Welcome to the June edition of the FarmStart Newsletter!
FarmStart is also starting to meet the local community and let them know what we are doing at the farm. We will be hosting a grand opening this summer for the McVean farm’s neighbours and friends. Beginning in late June, Brampton residents will be able to purchase our new farmers’ produce at the local farmers market. We also hope this season to lay the groundwork for a community gardening project at the McVean farm.
In other news, we are delighted to welcome Alma O’Connell to our team. She will be coordinating our Newcomer FarmStart-Up Project, helping new immigrants start viable farm operations in Ontario. Please read on to learn more about Alma and her exciting work. Alma and Sophie, our Resources and Training Coordinator, have been working on some new workshops and a new course for prospective farmers: Exploring the New Farm Dream. Details are provided below.
If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this Newsletter, please pass it along. Anyone can sign up at http://www.farmstart.ca/signup/
Happy strawberry season!
Christie
FarmStart Director
Summer workshop topics: preliminary schedule
June 28th: The Dirt on Soil, with Tarrah Young of Green Being Farm
As a farmer, the most important resource you have is the soil under your feet. In this half-day workshop you will learn the basics of soil science in an accessible and hands-on way. Rather than relying on inputs for fertility, get ready for ideas on how to optimize your soil’s health, and ultimately the health of your crops, by using the biological community to unleash the tremendous potential in your soil.
July 16th: Market garden basics for newcomer growers, with FarmStart’s own Alma O’Connell
Even for newcomers with experience growing vegetables ‘back home’, learning to grow vegetables in Ontario can take some time. This workshop will introduce new Canadian gardeners and future farmers to the basics of setting up a market garden. Topics will include: understanding the Ontario growing season, drawing up a crop plan, sourcing and selecting seeds, extending the season with greenhouses and row cover, and managing weeds and pests the organic way.
August 23rd: Post-harvest handling and market readiness, with Ali English, formerly of Whole Circle CSA
Join Ali English, innovative CSA farmer and Agroecology MSc, to learn more about the ins and outs of post-harvest handling for small- to medium-sized market garden operations. From cooling and preparing for market to storing and transporting vegetables, the workshop will focus on designing post-harvest systems that ensure both high produce quality and optimal labour efficiency.
Workshops take place at the Ignatius Incubator Farm, Guelph. For more information or to register, please visit our website
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We intend to run the course over five sessions – two in-class sessions, and three farm tours – held on Saturdays from late July to mid-September 2008. Dates and exact location in the GTA will be announced at the end of June.
FarmStart welcomes Alma O’Connell: Newcomer FarmStart-Up Project Coordinator!
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Alma brings to our Newcomer FarmStart-Up project a deep understanding of the value of growing your own food, and a commitment to sharing these skills with a new generation – a practice which has been in her native Wapishana culture for generations. Her Wapishana values and her experience with self-sufficient living in Rupununi, Guyana, provide a unique perspective on agriculture in Canada.
Alma’s personal experience as a recent immigrant to Canada has given her an intimate understanding of the challenges faced by new Canadians wishing to farm here. In the three weeks since she has joined our team, Alma has made impressive strides towards helping newcomer farmers to realize their dreams. She has met with new farmers from China, Zimbabwe, India, South Korea, Cuba, and Ghana, several of whom will be growing at our farm facilities this year. She is also working hard to design an educational program to help equip newcomers to farm in Ontario.
When Alma is not growing her own food or helping others to do so, she can often be found at her loom. Alma is an avid weaver, a passion that she turned into a successful community development project in Guyana through her role as founder of the Rupununi Weavers Society. Alma’s outreach and coordination work with the society reinvigorated the traditional practice of growing, processing, and hand-weaving cotton among the Wapishana people of Guyana. Her efforts to promote the group contributed to the international market that their beautiful, handwoven hammocks now command.
More information about our Newcomer FarmStart-Up project will soon be available via FarmStart’s website. Prospective farmers wishing to reach Alma can do so through our contact page.
Is there a topic you’d like to see covered in this space? Please send your comments and suggestions to us at info@farmstart.ca!
FarmStart will soon be opening the McVean Farm gate to neighbours and friends, at the grand opening of this new farm facility. We haven’t set a date just yet. but will let you know when we do!
Visit FarmStart’s newswire for updated event listings.
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Visit the FarmStart bookstore to view other essential titles in .sustainable agriculture!
Welcome to the May edition of the FarmStart Newsletter!
