Thompson Potato Farm - Blog - Thompson Potato Farm

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!

And It Begins

5/6/2019

Welcome to the first post in my brand new blog series called “Fresh From Our Farm.” Over the next year all my blogs will have fresh content with new photos, fresh new recipes, fresh off the press updates about life on the farm, and of course information about how we grow and sell our fresh produce. So let’s get started!

Saturday was another drizzly, foggy and miserable day. All the routine maintenance and inspections were done on the tractors and the planting equipment. Every order of seed potatoes had arrived. Everyone was fired up and ready to start planting. But we waited yet another day hoping the weather would dry up and warm up.

What a huge difference 24 hours can make! By Sunday afternoon all the equipment was moved to the field and we were finally able to start. And so begins #plant19. To see some amazing pictures of our seed potatoes being unloaded you can visit “Millions of Seed Potatoes.”

Happy 3rd Anniversary To Us!

4/30/2019

Honestly where does the time go? It’s already been three years since we launched our website and the response has just continued to increase! In 2018 we had just over 32,000 unique visitors than generated an astonishing 87,000 page views. One of the most exciting social media events to happen to us this year was my blog about road safety and tractors that went mini-viral reaching almost 40,000 people. This very important topic is so close to my heart as it involves the safety of my husband and my children as they set off to work every day.

My traditional top ten slideshow above features the blogs that got the most reaction on social media over the last year. It was an interesting exercise to analyze the feedback and reactions to the 30 blogs I wrote this year to see if I could discover a pattern in the topics that engage you. The results show that you are completely unpredictable! From a simple photo of sweet corn to a winter sunrise to an April Fool’s Day joke you have shown me for the third year in a row that you enjoy a wide variety of topics. So I will continue to generate many different blogs this year in the hopes of tickling your fancies! To view the top ten blogs of 2018 in their entirety you can visit the “Best of 2018” category in The Common-Tater as well as the best of 2017 and 2016 in case you missed those.

2018 brought both changes and challenges to our farm. We were relieved to be able to harvest our entire crop last fall under some of the most frustrating and difficult weather conditions we have seen in many years. The harvest conditions last fall created a potato shortage that will be felt nationally as the potato storages begin to empty out earlier than usual. Our son’s new venture growing pumpkins and squash was very well received and they are deep into planning the new crops for this upcoming year (including the giant pumpkin seedlings that are now growing in my kitchen!)

And what do we have planned for 2019? Our most important job is to continue to grow a quality potato that meets the needs of our ever growing base of customers. The seed potatoes have begun to arrive and we are getting ready to plant our potatoes as soon as the weather cooperates. The sweet corn seed is here and there are only 92 days until it will be ready to eat! I am very excited to be working with a close friend of mine as we develop a new recipe that promises to be one of the best ones I have released yet. Stay tuned for our “Baked Potato Bar” that will be sure to enhance your upcoming summer BBQs.

It’s been a great pleasure preparing all our social media events for you over the past three years. I encourage you to send me your feedback and suggestions at any time. Thank you for three incredible years and here’s to 2019!

Potato Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

4/12/2019

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It seems jalapeno peppers are all the rage these days so I thought I would hop on the band wagon and offer this recipe for a zippy appetizer. Jalapeno peppers are stuffed with spicy ground turkey covered with mashed potatoes and swiss cheese. The flavours in the ground turkey are subtle so they do not distract from the perfect heat of the peppers. Click on the PDF file above to download or print the recipe. If you would like to try another fun recipe that involves jalapeno peppers you can visit “Nacho Delight Potato Skins.” Bon Appétit!

Winter Harvesting

4/1/2019

Today I would like to address a little known topic about farming. We are often asked how we get the potatoes out of the ground in the winter. For centuries winter harvesting has been a tried and true method for keeping a fresh market supply of produce here in Canada. Working with snow and ice is never easy, and don’t even get me started on the wind chill in open fields! These pictures show our windrower and harvester set up to take on the winter weather conditions. Our tractors have full heating systems so the men who work in the fields are comfortable until they have to get out of the tractor to fix something.

