Blog - Thompson Potato Farm - Thompson Potato Farm

Long Weekend Entertainment

8/7/2023

Sometimes you need to make your own entertainment when you can’t leave the farm on the long weekend in summer. So here are two completely different videos of some of the fun we had here.

After endless debates with John & Curtis, mathematical calculations and hypothetical “what if” scenarios, RJ decided to go ahead and knock down the cattle pen with the backhoe. As you can see, it went quite smoothly. The big barn will be demolished by experts and then we will rebuild a new shop.

The second video is a clip of live music at a local restaurant. Mike Chianelli and The Lost Truck Drivers performed a perfect mix of original songs and cover songs on Saturday night. I am very proud of this entire group of talented young musicians, but I do have to admit I have a soft spot for the back-up singer/lead guitarist. Who is of course, my son Curtis.

You can visit “Busy Long Weekend” to get a glimpse of farming jobs that typically occur around the August long weekend.

Happy Father's Day

6/18/2023

Many thanks to editor Blair at the East Gwillimbury Bulletin who asked me to write another story for our town’s monthly newspaper. This time the article was for the Father’s Day section of the newspaper. Reflecting on the experiences I had with my dad and the influences my father had on my life was a truly wonderful trip down memory lane. I hope all of you have a chance to celebrate your dad today! You can visit “BJ’s Christmas Story” to read an article I wrote for the December edition of the Bulletin newspaper.

Pumpkin Training

4/1/2023

Most people know that pumpkins are a very unruly vine. But did you know that we train our pumpkins vines to save labour during the pumpkin harvest? During the summer we visit the fields regularly and train every vine to grow towards a central location. Once the buds begin to emerge, we can direct the pumpkins to grow into a large pile. Our experienced pumpkin trainers have learned how to gauge the final weight of each pumpkin by simply looking at the bud. This ensures no pumpkins get squished in the pumpkin pile.

Are you questioning any of this yet?! Pumpkins are impossible to control. The vines spread where they like and the pumpkins are sprawled over many acres. Every pumpkin is inspected in the field before it is hand harvested and placed in a pile. Then they are loaded into wood crates and driven out of the field for your Thanksgiving and Halloween décor.

Thank you for reading along with me and Happy April Fool’s Day to you! You can visit “Rock Harvest” for another fun April Fool’s Day joke.

#IamMurray Welcomes February

2/1/2023

Murray knows just how to handle the cold days of February. All you need is a cozy spot to sleep, a friend to commiserate with and a view of your kingdom. Then you can dream of spring while the snow flies outside. I think we can all learn a lesson from this little farm dog whether we are embracing Canada’s winter wonderland or planning forward to warmer days. You can visit “Tater Tales: Murray Loves Winter” to see how our farm dog keeps busy during the winter months.

BJ’s Christmas Story

12/20/2022

I was very flattered when I was invited to submit a story to the East Gwillimbury Bulletin magazine reminiscing about some of my favourite Christmas memories. This was a very easy story for me to write as I have an incredible passion for my Christmas tree (as everyone who knows me will quickly confirm.) May you have something as special in your life as my tree. Merry Christmas! You can visit “Spud-tacular” to read an article about myself that appeared in the October edition of the Bulletin magazine.

Fall Glory

10/15/2022

Good morning! Mother Nature put on a stunning display of fall colours earlier this week. It was a beautiful moment that we all stopped to admire even as we pushed hard to finish the potato harvest. We are in the home stretch now and anxious to finish. Wish us good luck and more good weather! You can visit “Captivating Colours” to have a closer look at some of the vivid colours spotted around the farm.

Spud-tacular!

10/8/2022

This feature article appears in the October East Gwillimbury Bulletin magazine. It is published in the “EG Women In Business 2022” section of the magazine dedicated to the celebration of Women’s History Month. I have included the photo that is described in great detail in the article. You can visit “BJ’s Radio Interview” for another inside look at the farm.

Rock Harvest

4/1/2021

It’s a little known fact that one of the side benefits of potato farming is the annual rock harvest. The growth conditions we require for our potatoes are the exact same conditions that generate quick growth in the small pebbles in our fields. As you can see from the photo, the rocks can get quite large in a matter of a few months. All the rocks we harvest are stored in separate boxes and sold to local quarries.

Are you questioning any of this yet?! The truth is that rocks are a huge menace to our equipment. Every year the ground heaves and suddenly there are rocks where none existed before. We always keep a careful eye out and remove the new large rocks and boulders from our fields before they can damage our equipment. The rock pictured above was picked up by our potato harvester. It would have done some severe damage had it rolled through all the belts. Fortunately RJ caught it before that happened.

Thank you for reading along with me and Happy April Fool’s Day to you! You can visit “Winter Harvesting” for another fun April Fool’s Day joke where I dispel a common misunderstanding about our potatoes we sell all winter.

Spring Forward!

3/13/2021

Spring is in the air! Murray would like to remind everyone to change their clocks tonight as we begin daylight savings time. After a long and lonely winter, I think I can safely say we are all looking forward to longer days, warmer weather and the start of our next growing season.

To see some fun spring photos, you can visit “Spring Cleaning” where John is hard at work performing routine spring maintenance on our tractors.

Happy Family Day!

2/15/2021

Happy Family Day! Here are some photos of our potato farming family over the years. There is a rather strong family resemblance so I imagine you will have no problem picking out who is who!

Photo 1 Don Thompson’s family in 1969 (generation 1 & 2)

Photo 2 John Thompson’s family in 1990 (generation 2 & 3)

Photo 3 RJ Thompson’s family in 2007 (generation 3 & 4)

Photo 4 RJ Thompson’s family in 2021 (generation 3 & 4)

You can visit “Our Story” to find out more about who we are and where we came from.