Category: Fall

Recap of 2022

12/31/2022

As everyone knows, farming is extremely dependent on the weather. Here are 10 photos that recap the wild ride we had with Mother Nature this past year.

#IamMurray and all the tractors were itching to get into the fields in the spring, but cooler than normal temperatures slowed us down. These cool temperatures prevailed during our planting season and into early summer wreaking havoc with weed control.

Below normal rainfall in the summer created extreme drought. We battled the drought with irrigation where we could, but it lead to a lighter potato crop than we had hoped for. On the other hand, the pumpkins thrived and we had a bumper crop.

Gorgeous fall weather lead to many stunning photo opportunities as we worked at the grain harvest. The featured photos in the slideshow depict our grain truck at sunrise, the combine at sunset and a magnificent rainbow.

The four of us are still standing at the end of the season after the whirlwind weather rollercoaster of 2022! While we don’t know what’s in store for us in 2023, we know that together we can ride it out. Happy New Year to all of you! You can visit “Wacky Weather” to see how we fared in 2017 with the exact opposite weather we experienced this year.

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Random Things We Do - Culverts

3/6/2021

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Every business has little jobs that no one really knows about or thinks about. Here is one of the random jobs we do during the fall harvest. Cornelio and Roberto are moving a culvert (which is not called a “big black heavy tube used for air flow” as I previously thought it was called!) The culverts are essential to air flow and temperature control in our storage buildings over the winter. And they do not move themselves in and out of the buildings! To see a little bit more about our harvest you can visit “Tater Tales Oct 6th #harvest17.”

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Tractors For Every Season (Turn! Turn! Turn!)

3/1/2021

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Sing along everyone. I know you all know this classic song:

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose under heaven
A time to plant
A time to reap

We use our tractors in every season and have implements for every purpose imaginable. Here are our tractors hard at work preparing our land for planting as they pull implements such as the fertilizer spreader, disc harrow, cultivator and manure spreader. The heavy duty tractors pull the large potato harvester and the smaller windrower during the harvest. And sometimes we even allow a special guest to tag along with the drivers to provide some company during the very long summer days!

To see videos of these machines at work you can visit “Tater Tales Potato Planter” and “The Potato Harvester.”

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Racing Old Man Winter

11/12/2019

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I have often wondered why winter is personified as a cranky old man. Today we definitely found out why. Blustery, crusty, cranky weather descended upon us with a vengeance! Just yesterday John was working as fast as he could to wrap up as many fall chores as possible before the snow fell hard. This picture shows him using a soil saver cultivator in light snow. As you can probably surmise from its name, the cultivator plays an essential role in improving our soil. It loosens the ground that has been compacted by heavy equipment, improves water drainage, works up the organic manure and is invaluable in preventing wind erosion over the winter. To find out a little more about our fall field work you can visit “Fall Field Chores.”

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And That’s A Wrap

10/22/2019

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And just like that it’s a wrap on #Harvest19. Five weeks of long and hard days came to an end last week when we put the last load of potatoes in the storage for the winter. The weather cooperated for the most part, the machine and equipment breakdowns were minimal and as usual everyone here at the farm put a huge effort into the harvest. The potato windrower and potato harvester shown in the photo have been dubbed “The Iron” by RJ. And now we thank The Iron for a job well done, clean them up and set them to rest until next fall. To see a video of these machines in action you can visit “The Potato Windrower” and “The Potato Harvester.”

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Ready & Waiting

9/17/2019

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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.”

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#AgProud

2/12/2019

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#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.

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Almost There

10/22/2018

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The weather this fall has been less than cooperative for the potato harvest. Every day has had its challenges and last week was no exception. A gorgeous fall day turned winter-like overnight, leaving us to wonder if we will ever finish this harvest. But we keep moving forward and get a little more accomplished every day. The end is in sight and then we will all be able to relax and decompress a tiny bit. There are many videos of our harvest equipment on this website that you can view in the “Video” Category of The Common-Tater. To get you started, here is a link to “The Potato Harvester.”

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Plenty of Pumpkins!

9/23/2018

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The weather is turning and fall is in the air. The sweet corn is gone until next year but we have filled the space with our new line of fall produce grown by John and Curtis. Their new crops have turned out some really beautiful produce. Stop in to have a look at their orange and white pumpkins, their butternut and pepper squash as well as their decorative corn. We still have local field tomatoes, carrots, onions and of course potatoes for sale as well. I invite you to visit our farm on September 29th with the Farm To Fork Tour. We will have educational information about our farm and growing potatoes, free recipes, activities for the kids, and of course our farm fresh produce for sale. To learn more about the tour and to buy tickets you can visit http://experienceeg.ca/farm-to-fork/ For our location, hours of operation and directions to the farm you can visit ht tp://www.thompsonpotatofarm.com/at-the-door.html

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A Rare Occurrence

9/15/2018

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This video depicts a very rare occurrence at our farm – an empty potato storage! In order to give you a sense of how big our storages are I have parked the Kubota at the very back of the building. By the end of the harvest this bin will be completely filled with potatoes. This is one of three bins…and we fill two buildings with our crop. I invite you to learn more about our farm by participating in the Farm To Fork Tour on September 29th. We will have educational information about our farm and growing potatoes, free recipes, activities for the kids, and of course our farm fresh produce for sale. To learn more about the tour and to buy tickets you can visit http://experienceeg.ca/farm-to-fork/ To see many pictures of our potato equipment you can visit our Photo Gallery.

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The Common-Tater

Recap of 2022

Random Things We Do - Culverts

Tractors For Every Season (Turn! Turn! Turn!)

Racing Old Man Winter

And That’s A Wrap

Ready & Waiting

#AgProud

Almost There

Plenty of Pumpkins!

A Rare Occurrence

The Common-Tater

Thompson Potato Farm

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