Winter Wheat

As the spring sun soaks in, life comes back to everything. Spring
is the time of rejuvenation and new growth. Spring maybe the most exciting time
on the farm because we are buzzing with anticipation to get things started. As
the snow melts away the fields reappear and we start thinking about getting out
on the land. This year is exceptional because the little snow we had melted
early and the weather has been so nice and warm. All this beautiful weather has
been great for our winter wheat fields. The winter wheat fields are lush and
brilliant green.  We were lucky we didn’t
have much winter damage despite the lack of snow. Snow is important for the
wheat because it acts as an insulation layer in the winter, protecting it from
the cold.

Garlic on the Raised Beds

Our garlic is up and is looking good.  Last fall we planted 12 acres for this years
crop. We planted using 2 different techniques. We planted a lot in raised beds
with 3 and 4 rows in each. The reason for the raised beds is to help with
drainage, increase soil temperature and most importantly, more efficient use of
the land. The raised beds also tend to be earlier and easier to dig for
harvesting. The second method we used for planting garlic was the corn planter.
This technique is great for planting the smaller cloves quickly, because we can
plant 4 rows at a time. Last night we checked on the garlic to see how it is
doing. We had great germination and each plant already has 4-5 leaves. When we
dug up some cloves we found large white root systems. The old clove is still
attached, but it is enlarged and if you crack the cloves open you will find the
new stem starting in the center.  Its bizarre
how great everything is looking and its only April 11^th.

Haskaps leafing out

We have two plantings of spinach in the ground, the rhubarb
and haskaps have leafed out, the day-neutral strawberries are getting some
blooms under the blanket and we are planting spring wheat.  Everything is happening early this year, the
nice weather makes it feel like we may already be getting behind, but then you
look at the date and we are flashed back to reality. It is only the second week
in April.

Look at that air !!!

Our animals seem to love this weather too. The cows were
into the neighbour’s wheat field earlier than usual. It is normally mid-May
before we find the cows escaping their wintering grounds for greener winter
wheat fields. But not this year, it was in March. The baby lambs have been
running and jumping around outside all week. Enjoying the beautiful sun and
their new found out door world. Watching them jumping and kicking up their legs
with joy has been hilarious. Some of the lambs can get some serious air. Their
youthful enthusiasm brings excitement to doing chores. Even our miniature donkey
Burrito has had several jogs around the green pasture.

Part of Our New Herd

In the fall we decided we’d try sheep farming for the winter.  We purchased 25 bred ewes that are due any
time before February. Purchasing the ewes was exciting as we were able to
choose the ewes that we wanted from the lot. With the farmer we ran all the ewes
through a shoot sorting some in and out. We didn’t really know exactly what we
were looking for and as each ewe entered the head gate the farmer told us the
breed and what he thought of the ewe. And then there was me, who was suggesting
the ewes that were cute or looked cool. I really liked the Romneys, a gray
sheep with a black face, the Cheviot North Country, their face look like Don
Cherry’s dog and, the Clun Forest.  After
a few cute comments the farmer joked that you should not bring a woman to pick
out livestock.  Eventually we had 25 ewes
that were going to be delivered to the farm in a few days.

Ewe's settling in to their new home

We headed home to prepare the barn for sheep and read as
much material as we could on everything about sheep. We visited our aunt and
neighbour’s farm to check out how they set up the barn for their sheep.  We then adjusted the feeder so the sheep
could eat out of them rather than cows, which have much longer necks.  On December 12^th, the trailer
loaded with our new sheep arrived. They unloaded easily and settled in quickly
to their new pen, the beginning of a new adventure on the farm.

Our First Mother and Lamb

In that first week we did a lot of things and a lot of
checking-in on the sheep. With new animals in the barn we checked-up on them to
make sure everything was okay.  Especially
because of the lingering question of when would the first lamb be born?  Everyone was betting on different days and
ewes.  In the meantime we were busy building
claiming pens for the mother and newborns to get associated for the first few
days after birth.

