John grows his own crop of pumpkins with his brother, and their gorgeous pumpkins are very appreciated by the general public at our farm stand. On a more personal note, John has developed a keen interest in line dancing and was invited to instruct line dancing at the Toronto Beer Festival. You can visit “It’s Bean Time” to see a video of John running the combine.
The Common-Tater
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Today the catch up spotlight is on our son John Thompson. When we launched our website in 2016, John had just graduated from high school and shortly after that he began working at the farm full time. John is fully immersed in farm field work. He plants the potatoes, tends to our crops with the sprayer, drives the windrower during the harvest and combines our rotation crops. He has a real aptitude for equipment repair and holds a valid AZ licence.
John grows his own crop of pumpkins with his brother, and their gorgeous pumpkins are very appreciated by the general public at our farm stand. On a more personal note, John has developed a keen interest in line dancing and was invited to instruct line dancing at the Toronto Beer Festival. You can visit “It’s Bean Time” to see a video of John running the combine.
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Today the catch up spotlight is on RJ Thompson. When we launched our website in 2016 RJ was fully immersed in every aspect of both farming and running the business. Over the past 10 years he taught our sons how to grow the crops so he has minimal fieldwork to do, but he continues to help with land preparation and runs the harvester. RJ also heads to The Ontario Food Terminal several times a week and looks after some wholesale deliveries.
The business paperwork seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, and RJ spends a fair amount of time dealing with it. If you happen to see him, ask him how much he like computers, emails and cell phones….if you’re prepared for a tirade! RJ has managed to free up some time to pursue new interests including classic car shows and videography. In fact, he even has his own YouTube channel with over 100 videos of local, very talented musicians! You can visit “The Hypnotic Harvester” to see a video of RJ hard at work with the potato harvester. Today the catch up spotlight is on John Donald Thompson. When we launched our website in 2016 John was actively farming and running the business with his son RJ. In 2018 he had 2 successful hip replacement surgeries and decided it was time to throw in his potato hat. So at 69 years old, and after planting the potato crop for an astounding 55 years, he passed on the reins to his grandson Johnny and went for “early retirement.” Just like his father before him, John is still active at our farm cutting acres of grass every summer and assisting customers at our self-serve produce stand. You can visit “Tater Tales May 17th” to see a video of John planting the potato crop.
This April marks the 10-year anniversary of the launch of our website which provides an opportunity to celebrate growth and change over the last 10 years. What better way to kick off the celebration than by having a closer look at how the owners have changed over the years? This vintage photo was taken 10 years ago in 2016 and will soon be retired. Clearly some of us have changed more than others!
I think we all know it’s not always easy to work with family and that farming can be tough. While our journey has come with some growing pains, it also comes with great achievements. And here we are today ready to start another farming season standing strong together. This week I will be posting a little catch up with each of us over the past 10 years. Stay tuned! You can visit “Our Story” to see the history of our farm since it was established in 1943. As we begin to get organized with planting our potato crop, you may also be planning to plant your own potato crop in your home garden. We have 10lb and 50lb bags of seed potatoes available for sale at the farm door to the general public. The seed potatoes we have available this year are a variety called “Envol.” They are a high yielding, round white potato and are an early crop to harvest. You can visit “What We Offer – At The Door” for pricing and directions to our farm.
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