The following commentary is by Grant Robertson, whose National Farmers Union (of which I’m a part) commentaries I’ve been reading for a while now. I agree with him wholly…wake up rural Canada and stop voting Conservative! That said, I haven’t yet decided which other party would be the best alternative, but anything would be better […]
Commentary on prison farm closings Read More »
I’m feeling really tired and sad today…in fact, crying as I write this post. I guess everyone needs a day like this every once in a while, after all, I can’t be optimistic 100% of the time. What has set this off today? I feel powerless. After reading updates about the latest anti-prison farm closing
Feelings of discouragement Read More »
For most organic farmers, having to hand weed your field (as opposed to flame weeding, wheel hoeing, or hand hoeing) is the most inefficient way to weed, and is the result of not managing to stay on top of the weeds. On average this season, I’ve probably hand weeded about 2 hours a day, 4-5
The Zen of Hand Weeding Read More »
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the retirement party for Wayne Roberts, head of the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) for the past 10 years. If you read Toronto’s NOW magazine, you may recognize him as a weekly columnist and he has also written several books. Wayne was instrumental in guiding me to
Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth Read More »
I read an interesting article today about how financial speculators may have contributed to a spike in world food prices in 2006/2007: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-how-goldman-gambled-on-starvation-2016088.html. While none of these ideas are particularly new to me, the article brings together many issues in one place that underlines the horrible state that our global food system is in. Export
Our food system is beyond broken if pricing is dependent on global market pricing Read More »
In a previous post, I wrote about my tomato plants that got sunburned…well they survived the burn and have since been transplanted outside, though they have yet to prove to me that they’re going to make it. However…in some of my other beds, I have masses of tomato and ground cherry plants growing! When the
No longer lacking in tomato plants! Read More »
The title is of a good article that talks about food prices which you should definitely read (link in the title if I set things up right). Some of you have probably heard me rant about the prices for food in Canada and how they’re too low to possibly be supporting any of the farmers
Why Is Organic Food So…Cheap? Read More »
Literally…I think the heat wave we’ve been having has actually toasted the leaves of my tomato plants. To try to rescue them, I’ve brought all 450 plants back indoors to hopefully recuperate. I didn’t realize that the seedlings were still too small to withstand the heat. If they don’t recover from their scorching, I’m going
Tomato plants may be toast :( Read More »
For the past few weeks, I’ve been feeling really anxious because of the abnormally high temperatures so far this spring. I see all this gorgeous plant life outside in my flower gardens, woods and fields and feel like I’m horribly behind on my vegetable plantings. I’ve had to stop myself from moving up my planting
Today I was finally assigned my Farm Business Registration Number (FBRN)! So in the eyes of government, Black Sheep Farm is now an official farm 😀 I had to have my 2009 tax forms completed and send Agricorp my 2009 Statement of Farming Activities showing that the farm had grossed a minimum of $7000 in
Officially a farm! Read More »