Our answer came on December 19^th.  In the morning we came in and there was a
tiny white lamb looking up at us. Our first lamb and the best thing is there were
no issues. The mother had lambed in the night, cleaned it up, claimed it and it
was suckling all on its own. Amazing! We had started to get nervous after all
our reading about having to assist births and complications that can happen. We
then separated the pair into a claiming pen. The first of 25, an exciting day,
which just happens to be my Dad’s birthday, maybe we will call this one Bill.

Ewe in Labour

A week later Number 2, it was just as easy. But lucky number
3 waited till it was -20◦ C and needed a little help. The elbows of the lambs front
legs were back.  Meaning our assistance
was necessary.  It was difficult to hold
the ewe down; I was clearly not a strong as she. Once Rod got back from hockey,
he came straight to the barn.  His experience
and strength were exactly what we needed to deliver a healthy 3^rd
lamb.  By now we have many mothers who
look like they are going to deliver any moment. It’s just a matter of who and
when, as they are showing the tell-tale signs “bagged up” (full utters), sunken
hips and huge bellies.

Last night was exciting; we knew when we checked on the barn
at 11:30 that 2 ewes would deliver. We checked back in an hour, and sure enough
one ewe’s water broke. An hour later she had hooves sticking out a great sign.
We left her alone and came back in a half an hour to find her not progressing,
but the other ewe had delivered and was already cleaning up her lamb. But it
was clear we needed to assist the other ewe. She had been in labour for over an
hour and was not advancing. As I held her down Al pulled out the lamb. The lamb
was huge, much larger than the other just born, even bigger than the one born 3
days ago, no wonder the poor ewe was having trouble.   Both ewes were good mothers they quickly
claimed their lambs and began cleaning them up. It was a long night in the barn
delivering the lambs and setting the new pairs up in their claiming pens. I
have never had to play a role in a delivery before and it really is an amazing
process to watch the instincts of these animals kick in.  Even our mother llama was protecting the
newly born lamb and ewes from the rest of the herd. Nature is amazing.

New Mother and Lamb

I know we are just at the beginning of becoming sheep
farmers but so far it has been a pleasure and I’m looking forward to what is
next.

Bins of Winter Squash

Thanksgiving is always associated with a lot of squash. People may not realize just how much squash is part of Thanksgiving. First there is the pumpkin pie a staple at every Thanksgiving dinner. Often squash is also a dish on the table maybe baked with maple syrup or brown sugar or layered into lasagna. Then you have the decorative squash, the gourds and mini-jacks which often the center pieces of a Thanksgiving table. So maybe we should change the name of the holiday to Squashgiving. Although that sounds ridiculous squash definitely has a leading role in Thanksgiving celebrations.

Squash come in all shapes and sizes

On Willowtree Farm we grow about 10 acres of all kinds of different squashes. We grow green and yellow zucchini (summer squash), pepper/ acorn squash, buttercup, butternut, Red and Blue hubbard squash, pie pumpkins, mini Pumpkins, Jack-o-Latren Pumpkins, Warty pumpkins, ghost pumpkin, Giant pumpkins, gourds of all shapes and colours including giant pear and swan gourds and I’m sure I have still missed a few.

Yellow Zucchini and flower

The zucchini or summer squash have thin, edible skin and soft seeds, and are high in vitamins A and C. The tender flesh has a high water content, sweet and mild flavour, and requires little cooking. For best flavour, choose small squash (4 to 6 ounces each) with blemish-free skin. They keep well refrigerated in a plastic bag for about 5 days.

The zucchini flower is also a delicacy. It is wonderful stuffed, in stir-fry, fried or my personal favourite is in tacos with mushroom and cheese.

Then there is the colourful array of winter squash. Despite their name, winter squash are a warm weather crop, getting their name because they can be stored through the winter.

This year in particular was difficult for the winter squash, because of the long period of hot and dry weather; a lot of young fruit aborted, resulting in a lower yield than previous years.