Spring has finally arrived at FarmStart’s Brampton and Guelph farm facilities! Many of our new farmers have seedlings on the go, ready for transplant in the coming weeks. Readying our Brampton facility to welcome these operations has proven an exciting, challenging process. Program Manager Mike Shook and McVean Farm Manager Carlton Allen have devoted countless hours this past month to turning McVean Farm from a heritage site into a working farm. Finally, as the signs of spring add up and the land grows ready for planting, Mike and Carlton can breathe a sigh of relief that irrigation, sanitation, shared equipment, and marketing opportunities are all in place for the season.
Although the McVean farm still looks a little bare from the road, it will soon be a hive of activity. We have just purchased a small, portable office for the facility, where Carlton will take up daily residence in the coming weeks. Working from an office on-site will allow Carlton to provide mentorship and support to our new farmers; he will also be kept busy setting up our world crop research trials. Stay tuned for progress reports on our okra, bitter melon, scotch bonnet peppers, Caribbean pumpkin, and other exciting varieties as the season moves along.
Eager to witness some of this exciting work? We’re happy to announce that plans for an open house at the McVean farm are underway! We’ll be sure to let you know once we’ve fixed a date.
Please read on to learn more about our recent activities and upcoming events.
If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this Newsletter, please pass it along. Anyone can sign up at http://www.farmstart.ca/signup/
Best regards,
Christie
FarmStart Director
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Incubator Farmers on the Web!
Wondering how you can keep up on our new farmers’ progress? Curious about where you can purchase the fruits of their labour? Check out our new farmers’ websites!
Beet Street CSA’s colourful new website explains the ins and outs of Community Supported Agriculture, and shares the story behind Carolyn and Rachel’s exciting new operation. Live in the GTA? Interested in receiving a weekly box of gorgeous, fresh, locally-grown veggies delivered to your front door? Visit www.beetstreetcsa.ca to find out how to join.
Matchbox Garden Inc.’s lovely new blog shares regular updates on the Matchbox farmers’ adventures in urban gardening in Toronto and near-urban farming at the McVean Incubator Farm. Matchbox will be selling their rare and heirloom variety seedlings, herbs, and vegetables at two Toronto farmers’ markets (Trinity Bellwoods and Sorauren) and the Brampton Farmers’ Market throughout the summer. Visit www.matchboxgarden.ca for more information.
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FarmStart’s Ready to Farm? Business Development Course graduates ten future farmers!
The Spring 2008 Ready to Farm? Business Development Course concluded last Tuesday night with a celebratory supper of local delicacies. Ten future farmers – Alvin, Jason M., Jason H., Miguel, Valeria, Graham, Jake, Cheng, Tim and Jennifer – stuck it out through our intensive, nine-session course on farm business planning, co-facilitated by David Cohlmeyer of Cookstown Greens and our own Training and Resource Coordinator, Sophie Llewelyn. The course guided participants through a process of identifying values, visions, and goals, through developing production, marketing, and financial plans, to building a business plan that new farmers can take to the bank. A series of workshops and farm tours anchored the theoretical stuff of our regular course sessions in the practical day-to-day considerations of planning and running a farm.
Check out our newswire for updates on future learning opportunities.
——
Featured Resource:
The role of copper‐ and sulfur‐based fungicides in organic vegetable production
By Ahmed Bilal, World Crop Agronomist
Curious about the role of copper- and sulfur-based fungicides in organic vegetable production? Agronomist Ahmed Bilal has your answer! As Ahmed points out in his first technical brief for FarmStart, copper- and sulfur-based fungicides are inexpensive, widely available, and have long been used to prevent the onset of a range of diseases. Follow the link below to learn more about the use of these chemicals as part of an integrated plant management system.
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Upcoming Events:
FarmStart’s Director, Christie Young will be speaking at the Imagining Sustainable Food Systems Conference, Wilfred Laurier, May 7-9.
You can also look for Christie at the upcoming Canadian Farm Business Advisor Association’s Wellington County meeting, where she’ll be speaking on May 15.
Check out our newswire for updated event listings.
——
Featured books:
Farming in the Dark: A Discussion About the Future of Sustainable Agriculture
..Rhonda R. Janke
..University Readers
.
.
.
Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock
Judy Pangman
Storey Publishing
.
.
.
Visit the FarmStart bookstore to view other essential titles in sustainable agriculture!
