Thompson Potato Farm - Blog - Thompson Potato Farm

Ready & Waiting

9/17/2019

Here I am standing in the very back of one of our empty potato bins. This building has three bins that are the same size as the one in the photo. This is one of our two buildings that will store our potatoes over the winter. The walls serve as a divider to keep our different varieties of potatoes separated. The holes in the wall are where we will put large tubes to help control temperature, humidity and air flow. This building will not be empty for long as yesterday was day one of the harvest!

If you’re interested in learning more about how we grow our potatoes you should pop by the farm on October 5th as we are once again participating in the annual East Gwillimbury “Farm To Fork Tour.” I will be at the farm for the entire day explaining how we grow potatoes. We also have many different activities that will be sure to delight people of all ages. More information and tickets are available at http://experienceeg.ca/farm-to-fork/ To have a look at the photos from the tour last year you can visit “Farm To Fork Tour Recap.”

As Luck Would Have It

9/13/2019

Does Friday the 13th strike fear into your heart and leave you afraid to leave the house? Or is just another day in the calendar for you? As luck would have it, none of our produce is on the list of unlucky food! The sweet corn is the best is has been all season, the new potatoes are freshly dug, and we still have beautiful local tomatoes, carrots and more for sale at the farm door. All ladders have been removed from the property, there are no broken mirrors, and the black cats have been herded into the barn! Come and enjoy the local produce before your luck runs out and it disappears for the season. For our hours of operation and directions to the farm you can visit “Contact Us.”

The Faces Of Our Farm Part V

8/30/2019

What better way to celebrate the Labour Day long weekend than with a closer look at all the dedicated and hardworking people who work at our farm? From picking sweet corn to packing potatoes to stocking the sweet corn stand to delivering our product, we wouldn’t be where we are today without their help. And don’t forget about our stall at the Ontario Food Terminal, the office staff, the field work involved in growing our crop and Murray our dog who oversees everything! You can visit “The Faces Of Our Farm Part I” to read more about Don Thompson who is the man responsible for starting this entire operation way back in 1943. Happy Labour Day everyone!

What's For Dinner Tonight?

8/16/2019

What’s for dinner tonight? We are open all weekend and are proud to offer some of Ontario’s freshest and finest produce at the farm door. Hope to see you soon! Our address, hours of operation and directions to the farm can be found at “Contact Us.”

Sweet Corn Anyone?

7/24/2019

Sweet corn anyone?! This weekend we will be opening our sweet corn stand with Norfolk County corn while we wait for our own crop to be ready. We are also pleased to offer a selection of new potatoes hand dug by Johnny & Curtis to complement the first Ontario field tomatoes of the season. Come and enjoy the bounty of fresh, local food! To have a peek at one of my most popular recipes featuring sweet corn you can visit “Mexicana Sweet Corn Salad Recipe.”

Farmers Are Professional Gamblers

7/13/2019

“Farmers are professional gamblers.” True words spoken by a wise man I happen to know personally –RJ Thompson, my husband and owner of this farm. Every year we roll the dice and spend the same amount of money and time growing our crops. Will we spend the summer running very laborious irrigation or will we get just the right amount of rain for our potatoes? Will the sweet corn and winter wheat flourish under perfect conditions or will we battle excessive rains and flooding? Will there be destructive storms or will we see the rainbow at the end of the rain? Mother Nature doesn’t always give the best odds, but we persevere every year to harvest our crops. To see some previous weather challenges we have had here you can visit “Tater Tales Stormy Father’s Day” and “Tater Tales Wacky Weather.”

What’s Growing?

7/3/2019

The past month found us struggling with intense Internet and Wi-Fi issues here at the farm (which is something most of you can probably relate to!) Many frustrating issues have been completely resolved and I am back on track to keep you interested and informed about what’s going on here at the farm. This blog is simply called “What’s Growing.” This past weekend we had beautiful weather and all our crops benefited from it. The potatoes are just coming into flower which means tiny spuds are forming underground. The sweet corn seems to be recovering from a rather rocky start with the cold, wet spring we had. The pumpkins and squash have been planted and are forming some really nice looking seedlings. And the winter wheat is tall and beautiful. To have a look at what was growing at our farm two years ago you can visit “Tater Tales July 18th What’s Growing.”

They Have Emerged!

6/11/2019

They have emerged! Last Thursday I took the first picture in this post of a tiny potato plant just beginning to poke out from the soil. It’s only ½“ high. On Sunday I took the second picture in this post and I think you can easily see what a big difference there is. All we needed was a little bit of warmth and sunshine to encourage a growth spurt. To learn a little more about how we grow potatoes you can visit “Spud Smarts – About Growing Potatoes.” We have moved onto planting other crops now that all the potatoes have been planted. This past weekend RJ managed to get another swath of sweet corn planted. Johnny and Curtis were very busy planting their pumpkins, squash and decorative corn. Busy times here indeed!

Seed Potatoes

5/31/2019

Today’s headline story coming to you Fresh From Our Farm is called “And It’s A Wrap!” We are pleased to let you know that #plant19 is now complete. All the seed potatoes are safely underground where they belong despite an extraordinary cold and wet spring here at the farm. The photos above show some of our seed potatoes in storage before we started planting. Each wooden box holds approximately 3,600 seed potatoes and each white tote bag is holding about 5,000 seed potatoes. So how many seed potatoes are you looking at in each of the photos? I would tell you but that wouldn’t be any fun at all. Feel free to do the math and see what you come up with. To watch a video of our potato planter in action you can visit “Tater Tales May 17th.”

Cutting Seed Potatoes

5/18/2019

Welcome to the second post in my brand new blog series called “Fresh From Our Farm.” This long weekend the men will be busy planting potatoes since the weather looks like it will finally cooperate a little bit. This video clip shows our seed cutting line in action. This is where we cut the larger seed potatoes into smaller pieces. They are loaded into bulk trucks and driven to the field to get loaded into the planter. To understand more about our seed potato cutting line and why we cut our seed potatoes in the first place you can visit “Journey to the Underground Part I.”

And so continues our very cold and wet #plant19. Have a great long weekend everyone! And no matter what your plans are be sure to make great memories, have some fun, stay safe and look out for slow moving tractors when you’re out and about!