Array of Winter Squash

Winter squash have hard, thick skin and large seeds, and are high in vitamins A and C, iron and riboflavin. The flesh is firm and requires long cooking times to soften. When selecting a squash look for a squash that is heavy its size, hard, deep-coloured, and the skin is blemish-free for long storage. Winter squash can be stored in a cool, dark place for months. Rod has a large butternut squash from last year that is still in perfect condition (12 months!). He is keeping it just to see how long it will last. Many times he has warned us not to cook it up, but I can’t wait to try it.

Pigs eating the Giant Pumpkins

Even our animals on the farm love to eat the squash family. The pigs run around squealing every time they see one of us coming towards them with a pumpkin in hand. They particularly loved the giant pumpkin which they devoured in half an hour of shear joy.  For the cows the day after Halloween is their favourite day because we load up all the pumpkins into the manure spreader to break them up and feed them the pumpkins. They moo with delight till every last pumpkin seed is eaten up.

Now some fun food facts about “The Squash Family”

The Pumpkin belongs to the same family the cucubrites, which include the melons and cucumbers.

 Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus  Cucurbita, and divided into two categories — summer and winter squash.

Squash, along with corn and beans are believed to have originate in Mexico, over 7, 500 years ago.

Squash is an excellent source of mineral, beta carotene, potassium and vitamin A, with moderate quantities of vitamin B and C.

The Paw print were left in the Pumpkins

It turns out that our “friend” Mr. black bear has returned or maybe never left the area. But he is making his presence known yet again here at Willowtree. This time he has taken to the giant pumpkins Al was growing. Al puts a lot of time and effort into his giant pumpkins each year in hopes of growing a pumpkin over a 1000 lbs. Last year he took one of his giant pumpkins to the Port Elgin Pumpkinfest were he received 10^th place for his pumpkin which weighed 613.12 lbs. He was planning on returning again this year with another hopefully larger pumpkin and things were looking good so far. The pumpkins were growing nicely and the plants were large and beautiful, meaning they could produce a lot of energy to yield a large pumpkin.

Mr. Black Bear Paw prints

Then Mr. Black bear found the giant pumpkin patch and had a hay day one night. He must have thought he found some sort of amusement park for bears because started to touch all the pumpkins.  He got his hands on every single on of them and broke them off the vine and rolled them around. Meanwhile he left his paw prints on each and everyone. Just so when Al showed up the next day there was no guessing who had been medaling with his prize giant pumpkins. It was Mr. Black Bear. Needless to say this was an extremely disappointing discovery for Al. All his effort wasted, but at least he got some cool pictures.

So far none of us have seen the bear at all this year but he is leaving us evidence that he is around.  Al has now put up a motion censored trail camera to hopefully catch a glimpse of Willowtree’s elusive black bear. The camera worked and we now have some good shots of what he looks like. He is a large and shiny bear that clearly spends his time at the back of our farm. We also got cool pictures of wild turkeys too. The Trail camera is a really cool way to see what goes on around the farm when people aren’t around.

Caught on Camera

Bee Swarm in Apple Tree

Catching a bee swarm is exciting business. We had to go to her orchard, suit up in our bee suit and then cut the limb down and place it in a box carefully. Then seal the box up and bring it back to our farm to put in our bee hives. All while not disturbing the bees too much so they stay calm and in one group and don’t get angry and sting us.

When we got to Nature’s Bounty we were excited to see how big the swarm was on the tree. The bees had formed a massive ball on the apple tree. Bees swarm when they are overcrowded in their hive or the conditions are no longer ideal so they go in search of a new home. The bees form the large ball around the Queen to protect here, as she is vital to the survival of the colony.

Al looking at the Bee Swarm

Once we got the bees into the box and sealed it up with hi-tech equipment like electrical tape, we drove them to there new home on Willowtree. The easy part appeared to be over. Now we had to figure out how to get all the bees into our hive without losing the queen or injuring the bees. We called our bee mentor who suggested we shake them on the bee boxes and them leave them for the day so they move down the boxes and then at night when all the bees are in put the lid on. So this is what we did, but we were completely shocked about how many bees there were. By the time we were done we had a mound of bees and a cloud of them flying around us everywhere. So we left to let them settle down and make a new home of our hive.

