DebTheFarmer
grub
Market Gardener, Heirloom Veg Lover, Novice Permaculturist, Future Vegetable Breeder.
Posts: 70 
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Post by DebTheFarmer on Feb 10, 2014 13:25:15 GMT -5
Hey Everyone  I'm more of a stalker/reader but I'm trying to post more. Lived in Thorhild, Alberta, Canada pretty much my entire life (1 hr North of Edmonton). Currently a stay-at-home-mom / work-from-home-mom. I grow a small Market Garden (small CSA, supply 2 restaurants) with my Mom and Hobby Farm with my Husband (chickens, handful of goats, 24 quail, cats and a dog). My sister raises ducks and geese. My Uncles farm grain, hay, and raise swine. All small scale. Provide food for ourselves and sell direct to consumers. One Uncle farms for "a living", the rest of us make enough to cover costs and put a bit of spending money back into the business. Hoping to one day grow just large enough to not have to work off farm. This day, February 10 2014, it is -28C. Overnight was -34C. We're cold-hardy people (and plants and animals) up here Growing season is about 100 frost-free days. Some years longer. Some years shorter. Upside is there's -usually- enough heat and LOTS of sunshine in those 3 months! Most years there's enough rain to get through the summer without having to haul water. For fun I bake (worked in bakeries for 4 years before becoming a mom), cook from scratch, make cheese and charcuterie, garden, watch my chickens play with the goats lol Try and give my little one the best life I can. She makes a great little farmer  I took an Intro to Permaculture course a couple years ago. Been exploring it ever since. Always changing and adapting methods to suit my cold climate. Would love to have my own quarter-section to work on a large / long term scale with it. I'm always pushing the envelope of what can be grown here. Somethings work. Sometimes it takes a couple tries to get it right. Sometimes… you just gotta cut your losses. Our Market Garden is: Heritage Harvest GardensI'm on Twitter: DebTheFarmerLike the Garden on Facebook: Facebook HHGMy sister's Farm: Moose Wood AcresLooking forward to reading through the forum - Deb |
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Post by ferdzy on Feb 10, 2014 14:36:20 GMT -5
Hi Deb! Always nice to see fellow Canadians! That sounds like a challenging climate, I must say... but there are others here with similar. Welcome!
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Post by bunkie on Feb 10, 2014 14:47:31 GMT -5
Welcome Deb!
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Post by philagardener on Feb 10, 2014 19:54:40 GMT -5
Hi Deb! Greetings from Philadelphia! Great helper you have there!
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Post by wolfcub on Feb 10, 2014 21:59:32 GMT -5
Hi Deb Welcome from Vancouver Island {former Edmontonian}
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Post by raymondo on Feb 15, 2014 20:55:58 GMT -5
Welcome from the deep south!
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Post by MikeH on Feb 16, 2014 3:34:08 GMT -5
Hi Deb,
Welcome. Artichokes 80 km north of Edmonton!!!!!!!!!! Truly impressive. If you're interested in expanding your CSA basket to include cherries, haskap, grapes, email me at the address in my profile. Yes, I know it's a bit nippy in January but I think these varieties might make it there.
Mike
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Post by richardw on Feb 16, 2014 4:10:51 GMT -5
Hi Deb from even deeper south,sorry Ray,not trying to out do ya, LOL.
Ive had a good read of you Heritage Harvest Gardens website,its well done.
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DebTheFarmer
grub
Market Gardener, Heirloom Veg Lover, Novice Permaculturist, Future Vegetable Breeder.
