Tuesday, September 14, 2010

End of Summer Updates

It's been a busy few weeks lately with Dan Jason visiting, putting on the seed workshops and throughout this trying to keep on top of the biggest seed harvest yet. All three workshops were big hits, many thanks to everyone who came out for them! They were so much fun I'm already trying to think about doing more... I'll keep everyone posted. Below are a few shots from the events:


















-Threshing demo at the Halifax workshop, Aug 22.
















-Back on The Weekend Gardener... this time with Dan! Hope you caught the show.


















-The Middleton workshop was the biggest and most lively of the three, with a very keen and knowledgeable group. Here we are talking tomatoes.


















-Thanks to David Baldwin for this great shot of us.


















-Dan articulating the finer points of seeds.


The Watershed Music Festival and it's workshops were especially fun, unfortunately I don't yet have photos to post. Be sure to make it to next year's festival! Pollination Project is also holding the second annual Stinking Rose Garlic Festival on October 30, be sure to make it there too.

So after all this seed saving evangelism I'm pretty happy to settle back into the quieter daily rhythm of the farm and to get back to harvesting the actual seeds! There are so many cool new varieties that I'll profile in a future post, Cole and O.S.U. Blue are two tomatoes I really want to get people excited about...

Exciting news with the greenhouse, it's finally complete! We had a work party the other day and with many hands and co-operatively still air we got the plastic attached with no problems. The effect was amazing, within one minute of the cover being on you could feel a noticeable difference in temperature between inside and out. The plans now are to start drying more seeds in the greenhouse and later on to grow winter greens for the markets. Maybe I'll get into the heirloom tomato seedling business in the spring... Until then seek me out for both greens and seeds at the market this winter!

2 comments:

  1. Visiting your farm was pretty special Owen,..I look at seed saving in a whole new light now.

    So pleased to read the greenhouse is finished..can well imagine the change in temps))). It will be a joy to go in there when the early winds of winter buffet.

    Re Heirloom tomatoes...really impressed by the drama of O S U Blue (growing in your field)...could see it on a platter with gold, purple black and red tomatoes..foodies would appreciate the color jump..even if it's flavour wasn't tops..

    Great photos!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, great to hear you enjoyed the day so much! Those OSU blues are pretty impressive, they've turned solid red with deep blue shoulders. I've been eating them and I take back some of what I said about the flavour, it's nothing incredible but it's still good... kind of mild and low-acid. Still beats your average store-bought tomato!

    I'll write about Chiapis Wild tomato at some point too, it's a tiny "wild" cherry with vines that sprawl 8' on the ground. The flavour is so intense... "mind blowingly sweet" is how one intern put it.

    ReplyDelete