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Cropthorne Farm on Instagram
Spent some time today checking pollination on the tomatoes. Each time a bee visits the flower, it will leave a little brown mark
We be janging! This is our new 12(!!!) row seeder. We are trying it out for salad greens plus using every other hopper for radishes, turnips and spinach. In hopes for denser, cleaner beds 😍
Sweeeeeet Potatoes Not the easiest to grow in our cooler, maritime climate but oh so worth it. They’ve got a long season of growing to do and curing before we start selling them in November!
Added a few bios this week to the greenhouse. Being Certified Organic means we don’t have as many tools in our IPM (Intergrated Pest Management) tool box as some other growers. We need to be proactive and preventative rather than reactive and this week that meant adding a few thousand little friends to help control pests in our greenhouses before they become a problem. 🐞🐝🦟🦗
We’ve got a big week ahead, with farmstand opening, as well as Main St and West End markets and, of course, our CSA 🎉🎉 . CSA starts this weekend for Farm Sat, West End and Kits, with Farm Tues, Tsawwassen and Main starting next week. Along with these luscious salad greens, shares should have cukes, radishes, scapes and more! See you soon 😊 #cropthornecsa
For so long I’ve worn my identity on my sleeve, being a farmer is all I wanted to be for so long. I’ve always seen myself as a farmer first and everything else second (daughter, friend, partner, sister, mother etc). I don’t ignore these latter roles, I am active in them yet I don’t outwardly identify with them. I was half way through planting potatoes when David brought our youngest out and I had to stop to feed him while David snapped this shot. He texted this photo to me a few hours later and my heart just burst. My identity as a farmer couldn’t be stronger yet my identity as a mother held weight equally. It was a perfect moment on the farm with my boy. #strongasamother #thisiswomenswork
We are looking for two people to help us at the Ladner Village Market this summer ☀️☀️☀️ It is a vibrant market, with a wide array of vendors, music and food trucks. Unlike our city markets, Ladner is only a 5 date commitment with 2 in July, 2 in August and 1 in September. Shift runs from 8am to approx. 4:45pm ✨More info on our website and DM us or send us an email to apply✨
My own farm goal this year was to master cultivation. To hit the crops just as they needed to be weeded and to be patient and take the time to get implements just right. Well if you’ve been down our road lately you’ll see that there was a nice weedy mat between rows, and thus not nailing my goal. I am on the other hand nailing growing a chunky, chunky babe, who blesses me with three hour stretches of sleep 🙃 and maaaybe is the main reason goal one is not happening. I refuse to beat myself up for not nailing it all out in the field while having a four month old. I was able to get out and clean up some beds just before supper and it is so nice to see the difference even if I was two week late 😬 And yes, totally keeping it real with a poly photo after being excited about paper mulch.
After a successful trial in 2018, we are happy to say we are moving the majority of our mulch from plastic to paper. While paper doesn’t work in all our cropping systems(and paper is WAAAY more expensive), we are moving to it as much as possible and in some places not laying any type of mulch at all. It doesn’t mean we have completely given up plastic (yet!), but are VERY excited to be doing less and less in the field each year. Crysta did a fine job laying it all today too 😊! Today was a good day for the 🌎 and us at the farm 💚😊
Peas✨ Find em at Kit Market tomorrow! Our hoophouse crop is ready and our field crop is popping through the soil so hopefully continuous peas all summer long 😎
One🥒 Two🥒 Three🥒 This girl is 3️⃣
One of the longest jobs (and let’s be honest least enjoyable job) in the spring is spreading compost. It takes about a day and a half to spread the whole farm. Lots of going back and forth to the compost pile. Lots of on the loader, off the loader. It’s too choppy of a work flow for me to get into the groove. Even with our newer, bigger spreader, it just doesn’t seem big enough. Or at least not efficient enough. Luckily it’s only a day and a half a year. And even luckier, our old employee Brett, comes by for a day of spreading. It’s epic. Legit epicness, when your least favourite job is someone else’s fav. It’s 👌🏼x1000 that’s how EPIC it is.
Hours & Info
4362 Tamboline Road
Delta BC V4K 3N2
Farmstand OPEN DAILY
Mon-Sat 10-5:30 Sun 10-5
On the 'gram
Spent some time today checking pollination on the tomatoes. Each time a bee visits the flower, it will leave a little brown mark
We be janging! This is our new 12(!!!) row seeder. We are trying it out for salad greens plus using every other hopper for radishes, turnips and spinach. In hopes for denser, cleaner beds 😍
Sweeeeeet Potatoes Not the easiest to grow in our cooler, maritime climate but oh so worth it. They’ve got a long season of growing to do and curing before we start selling them in November!
