2022 was a big year for the farm.  It was our second season getting to work with our BCS walk behind tractor and it made a huge difference in our efficiency and ability to turn over beds for replanting.  We also put up our first commercial greenhouse.  The process began in the winter.  It wasn’t easy to put it up in the snow, but it allowed us to have it ready in time for tomato planting! 

2022 was also the first year we grew some crops and were finally successful with others.  We were super excited to discover we can grow brussels sprouts as they are one of our favourite veggies! We were more successful with cauliflower and broccoli than we have been in the past.  We also successfully grew a small amount of tomatillos in the greenhouse.  We plan to grow enough to bring to the market in 2023.  They make the best canned salsa! 

Every year we try things that don’t turn out the way we hoped.  In 2022 we lost all of our peppers to cold weather early in the season.  Our eggplants and long English cucumbers also failed to grow.  The one thing we have learned after seven years of doing this is that each year will have successes and failures and you learn to move on and hope that you can do better next season.

We are also hoping to be more successful with cut flowers moving forward.  It has been so much fun to experiment with some different flowers for the last couple of years.  It is so fun to to watch flowers grow and be able to enjoy them on the farm.  Stay tuned in 2023, we should have lots more flowers coming to the farmers market!    

A major factor in our success later in the season in 2022 can be attributed to finding a source of organic compost.  We had a truck of compost delivered in June and it made a huge difference in how our later season crops grew.  We are looking forward to continuing to use compost through 2023 and as long as needed to build up organic matter in our soil. 

Overall, 2022 was a great year for our farm.  Now in January 2023 we are looking forward to the upcoming season.  We are busy crop planning, ordering seeds and planning our CSA program and our season.  We have lots of plans to continue expanding and hope that we can keep the blog updated regularly so that you can follow along with what is happening on the farm!