Once you have thought a little bit about this information, I’m sure you’ll agree with me how ludicrous this all sounds. Potatoes are about 80% water so they would freeze solid if they were left in the ground over the winter. Implements would seize up in the cold and there is no way we could break the ground to dig up potatoes. All our potatoes are safely put into temperature and humidity controlled storages well before the ground freezes for the winter.

Thank you for reading along with me and Happy April Fool’s Day to you! To learn more about our actual harvesting process you can go to “Journey From The Underground Part II”

The Faces Of Our Farm: Part IV By RJ Thompson

3/17/2019

I have more Irish relatives to mention on this St Patrick's Day. William J Montgomery was born in Dromore, Down Co., Ireland (similar to last year’s post, he was another Norty). Edward Brethour was born in Limerick Co., Ireland (not a Norty). Both moved to Canada by about 1840 and raised families in Ontario Co (now Durham Region). Unfortunately I do not have a photo of them, but instead their granddaughters.

In photo one (1919) L. M. Montgomery (my great-grandmother) is on the right with her two young children Edna and Don. In the second (1937), she is in the centre, with her sisters Alley and Jenny. This L. M. Montgomery is not be the one who wrote the popular Canadian novels. She more commonly responded to the name Lillie. When she married Fred Thompson in Leaskdale, 1914, the presiding minister was Ewen Macdonald. The first signed witness, on the marriage certificate is L. M. Macdonald, otherwise known as Lucy Maud Montgomery.

To learn more about the people who founded our farm you can click on the section in The Common-Tater called “The Faces Of Our Farm.”

Are You Smarter Than A Potato Farmer?

3/16/2019

Here’s a little something fun for everyone to do this weekend. This is my on-line version of our wildly popular trivia game presented at the 2018 Farm To Fork Tour. Now’s your chance to challenge yourself by playing “Are You Smarter Than A Potato Farmer?” There are five true and false slides that will test your knowledge of some common animals found around our farm. (We felt it would be rather unfair to have a trivia challenge based on potatoes!) The first slide will have a true or false question which will be followed a second slide holding the answer. You can use the “pause” button found in the top left corner of the slide to think about your response before you move to the answer revealed. Good luck!

If you have been playing along this week on our Facebook page, you just need to watch the slideshow to see how you fared with your answers. Feel free to post the correct number of answers you got on our page. If you managed to get all five correct you have earned supreme bragging rights as you have proven to be smarter than a potato farmer. (Or at least as smart as we are!)

For some more fun photos of some of the wildlife spotted here at the farm you can visit “Cute & Fuzzy Animals” and “Predators.”

Weedy Wednesday

3/6/2019

Today is Weedy Wednesday here at the farm. Even though weeds are something we normally work to eradicate, and even though most of us are quite tired of winter, at a certain point we need to take a few minutes to appreciate what we’re given. So I present my slideshow of glittering weeds covered in ice and snow sparkling in the brilliant sunlight. The photos were taken in the bitter cold early one frosty morning. Although I ended up with frozen fingers and burrs on my boot, I believe the end result was worth it. If you’re hungry for signs of spring, I invite you to take a look at “Buds & Blossoms” for a preview of spring flora and fauna.

Calm After The Storm(s)

2/28/2019

The calm after the storm(s). This has been a wild and wintery week here with ferocious winds on Monday leading to heavy snow all day yesterday. The farm is covered in a blanket of snow that reminds me of a fresh canvas. If only I had the time to run out and write messages in the snow! However, using Photoshop to convey my message will have to suffice. 20 days to spring everyone!

#AgProud

2/12/2019

#AgProud #CndAgDay Today is Canada’s Agriculture Day. A day to share with you what we do all year here at the farm. A day to celebrate the business of Canadian agriculture. A day to post a pic of our favourite Canadian food. Simple right? That’s what I thought… until I started sorting through the thousands of photos I have taken and shared with you over the past few years. It turned into a rather daunting task! So instead of just one photo, I have generated a slideshow that highlights a few special moments at our farm. From a surprise helper in the office to maintaining the potato crop to creating new recipes, I can safely say that celebrating the business of Canadian agriculture is something we do every single day. Not only does this post highlight our love for agriculture, it shares a little bit of who we are. Have a wonderful day! If you are looking for inspiring potato dishes, I recommend you visit “Spud Smarts – About Cooking Potatoes” to get started cooking our favourite Canadian food.