 We are excited to be back in the bee business. They are really interesting organisms to work with and with the added bonus of getting our own honey.  Bees are also extremely important to have on the farm for pollination. Especially for our pumpkins and squash which require multiple visits during the time the female flower is viable to achieve pollination. Ideally each flower requires approximately 15 visits to produce a good-quality fruit. The higher the number of visits to female flowers, the great  the fruit set, fruit size and weight, and number of seeds. Which means having healthy bees is extremely beneficial for our farm.

Pulling the garlic

This year we went big with our garlic crop. We planted 4 acres of garlic last fall for this year. This is about 10 times more than what we had last year, because last year we sold out of garlic early and had none left for seed.

The garlic did fabulous this year. It sized up nicely and we have a lot of beautiful bulbs and many are jumbo sized.   As many of you know we have been digging up fresh garlic to sell at the markets since the spring.  Well the time has come to start harvesting the garlic for drying. All this hot dry weather has helped the garlic mature and start to dry, which means the great garlic harvest has started. Since Wednesday the boys have been digging, pulling and clipping the garlic in the field. 4 acres is a lot of garlic to pull especially in the heat. But these hot days are perfect for drying the garlic.

One of the many wagons of picked garlic

Since we have so much garlic this year we had to come up with a new technique for drying it, because we would not be able to hang it all in the barn. We came up with an idea of putting it in crates with a lot of slits in the side and putting it on the fan for the hay mow. This is a powerful fan that is typically used to force air through the hay to dry it. Instead we are using the fan to blow air through the crates to dry our garlic. The barn now has a garlic cloud around it; you can smell it before you get to the barn. There won’t be any vampires around here for a long time.

Once the garlic is dried we will then clip the roots off and remove the outer sheath to clean it. Then presto magic we will be selling dried garlic at all of our markets for everyone to enjoy. Enjoying this garlic is the easy part because it has a sweet and pungent flavour, great size bulb, which are easy to peel and its home grown Utica goodness!!

Crates of garlic in the field

Later this fall we will begin to crack our bulbs for seed for next year’s crop. Part of the reason we grew so much is because we wanted to grow enough to create our own seed stock. Right now in Ontario there is a major problem with nematodes in garlic. We don’t want to risk getting this disease on our farm so we are going to continue to grow our own seed rather than buying seed, which could be infected.

Freshly picked Strawberries

After a long and hot strawberry picking season we always like to take the Mexican workers out for a treat, to thank them for all their hard work and long hours in the strawberry patch. Strawberry picking is definitely one of the most grueling and seemingly endless jobs on the farm. They spend many hours a day on their knees picking flat after flat of delicious strawberries. A reward is well deserved.

Guys at the falls

For the last couple of years we have taking them out to the casino for the buffet dinner. But this year we decided to change it up. The idea came from them, really. For several years well picking along side them they have asked me about Niagara Falls and what it is like, how far away it is and so on. After being ask about Niagara from several of the guys each year, we decided this year instead of going out for dinner to take them down to see Niagara Falls. After all some of the guys have been working in Canada for 12 years, they should see our natural wonder.

Yesterday we all piled into 2 hot vehicles and headed east to Niagara. The traffic was good going, but just after we hit dead stop traffic in Burlington heading over the bridge. There was a transport truck broken down in the center lane of the bridge. After about an hour of creeping along we eventually made it up and over and were clear sailing again into Niagara. The guys definitely enjoyed the scenery and some didn’t know that Lake Ontario was so huge.

