hawk and 2 more due to unknown circumstances so our egg count has really slowed down. Next season it will be time for a new flock.

There is still things to do here this season with new trees to plant in the fall, (we are increasing our Asian Pear trees to 10 this Fall) They seem to like the soil here so why argue with nature.

Until later

Bob

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Fall 2016 AT Edible Forest Farms

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Well, after an incredibly dry summer, things are looking greener here at Edible Forest Farm. The grass looks healthy, the leaves on the trees are no longer limp. Unfortunately some trees did not make it, it was totally random, 25 year old trees died and 2 year old trees lived I suppose this is nature taking its course as it has for many millennia.

Our fruit trees lost some of their fruit, but some recovered nicely, we have apples and pears and still had some raspberries and hascap earlier on in the season. The raspberries are now making a bit of a comeback and the late producers have a few berries on them.

The nursery stock did not do as well this season as we hoped so our hazel nut trees are very low in numbers although we had a better return on our chestnut trees. We will have a few to sell in the spring, Our Black Locust and Honey locust did very well this year and we have a few apple root stock to graft to with some cuttings from a neighbor. We can see how that goes next season.

Our Potatoes did well although we had to water them to get them to produce any quantity of tubers, our peppers especially the hot varieties did very well and produced large numbers of fruit. Michelle braided many of them to hang and dry. Michelle has also made some great pepper jelly.

The Seed saving gardens did well with a number of tomato and pepper seeds sorted and saved ready to give to the KASSI organization. We are also wintering over a few Kale and Leeks to see how they do next year.

We still have some garlic left for Farmgate sales as well as some eggs. This years Maple syrup has sold out completely.

Have a great winter

Bob Chambers Owner Edible Forest Farms

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Volunteering At Edible Forest Farm and Nursery

We are a Permaculture Farm Project welcoming Work-away helpers as singles or a couple to our property. We’re in the process of integrating permaculture design principles and ethics on our property.
We offer a clean room with beds in a clean warm log home. We have lots of trail maintenance for the sugar bush, maple syrup production in the spring, Chickens for eggs, organic gardens with Hugelkulture and Square foot raised beds. We would like our helpers to weed, cultivate, build new structures (Natural Building) cook some meals and trim trees. Depending on the time of year harvesting of crops may be included. We invite Work-away helpers of any age or experience but some with cooking and building skills are appreciated. We are interested in anyone who has any background in architecture especially natural building. But all are welcome. Some of the new projects may include: outdoor shower, outdoor compost toilet, greenhouse, compost-powered water heater and small retreat/cabins in the woods. What to bring

Volunteers please bring plenty of old, warm working clothes. This is Canada expect a variety of weather, Waterproof clothing are invaluable as we work out in all weathers. We don’t have a stock of clothes to lend everyone – there are just too many people, so please make sure you come with everything you need we only make trips to town as necessary. Rubber boots are essential. Working gloves, water bottles and flashlights are useful. Alarm clocks essential if you don’t wake up early. Watches too- as people are often working in different areas. Bring all your own toiletries, sun cream, toothpaste etc.

‘There is no such thing as bad weather – just bad clothes!’ Come prepared for the worst.

Were looking for you if;

You are, motivated, energetic, people of all ages with experience of this sort of lifestyle or a real desire to learn about it. To get the most from this experience you need to be happy with doing hard physical work outside in all weathers. You need to be adaptable, flexible, focused, curious and enjoy the company of a very mixed group of people. You need to be able to work alone or as part of a team – you will be doing both. It is not possible to do this work if you have a weak back, sprains etc or frequent bouts of illness. We are not a recuperation centre or holiday camp. The willingness to learn about more sustainable living and permaculture and try, is just as important as skill. Age has proven to be no barrier to ability. Because you will be doing many very varied tasks that can be quite complex, we speak both English and French here. Its important to have a good command of one or both of these two languages.

Other things you need to know;

Work-away helpers should have there own health or travel insurance before they come.
We do some fun things as well, Work-away helpers are welcome to attend; Drum circle , full moon potluck dinners and weekend bonfires at the house.
The Historic City of Kingston is centralized between our capital of Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. We live 20 minutes North of Kingston and offers a variety of sites to see. There is no public transportation. Rides into town can be arranged. We will pick up at the Kingston VIA rail or bus station.

We do not accept smokers what so ever, “if you SMOKE please DO NOT apply” . Work-away helpers are expected to help with meals daily. Volunteer help is broken up between the morning and the evening, we do not go out in the very hot part of the day.
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We hope to hear from you and welcome you to our small homestead
Please note: To volunteer at our farm you must be a member of Workaway or Wwoof. Canada. Please contact us through our profiles there or through this webpage and we will direct you to the volunteer services.IMG_20140405_143457
Bob and Michelle

 

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Spring 2015 Pickup

We are pleased to announce that our pickup day will be on May 3rd 2015 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at 3410 Greenfield Rd. Inverary, ON K0H 1X0. You will get a chance to see the nursery beds, the newly established 4 acres agroforestry plot, our mushroom logs and more.

Some of our plants are sold out and some are getting low, so if you are thinking about getting some plants at pickup, you might be better pre-ordering them now, in case we are sold out by then.

Check out our selection: edibleforestfarms.ca/trees/

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Sept 14 2014 Start of the Fall Cleanup

We spent the weekend working around the property. Cleaning up beds and transplanting. After planting the Goji’s down the one HugelKulture bed we decided to add some edible plants around the bottom of the beds and in-between the Goji bushes. So we decided on putting in some Husta’s on one side and Lillie’s down the other. Once they fill in under the Goji’s the issue with unwanted growth will be reduced greatly.

On Monday we had some time to start transplanting our grape vines. At the top of the Hugel field was where we decided they would go. We built a raised bed out of a mixture of sandy loam and pond dirt and transplanted about half the grape vines. This coming weekend we will plant the rest.

Tonight, Wed. Sept 17 2014 we removed all the tomato plants from the Hugel field and in these beds we will plant more raspberry canes which have done extremely well in these types of raised beds.

Have a great week

Bob

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Edible Forest Farms Sept 7 2014

This past weekend on the farm we started planting Goji berry bushes in one of the older more mature Hugelkulter beds. The season for our annual crops is starting to come to an end and these beds are now 3 years old and need to have some perennial plants put into them. The bushes were put in at 5 ft on centre and offset down each side of the bed and then mulched in with straw.

We also had time to work a little on the nursery which is coming along nicely and has new plantings in it such as Siberian Pine nuts, High Bush Cranberry’s, Black Locust, some apple root stock and some new plantings of American Mountain Ash.

Keep in mind that we have a few 3 year old High Bush Cranberries, Black Walnuts and some Honey Locust for sale. Please feel free to contact us if you need some for fall planting.

Have a great week

Bob