Fairfields0 commentsAugust 2, 2022Sweet Corn

Corn Is Here!

Our first planting of our early variety, Solstice, is in full production right now.  A smaller bi-colour variety (think peaches and cream), it has a nice delicate sweet flavour.  As the season continues, we should have 5 more varieties, Natural Sweet, Natural Bright, Allure, Enchanted, and Mirage.  We love the names…

We have been eating it grilled, boiled, in tacos, risotto, pasta salad, you name it.  In the case of Fiona, our daughter, even raw off the cob! (We don’t recommend this as too much can upset the stomach…)

Corn will be available Wednesday through Sunday at the farm as supplies last.  If we run out, we will post on facebook.com/fairfieldsorganics/ and voicemail.  Call 519-665-7982 or email devanpenney@gmail.com, ahead of time for bulk orders.

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Fairfields0 commentsJuly 25, 2022Strawberries, Sweet Corn

Strawberries are done, corn is just around the corner

STRAWBERRIES

Our strawberry season was a little early this year, which caught us completely by surprise.  With the cold winter and late spring, we expected to not be picking till the third week of June, but we started doing our first major picking by June 9th.  The weather was fairly good to us, with no late frosts or prolonged heat waves and lots of dry picking conditions.  We had many happy u-pickers through the patch, more than ever before.

Our one challenge this year was pest and disease pressure.  Our mid-season varieties got hit fairly hard by verticillium wilt, a fungal disease that becomes obvious the week before the berries are ready…  It was a little heartbreaking to see large parts of the patch wither and die, just before we were starting to pick them.  We will be changing some of our practices to try to avoid this wilt in the future, however, a big contributing factor was the damp cool weather we had last summer through till Christmas, not something we could have done anything about.  Our late-season varieties had a lot of insect pressure, leading to scarring on the fruits that deform them and make them leathery and bitter.  Thankfully our earliest variety was a powerhouse and carried on producing for 2.5 weeks!

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SWEET CORN

The next crop we will have available is sweet corn, hopefully by the last week of July.  It is looking very nice and our first variety, Solstice, has small cobs fattening up as we speak!  As with our strawberries, we will be open for sales to the public from Wednesday through Sunday 9:30 am till 7:30 pm, as supplies last.  If we are out, we will update on Facebook and voicemail.

Our price is $7 for 6, $12 for a dozen, or $10.50 per dozen if you buy 5 dozen or more.
We take cash, cheque (made out to Devan Penney) or eTransfer (send to devanpenney@gmail.com).  The price may seem high to some, but growing sweet corn at this latitude organically is challenging.  When you buy certified organic sweet corn from us, you know you are not getting any GMOs, insecticides, seed treatments, or chemical fertilizers, used heavily on most conventional corn on the market.  It is also picked fresh, so it is sweet and tender whenever you come by.

Thanks for a great season thus far, we hope to see you out for sweet corn shortly,

Devan and the team at Fair Fields

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    • Fairfields0 commentsMay 4, 2022Asparagus, Organic Food, Pumpkins, Rhubarb, Spring, Strawberries, Sweet Corn, Wholesale

    Is it Spring yet?

    Asparagus and rhubarb will be available by the second week of May

    As I set up to write a spring post for the website, I can’t help but ask myself, is it spring yet?  Last year this time, we were about 3 weeks ahead of where we are now.  We had started working the soil, had finished planting our strawberries and asparagus and had even started harvesting asparagus and rhubarb.  This year, we have barely been able to get into the fields and there isn’t a single asparagus spear to be found!

     

    In the past we have lamented about mild winters and how they have allowed pests to overwinter and become a real problem.  While we always wish for a long cold winter, to kill pests and replenish ground water, we are happy for it to be over.  We are hoping the weather turns soon, as we have strawberry crowns to get in the ground, field work to do and weeds to take care of (they don’t seem to mind the cold as much…).

    We are excited for our asparagus this spring.  With last year’s planting, we are up to a little under an acre of production, enough for us for the foreseeable future.  Though still young, our crowns should produce a lot more this year, allowing us to offer 3 weeks of sales and hopefully enjoy some more ourselves… mmm…  We expect to have asparagus by the second week of May.

    Our rhubarb will also be available by the second week of May.  Like asparagus, rhubarb is an early season perennial and we always find it to be a treat.  Nicole makes great drinks with rhubarb, from iced tea, juice and cordial, to some truly wonderful cocktails!  I love to use it in baking, oatmeal and brewing beer, I make a refreshing rhubarb saison.  One thing we would like to try this year is roasting it.  We had it at a restaurant last season and it was special.  Interest in rhubarb has grown in recent years, enough so that we are thinking of doing a large second planting for next spring.  Let us know if you need more rhubarb in your life.

    Our strawberry patch is looking good this year.  One variety didn’t do as well, however, we have more than doubled the size of our patch, so we should have enough sweet berries to meet demand this year.  We also have a little farm celebrity here at Fair Fields.  Our youngest, Fiona, is being featured, along with the strawberries, in the June edition of Chirp, an educational magazine geared at 3–6 year-olds. We hope the fame doesn’t get to her as she is not yet in Kindergarden!

    We have two wonderful staff members joining us again this year.  Daniel Parrish and my uncle Jim Penney are both back for the season.  Daniel worked part time with us last season and has stepped up to the full-time full season position.  He has an incredible attitude, positive, keen and eager, and is a real pleasure to have around.  Jim brings his many years of agricultural experience as well as his knowledge of this land and our operation.  We are lucky to have a great team again for 2022!

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    All of our crops, asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, sweet corn, pumpkins and hay are all now grown organically and will be moving ahead.  We see ecological farming as a minimum standard, one which leaves plenty of room to go further, and we will continue to do just that, as we try to make our operation and the food we grow more and more sustainable.

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    Hope to see you in the patch,

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