Group photo at the Falls

Once we got to Niagara the first stop was Burger King for a lunch stop of  hamburguesas and papas fritas and of course Coca-cola. You could already see the guys faces light up with all the things to see on the main strip. There is a lot more going on here than in Port Perry.  From there we headed down for the first glimpse of the falls. They were all very impressed by the falls and right away started taking pictures of themselves in front of it. I lent them my digital camera for the day so they could have photos to take home to there families. Many snap shots later we headed down to the Maid of the Mist. We got our group photo together and then got our blue rain ponchos and headed to the boat.

On the Maid of the Mist

 The maid of the mist was definitely the highlight of the day. You get an impressive view of the American falls first and then as you get closer to the horseshoe falls the mist really starts and this is about the same time the “little boy” came out in each one of the guys, they were smiling and giggling as their ponchos blew around and we were getting rained on well they were taking pictures of themselves. It was perfect because my camera is waterproof so they were able to take all kinds of pictures in the mist of the waterfall. It was such a fun event to share together. After such a long time of just working together it is really nice to spend some time playing together too. We had a riot on the Maid of the Mist and were the last people to get off the boat because we were having so much fun. Then we gave them the afternoon to explore Niagara themselves.

Good times had by all

 At one point we were inside a restaurant and saw a group of them on the street with big smiles pointing up and laughing and taking pictures. For us this was really nice to see that they were clearing enjoying them selves and having a good day off the farm. These smiles made it worth it for us to sit in traffic on a sweltering hot “day-off”. The ride home was quicker with good traffic and it was fun to talk about the day with them. They now want to come back every weekend if they can. One even suggested maybe he could buy a car and drive them all down.  Well I think Niagara was a hit and looking at the photos they took of themselves. I think they will be taking some good memories home to share with their families.

Burrito the miniature donkey

We have been busy this year building new pens and filling our petting zoo with all kinds of new animals. This year we got a new miniature donkey, Burrito. Burrito has really shaggy fur and is quite small compared to a regular donkey. He is really dwarfed by our horse Mulligan, but he is the perfect size for the petting zoo. Burrito is a chilled out guy who likes his head rubed. 

Dinner Time

In the pen with Burrito we have Pipe-cleaner the llama, we got him several years ago as a baby. He has grown up to be a very friendly and curious llama. He doesn’t like to be touched, he prefers to touch you!  Pipe also loves to give kisses to people he knows. But he will usually come to the fence and check you out, even if he doesn’t know you. Together with Pipe-cleaner and Burrito we also have 4 dairy goats and 2 sheep. By nature goats are very curious creature and always come to check out what is going on and who has come to see them. They love attention and bleat at people to come over to visit them. The sheep on the other hand are very timid and prefer to keep their distance, but they are cute to look at. We have one white sheep and one black sheep.

New Lion Rabbit

Last Saturday Rod picked up 8 Lion Rabbits, who are getting used to there new home at Willowtree. The rabbits are really cute and have long fluffy manes, hence the name Lion Rabbits. There are several different coloured rabbits, white, black, tan and one in particular is really neat looking. He looks like a tiger with multi color stripes of black, orange and gray, at the same time his is the fluffiest one out there.

Pigs

Between the other animals we have 2 pigs. The pigs have brown on there heads and tails with pink sandwiched between, like an Oreo cookie. The pigs have a lot of character, they get super excited when I do chores and bring them food and water. First they check out what they got today in there food dish. They love the scarps we bring home from markets, particularly the juicy strawberries and tomatoes. Water also really excites them, first they stick there head in the bucket and blow bubble. Later after they are done drinking, they flip the bowl over and flop and roll in the mud they just created in sheer delight. They make me laugh when I do the chores in there pen.

One is not like the others

Another new addition to the farm is a crested duck. It was brought to us only a few days old from a Mom and her son, but it was very apparent at first glance that this duck was special. Mohawk we now call him, has a tuft or pompom of feathers on the top of his head. At the moment he is in the pen in the barn with the turkey chicks, because he is lease then a few weeks old and has not developed his true feathers yet so he needs to be under the heat lamp. He is still bright yellow and fluffy, but eventually we will have him outside to swim in our pond. Until then he has become good friends with the turkeys and I think he thinks he is more of a turkey than a duck.

