All of our veggies grow in the soil, so to care for our veggies, we care for our soil! We recently got back a soil test, which is one way to measure our impact on the soils and I was thrilled with the results. Let me try to put it in plain English… We had tested a hay field, as well as our veggie fields to provide some comparison, and we also have older soil tests from the same fields. We’ve been able to double the soil organic matter over the years – that’s the dead plants, bugs, and microbes. The organic matter in the soil is the primary source of nutrition for our veggies, in a format they can access. We’ve also been able to bring levels of micro and macro nutrients up from very low into production ranges, that’s the elements present in the soil think Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Boron etc. We also did a new test, for Active Carbon that better reflects management practices because organic matter can be slow to respond. Again, a big gold star with our levels matching the top end from a benchmark study of 30 organic farms in Ontario. From the perspective of these soil tests, it’s clear that the veggie fields are much healthier than our hay fields, and that by growing vegetables in the way we do we’re actually improving the quality of the soils. Hurray!
That doesn’t mean we’ll sit on our haunches though, we’re always trying to improve. This year we started using some landscape fabric as a substitute for plastic mulch. It allows the rain water to enter and comes in much larger pieces which can be held down with staples instead of shovelling in with dirt which is a lot of hard work. Pictured above is two future carrot beds, which one would you like to plant carrots in? Usually we would till all the green weeds in with the tractor, prior to planting the carrots. However, the less we touch the soil with the tractor the better – so we’re trying using mulches instead… and it looks to me like the weeds have come and gone, leaving a beautiful clean bed to plant our winter carrots without needing to disturb the soil again! Landscape fabric isn’t cheap, but it generates less waste (the plastic mulches don’t last more than a couple years usually, but landscape fabric should last ten years), it is easier to install, does a great job and reduces tillage. Win win win!
Did you know you can “skip” a delivery any week in Harvie? Since we’re now using a pay as you go system, you can choose to “skip” a week anytime you like which means we won’t harvest and pack it, and you don’t have to pay for it. You can always see all your deliveries here: https://www.harvie.farm/member/deliveries and beside each one is a "skip" button (or a "don't skip" for if you change your mind!). As restrictions open up we’re all eager to visit friends, family, and just get out of the house after a long winter of lockdowns. There’s no need to reschedule to another week, if you did want extra veggies another week just add them into your bag when you’re customizing. Happy travels, and we’ll feed you again when you’re back!
Oh my goodness fennel. The fennel grew beautifully so they ended up being nice big heads this past week (despite my thinking that they would be small). On order this week they are a bit smaller than last week, but lots to go around. I'll tuck in two smalls if I run out of mediums! Don’t forget to use the beautiful fronds as garnish and a delicious licorice flavor in salads, on soups, or in pastas. The fronds don’t really need any cooking, just add them at the last minute. The stems and bulb can get a bit stringy, so we always like to chop them finely and usually we cook them although they’re perfectly edible in salads too.