Welcome to the May edition of the FarmStart Newsletter!
Spring has finally arrived at FarmStart’s Brampton and Guelph farm facilities! Many of our new farmers have seedlings on the go, ready for transplant in the coming weeks. Readying our Brampton facility to welcome these operations has proven an exciting, challenging process. Program Manager Mike Shook and McVean Farm Manager Carlton Allen have devoted countless hours this past month to turning McVean Farm from a heritage site into a working farm. Finally, as the signs of spring add up and the land grows ready for planting, Mike and Carlton can breathe a sigh of relief that irrigation, sanitation, shared equipment, and marketing opportunities are all in place for the season.
Although the McVean farm still looks a little bare from the road, it will soon be a hive of activity. We have just purchased a small, portable office for the facility, where Carlton will take up daily residence in the coming weeks. Working from an office on-site will allow Carlton to provide mentorship and support to our new farmers; he will also be kept busy setting up our world crop research trials. Stay tuned for progress reports on our okra, bitter melon, scotch bonnet peppers, Caribbean pumpkin, and other exciting varieties as the season moves along.
Eager to witness some of this exciting work? We’re happy to announce that plans for an open house at the McVean farm are underway! We’ll be sure to let you know once we’ve fixed a date.
Please read on to learn more about our recent activities and upcoming events.
If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this Newsletter, please pass it along. Anyone can sign up at http://www.farmstart.ca/signup/
Best regards,
Christie
FarmStart Director
——
Incubator Farmers on the Web!
Wondering how you can keep up on our new farmers’ progress? Curious about where you can purchase the fruits of their labour? Check out our new farmers’ websites!
Beet Street CSA’s colourful new website explains the ins and outs of Community Supported Agriculture, and shares the story behind Carolyn and Rachel’s exciting new operation. Live in the GTA? Interested in receiving a weekly box of gorgeous, fresh, locally-grown veggies delivered to your front door? Visit www.beetstreetcsa.ca to find out how to join.
Matchbox Garden Inc.’s lovely new blog shares regular updates on the Matchbox farmers’ adventures in urban gardening in Toronto and near-urban farming at the McVean Incubator Farm. Matchbox will be selling their rare and heirloom variety seedlings, herbs, and vegetables at two Toronto farmers’ markets (Trinity Bellwoods and Sorauren) and the Brampton Farmers’ Market throughout the summer. Visit www.matchboxgarden.ca for more information.
——
FarmStart’s Ready to Farm? Business Development Course graduates ten future farmers!
The Spring 2008 Ready to Farm? Business Development Course concluded last Tuesday night with a celebratory supper of local delicacies. Ten future farmers – Alvin, Jason M., Jason H., Miguel, Valeria, Graham, Jake, Cheng, Tim and Jennifer – stuck it out through our intensive, nine-session course on farm business planning, co-facilitated by David Cohlmeyer of Cookstown Greens and our own Training and Resource Coordinator, Sophie Llewelyn. The course guided participants through a process of identifying values, visions, and goals, through developing production, marketing, and financial plans, to building a business plan that new farmers can take to the bank. A series of workshops and farm tours anchored the theoretical stuff of our regular course sessions in the practical day-to-day considerations of planning and running a farm.
Check out our newswire for updates on future learning opportunities.
——
Featured Resource:
The role of copper‐ and sulfur‐based fungicides in organic vegetable production
By Ahmed Bilal, World Crop Agronomist
Curious about the role of copper- and sulfur-based fungicides in organic vegetable production? Agronomist Ahmed Bilal has your answer! As Ahmed points out in his first technical brief for FarmStart, copper- and sulfur-based fungicides are inexpensive, widely available, and have long been used to prevent the onset of a range of diseases. Follow the link below to learn more about the use of these chemicals as part of an integrated plant management system.
——
Upcoming Events:
FarmStart’s Director, Christie Young will be speaking at the Imagining Sustainable Food Systems Conference, Wilfred Laurier, May 7-9.
You can also look for Christie at the upcoming Canadian Farm Business Advisor Association’s Wellington County meeting, where she’ll be speaking on May 15.
Check out our newswire for updated event listings.
——
Featured books:
Farming in the Dark: A Discussion About the Future of Sustainable Agriculture
..Rhonda R. Janke
..University Readers
.
.
.
Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock
Judy Pangman
Storey Publishing
.
.
.
Visit the FarmStart bookstore to view other essential titles in sustainable agriculture!
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