Posts: 70
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Post by DebTheFarmer on Feb 16, 2014 10:36:32 GMT -5
Hi Deb, Welcome. Artichokes 80 km north of Edmonton!!!!!!!!!! Truly impressive. If you're interested in expanding your CSA basket to include cherries, haskap, grapes, email me at the address in my profile. Yes, I know it's a bit nippy in January but I think these varieties might make it there. Mike Hi Mike! Yeah artichokes They're an annual but I'm going to try and get some to overwinter this year. With heavy mulching and a good thick snowfall in the early fall I think they'll make it It's just the crowns that have to survive… Doesn't hurt to try. I think if any of them make it it'll be one of the purple varieties. They seem to be more hardy than Green Globe. There are cherries, haskaps, grapes, pears, LOTS of apples, 3 different cranberries, blueberries, hardy kiwi, and lots of wild berries that grow here  Our current location doesn't have much in the way of fruit perennials (besides wild berries). I would love to change that Currently I do Fruit Rescue with an organization in Edmonton to get my fill of tree fruit. |
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DebTheFarmer
grub
Market Gardener, Heirloom Veg Lover, Novice Permaculturist, Future Vegetable Breeder.
Posts: 70
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Post by DebTheFarmer on Feb 16, 2014 10:43:10 GMT -5
Hi Everyone! Thanks for the warm welcome richardw and raymondo are going to laugh at me… Last year we tried Okra (in a low tunnel). One of my best chef friends is originally from Louisiana and she begged me for fresh Okra (we do collards, green tomatoes, beans, etc for her already). It got 8inches tall, tried to bloom but never fully opened. So, no pods  One of our Northern seed companies is offering a " cold climate hardy Okra" that I'm thinking of trying. Do you think it'll still need a tunnel for extra heat/humidity? |
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Post by stratcat on Feb 16, 2014 14:22:42 GMT -5
Hi Everyone! Thanks for the warm welcome richardw and raymondo are going to laugh at me… Last year we tried Okra (in a low tunnel). One of my best chef friends is originally from Louisiana and she begged me for fresh Okra (we do collards, green tomatoes, beans, etc for her already). It got 8inches tall, tried to bloom but never fully opened. So, no pods One of our Northern seed companies is offering a " cold climate hardy Okra" that I'm thinking of trying. Do you think it'll still need a tunnel for extra heat/humidity? Welcome to HG! Here's what my lone Bowling Red Okra looked like on 2 September, 2O13. It was puny, but it at least ripened one pod. It was supposed to be 7-8' tall. I started it indoors. The year before, my neighbors grew a regular Okra that was waist high. A couple gardeners in the south recommend growing Okra from saved seed, so I'm giving it a try again this year with my seed.  |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 16, 2014 14:48:14 GMT -5
Here's what most of my okra looked like at the end of the growing season last time I tried growing it.  |
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Post by steev on Feb 17, 2014 21:13:14 GMT -5
Okra! I've yet to get enough to cook, just the odd pod to nosh in the garden.
Congratulations on having such a lovely child and infecting her early with the gardening bug.
The last time I lunched my back, I spent three days on the couch in one position reading cook-books (I was taking muscle-relaxants that made me so stupid, a recipe was about the limit of my attention-span); one was an excellent book on charcuterie. I look forward to discussing this subject with you, one day.
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DebTheFarmer
grub
Market Gardener, Heirloom Veg Lover, Novice Permaculturist, Future Vegetable Breeder.
Posts: 70
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Post by DebTheFarmer on Feb 17, 2014 21:43:38 GMT -5
Okra! I've yet to get enough to cook, just the odd pod to nosh in the garden. Congratulations on having such a lovely child and infecting her early with the gardening bug. The last time I lunched my back, I spent three days on the couch in one position reading cook-books (I was taking muscle-relaxants that made me so stupid, a recipe was about the limit of my attention-span); one was an excellent book on charcuterie. I look forward to discussing this subject with you, one day. My greatest accomplishment is her knowing more vegetables than cartoon characters. Making charcuterie is awesome. Still working on perfecting a homemade hotdog. Best thing I've made yet is a Cold-Smoked Dry-Cured Chorizo. Smoked it on my tiny charcoal bbq and cured in a boarded off corner in the cold room. Misted it with water a couple times a day. Slightly more time-consuming than buying a fancy curing chamber and smoker, but i tell people that's why it tastes so good  |
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Post by steev on Feb 17, 2014 22:00:11 GMT -5
I look forward to when I can raise a pig and have a smokehouse and cold-cellar. Right now, I can't even have a cat (such deprivation!).
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