Added a few bios this week to the greenhouse. Being Certified Organic means we don’t have as many tools in our IPM (Intergrated Pest Management) tool box as some other growers. We need to be proactive and preventative rather than reactive and this week that meant adding a few thousand little friends to help control pests in our greenhouses before they become a problem. 🐞🐝🦟🦗
We’ve got a big week ahead, with farmstand opening, as well as Main St and West End markets and, of course, our CSA 🎉🎉 . CSA starts this weekend for Farm Sat, West End and Kits, with Farm Tues, Tsawwassen and Main starting next week. Along with these luscious salad greens, shares should have cukes, radishes, scapes and more! See you soon 😊 #cropthornecsa
For so long I’ve worn my identity on my sleeve, being a farmer is all I wanted to be for so long. I’ve always seen myself as a farmer first and everything else second (daughter, friend, partner, sister, mother etc). I don’t ignore these latter roles, I am active in them yet I don’t outwardly identify with them. I was half way through planting potatoes when David brought our youngest out and I had to stop to feed him while David snapped this shot. He texted this photo to me a few hours later and my heart just burst. My identity as a farmer couldn’t be stronger yet my identity as a mother held weight equally. It was a perfect moment on the farm with my boy. #strongasamother #thisiswomenswork
We are looking for two people to help us at the Ladner Village Market this summer ☀️☀️☀️ It is a vibrant market, with a wide array of vendors, music and food trucks. Unlike our city markets, Ladner is only a 5 date commitment with 2 in July, 2 in August and 1 in September. Shift runs from 8am to approx. 4:45pm ✨More info on our website and DM us or send us an email to apply✨
My own farm goal this year was to master cultivation. To hit the crops just as they needed to be weeded and to be patient and take the time to get implements just right. Well if you’ve been down our road lately you’ll see that there was a nice weedy mat between rows, and thus not nailing my goal. I am on the other hand nailing growing a chunky, chunky babe, who blesses me with three hour stretches of sleep 🙃 and maaaybe is the main reason goal one is not happening. I refuse to beat myself up for not nailing it all out in the field while having a four month old. I was able to get out and clean up some beds just before supper and it is so nice to see the difference even if I was two week late 😬 And yes, totally keeping it real with a poly photo after being excited about paper mulch.
After a successful trial in 2018, we are happy to say we are moving the majority of our mulch from plastic to paper. While paper doesn’t work in all our cropping systems(and paper is WAAAY more expensive), we are moving to it as much as possible and in some places not laying any type of mulch at all. It doesn’t mean we have completely given up plastic (yet!), but are VERY excited to be doing less and less in the field each year. Crysta did a fine job laying it all today too 😊! Today was a good day for the 🌎 and us at the farm 💚😊
Peas✨ Find em at Kit Market tomorrow! Our hoophouse crop is ready and our field crop is popping through the soil so hopefully continuous peas all summer long 😎
One🥒 Two🥒 Three🥒 This girl is 3️⃣
One of the longest jobs (and let’s be honest least enjoyable job) in the spring is spreading compost. It takes about a day and a half to spread the whole farm. Lots of going back and forth to the compost pile. Lots of on the loader, off the loader. It’s too choppy of a work flow for me to get into the groove. Even with our newer, bigger spreader, it just doesn’t seem big enough. Or at least not efficient enough. Luckily it’s only a day and a half a year. And even luckier, our old employee Brett, comes by for a day of spreading. It’s epic. Legit epicness, when your least favourite job is someone else’s fav. It’s 👌🏼x1000 that’s how EPIC it is.
PAPA CROPTHORNE IN HIS ELEMENT.🌱🍅🌱 DAD IN ‘RETIREMENT’ FROM FARMING, WORKS A VEGETABLE CONSULTANT, AND JET SETS AROUND THE WORLD CONSULTING WITH GROWERS ON THEIR CROPS BUT TODAY WE HAD THE HONOUR OF HIS EXPERTISE IN OUR LITTLE GREENHOUSE. HE’S BEEN GROWING FOR OVER 50 YEARS SO HE IS A WEALTH OF INFORMATION AND KNOWS TOMATOES LIKE THE BACK OF HIS HANDS!
Morning transplant sessions with my boy. So excited for him to grow up here on Westham Island with all this magic surrounding us💚
Rolling into another season. Fields are all prepped and ready to get planting this week 🌱🌱🌱 And for CSA members there will be a newsletter out this week with what’s been going on at the farm the last little bit. Stay tuned 😊
@CropthorneFarm