Report on Canning session

We had 4 participants in the first ever Taproot canning session. We made a triple batch of salsa.
We used the recipe from the Simply in Season cookbook - I've used it before and liked it. Everything seemed to go very smoothly. I learned a bunch - timing and how to be organized etc. It takes 5 hours to do the whole thing but the woman were here for 4 hours. They went home with out the salsa because it was going to take an additional hour to process all the jars. Next time I might try to have a few canners on the go instead of just one. We did three cases of salsa in total. I will deliver a case to each participant on Tuesday - everyone came in from the city.


Peeling tomatoes - this takes time. We did 42 cups of diced tomatoes.


Chopping onions, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes.
The crew and the tomatoes. We had two great young helpers. After a while they joined in with our kids and went for a walk to the cheese house for a snack.

Here are the tomatoes we used. I had them harvested for the Incredible picnic. We harvested
the rest of the veggies from the garden.

The next canning day is set for Sept. 19th - if you are interested please let me know. We can decide closer to the date what we wish to can. Could be salsa, could be pickles, could be pasta sauce or it could be apple sauce. There are loads of options. We also talked about the price. The people who participated this time felt that between $25 and $30 was reasonable. We provided the jars, the produce, the space, the time and the lunch - the lunch was simple - sliced cheese, tomatoes, almonds, bread, etc.

Thanks for coming - it was fun!

Sunday night report

We got some welcomed rain, some wind, some blown over flowers, but no disasters.

Thankfully all of the tunnels are fine, the tomatoes inside them are fine, and we are relaxing tonight. (I haven't checked the outside peppers - I was worried about them.

There is some sweet corn that is flattened but hopefully the roots are still in tact and it can be harvested. It is a more painful harvest since you need to bend over. Below are some picture from the last few days.


Here where the onions were planted. They are all in the greenhouse now - getting ready for storage.

Here is Josh - returning from a farm check during the rain and wind on Sunday.
Franks was out with Josh to check on things during the "tropical storm" on Sunday late morning. He was really mad when I took is soaked suit and clothes off.

Calvin just finished harvesting onions and moving them into the greenhouse to cure.

Here is Nicole on Thursday cleaning up some onions for the road side stand.

Hurricane Bill

We have decided to take down two tunnels, tighten the ropes on the three tunnels covering all of the tomatoes and hope for the best. It has definitely been a very stressful few days of trying to decide what to do - of course two days ago the forecast was more intense than it was last night. The tunnels are able to sustain winds up to 90km/hr. In the past we have lost a tunnel from wind and we don't really want to push it. He has taken the plastic off of two in Canard. The challenge is that all of the tomatoes will be really damaged by the wind if we take them down.

Anyway - it is Sunday morning and we are just going to ride out the day. If the winds get too high Josh's plan of attack is to cut the ropes and then we can save the structure.

Take Care!

Freezer troubles

Yesterday the new freezer decided that it didn;t like all the heat. We had all the zucchini, loads of beans, pesto and cauliflower that at 10 PM were exposed to + 5 degrees. We were not happy. That was down from +12 a couple hours earlier. Anyway - we moved things to the almost full deep freeze upstairs and let the new freezer thaw.
Things seem to be ok now at -11.

Working in the Kitchen

Well we have the kitchen in working order.
Today Valarie (mom in law) and Kayla (next door neighbour + farm helper) and I froze shredded zucchini - we have missed some during picking and now they are massive - the best for baking. So in the winter for those of you who are 52 weeker's we will have zucchini. Also - Kayla spent hours today trimming beans. Later on tonight I will steam and freeze them.

Yippee - our family kitchen is free.

Enjoy the night.

August 10/11 newsletter

Hello All - I have had some comments, positive and not so positive about the newsletter this week, or more to the point the info in the newsletter.

FYI - by no means were my comments to be of concern to anyone in terms of security. It was simply for awareness and connectedness to what is happening on the farm.

I have now realized that not everyone is interested in all the details of what is happening and from now on I will offer info to those who request it.

So very sorry for any discomfort I may have caused you.

Things are great - the sun is shining, people are smiling, Calvin is back from his trip home to Newfoundland and the freezer is running in the kitchen AND the stove is hooked up. This means we will be freezing green and yellow beans today for the winter baskets.

Have a lovely week.

Visitors to Taproot

On Friday for about an hour I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of researchers from Ethiopia. We toured the farm and talked about various crops including garlic. The garlic that is left in the field will be forming bulbils that we will harvest, dry and plant in the fall. This will increase our garlic harvest in a few years and does not cost as much as purchasing mature bulbs from the seed or bulb company. We will see how it works.

Canning Days

Just wanting to touch base around the canning days.
August 29th and September 19th.

Please email to sign up for one of those days. If you have already indicated you are interested, please do so again just incase.

Also - Kids are welcome. We can accomdate help from little hands.

Valley Cloth Diaper

Valley Cloth diaper is a family owned small business specializing in wonderful diapers and other great items to care for your little ones.

Angela's business in just down the street from Taproot Farms and as a way to reach out she has provided us with 10 coupons to offer out to any of you.

I would be happy to provide you with a coupon if you are at all interested.

First email first serve:)

Organic Inspection

Wow - what an afternoon. The organic inspector was here today. It is so much work to do everything right. It is also a lot of work to not beat yourself up when you don't have it all right. I just want to have all the correct systems in place for tracking and recording and have it all come together.

During the inspection the inspector asks me to trace the carrots that were in your share last week. I have all the info of when they were picked, who planted them, when they were planted, but I don't know which variety they are out of the 4 we purchased. That is not cool. I need to know the seed. Of course it would happen with the one item that I knew I didn't know. I guess that is why we have these processes. We need to keep improving.

Have a good Monday.

Rain Rain Go Away

I try hard to not complain about the weather. I am usually happy with a bit of this and a bit of that. Even in winter I enjoy the days of endless snow storms. However - now that the soil is saturated with water, and now that it is causing us to lose crops and making it impossible to weed - now I am concerned. Below is what it should look like. This was taken this morning. It is right beside the picture below it that has been wet for weeks and we have not been able to access it. Kayla was weeding close to here one day and had to be pulled out because she was so far stuck in the mucky soil.



Above are rows of head lettuce. Some are beginning to bolt - but we haven't been able to work in here.

I thought you might find this compost tea brewer interesting. This is on the farm in Canard. Josh uses a lot of compost teas to help build the soil and produce healthy plants.


Here is Josh, yesterday watering the last planting of zucchini.

I couldn't resist adding this one. This is Frank. He is playing hide and seek with me at the table.

And of course - one evening meal of Taproot goodies.

Enjoy the week. The crew is here this morning and the harvest for Tuesday has started. Everyone is wearing rain gear :)