New Barn Kittens (Mitten with 6 toes is the black kitten in centre)

We also have 10 new kittens in the barn. We got them because we need cats to keep the mice population at bay in the hay mow. They are all so cute and run to the door when they hear you coming down the stairs to do chores. A couple of them even have six toes. It looks like they have mittens on.

As you can see we have collected quite the array of new animals on the farm this year. Most of them are outside the market for everyone to enjoy. So come on over and see Willowtree’s new friends. They love the attention!

Garlic Field

Our garlic is growing great this year. It loves all the moisture and cool days and so far the bulbs have been sizing up quicker than last year. The bulbs have been dividing into cloves with many already having 6-8 cloves per bulb.  Soon enough, we will be digging it all up to hang and dry. Until then we will contine to sell the fresh green garlic. The green garlic is nice to use because you don’t have to peel off the skin. You can dice up the entire bulb, and even up the green stalk to the first leaf. This means no sticky & stinky fingers from peeling the garlic. This green garlic can be used in any dish you would typically use garlic in. Personally I think it is fabulous on new potatoes, pasta, and eggs.

Good looking garlic

Scapes, what’s that you say? The garlic scape comes from the center of the garlic and is the flower stalk. We pull the scapes in June to direct the plants energy into producing a large bulb rather than producing a flower. We pull the scapes once they have made a loop or too.

Al in Garlic Field with Scapes and Green Garlic

Another reason we pull the scapes is because they are a gourmet delight!! Scapes can be used in all different ways. They can be steamed and served whole great with asparagus and butter. They are great diced in stir fry on potatoes or eggs, or pickled and added to Cesar’s. My personal favourite is garlic scape pesto. Pick up some garlic scapes at a farmer’s market and give them a try. There are endless possibilities and they have a wonderful delicate garlic flavour and only available for a short season.

Just Picked Rhubarb

The farm is green again and we have started to harvest several different crops. We have loads of red rhubarb, asparagus, spinach, and green garlic. We also have green fruit developing on both the Haskaps and strawberries as well as flower buds are starting on the raspberries. The crops have loved all the sun after so much rain this spring. Keep it coming!

 Growing in the Greenhouse

Our first seedlings

Everything is growing well in our new greenhouse. Yesterday we planted our first planting of the cole crops and lettuce seedlings we grew ourselves.  An exciting step, it feels great to be producing the plants right from seed to harvest. The greenhouse is full of plants at every stage. We have more trays ready to go in the ground in a few days, trays a few weeks along, just germinated trays and trays seeded yesterday. So we can clearly see how the plants are developing at all stages.

Cucumber in the Greenhouse

Today I also set up an exciting new project we are trying this year. We are growing mini English cucumbers inside the greenhouse on a trellis system. We used 96 pots filled with high porosity potting medium and topped them with vermiculite. Then I planted one plant in the center of each pot. In a few weeks as the plants grow, we will put up a sting from each plant to train them grow up it. This is done to maximize the space. Rather than having the vine crawl along the ground, making a maze to walk through and find the cucumber, the plants will grow up and we will be able to pick the fruit without bending over. We are pretty excited about this new project and hope that it will yield delicious crisp cucumbers for all to enjoy. I will update everyone later on the progress of the cucumbers and include pictures of them growing up the trellises. It should look pretty cool in the greenhouse soon. 

CSA Basket Starting

 June 14^th is the first day for our CSA share program. This means another year of baskets full of our fresh fruits and veggies for the entire season (20 weeks). We will be delivering the baskets on Tuesday afternoon from 4-6 p.m. or they can be picked up from our farm market. Expect to see fresh asparagus, rhubarb, garlic, tomatoes and likely spinach or lettuce.  If you have not already registered as a CSA member you still have time. Log on to our website and download the application. We will be having a CSA Farm Tour/ Open House June 26th. CSA Members are invited to bring family and friends to tour the farm and learn how we grow your food. There will be a BBQ after the farm tour. Hope to see you all there.