Ontario produce [General]
2016 Aug 9
Farm Boy the Bank st location, they do not refrigerate the local berries and I bought some last year and the bottom of the basket was rotten.
Also sometimes the same Farm Boy the local fruit by the door had fruit flies and that is not too appealing inside a store.
I bought some cherries last week at Lansdowne farmers market and they were as sour as $%%%^.
My blueberries were really good and I forget what vendor they were from.
Farm Boy on Bank st also had some cranberry beans that are quite good, from Ontario and $1.99lb
Also sometimes the same Farm Boy the local fruit by the door had fruit flies and that is not too appealing inside a store.
I bought some cherries last week at Lansdowne farmers market and they were as sour as $%%%^.
My blueberries were really good and I forget what vendor they were from.
Farm Boy on Bank st also had some cranberry beans that are quite good, from Ontario and $1.99lb
2016 Aug 10
Ontario produce is starting to make an appearance at most of the grocery stores now. So far I have seen baskets of tomatoes, potatoes, peaches and apricots.
When I went to the Main Street farmers market a couple of weeks ago I only noticed strawberries. The one exception was at Warner Farms but this is the second year in a row their fruit seemed really overripe. I don't recall that problem in previous years - maybe they are picking their fruit too late?
I went to the Byward Market last weekend and saw strawberries (local), bluberries (from Lac-St-Jean - the Sudbury ones come out a little later in the summer) and ground nuts. Some of the re-sellers had peaches, plums, and apricots for sale.
In terms of veggies I have seen alot of beans (green and yellow), turnips, cauliflowers, and broccoli. I love this time of year - all my favourite veggies are starting to come out.
When I went to the Main Street farmers market a couple of weeks ago I only noticed strawberries. The one exception was at Warner Farms but this is the second year in a row their fruit seemed really overripe. I don't recall that problem in previous years - maybe they are picking their fruit too late?
I went to the Byward Market last weekend and saw strawberries (local), bluberries (from Lac-St-Jean - the Sudbury ones come out a little later in the summer) and ground nuts. Some of the re-sellers had peaches, plums, and apricots for sale.
In terms of veggies I have seen alot of beans (green and yellow), turnips, cauliflowers, and broccoli. I love this time of year - all my favourite veggies are starting to come out.
2016 Aug 10
The first year Warner farm was here their peaches were beautifully ripe AT POINT OF SALE. The second year, some were ripe, some not. Since then, they are no better than the ones in the grocery stores, picked to withstand transportation, as opposed to being ready to eat. I can't be bothered with them.
2016 Aug 11
For those that enjoy road trips, I strongly encourage you to take a trip down to some farmers markets in the Kingston and PEC area.
The drought there has just been upgraded to 'severe' and there are more than a few farms in that area who are scared they won't make it through to grow again next year. I'm down that way weekly, and it's heartbreaking to see and to hear what the farmers are saying and going through.
The drought in our area is still considered 'moderate' but we are getting closer to 'severe'. Conditions for farms in and around the Ottawa area it is 'abnormally dry' but without rain soon 'moderate' it will be. We are very blessed on our farm that we are limping through with enough pasture for our animals, and we will have enough hay to get through the winter. This is not the case for most farms this year.
So, yeah. Produce may not be great this year, but your support of local and almost local farms this year is imperative, especially in the severely affected areas.
The corn in this photo is just down the road from us and was taken a week ago. It's almost dried up now.
The drought there has just been upgraded to 'severe' and there are more than a few farms in that area who are scared they won't make it through to grow again next year. I'm down that way weekly, and it's heartbreaking to see and to hear what the farmers are saying and going through.
The drought in our area is still considered 'moderate' but we are getting closer to 'severe'. Conditions for farms in and around the Ottawa area it is 'abnormally dry' but without rain soon 'moderate' it will be. We are very blessed on our farm that we are limping through with enough pasture for our animals, and we will have enough hay to get through the winter. This is not the case for most farms this year.
So, yeah. Produce may not be great this year, but your support of local and almost local farms this year is imperative, especially in the severely affected areas.
The corn in this photo is just down the road from us and was taken a week ago. It's almost dried up now.
2016 Aug 12
Seconded.
I like Farm Boy (notwithstanding the demonically possessed animatronic child and dog and evil swinging monkey) and Whole Foods (yes yes I know it's trendy to slam Whole Food, get stuffed, I like what I eat from them), I appreciate that both make an effort to sell local products, but if you can give your dollars directly to the farmers, now is the time to do it.
I like Farm Boy (notwithstanding the demonically possessed animatronic child and dog and evil swinging monkey) and Whole Foods (yes yes I know it's trendy to slam Whole Food, get stuffed, I like what I eat from them), I appreciate that both make an effort to sell local products, but if you can give your dollars directly to the farmers, now is the time to do it.
2016 Aug 12
You're right, organicgirl; things are also pretty bad here just south of Ottawa and worse south and west of us. Our last 3 rainfalls near Mountain in the past month have been 0.01" (this morning), 0.1"and 0.4". There's a lot of corn looking way worse than what you pictured now. My neighbour said the barley harvest was down with some of the barley having empty seedheads; he took off his wheat this week - I'm interested to hear what he has to say about that. His corn looked terrible in mid July but looks like there wil be something to harvest but that may change if we don't get more rain. We were near Westport nearly 3 weeks ago and they were noticeably dryer than us. I visited with a stained glass fellow there who said he'd harvested his approx. 1500 garlic 2 or 3 weeks earlier (that would make it the last week of June or the first week of July) and he had small garlic and a lot without proper covering layers (not good for storing).
I can't complain too much as I've been able to water my gardens but have noticed that my well water seems to be getting harder, not a good sign, so I'm hoping for more rain as we all are. The small river near us has stopped flowing though there is still some standing water in deeper areas.
Looks like they got more rain this morning than we did just a few km south of us: www.nationvalleynews.com
I can't complain too much as I've been able to water my gardens but have noticed that my well water seems to be getting harder, not a good sign, so I'm hoping for more rain as we all are. The small river near us has stopped flowing though there is still some standing water in deeper areas.
Looks like they got more rain this morning than we did just a few km south of us: www.nationvalleynews.com
Jun 28
Adam Raguesa has an interesting video on how peaches just aren't that Georiga afterall
youtu.be/kCHdp7RpiwA
Outside of that, its just an interesting channel as well.
youtu.be/kCHdp7RpiwA
Outside of that, its just an interesting channel as well.
Tree Pug