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Sweet Corn - Coming Soon!

6/28/2016

“WHEN WILL THE SWEET CORN BE READY?” is probably the most common question we are asked every summer at the farm. And our answer is “SWEET CORN TAKES ITS’ SWEET TIME TO GROW!”

Planting the sweet corn is a carefully designed plan. It takes both a long time and a short time, and that is not as contradictory as it seems. While the actual act of planting a patch of sweet corn doesn`t take very long at all, planting the entire crop is spaced out over approximately 8 weeks. This stretched out timing is essential to keep the sweet corn fresh. There is a very limited window of opportunity to pick the sweet corn with maximum flavour and texture. We plan one patch to become ready to pick just as the last one is finishing up so we can keep our customers supplied with the freshest corn at all times.

Rest assured that we started planting the sweet corn in early May and are planning on having the corn stand ready by late July….if all goes according to plan!

Be sure to check out all the products we offer year round for sale at the farm door by visiting What We Offer – At The Door.

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Pond Life Part I

6/25/2016

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We inadvertently created an entire new ecosystem on the farm when we dug our irrigation pond many years ago. Here are some baby muskrats enjoying play time one evening. Stay tuned for more pond life footage, including the Great Blue Heron who has been hanging around this year.

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Banking: The Potato Farm Way

6/21/2016

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Shortly after planting we began working away at banking our potatoes. This is one of the most important jobs we engage in when growing our crop. “Banking” potatoes doesn’t refer to hauling our potatoes to the local bank or to the food bank! Sometimes people call it “hilling” or “earthing.” Banking involves pulling dirt from beside each row of planted potatoes and piling it on top of the seed potatoes to create deep hills.

We like to bank the potatoes about ten days to two weeks after they are planted. The shallow hills the potatoes are planted in promote early growth of the plants. If we bank too early, we would inhibit the early growth. If we bank too late, we would break the seedlings.

Why do we do this job? Primarily we need to protect the potatoes from the sunlight as the tubers begin to form. Should they become exposed to sunlight, they will turn green and will be inedible. A second reason is it rips out weeds that are forming between the rows and would be competing with our potatoes should they continue to grow. Banking therefore reduces our reliance on herbicides. And lastly, banking also encourages longer stem growth. Since little potatoes are formed right on the stem, the longer the stem, more potatoes will have room to form and mature.

This photo slide show starts a few weeks ago when we first began banking and moves into the present day. The first three pictures highlight the deep hills. The crop has emerged in the last two pictures.

Be sure to visit Spud Smarts – About Growing Potatoes to find out more about how we grow potatoes.

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Extreme Photography

6/6/2016

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I had the pleasure of taking almost all the photos for our website. This was a job I tackled with great pleasure since amateur photography is one of my passions. I certainly had challenging moments. What’s the best background to showcase our bags of potatoes? How can I get rid of the sheen on our poly bags of potatoes? How DO you make carrots and lemons look interesting? Will both my sons ever smile in the same picture at the same time? And the list goes on!

I have crawled on my hands and knees through ice and snow to take macro pictures of blades of grass after an ice storm, balanced somewhat precariously on the top of bulk trucks to shoot different angles of potato equipment, almost gotten squashed by tractors as I tried to film an extreme close-up of planting equipment and of course I got very, very dirty sometimes wallowing through mucky fields. (Thank you to my yellow rubber boots!)

But by far the most exciting photo shoot was when I was offered a helicopter ride to take these aerial pictures of our farm! Helicopter door came off, camera came out and off I went! It was absolutely thrilling to see the farm from the air. It was a whole new perspective of the land we have farmed for so many years and I was delighted to have this unique opportunity.

Be sure to visit Our Story to find out more about our farm and the people who work here.

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Dancing Wheat

6/5/2016

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The winter wheat has been dancing up a storm. It looks just like ocean waves as it gets blown around. I apologize for the shaky video but the wind gusts were so strong I was getting knocked around like the wheat!

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The Common-Tater

Sweet Corn - Coming Soon!

Pond Life Part I

Banking: The Potato Farm Way

Extreme Photography

Dancing Wheat

The Common-Tater

Thompson Potato Farm

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