Hi Friends! We are working long hot days and harvesting warm weather crops like summer squash and cucumbers - both signs that it is peak season. We are also at about the halfway point in the farm box - which is going really well for us; we hope it is for you too! Still we are ruminating about no-till and raised beds to improve for next year - some interesting techniques that may brace us against climate change. Search 'Richard Perkins' and 'Permaculture' or 'weed free market gardening' to get a peak of what we are looking at for next year or the years to come.
Every season we rely on the network of friends and family for support, encouragement and sometimes extra hands. This year, the presence and participation of our community has bolstered us tremendously. James's mom has come out of her retirement to help us almost daily in the field, Jenny's mom and dad help us get farm boxes into your hands. This winter, Jenny's aunties and mom used their considerable sewing skills to create market bags from surplus fabrics (most of them from a neighbor's salvaged military fabrics). These sturdy, handmade bags are available in small batches (Jenny stencils them during spare moments) for you to purchase in our farm box extras. The proceeds from bag sales will go towards the Edmonton Food Bank, an organization that we also support with our food surpluses.
We want to send a reminder to all of you that it is important to pick your farm boxes up during your locations' designated hours as a courtesy to the businesses that generously host our farm box. If you know ahead of time that you will be away, you can opt out of that weekends' pick up. Alternatively, you can arrange to have someone pick up on your behalf. We can't guarantee that your box will available for you if you don't pick it up during the listed hours. Some of the locations don't have storage and are on site specifically during farm box hours. Thank you for making this work for everyone!
Lastly, we want to welcome a few new members on board and let you know that if Edmonton is your pick up point, you have access to Uproot Food Collective's extensive selection of locally produced products with a 10% discount for Sundog customers for orders made online (enter code sundog at checkout)!
Thanks again for your patronage, and have a wonderful week!
James and Jenny
